Category: Philippines Daily Inquirer

The national government-run Amai Pakpak Medical Center (APMC) in Marawi City has encouraged at-risk individuals to undergo HIV screening as the number of confirmed cases treated through its AIDS treatment hub surged to 232 from 2022 up to recently

Dr. Monerah Luzviminda Macud, a medical specialist at APMC, said the hospital remains open to individuals who want to be screened for Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV).

APMC began serving as an AIDS treatment hub in 2020, but its services were temporarily suspended before resuming in 2022, Macud said.

Of the 232 confirmed cases recorded since then, 92 are currently receiving treatment at APMC.

Macud said not all patients come from Lanao del Sur province, as some were referred from other areas, including Metro Manila.

Some 64 of those diagnosed were students, while most of the patients were aged 20 to 29. Twelve were below 20, while the youngest recorded patient was 15.

Most of the confirmed cases were men who have sexual relationships with other men, Macud said.

She explained that HIV screening involves a blood sample and that pregnant women are also encouraged to undergo testing to help prevent mother-to-child transmission.

APMC strictly observes protocols protecting the privacy of its clients, Macud said. ‘We do not require clients to line up just to get their medicines,’ she said, adding that counseling is conducted before HIV screening.

Malacañang warned the public on Sunday against a fabricated graphic circulating online claiming that classes have been suspended on Oct. 5, Monday, for the celebration of National Teachers’ Day.

In an advisory posted on its official Facebook page, the Presidential Communications Office (PCO) said it did not issue such an announcement.

‘The public is advised to refrain from sharing unverified information and to rely only on announcements from official government sources,’ the PCO added.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. also did not sign any proclamation suspending classes on Oct. 5, based on the issuances published on the Official Gazette website.

However, several local government units suspended their face-to-face classes on Monday for the celebration of National Teachers’ Day.

Republic Act No. 10743 declares every fifth day of October each year as National Teachers’ Day in recognition of the role of educators in shaping the nation.

It is a special working holiday and as such, is treated as an ordinary, regular working day.

Falsifying proof of cohabitation may be a ground for the nullification of an unlicensed marriage, according to the Supreme Court.

Ruling on a case concerning a couple in Antique, the high tribunal said the couple’s marriage was void from the beginning because their affidavit of cohabitation was falsely executed.

‘As the records of this case show, there is inadequate evidence proving that (they) continuously and exclusively cohabited as husband and wife for a period of five years immediately preceding the celebration of their marriage,’ it said in a 15-page decision penned by Associate Justice Henri Inting.

The high court, which handed down the ruling on Feb. 24, but this was made public on Friday, upheld the separate rulings of the Court of Appeals in 2021 and 2022 and the regional trial court in San Jose, Antique, in 2016.

The case stemmed from a petition for the declaration of nullity the husband filed with the San Jose court in 2013, admitting that the affidavit of cohabitation he signed with his supposed wife was false as he had been working overseas for three years out of the six years they lived together.

The couple tried to contract a marriage without a license in May 2009, claiming that they had been residing in the same house since 2003, well within the minimum duration of five years required for a cohabitation to be declared a marriage.

Such a circumstance allows for marriages to be exempt from obtaining a license under Article 34 of the Family Code. The couple could instead execute an affidavit, which shall be approved by a solemnizing officer under oath to ensure that there are no legal obstacles to the marriage.

But the husband asserted that the marriage does not fall within the exemption stipulated in the law because they did not live together for straight years, including the years he was abroad for work.

Kaladkaren expressed admiration for Paolo Ballesteros as she revealed that the latter gives back to the staff they work with in ‘Drag Race Philippines’ by raffling off his salary every finale.

Kaladkaren, whose real name is Jervi Wrightson, took to X on Saturday, Oct. 3 to praise Ballesteros for his generosity.

‘Yung sahod niya every finale, pinapa raffle sa staff. Ganyan siya ka generous,’ Kaladkaren said, replying to a fan’s thread about the things they admire about Ballesteros.

The news anchor described Ballesteros as someone who makes sure his staff and fellow queens are well-taken care of.

‘??Napakabuti ni Mama Pao. ‘Pag may kailangan kami ng mga kasama niya, staff or queens, inaasikaso at inuuna niya kami,’ she said.

