Category: Philippines Daily Inquirer

Doug Kramer urged his social media followers to promote love and compassion over hate and resentment, also encouraging them to forgive ‘generously.’

In a message shared through his Instagram page on Friday, Oct. 2, Doug wrote, ‘Fight hate with Love. Resentment with Light. Cruelty is an echo of unrest within. Yet not every stone thrown is purely blind.’

‘Perfection isn’t human; we all stumble along the way. Grace is needed both ways-we all hurt others, and we also feel pain. So extend forgiveness generously; none of us walk with clean hands,’ he continued. ‘Hold fast to your warmth and keep moving forward. Refuse to return the sting. And let compassion break the heavy chain.’

Incidentally, Doug’s message came after Patrick Garcia, the brother of his wife Chesca Garcia, finally spoke up about his past relationship with Jennylyn Mercado in a recent interview.

During the interview, Patrick dismissed claims that he abandoned Mercado in 2008 when she was still pregnant with their son Jazz. He further claimed that the actress did not want him involved in the pregnancy.

Patrick also revealed that he had not seen Jazz since 2017 despite his efforts to reach out to Mercado. He admitted as well that he has not provided financial support since then.

The Schools Division Office of Cauayan City has expressed deep sorrow over the deaths of two learners who were electrocuted during a bubble fun run at Cauayan South Central School on Saturday, Oct. 3.

The victims were a 7-year-old girl and an 8-year-old boy.

‘We mourn the loss of two learners and extend our deepest sympathies to their families and our sincere concern and support to those affected,’ Schools Division Superintendent Cherry Ramos said in a public statement.

One other learner remained hospitalized while another had already been discharged, according to the division.

The Schools Division Office said it would continue working with the local government and other concerned agencies to provide necessary assistance.

‘Law enforcement authorities are now investigating the incident, and the Schools Division Office is fully cooperating with the ongoing investigation,’ Ramos said.

The division also urged the public to refrain from speculation and sharing unverified information while the investigation is ongoing. It appealed for respect for the privacy of the children and their families, particularly in sharing their names, photographs, videos and other identifying information.

The division said it would take appropriate action in accordance with DepEd policies and established procedures.

Meanwhile, Cauayan South Central School and its School Parent-Teacher Association expressed their ‘profound sadness’ over the deaths, saying the incident occurred within the school premises.

‘We extend our heartfelt condolences to the bereaved family, relatives, friends, and the entire school community during this difficult time,’ school officials said.

They said the investigation was ongoing to establish the full circumstances of the incident and urged the public to refrain from spreading unverified information, assumptions or speculation that could further burden the grieving families.

The school said it remained committed to the safety and welfare of its learners and encouraged parents, teachers and members of the school community to provide emotional support to those affected.

The effort to improve the well-being of the Filipino people is not a competition against any other people. It is not some kind of contest or sport, with winners and losers, and their corresponding statistics. Rather, it is an effort to improve the lives of Filipinos at present compared to their lives in the past. It is also an effort to prepare for the tasks of maintaining and further advancing Filipino well-being in the future.

To measure progress from the past, the statistics for scoring well-being should obviously be periodic. They should have been measured in the past, and the records permanently kept; they should tell about the present, and keep telling about the future as it happens.

Ranking is incidental. There’s no need to aspire for a high world ranking in ‘Happiness,’ for instance. Finland is the perennial No. 1 in the World Happiness Index, but that’s no reason to envy the Finns. I think the 0-10 scale, ‘from the lowest possible to the highest possible satisfaction with life,’ just happens to work well in Scandinavia, including Norway, Sweden, and Denmark.

Consider the alternative of ACSA. An alternative life-satisfaction scale is from -5 to +5, ‘from the best time in one’s past life to the worst time in one’s past life.’ Very few Filipinos give a negative answer to this scale (see ‘Social Weather Report: Anamnestic Self-Assessment (ACSA) falls to record low +1.72 in November 2025, surpassing previous low of +1.97 in May 2021,’ www.sws.org.ph, 3/30/26).

