Category: Philippine Star

The camp of former Speaker Martin Romualdez insisted that he is not the so-called mastermind of the flood control corruption scheme, saying he only did his part to get the budget approved and has no control over individual projects.

Romualdez’s counsel, Atty. Jose Roy III, said the Leyte lawmaker is confounded on being tagged as a central figure in the flood control kickback scheme, considering that the corruption scandal involves individual projects, over which he has no control.

Roy explained that Romualdez was only involved in the budget process and had no control over individual projects.

‘As far as he knows, he was doing his share to get the budget approved. Now he’s being made to account for all those acts. He can’t understand why this is happening, when in fact, the same functions are performed on the Senate level,’ he said.

Roy insisted that the flood control scheme worked on a ‘per-project basis’ and it’s not possible for a mastermind behind it.

‘It’s like we pass the budget and we take a whole chunk and this is ours. I don’t think that’s possible,’ he said, explaining that after the budget is passed, it goes back to the executive, which implements the individual projects.

Moreover, Roy said it is ‘unthinkable’ to put all this all on one person and say he handled all the anomalous projects, pointing out that each district has its own favored contracts.

‘No matter how you look at it, those issues involving contracts, document tampering, questionable bids and ghost projects – those things happen at the lower level, not at the budget stage,’ he said.

PayMongo continues to strengthen payment reliability to help businesses avoid lost sales and transaction disruptions, resolving 75 percent of system incidents before they affect merchants.

The company also reported cutting its average service restoration time from hours to minutes after consolidating its monitoring and security tools through technology provider Datadog.

In an interview with The STAR, PayMongo chief product and technology officer Jose Dalino Jr. said delays in processing payments can drive customers to abandon purchases or switch to another merchant.

Failed transactions can also create uncertainty over whether a payment went through, requiring businesses and payment providers to coordinate on refunds, disputes or another attempt to complete the purchase.

‘Uptime and transaction reliability are absolutely mission-critical for us,’ Dalino said. ‘Every second of downtime means real money lost for the thousands of businesses that rely on us to collect payments from their customers.’

Dalino explained that a digital payment passes through several systems, beginning with a merchant’s website or mobile application before reaching the payment gateway and the bank or electronic wallet involved.

These steps include verifying the transaction and checking whether sufficient funds are available. A bottleneck along the way can delay or interrupt the payment.

PayMongo brought its monitoring tools together to allow engineers to trace transactions across these systems and identify where problems occur.

Dalino said the company extended this monitoring to more than 60 software services that handle different parts of its operations. This allows engineers to spot rising errors and address capacity constraints before they develop into disruptions visible to customers.

According to the company, its systems can also detect when a payment partner becomes unavailable, notify merchants and automatically suspend the affected payment method.

PayMongo has also introduced safeguards allowing unsuccessful transactions to be retried without charging customers twice, Dalino said.

The improvements address a business concern for the payments provider itself. Dalino said reliability problems had previously prompted some merchants to move to competing platforms.

Alongside operational monitoring, PayMongo uses tools to identify unusual transaction patterns and scan application code for security weaknesses. Dalino said merchant and customer education remains part of its efforts to protect account credentials.

‘Reliability is what earns trust in payments,’ he said.

The 16-year-old Grade 9 student who went on a shooting rampage at the Banga National High School in South Cotabato on Friday was suffering from depression and was exposed to the deep dark web, Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla disclosed yesterday.

Citing an initial report from the Philippine National Police (PNP), Remulla said the suspect, who killed two schoolmates and wounded eight others before shooting himself dead, had been viewing a website which promotes violence.

‘We will not name the website but again, he was into the deep dark web, which influenced him,’ Remulla said during a news briefing at Camp Crame in Quezon City.

Investigation showed that the suspect used a firearm owned by his father, a disaster risk mitigation officer of the Department of Education (DepEd). It was not clear if the firearm was licensed or government-issued.

Probers examined the suspect’s cell phone and found several notes detailing his bout with depression, an issue which his parents had discovered last April.

Remulla said the parents tried to address the suspect’s mental issues but could not prevent the deadly incident from taking place.

It also appeared that the suspect had planned to carry out the attack for quite some time but had no specific target in mind.

