Category: Philippines Daily Inquirer

The number of focus crimes recorded by the Philippine National Police fell by 36.05% in September from the same month last year, police said Monday.

The PNP recorded 2,063 cases in September, down from 3,226 in September 2025.

‘We welcome this improvement, but we are not letting our guard down,’ PNP chief Gen. Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr. said at a press briefing.

Focus crimes include carnapping, homicide, murder, physical injuries, rape, robbery and theft.

‘The decline in crime must be matched by sustained action against those who continue to threaten public safety,’ Nartatez said.

In Central Luzon and Calabarzon, police operations in September resulted in the arrest of 28 people, including two alleged leaders of robbery groups. Police also recovered 20 firearms, 52 rounds of ammunition and seven hand grenades.

The Anti-Kidnapping Group rescued five victims and identified 15 alleged perpetrators during the month, nine of whom were arrested.

Police also conducted 5,045 anti-drug operations, arresting 5,812 suspects and confiscating more than 96 kilograms of shabu and other illegal drugs worth an estimated P710.66 million based on standard drug prices.

Authorities arrested 979 people for loose-firearm violations and accounted for 6,381 firearms.

The PNP also conducted 3,140 anti-smuggling operations, resulting in 564 arrests and the seizure of smuggled goods and other items valued at about P1.36 billion.

As of Sept. 30, police had rescued 49 minors involved in cyberthreats and continued coordinating with the Department of Education on concerns involving schools.

Novak Djokovic rolled back the years to oust Alexander Zverev from the China Open on Sunday, beating the top seed 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 to set up a blockbuster semifinal with Daniil Medvedev.

The 39-year-old Serbian electrified a packed crowd in Beijing, where he extended an astonishing winning streak to 32 matches and is a firm fan favourite.

Djokovic called it one of his best matches of the year, alongside his epic five-set win over Italy’s Jannik Sinner to reach the final at the Australian Open.

He told reporters such battles were ‘evidence to me that I can still beat the best players in the world on the biggest stage’.

‘Things are a bit different nowadays. It’s hard to be consistently playing on the highest level like the youngsters,’ he said.

He needed to play a mix of shots in ‘high-risk tennis’ against the German, but he said feeling ‘physically pretty good’ on the court after dealing all year with health issues helped him fight back.

Djokovic got off to a poor start, double-faulting twice in the first game to help Zverev, a decade his junior, break serve instantly.

Boos filled the stadium soon afterward when the umpire agreed to replay a point Djokovic had won, after Zverev complained about a flicker in the LED panels during play.

The German saw out the first set from there, but a valiant Djokovic roared back to seal the second with a cross-court winner to break serve and force a decider.

The 24-time Grand Slam champion faced 19 Zverev aces throughout the match but held steady on his own serve to go 5-4 ahead in the final set.

He then broke the world number two to take the set and the match, seemingly defying his recent physical difficulties with victory in a gruelling two hours and 34 minutes.

Djokovic will face Medvedev in the final four after the former world number one dispatched Francisco Cerundolo 7-6 (7/4), 6-3.

As Manila Water prepares its additional water sources and strengthens network resilience measures ahead of the anticipated stronger El Niño in early 2027, the company is also ramping up its sanitation and wastewater management efforts, desludging more than 94,000 septic tanks across its East Zone concession area from January to August 2026 to help protect waterways, preserve water quality, and safeguard public health.

From January to August 2026, Manila Water emptied and cleaned 94,917 septic tanks. In August alone, the company serviced 11,470 septic tanks from non-sewered, sewered-combined, and sewered-hybrid domestic accounts.

The initiative forms part of Manila Water’s continuing commitment to provide reliable wastewater services while supporting environmental protection, particularly during prolonged dry periods brought about by El Niño. Proper septic tank desludging helps prevent untreated wastewater from contaminating rivers, creeks, and other water bodies, preserving water quality when water resources are under increased stress.

‘As we prepare for the anticipated stronger El Niño conditions in the first months of 2027, it is important that communities have properly maintained sanitation systems. By clearing septic tanks on this scale, we help prevent overflows, protect local waterways from pollution, and ensure customers continue to enjoy safe and healthy communities even as water resources face greater pressure during prolonged dry periods,’ Manila Water Corporate Communications Group Head Dittie Galang said.