The ACSA median response has been steady at 3.00 during 2017-2025, though it was not surveyed in 2020 due to the pandemic. The ACSA arithmetic mean started at 2.82 in 2017, and by 2023 was back at 2.76 before falling again last year. Whatever the scale, an advance from the past is good, and backsliding is a problem that needs fixing.

Well-being has many dimensions. The United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals (sdgs.un.org) make a highly acceptable agenda. The first five, and surely the most important, are: 1. No poverty, 2. Zero hunger, 3. Good health, 4. Quality education, and 5. Gender equality. Their general priority is to minimize the number who are badly off, rather than to maximize the number who are well-off: to eliminate child wasting and stunting; to reduce infant mortality; to achieve universal completion of basic education-first junior high school, then senior high school; to equalize opportunities by gender. One can discern good governance as an implicit goal. The statistics should refer to people, rather than to things like production.

Getting awards in areas of human endeavor is certainly good for national pride. In fact, one of our three most important sources of pride is achievements in sports (‘Sports and national pride,’ and ‘Pride from international sports,’ inquirer.net, 12/7/19 and 8/3/24), in addition to our history and our achievements in the arts. However, the enhancement of national pride per se is not among the SDGs.

Social Weather Stations (SWS) measures what it can, within its resources; its most important surveys are the quarterlies, which is the most we can afford to do. Other institutions are welcome to fill the gaps and to compete in subjects we already work on. Being a market-oriented economist, I believe that competition benefits both demanders and suppliers. The SWS data are addressed to everyone, in all sectors, public and private, domestic, and international. The best judges of their adequacy and quality are the Filipino people.

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Why is the Chinese government recalling its Chinese-language teachers from the Philippines? It occurs to me that these teachers, being academics, are in a good position to tell their friends and neighbors back in China the truth about their government’s unjust and unlawful behavior in the West Philippine Sea.

‘How many of the Chinese people know about the 9-dash and 10-dash claims that their government is still making? How many of them know about the Philippine victory in the 2016 ruling of the Arbitral Tribunal on the Law of the Sea? How many of them know that their government refused to take part in the case that we raised at the tribunal? How many of them will fail to draw the conclusion that their government knew from the start that it lacks evidence for its claims?’ (see ‘What is Chinese public opinion?’ inquirer.net, 7/19/25.)

A 15-year-old Grade 11 student was wounded after being stabbed by a fellow student at a school in Laoag City in nearby Ilocos Norte on Friday (Oct. 2).

The Laoag City Police Station, in a report, said the incident stemmed from a confrontation between the two students at Balatong Integrated School.

The situation reportedly intensified into a verbal altercation before one was stabbed.

A teacher intervened and stopped the clash.

The wounded minor was brought to a medical facility for treatment.

Responding police officers recovered a bladed weapon (balisong or butterfly knife) believed to have been used by the suspect, who is also 15 years old.

Police said they were preparing the necessary documentation for the filing of an appropriate case, subject to laws and procedures governing cases involving minors.

The Laoag City Police Station urged students, parents, teachers and school personnel to immediately report bullying, threats, harassment and conflicts that could escalate into violence.

Alex Enriquez settled for the silver medal after losing to Orapa Senatham of Thailand in the women’s -63kg jiu jitsu at the Asian Games 2026 on Saturday at Aichi Prefectural Martial Arts Hall.

The Thai won by an advantage for a near-pass or near-sweep after holding Enriquez down for most of their six-minute and 57-second match.

‘I’m sorry, but it just came up so short,’ Enriquez said. ‘I feel like I was really trying my best to push the action, hoping maybe she would have gotten called for stalling or a negative or constantly backing up. But it’s the name of the game. And there’s always more that I could have done better.’

Enriquez got the best finish for the Philippine jiu-jitsu team as a runner-up, although she fell short of adding to the country’s four gold medals, which matched the previous two Asian Games campaigns.

‘I’m still proud and happy of my performance. I gave it my all. So there’s no regrets. You know, I gave it my all. And I hope that, you know, the nation still supports me,’ Enriquez, who made her debut in the continental meet, also said.

Enriquez, who previously represented the United States, followed up on her a gold medal finish for the Philippines in the 2026 Asian Beach Games.