‘He left a note saying he was planning to do it but didn’t know whom to shoot. It was just random on his part,’ Remulla said.

At around 1 p.m. on Friday, the student entered a classroom and shot several students with a Taurus .9mm caliber pistol, which had been kept in his father’s safety box that the suspect forcibly opened.

Two students died while eight others were wounded, two in critical condition, in the attack.

The latest school-shooting incident came after similar attacks in Tacloban in June and in Zamboanga City in August, which left five students dead and scores wounded.

The suspect in South Cotabato concealed the firearm on his back, which was not spotted by the school’s security guard, who inspected his bag. Two police officers were stationed outside the school providing security.

In the wake of the latest school-shooting, Remulla will meet with officials from the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) and Congress for the crafting of a law which would limit the use of social media platforms to minors. He expressed concern that children can easily access the websites which espouses satanism, nihilism, and other forms of violence encouraging users to commit crimes.

‘This is the fault of a young man who was influenced by the deep dark web. We should not put blame on anyone and rather we should have sympathy and empathy,’ Remulla said.

The DICT, for its part, said it is ready to provide assistance in terms of communications and technical support.

It also urged the public from sharing graphic videos and images in connection with the incident.

‘Let us respect the privacy and dignity of the victims and their families while allowing authorities to conduct a thorough investigation,’ the DICT said in a statement.

Planned attack

Education Sonny Angara visited the BNHS campus yesterday and reiterated the need to tighten security in schools to prevent such incidents, also stressing the need for metal detectors to prevent guns or other deadly weapons from being brought in.

Angara said he was still waiting for the official report from investigators.

Angara said the attacker had left a letter stating he knew that what he had planned to do was wrong, but still carried out the attack.

The suspect had long planned the attack and his friends knew about it.

Banga Mayor Albert Palencia and South Cotabato Gov. Reynaldo Tamayo Jr. separately told reporters yesterday that the suspect’s phone had a Messenger group chat where he had told classmates that he planned to kill schoolmates inside their campus, and hinted of family and personal problems.

Tamayo said the BNHS campus employed 11 security guards but the suspect, described as an intelligent student, managed to avoid detection.

The suspect’s father is a DepEd Region 12 employee and had jurisdiction over schools in South Cotabato and the three other provinces and four cities in Region 12.

‘According to one of the Messenger group chats with his friends, he planned the atrocity in August. He had told his friends then he was to execute his plan on Sept. 3, but did not push it through,’ Palencia said.

The attacker had told his friends, in his last chat with them, not to attend classes on Friday because he was proceeding with his plan to kill schoolmates with a gun, according to Palencia.

Barangay officials and teachers told reporters that the suspect entered the campus during noon break, barged into classrooms and shot students.

Then he pointed his gun to his head and killed himself.

Palencia said the attacker reportedly got a low grade in one of his subjects in their most recent grading period.

A female student who was shot died instantly while a male student, who was also shot, died in the hospital. Six other students were wounded in the incident, and are now confined in different hospitals.

Tamayo tasked the South Cotabato Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction to extend assistance and essential relief to the wounded.

DepEd employee

The DepEd has confirmed that the father of the suspect, whose identity is being withheld, is an employee of DepEd Region 12.

Angara, the DepEd chief, said the police have yet to determine possible liability of the father, who owned the gun that was used in the shooting.

‘We respect the jurisdiction of the PNP here in the criminal aspect. We are just waiting for the findings of the PNP. How did the gun get in, how did the child get the gun,’ Angara said.

Angara said he will allow the official investigation to establish the facts and take appropriate action should administrative liability under DepEd rules be determined, while coordinating with authorities on separate firearm laws.

‘For us, our concern is the safety of the children, their return, when classes will resume, etc.,’ Angara added.

Angara proposed the creation of a Joint School Safety Task Force with the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) and the PNP to conduct site-specific security audits across public schools nationwide.

Angara said the move was in response to the directive of President Marcos following a deadly shooting at Banga National High School, the third fatal campus shooting over the last three months.

‘In line with the President’s directive, DepEd will work with DILG and PNP to review the measures already implemented following previous incidents and identify remaining gaps in school safety,’ Angara said, who personally visited Banga National High School on Saturday.