While Manila Water continues to strengthen its water supply system through the development of additional raw water sources and network resilience initiatives in preparation for the anticipated stronger El Niño in early 2027, the company is likewise intensifying its wastewater and sanitation programs. Proper wastewater management helps ensure that available water resources remain protected from pollution and remain sustainable for future generations.

Complementing its desludging operations, Manila Water maintained strong wastewater treatment performance in August 2026, with all 28 wastewater treatment facilities achieving 100% compliance with standards under the MWSS Regulatory Office Scorecard. The treated water discharged from these facilities consistently met government effluent standards and was suitable for Class C waterways, helping protect rivers and streams while supporting aquatic ecosystems where marine life can thrive.

As climate variability and extreme dry conditions continue to challenge water security, Manila Water emphasizes that wastewater management remains a critical component of protecting both public health and the environment. The company encourages customers to participate in its desludging program to ensure that septic systems function properly and to help reduce pollution in local waterways.

Through its combined investments in water supply, wastewater treatment, and sanitation services, Manila Water continues to help communities prepare for the challenges of El Niño while safeguarding waterways, public health, and long-term water sustainability.

Four people, including three boys, died while four others were wounded when a reported rifle grenade exploded in Sitio Raniag, Barangay Sinamar, this town, on Sunday morning, police said.

Among the fatalities were an 8-year-old Grade 3 pupil and his 85-year-old grandmother. Witnesses said they heard a loud explosion and later found the victims sprawled on the ground.

Police eventually determined the type of explosive device involved. The children had reportedly been playing with a metallic object believed to be an improvised explosive device shortly before the blast.

Police are still verifying the ownership of a loaded .45 caliber pistol allegedly seized from a Grade 12 female student at the gate of Notre Dame of Matalam in Matalam, North Cotabato, on Oct. 1, following conflicting claims between her and her father.

Lt. Col. Marvin Hugos, chief of the Matalam Municipal Police Station, said in a radio interview on Monday that investigators were looking into possibly filing charges against the student’s father under Republic Act No. 10591, or the Comprehensive Firearms and Ammunition Regulation Act.

The father, who is a member of a Barangay Peacekeeping Action Team (BPAT), denied owning the firearm.

Police said the 17-year-old student, however, claimed that the gun allegedly belonged to her father.

Hugos said any decision to file charges would depend on the evidence gathered during the investigation and the police legal team’s assessment.

The loaded pistol was found inside a sling bag kept in the compartment of the motorcycle the student was driving.

Police said the motorcycle was registered in the father’s name.

The firearm has been submitted for forensic examination, while police are coordinating with the Regional Civil Security Unit to determine whether it is registered and identify its legal owner.

The student, meanwhile, was placed under appropriate assessment and intervention as a child in conflict with the law (CICL), in accordance with existing laws.

Following the incident, police said they have stepped up coordination with schools and barangays in Matalam, including room-to-room visits across schools in the municipality.

Philippine National Bank (PNB) expects to sustain double-digit growth in the second half, banking on its low-cost deposits and business-focused loan portfolio to cushion the impact of higher interest rates.

PNB president and CEO Edwin Bautista said the bank’s strong first-half performance had carried into the succeeding months, although he could not give a growth rate forecast.

‘But so far the trend continues,’ Bautista said. ‘The numbers, the growth rates are going to be very similar.’

PNB’s net income reached P14.6 billion in the first six months of 2026, up by about 17 percent from P12.5 billion in the same period last year.

Bautista said PNB’s high current account and savings account ratio, supported by its extensive branch network, should help keep funding costs relatively stable as interest rates rise.

‘Our cost of funds is steady. Even if interest rates rise, only a small portion of our deposits consists of time deposits that would require higher interest payments. So our cost of funds will remain relatively stable,’ he said.

Meanwhile, higher benchmark rates could allow PNB to charge more on loans, potentially improving its lending margins.

Higher rates, however, could also weigh on the value of its bond portfolio and result in net unrealized losses that would affect capital, Bautista said.