Andrea Lois Lao finished fourth in the women’s -63kg after losing the bronze medal match to Narankhishig Baasanjargal of Mongolia, 0-2.

Enriquez, who got a first-round bye, dominated Palestine’s Dania Obaid and Kazakhstan’s Marian Zhuravleva, then defeated Baasanjargal in the semifinal.

Lao lost in the quarterfinal to Senatham.

Kaila Napolis won the bronze medal in women’s -52kg on Friday.

The Taguig City government on Saturday denied involvement in alleged illegal reclamation activities at the Taguig side of Laguna Lake, saying the property inspected by government agencies was not being possessed or used by the city.

The city government said the area shown in a video released by Sen. Panfilo Lacson involved a parcel of land claimed by several private individuals and a neighborhood association.

‘Contrary to what Senator Lacson wants the public to believe, the area shown in the peddled video does not involve any land presently possessed and used by the City of Taguig,’ it said in a statement.

Taguig also said it did not issue any permit or authority to any of the alleged private owners of the property.

Lacson on Friday released a video showing an inspection of the area by the Office of the Ombudsman, Philippine Reclamation Authority, Land Registration Authority, and Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).

The senator had called out what he described as continuing illegal reclamation activities along the Taguig lakeshore despite an ongoing investigation into the alleged unauthorized reclamation.

The Ombudsman has been conducting a fact-finding investigation into reclamation activities along the Taguig portion of Laguna Lake.

Lacson has also raised concerns over land titles covering portions of Laguna Lake and questioned how reclamation activities could continue despite the ongoing investigation.

The issue has also drawn scrutiny toward Senate minority leader Alan Peter Cayetano, whom Lacson has previously linked to the controversy.

Cayetano, for his part, has said he supports the ongoing investigations but stressed that the process should be conducted fairly.

Taguig, meanwhile, accused Lacson of presenting a ‘misleading narrative’ by linking the inspection footage to allegations of illegal reclamation and ‘impunity.’

The city urged the public to assess the allegations based on verified evidence and official records.

A rare green sea turtle found crawling weakly along the shoreline of Barangay Sabang in Calabanga, Camarines Sur, on Friday (Oct. 2) died despite residents’ efforts to save it.

Fishermen and bystanders spotted the turtle at about 5:30 p.m. that day in Zone 7-B, Sitio Maligaya, with a wound on its head.

Village chief Paul Christian Santos said it was not immediately known how the turtle sustained the injury.

Santos told the Inquirer in a phone interview on Saturday that residents tried to save the turtle, but it eventually died.

‘Before burying it, we had it documented. It measured 50 centimeters in length, and 25 centimeters in width, and weighed more than 20 kilograms,’ he said.

He mentioned that the information was forwarded to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

Santos urged residents who encounter green sea turtles not to harm them, and to immediately report their sightings to government agencies concerned, as they are endangered species.

The prices of basic necessities across Agusan del Sur have been frozen at their prevailing levels following the provincial government’s declaration of a state of calamity due to severe agricultural damage, critically low supplies of potable water and relentless high temperatures.

The automatic price freeze took effect immediately pursuant to Section 6 of Republic Act No. 7581, or the Price Act of the Philippines, as amended by Republic Act No. 10623, according to a formal bulletin issued Friday by the provincial office of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).

The measure was triggered after the Sangguniang Panlalawigan approved Resolution No. 585-26, series of 2026, on Sept. 24, placing the entire province under a state of calamity. Prolonged dry spells and soaring heat indices have dried up irrigation networks, parched croplands, depleted community water sources and strained household incomes in multiple towns.

Under national law, the price freeze remains in force for the duration of the emergency conditions that prompted it, but may not exceed 60 days unless lifted earlier by the authorities.

The price freeze covers all essential items falling directly under DTI’s jurisdiction. These include canned fish and other processed marine products; processed and condensed milk; coffee; loaf bread and pandesal; bottled drinking water; instant noodles; iodized and coarse salt; laundry soap; powdered detergent; and candles.

DTI cautioned business operators, distributors and public market vendors against unauthorized markups, hoarding and price gouging while residents cope with the dry conditions.