”Pag may pagkain siya lahat din kami bibigyan niya. Kumbaga isusubo niya na lang ibibigay pa niya sa iba,’ she added.

Kaladkaren described Ballesteros as one of the first people to arrive on set, saying he starts getting ready as early as 5 a.m. and practically lives at the studio whenever it’s filming season.

Ballesteros serves as the host of ‘Drag Race Philippines,’ since the franchise premiered in 2022, while Kaladkaren serves as one of its judges alongside Jon Santos.

The Philippine edition of the ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ franchise is currently in its fourth season, with 12 Filipino drag queens competing for the crown.

During the debut episode of the fourth season on Friday, Oct. 2, the show paid tribute to 27-year-old performer Misua, who died in her sleep on April 2 while filming the latest season.

Police arrested the No. 9 most wanted person in the Mimaropa region in Calamba City, Laguna, on Saturday, Oct. 3, after years of evading arrest, authorities said.

The suspect was arrested around 11 a.m. in Barangay Real through a joint operation led by the San Jose Municipal Police Station and involving police units from Occidental Mindoro and Laguna, according to the Police Regional Office-Mimaropa.

The suspect was arrested by virtue of a Jan. 12, 2017, warrant for murder, with no recommended bail. He was brought to the San Jose police station for documentation and proper disposition.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen took his first win of the season at a chaotic Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia on Sunday that only started on the second attempt, one hour and 40 minutes late because of rain.

Verstappen gained the lead after an early safety car and led home the Mercedes of championship leader Kimi Antonelli and the Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton at the Sepang International Circuit.

But there was agony for George Russell, who had to retire from third place in the second Mercedes with five laps to go when his power unit appeared to fail under a late safety car.

An eventual standing start saw four-time world champion Verstappen start from pole for the first time this season after dominating practice and qualifying.

But he had a slow getaway on intermediate tires, allowing the Mercedes pair of Antonelli and Russell to pass him easily in the wet early conditions.

A safety car when Valtteri Bottas spun into the gravel on lap nine saw most drivers dive in for new slick tires to take advantage of a rapidly drying track.

Verstappen took a lead that he would not relinquish when the safety car ended, swooping past Antonelli and Russell and quickly opened a comfortable gap.

Hamilton started on the front row on dry tyres and quickly slid down the field in the wet conditions.

But the seven-time world champion used all his experience to work his way back through the field for a brilliant podium place as the surface dried out.

His teammate Charles Leclerc was fourth with Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar in fifth.

The Bahrain Grand Prix was being raced in Malaysia due to disruption in the Gulf linked to the US-led war with Iran.

The Asian Games were a blur, a sports kaleidoscope of 45 countries and regions that went dark on Sunday, closed officially by Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad Al Thani, the president of the Olympic Council of Asia.

The games featured about 11,000 athletes – more than the Summer Olympics two years ago in Paris. And now they head west to Doha, Qatar, in 2030.

This will be a homecoming. Sheikh Joaan is a Qatari, a younger brother of the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Al Thani.

Amid the whirlwind of 43 sports – there were many regional specialties featured like kurash, kabaddi and sepaktakraw – the games provided a glimpse at many top athletes who will compete again in two years at the Los Angeles Olympics.

China topped the medal table as it has for decades with 169 gold and 341 overall. Japan was second with 83 gold and 269 overall. South Korea (39, 150) was next followed by India (21, 85), Uzbekistan (21, 70) and Iran (19, 52).

Forty of the 45 countries or regions won at least one medal. The bottom four won only a single bronze medal: Bangladesh, Brunei, Laos and Syria. Japanese 17-year-old Shin Ohashi set a swimming world record in the 200-meter breaststroke (2 minutes, 4.83 seconds), the first to swim under 2:05.

Also in the pool, Chinese 13-year-old female Yu Zidi won the 200 butterfly and the 200 and 400 medley relays. Organizers named her the female MVP of the event. Zhang Zhanshou was the other prominent Chinese swimmer, a freestyler who won seven gold medals.

The male MVP was track and field sprinter Puripol Boonson of Thailand, who clocked 9.90 in the 100 and 19.88 in the 200.