President Marcos directed DepEd, DILG, and the PNP to submit an assessment report recommending concrete policy measures to prevent future campus violence.

‘This operational framework is not intended to create another permanent bureaucracy, but rather to bring the agencies together to assess specific risks, identify gaps, and recommend concrete interventions.

‘Since the circumstances and vulnerabilities of schools may differ from one area to another, we need to assess risks on the ground and identify interventions appropriate to each school and community,’ Angara added.

He said the proposed joint task force will evaluate critical campus security areas, including physical access control, threat reporting, emergency response, and local law enforcement coordination.

‘I extend my heartfelt condolences to the families who lost their loved ones. No parent should have to experience this kind of pain, and no child should be afraid to go to school,’ Angara said.

Angara was accompanied by other DepEd officials as they assisted the victims and coordinated closely with local authorities and law enforcement to investigate the full circumstances surrounding the incident.

‘We remain unwavering in our commitment to securing our learning institutions nationwide,’ the DepEd said.

Videos taken down

Acting on the government request, Meta has started removing on its social media platforms videos related to Friday’s deadly shooting.

The Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center said they coordinated with Meta to take down videos which spread on Facebook immediately after the shooting occurred.

‘The videos circulating were immediately taken down, and the accounts sharing the videos were blocked,’ CICC executive director Undersecretary Renato Paraiso said.

The CICC’s threat monitoring center is still tracking down activities or contents related to the shooting.

Paraiso expressed condolences to the victims’ families and also urged the public to refrain from sharing on their social media accounts videos and photographs of the shooting.

He warned that reposting contents related to the incident could inspire other people to carry out attacks on school campuses.

‘It may cause fear, confusion and may trigger copycat violence,’ Paraiso said as he called on parents and guardians to regularly monitor the activities of their children online, including interaction with other groups on the internet and private chats.

The House prosecution panel is preparing witnesses to testify on Vice President Sara Duterte’s declared business interests, possible government contracts and registered firearms for this week’s impeachment hearings.

Counsel for the prosecution Benjamin Tolosa Jr. said at a Saturday News Forum that the presentations will depend on the progress of the hearings, with oral arguments on the two-thirds conviction threshold scheduled on Wednesday.

Tolosa said the Civil Service Commission witness would explain statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN) filing guidelines, while the Securities and Exchange Commission representative would address companies in which Duterte declared financial interests.

Meanwhile, a witness from the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System and a representative of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. Regional Office XI’s bids and awards committee will be asked about government dealings involving the Vice President’s companies.

A representative from the Philippine National Police Firearms and Explosives Office would then address the firearms registered to Duterte and her husband.

Tolosa said the testimony of Davao City Mayor Sebastian Duterte aims to examine whether Gencorp Industries, a company identified in the Vice President’s SALN, had dealings with the city government.

The business records would also address allegations that Duterte failed to divest and participated in businesses while Vice President, he said.

The panel will also be seeking the Senate impeachment court to classify the Davao City Mayor as another hostile witness in the impeachment trial of his sister.

Once the younger Duterte is declared a hostile witness, the prosecution can ask him more ‘leading questions’ which can be answered by ‘yes or no,’ Tolosa said.

The impeachment court is currently discussing Article II of the Articles of Impeachment, which involves the alleged unexplained wealth of the Vice President.

Sub judice

Tolosa also said the Senate impeachment court should apply its sub judice rule equally to the Vice President over her statement that President Marcos controls senators.

He raised the issue after he and public prosecutor Bicol Saro Party-list Rep. Terry Ridon were ordered to explain separate public statements being reviewed for possible violations of Rule 18.

Both have submitted their responses to the impeachment court.

Rule 18 requires the presiding officer, senators, prosecutors, the impeached official and their respective counsels to refrain from public comments and disclosures pertaining to the merits of a pending impeachment trial.

Tolosa said the prosecution was not seeking preferential treatment but wanted the same rule applied consistently to everyone it covers, including the Vice President.

In a Sept. 7 video message discussing her impeachment trial and other legal cases, Duterte told supporters that even if President Marcos controlled senators, prosecutors, judges and police, she had many lawyers helping her fight and win her cases.