Under the Price Act, individuals and enterprises found guilty of price gouging or violating the freeze order face imprisonment ranging from one to 10 years, fines between P5,000 and P1 million, or both, at the discretion of the court, alongside administrative penalties including the possible revocation of local business permits.

Turning a heartbreaking loss less than a day before into fuel that drove them harder, Khy Progella and Sofiah Pagara captured a historic bronze medal in the Asian Games women’s beach volleyball tournament by rallying past a Chinese pair at Hekinan Ryokuchi Beach Court on Friday.

The young Alas Pilipinas tandem battled back from a slow start to stun Cao Shuting and Dong Jie, 13-21, 23-21, 15-13, and secure the Philippines’ first-ever Asiad medal in beach volleyball.

‘We are just so overwhelmed with what has taken place,’ Pagara said in Filipino minutes after the win. ‘We really worked hard for this and we feel that we really deserve this.’

Dominated in the first set and facing match point in the second, Progella and Pagara refused to yield, as the hard-fighting pair out of University of Santo Tomas rallied doggedly to force a decider and make it anybody’s match.

From 10-all, Progella and Pagara surged ahead, 14-12, putting themselves within one point of the bronze. China saved one match point, but the Filipinas remained composed.

Dong then sent a pass long, which triggered a celebration from the Philippine side as Progella and Pagara secured their place in Asian Games history.

‘There were really jitters in the first set,’ Progella said. ‘But after that, we were able to overcome the pressure.’

Golfers bow out

Meanwhile, the Philippine golf teams slid down the standings as South Korea, led by PGA star Tom Kim, and China, spearheaded by former world No. 1 and major champion Ruoning Yin, took control of the men’s and women’s team events, respectively, at Kasugai Golf Club’s East course.

Justin delos Santos and Miguel Tabuena both accounted for one-over-par 71s for a third round 142 as the Filipinos fell out of medal contention with a 416 aggregate, 16 shots behind the Koreans.

Rianne Malixi and Bianca Pagdanganan also accounted for 71s for their 142 as the Filipino women fell 13 shots out of the lead with their 418 as Yin powered the Chinese to a 137 after a 66 to lead India by four shots.

Individually, Delos Santos and Malixi remained as the brightest performers for Team Philippines, with Delos Santos tied for 12th spot at 206, down by eight shots to new leader Kim, who fired a 65 for 198.

Infrastructure giant Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) is acquiring an additional 1.9-percent stake in Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) from San Miguel Corp. (SMC) for P12.4 billion, a move reflecting the Pangilinan Group’s bullishness in the power utility.

The group at Meralco’s helm said it had inked an agreement with SMC’s energy arm, San Miguel Global Power Holdings Corp. (SMGP), for the acquisition of 21.4 million shares priced at P580.99 apiece, way higher than the P90 price tag SMGP settled in 2025.

Once the transaction has been sealed, MPIC’s direct and indirect shareholding interest in Meralco will increase to 49.4 percent from the current 47.5 percent.

MPIC, which has interests in power, toll roads, water and healthcare, said it intends to fund the acquisition through a combination of internally generated cash and financing.

The deal remains subject to conditions, including the approval of the Philippine Stock Exchange of the special block sale.

‘The transaction represents an increase in MPIC’s effective interests in Meralco and reflects MPIC’s continued confidence in Meralco’s long-term growth prospects and strategic importance to the group,’ it said.

In July last year, SMGP secured P23 billion worth of shares of the utility giant for just P3.89 billion after winning a court dispute that compelled the state-controlled Land Bank of the Philippines to sell based on 17-year-old terms.

Juan Paolo Colet, managing director at investment bank China Bank Capital Corp., said this decision has shown that the Pangilinan Group ‘remains very confident in the future of Meralco’ despite uncertainty about the controversial system loss charges.

‘For San Miguel, it’s an opportunity to monetize a portion of its minority stake at more than six times the original purchase price of P90 per share,’ Colet said.

Toby Allan Arce, head of sales trading at Globalinks Securities and Stocks Inc., also described the sale as a ‘sensible capital-allocation move’ for the Ramon Ang-led group.