He stressed that PNB remained exposed to this risk, but its capital adequacy ratio of about 20 percent provided a substantial buffer.

‘The difference is our buffer is so fat that it will hardly matter,’ he said.

On credit risk, Bautista said higher interest rates and inflation could strain borrowers’ finances and lead to more past-due loans.

Last week, budget watchdog People’s Budget Coalition (PBC) sounded the alarm over the formation of a subcommittee of ranking legislators in the House of Representatives that would now introduce amendments to the proposed P7.2-trillion national budget for 2027.

The House wrapped up floor debates on the budget bill two weeks ago, but the final draft of the measure is far from done, and the PBC expressed concern that changes to the proposed budget were already being negotiated in secret, away from the scrutinizing eyes of the public.

As PBC co-convener AJ Montesa told this paper, ‘our honest worry is that they are doing the negotiations behind closed doors, and that the BARSc [budget amendments review subcommittee] is just a way to make the arranged things public already.’

Opposition lawmaker Rep. Antonio Tinio has a starker warning: The BARSc meeting, he said, will be ‘controlled and scripted,’ with only select lawmakers in the panel having a say over the proposed changes.

Hard-won victories

Those are not unfounded worries. Earlier, in August, a number of civil society organizations (CSOs) had already complained that they had been largely sidelined from the budget talks, with rules for their participation remaining unclear and their queries ‘seen-zoned’ or ignored by the House appropriations committee.

It was only last year that, for the first time in the country’s history, CSOs had been granted accreditation and access to observe the budget deliberations in the House, to pose questions and send representatives to the hearings. The bicameral conference committee, which reconciles the versions of the appropriations bill of the House and the Senate, also had its first historic livestream on Dec. 13, 2025.

These steps toward greater budget transparency and accountability were hard-won victories for the public. And they happened only after Congress felt the people’s wrath following the massive flood control projects scandal, which had its roots in the secretive, byzantine goings-on in the budget talks.

Lawmakers by now should have learned their lesson. The people expect more, not less, openness on government spending, given the unending corruption controversies over the years that have shredded their faith in Congress’ ability to be honest and accountable when it comes to public funds.

National outrage

Before the current flood control controversy that has roiled the Marcos administration, the biggest political scandal to rock the nation was the pork barrel scam, in which scores of lawmakers, from congressmen to senators, were found to have skimmed millions from their Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF).

So tremendous was the national outrage over the pork barrel misuse that the PDAF, as then designed, was formally discarded-declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. But lawmakers were not about to give up the singular privilege of having their hands on the national till; the pork barrel system was simply redesigned, and legislators today, holding the constitutional power of the purse, continue to exercise huge discretionary control over public funds.

And with that power has come yet more corruption and illegality. Plunder and thievery in high places have grown to such gargantuan levels that billions of pesos are estimated to have been lost to ‘ghost’ infrastructure projects uncovered only in the last couple of years or so. Investigations into these irregularities have time and again led back to the labyrinthine budget process in Congress, where horse-trading and bargaining for pet projects among lawmakers are the name of the game.

Audit trail

Allowing for greater public participation in the budget deliberations was supposed to mitigate that disorder in the system. Ideally, the public should be able to see every single amendment and insertion made to the proposed national budget, from the submitted National Expenditure Program to the final General Appropriations Act signed by the President.

That audit trail should be clear to any citizen interested in finding out where the money is going, who’s receiving it and for what purpose, who pushed for this or that allocation, which amendments went through, and so on. And for that to happen, CSOs and budget watchdogs like PBC must be present every step of the way, as the people’s eyes and ears in the budget proceedings.

But, barely over a year after Congress cracked the door open for outside observers, it appears it is now slinking back to bad habits, once again resorting to secrecy and ambiguity in hammering out the budget, when the floodwaters of the infrastructure scandal continue to lap at its doors and assorted lawmakers are still entangled in courts or held in public scorn for their part in the corrupt scheme.

The Marcos administration’s much-awaited second-half pickup in infrastructure spending got off to a weak start in July as the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) continued to weigh on overall expenditures. However, the downturn eased considerably from previous months.

In July, the decline in infrastructure spending finally limited itself to single digits, after it had fallen by more than 30 percent in every month from January to June.