‘That is an attack against the integrity of the impeachment court, to say that the President is controlling the senators,’ Tolosa said.

BC) Cheetahs aim to extend their best-ever start to 4-0 as they take on the Cebu Institute of Technology-University (CIT-U) Wildcats in the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation, Inc. (CESAFI) Season 26 basketball tournament today (Sunday, September 20) at the Cebu Coliseum.

Tip-off is set for 3:30 p.m.

The Cheetahs are coming off a 67-50 whacking of the University of Cebu (UC) Webmasters last September 15 that propelled them to solo leadership in the college division with a clean 3-0 slate.

Before downing the Webmasters, the Cheetahs also rolled past the University of Southern Philippines Foundation (USPF) Panthers and the University of the Philippines (UP) Cebu Fighting Maroons.

The Cheetahs will face the 2-1 Wildcats, who are looking to bounce back from a loss to the University of Cebu Lapu-Lapu and Mandaue (UCLM).

The Wildcats opened their campaign with back-to-back victories over the University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R) Jaguars and UP Cebu Fighting Maroons before their hot streak was halted by the Dondon Hontiveros-mentored UCLM.

In the other collegiate matchup, the UC Webmasters hope to rebound from their setback against the Cheetahs as they tackle the USPF Panthers in the 5 p.m. main game.

The Webmasters currently carry a 3-1 record, while the Panthers are 1-2.

In the juniors division, reigning five-peat champions Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu (SHS-AdC) Magis Eagles shoot for their second straight win as they square off against the USPF Baby Panthers at 2 p.m.

The Magis Eagles kicked off their bid for a historic double grand slam with a 61-56 beating of the University of the Visayas (UV) Baby Lancers a week ago.

The Baby Lancers will try to recover from that early debacle as they lock horns with the 1-1 San Carlos School of Cebu (SCSC) Baby Warriors in the 12:30 p.m. opener.

Philippine banks’ total assets expanded by 10.7 percent to P30.72 trillion in July from a year earlier, supported by sustained lending and deposit growth, preliminary data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) showed.

Total assets, which include banks’ loans, investments, cash and other holdings, increased from P27.74 trillion in July last year. The annual expansion reflected a larger stock of loans and investments held by banks, alongside growth in the deposits that help fund their operations.

Banks’ total loan portfolio, including lending to other banks and short-term placements backed by securities, grew by 10.8 percent to P16.91 trillion in July from P15.26 trillion a year earlier.

RCBC chief economist Michael Ricafort said the annual asset expansion was consistent with bank loan growth of around 10 percent, with consumer borrowing rising faster as some buyers brought purchases forward.

He attributed this partly to efforts to buy goods ‘before prices and interest rates go up further’ amid the war involving Iran and the broader Middle East conflict.

Ricafort said higher inflation linked to the conflict had also reduced purchasing power and the income available for spending, increasing demand for loans.

Meanwhile, banks’ investments stood at P8.91 trillion in July, up by eight percent from P8.24 trillion a year earlier. On the funding side, deposits grew by 7.9 percent to P22.06 trillion from P20.44 trillion a year earlier.

Ricafort linked recent deposit growth partly to greater public confidence after the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. doubled insurance coverage to P1 million per depositor per bank.

He said reductions in banks’ reserve requirement ratio since the latter part of 2024 had also increased funds available for lending. The ratio determines the share of deposits banks must keep in reserve.

Banks’ total capital reached P3.65 trillion, up by 3.8 percent from P3.52 trillion a year earlier. Ricafort said continued profitability had helped build banks’ capital and assets.

Looking ahead, he said higher global and domestic interest rates associated with geopolitical tensions could weigh on banks’ earnings and asset growth.

Ricafort also flagged higher nonperforming loans, or loans borrowers are failing to repay as agreed, as another potential drag.

The Philippine Army welcomed 293 soldiers to its ranks on Friday, boosting the military’s pool of highly trained and dedicated troops ready for combat and other operations.

Army spokesman Col. Louie Dema-ala said the batch, belonging to Class 806-2026, completed four months of basic military training capped by a closing ceremony at Camp O’Donnell in Capas, Tarlac.