India defeated bitter rival Pakistan for gold in men’s cricket, and South Korea’s men won both the baseball and soccer gold. That granted team members an exemption from mandatory military service at home. Tom Kim also picked up the exemption, taking men’s singles golf.

Mixed martial arts also debuted, without the cage and with fighters wearing gloves and shin pads. Proponents talk of a long-shot to land in the 2032 Olympics in Brisbane, Australia.

Organizers and the OCA offered an aggressive defense of the games, which were dotted with glitches and larger mistakes.

Japanese organizers put on what they termed ‘sustainable’ games – no athletes village, lodging for athletes on a cruise ship, in hotels and in temporary containers. The transportation system was also stressed by venues that stretched from Nagoya, the host city, across central Japan. Swimming was in Tokyo with some soccer in Osaka.

Despite the focus on austerity and ‘no white elephants,’ organizers and the OCA added a half-dozen sports to the program. They planned for 15,000 athletes and officials, but they said 17,000 arrived through late registrations.

To cram in more sports, organizers began the basketball competition on Sept. 10, nine days before the official opening. The Olympics often do the same, starting two or three days ahead – but not nine.

‘We had some delays of buses and we’d like to apologize for that,’ Hideaki Omura, the governor of Aichi prefecture and the head of the organizing committee, said Sunday. He described the event as having faced ‘huge challenges.’

Some of the glitches included buses heading to the wrong destination, the North Korean anthem played at a field hockey match between South Korea and Bangladesh, and an initial scramble to find beds for all 17,000 officials and athletes.

As is usual at large events, audible complaints seemed to fall off once the event got rolling and the sports took over.

Fallout from pandemic-delayed Tokyo Games

Nagoya was awarded this event in 2016 – before COVID-19 and before the Tokyo Olympics were delayed until 2021. Japan officially spent $13 billion on the Tokyo Games although a government report said the real number might be twice that much,

Nagoya organizers in 2016 announced a budget of roughly $650 million, but late in 2025 they said the budget had swollen to about $2.5 billion – almost four times as much.

The Japanese advertising giant Dentsu, convicted of bid-rigging connected to the Tokyo Olympics, was kept out of bidding on contracts for the Asian Games. Dentsu has wide experience running large sports events and lining up sponsors.

A spokesman for Maoist rebels operating in Southern Mindanao has called on the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to intervene in the case of a pregnant New People’s Army (NPA) guerrilla leader who was allegedly the subject of a kill attempt some two weeks ago in Davao del Norte.

Kim Montiza, spokesperson for the National Democratic Front-Far South Mindanao Region (NDF-FSMR), told the Inquirer the intervention from ICRC and human rights groups and lawyers will help ensure that the rights of Arnida Cuaton Manuiguilid, alias ‘Ka Lovi,’ are respected as she recuperates from a lone but serious gunshot wound.

Montiza emphasized that under International Humanitarian Law (IHL), pregnant women and incapacitated combatants are strictly protected from attacks.

According to Montiza, Manuiguilid was around six months pregnant when she went on medical leave from her guerrilla unit in the first week of August.

At past 6:00 p.m. on September 19, as Manuiguilid was closing the gate of her safe house after a quick run at a mall in Tagum City, Davao del Norte, an unidentified gunman opened fire, leaving her crumpled and bleeding on the street, Montiza said.

The single bullet entered Manuiguilid’s back and exited through her chest, a detail confirmed by Maj. Ruben Gadut, spokesperson for the Army’s 10th Infantry Division (10ID).

But Gadut said the Maoist fighter is now in stable condition, although Montiza claims that the amazona is ‘paralyzed from the waist down’ because of the gunshot wound.

Both Gadut and Montiza are clueless regarding the condition of Manuiguilid’s pregnancy following the traumatic attack.

For days following the shooting, her exact situation was unclear. However, Gadut said that on September 25, Manuiguilid had ‘surrendered’ and was by then receiving treatment in Koronadal City, South Cotabato, more than 200 kilometers away from Tagum.

Gadut claimed that the transfer was made upon Manuiguilid’s own request. Hailing originally from General Santos City, she asked to be brought to Koronadal City so she could be closer to her family.

Gadut distanced the military from the September 19 shooting, labeling it a ‘police matter’ that involved an unidentified perpetrator.