Latest data from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) showed infrastructure and other capital outlays slipped 4 percent to P89.6 billion in July from P93.3 billion in the same month last year.

From January to July, infrastructure spending fell 36 percent to P457 billion from P713.5 billion a year earlier.

‘The lower level reflected, among others, lower DPWH disbursements amid strengthened procurement compliance, monitoring of ongoing projects, and review and validation of payment claims and contractor documentation,’ the DBM said.

‘Infrastructure implementation nevertheless continued across other key sectors, including defense modernization, rail and mass transport, school facilities, and agricultural infrastructure,’ it added.

Projects that eased the July decline included the Armed Forces Modernization Program, Rural Development Projects, and rail transport accounts payable settlements.

Total government spending, meanwhile, improved after climbing nearly 20 percent to P588.6 billion in July from P491.2 billion a year earlier, while cumulative spending also rose 7 percent to P3.763 trillion from P3.516 trillion.

The government’s economic managers are relying on increased infrastructure spending in the second half to improve the disappointing 2.6 percent growth in the first half.

Earlier, DBM Secretary Kim Robert de Leon said they were expecting the DPWH to start implementing projects in August and September.

Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan, meanwhile, expects a fourth-quarter recovery in spending, adding that they needed to bring public construction back to at least zero growth instead of a contraction to add about 1 percentage point to gross domestic product.

World No. 1 Elena Rybakina has withdrawn from next week’s Wuhan Open with injury, the tennis tournament said Sunday on social media.

‘Elena Rybakina will miss Wuhan due to a foot injury. We wish her a quick recovery,’ the tournament wrote on Instagram.

‘I’m very sorry to the fans who were looking forward to seeing me play. I’ll take some time to rest and recover,’ the 27-year-old from Kazakhstan said in a statement shared by the tournament.

A day earlier, Rybakina lost to 118th-ranked Alina Charaeva in the second round of the China Open in Beijing. She said afterward she was having trouble with her foot.

It was Rybakina’s first match since winning last month’s US Open and claiming the top women’s ranking.

The House Committee on Revision of Laws on Monday approved several measures seeking to declare new holidays to commemorate historical, religious and national events.

Among the measures is a group of bills seeking to declare Jan. 22 a special working holiday to be known as National Farmers’ Day. The House bills were filed by Reps. Nelson Legacion, Sarah Jane Elago and Audrey Kay Zubiri.

Other measures seek to declare June 19 a special working holiday for the birth anniversary of national hero Jose Rizal; the third Wednesday of Easter as the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary; Sept. 12 as National Day of Prayer; and May 13 as a special working holiday for the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima.

Elago said the proposed National Farmer’s Day would honor farmers who died in the 1987 Mendiola massacre and recognize the continuing struggles of Filipino farmers.

‘Napakahalagang matalakay ito sa ating committee meeting ngayon para sa mga magsasakang nagbuwis ng buhay sa Mendiola at para sa lahat ng magsasakang patuloy na nagsasakripisyo,’ Elago said.

(It is important to discuss this at our committee meeting today for the farmers who sacrificed their lives in Mendiola and for all the farmers who continue to make sacrifices.)

‘Isulong natin ang National Farmers’ Day hindi lang bilang pagkilala sa sakripisyo kung hindi rin sa napakalaking papel nila sa pagsulong ng food sufficiency at sa patuloy na pagkilos para sa lupa, kabuhayan, at katarungan,’ she said.

(Let us push for National Farmers’ Day not only to recognize the sacrifices of farmers but also their important role in advancing food sufficiency and their continuing fight for land, livelihood and justice.)

The 1987 Mendiola massacre occurred on Jan. 22, when security forces opened fire on farmers and land reform advocates who had gathered near Mendiola Bridge in Manila. Thirteen farmers were killed.

Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas chairman emeritus Rafael Mariano also backed the proposal, saying a holiday dedicated to farmers was ‘long overdue.’

‘Malakas ang historical at moral na basehan at relevance, significance nitong tatlong panukalang batas kung kaya amin po itong buong lakas na sinusuportahan na agarang maisabatas,’ Mariano said.