‘Your training was designed to test your limits, teach how to endure discomfort, overcome challenges, work with others and remain focused even when circumstances are difficult,’ Brig. Gen. Adolfo Espuelas Jr. said in his keynote remarks.

Espuelas challenged the soldiers to carry the uniform with pride and firm commitment to service.

‘The uniform will mean more than what you see in the mirror, it will carry the name of the Philippine Army, the confidence put into you, the expectations of your fellow soldiers and, above all, the trust of the Filipino people. Never take that trust for granted,’ Espuelas stressed.

Asialink Finance Corp. is aiming to release P28 billion in loans under a new financing program by the end of 2026 as it expands lending to medium enterprises with larger funding needs.

The company’s GrowBiz Loan offers qualified businesses up to P100 million each, payable over as long as seven years, to finance expansion, equipment purchases and day-to-day operations.

Asialink is also targeting P2 billion in net income this year as it broadens its business-lending operations.

The new program increases the maximum financing available to borrowers fivefold from the P20-million ceiling under the company’s existing real estate mortgage loan, which uses property as collateral. It also extends the maximum repayment period from five years to seven years.

Asialink said the offering targets established businesses whose capital requirements have outgrown its existing loan products, including those with expansion plans that encounter strict requirements and lengthy credit processes when seeking bank financing.

‘Medium enterprises are at a pivotal stage in their growth journey. They have the ambition, track record and opportunities to scale, but realizing that potential often requires financing that can move at the pace of their business,’ Asialink president and CEO Anna Katrina Bañez said.

The expansion comes as Asialink’s total loan portfolio, or outstanding loans to borrowers, reached approximately P26 billion as of July, up 23 percent from the same period last year.

Business loans and loans to micro, small and medium enterprises accounted for 54 percent of the portfolio, equivalent to about P14 billion.

GrowBiz financing is exclusively for business purposes. Borrowers may use the funds to open branches, acquire additional vehicles or equipment, increase inventory and strengthen working capital, or the funds needed to cover daily operating expenses.

Loans can be secured by real estate or a fleet of cars and trucks, allowing borrowers to use available assets as collateral.

Final loan amounts, interest rates and repayment terms will depend on the borrower’s funding requirements, business capacity and credit profile. Applications will undergo a comprehensive credit evaluation and approval process, the company said.

Asialink said it would work with business owners to assess their operations, capital needs and longer-term plans as it takes on larger financing requirements.

‘We see tremendous potential in the next generation of Philippine businesses. As companies look toward expansion and new opportunities, AFC wants to make sure that access to financing does not stand in the way of their ambitions,’ Bañez said.

With its many characters and overlapping storylines, ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ can be a lot to keep track of onstage.

Four lovers fall in and out of love, fairies meddle in their affairs, and a group of amateur actors attempts to stage a play of their own. The ingredients are there for comedy, but bringing all that chaos together – and making it feel clear and funny – is another matter.

That makes Repertory Philippines’ return to Shakespeare an interesting one. The company last staged Shakespeare’s work in 2008 with “Hamlet,” making “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” its first Shakespeare production in 18 years. Directed by Jeremy Domingo, the production stays largely faithful to the original text, aiming to bring out Shakespeare’s wit, double entendres and sarcasm.

At first, Rep’s staging of Bard’s comedy feels very much by the book. The verses are intact, the English retains its Shakespearean formality, to the point that the commitment to the original language can occasionally make the wit harder to catch. Eventually, though, the production finds its footing, slipping in a few playful choices that catch you off guard while keeping the classic at its center.

The most immediate example comes through the music. Familiar songs occasionally replace more expected musical cues, with ‘Dancing in the Moonlight,’ or ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’ emerging amid Shakespeare’s dialogue. These work as small comic winks without turning Midsummer into a musical. The four young Athenian lovers get a similar treatment. Hermia, Lysander, Helena and Demetrius look less like figures from a classical comedy and more like young people who might have wandered in from Poblacion or BGC. Their contemporary styling makes their romantic mess feel familiar.

The performances are where the production’s comedy comes most clearly into focus.

Joey Cosio-Mercado’s Puck is an immediate scene-stealer, bringing mischief and physical comedy to the fairy responsible for much of the chaos. His slightly strange, almost shroom-like look suits the character, while his quirky delivery and Puck-isms give him a playful independence.

He follows Oberon’s commands, but always seems to find his own way of doing so – at times visibly disgruntled, which adds another layer to his otherwise mischievous character. There is something fitting about the character who gets to observe all this chaos and declare, in Shakespeare’s own words, ‘What fools these mortals be!’

That chaos reaches one of its funniest stretches when Puck’s mistake with the love potion makes Lysander fall for Helena. Luis Marcelo makes the sudden shift in Lysander’s affections particularly funny, fully committing to his new love as if Hermia had never existed. His reactions help the absurdity of the lovers’ mix-up land.

Meanwhile, the fairy world has its own share of drama. Randy Villarama’s Oberon and Lesley Leveriza Lina’s Titania bring temper and mischief to the quarrelling fairy couple, with their experience showing in the confidence and control they bring to the language.

Tristan Bite makes the most of Bottom’s ridiculousness, while the Mechanicals deliver the comedy built into their material. Their performances give these characters the full comic treatment they call for, making them one of the production’s most dependable sources of laughs.

The direction also finds ways to keep the stage in motion. The staircase at the center of the set becomes a useful playground for the four lovers, giving their chase, quarrels and shifting affections more physicality. Their constant running up and down the steps adds energy to scenes that could otherwise become long stretches of dialogue, while giving the romantic chaos a sense of movement.

If there is a drawback, it is that the play’s different worlds can sometimes feel less distinct. The Athenians, fairies and Mechanicals occupy different parts of the story, but the reliance on projected visuals does not always give those spaces a strong enough visual identity. In a play built around the contrast between the ordered world of Athens and the unruly forest, a clearer visual distinction could have sharpened the production’s sense of place.

Still, REP’s staging shows it doesn’t need to reinvent Shakespeare to make “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” feel alive. Its small contemporary touches give the old text room to surprise without losing what makes it a classic. And if, as Puck says, the shadows have been offended by a few unexpected pop hits along the way, perhaps they can forgive REP for finding new ways to let an old comedy have a little fun today.

Repertory Philippines’ staging of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” runs until September 27 at Saint Cecilia’s Hall in St. Scholastica’s College, Manila.

Toyota Motor Philippines Corp. (TMP) is urging the government to reconsider its rule on the new Transport Network Vehicle Service (TNVS) slots to include hybrid electric vehicles (HEV) and gas-powered cars.

Sherwin Chua-Lim, senior vice president at TMP, told reporters that the automotive firm raised its concern on the TNVS rule with the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) by writing a letter and requesting a meeting.

Under its Memorandum Circular (MC) 2026-084, the LTFRB opened 7,500 ride-hailing slots for the National Capital Region.

These additional 7,500 slots will be exclusive for EVs such as plug-in hybrid EVs (PHEVs) and battery EVs (BEVs).

‘Conventional internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles, hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) other than PHEVs, and other vehicle technologies that do not fall within the BEV or PHEV classifications shall not be eligible for the slots opened herein,’ the LTFRB MC read.

Acting LTFRB chairman Greg Pua Jr. earlier said the move aligns with the government’s push for modern, environment-friendly public transportation.

TMP is pushing for a reconsideration, noting that HEVs are part of EVs being recognized by the government.

‘Republic Act 11697 or the Electric Vehicle Industry Development Act (EVIDA) recognizes HEVs as part of the EV classification,’ TMP said.

‘Furthermore, the Electric Vehicle Incentive Strategy (EVIS) also includes HEVs as part of the country’s vehicle electrification strategy,’ it added.

The EVIDA aims to accelerate EV adoption in the country, while EVIS seeks to encourage local EV manufacturing by providing incentives.

TMP also pushed to include ICE vehicles in the new TNVS slots.

‘We also believe modern low-displacement engine technologies in today’s compact ICE vehicles have significantly improved in terms of fuel efficiency and reducing emissions. Including these vehicles in the options can benefit both the operators and the riding public,’ TMP said.

TMP produces ICE vehicles such as the Vios, Innova and Tamaraw at its plant in Santa Rosa, Laguna. In addition to its locally produced models, TMP’s vehicle lineup includes HEVs.