The Army, Gadut pointed out, only entered the picture on September 25 to facilitate her surrender.

‘Our immediate concern was to ensure that she was safely brought under government care and provided the medical attention she needed,’ Gadut said.

Sixteen teachers and students were injured following tensions with police at a protest outside Malacañang on Sunday, a day before World Teachers’ Day, the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) said.

The group said the protesters were calling for economic relief, including a P50,000 entry-level salary for teachers, a P5,000 Personnel Economic Relief Allowance, increased funding for education, and broader reforms in the education sector.

ACT alleged that the personal belongings of five protesters were damaged and that two megaphones were forcibly taken and broken by police.

‘We call on all teachers, education support personnel, students, and all members of the education sector to remain firm and stand united against state harassment as we fight for teachers’ rights and welfare and quality education for all,’ ACT said in a statement on Sunday.

ACT Rep. and Deputy Minority Leader Antonio Tinio condemned the police dispersal of the teachers’ protest.

‘The violence carried out by the police against teachers who were peacefully calling for higher salaries and benefits is unacceptable,’ he said.

Tinio also said the police response was unacceptable, noting that the protesters were peacefully raising legitimate concerns about teachers’ salaries and benefits.

The Inquirer sought comment from the Philippine National Police and the National Capital Region Police Office, but received no response as of posting time.

A couple of years ago, during my daily walk around the University of the Philippines oval, I felt thirsty and realized I had no money with me. My granddaughter Julia, who was walking with me, said I could pay with my phone. ‘You have GCash, don’t you, Lolo?’ I did, but a bottle of water cost only P30, and it seemed inappropriate to make a digital transfer for such a small amount. Every student does it, she assured me. Only then did I notice the card bearing a QR code in front of nearly every stall on campus.

For most of my adult life, I paid with credit cards and worried about settling the bill on time. The debit card was more convenient, but then it left your entire bank account exposed to unauthorized payments and scams. The e-wallet, like GCash and Maya, removes that worry: you keep only a small amount in it and can spend no more than it holds. The payor pays no extra charge; it is the vendor who pays a small fee for the service.

Today, QR payment is everywhere. GCash and Maya still dominate, but the banks have joined in; every mobile banking app in use now has a QR button. This is possible because the code is a national standard. It’s called One QR PH, an initiative of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), which any bank or wallet can read. By the BSP’s count, digital transactions made up nearly two-thirds of retail payments by volume last year, up from a fifth in 2020. In many ways, we have half-consciously walked into a digitalized financial system that is fast becoming the norm in many parts of the world.

I saw a more advanced version of it on a recent visit to China. My Singapore-based grandchildren wanted to see the pandas in Chengdu, and I joined them to get a glimpse, however fleeting, of modern China itself. We explored Chengdu and Chongqing on our own, which meant downloading Alipay and WeChat before we arrived, and activating them later with a scanned passport and a linked card. You cannot travel around China without them; cash is still accepted, but it has become the exception. Unlike our single QR national standard, however, these two giants use distinct QR codes. Most shops display both. Efforts to make them interoperable have only begun.

Our first dinner, at a small Hong Kong-style restaurant in Chongqing, showed me what the technology does beyond payment. A waitress pointed to the QR code sticker on our table and said something in Chinese. Xavier, my older grandson, who studies Mandarin in Singapore, translated: she wanted us to scan the code with WeChat or Alipay. The menu opened instantly, and we ticked off the dishes we wanted. The waitress brought us glasses of warm water and chatted with the children, but she would not take our order. When we were done ordering, the same app led us to the payment page, and a few minutes later the dishes arrived. When we wanted extra servings, the servers again pointed to the QR code to order and to pay. It was like ordering Grab Food, except that we were sitting in the restaurant.

The system failed me only once. A ride payment did not go through because my card needed an OTP that had been sent through Viber, which I failed to see. In near panic, I found that WeChat lets you ask a contact in your list (WeChat is also a social media platform) to pay your bill. The contact approved, and that was that. It struck me that this faceless system had, in the end, found a place for a real person.

It is an amazing technology, and it is already here. I think we cannot avoid integrating it into our daily lives as the economy becomes more complex and differentiated. But as GCash, perhaps the closest equivalent of Alipay, prepares to launch its IPO later this month, two obstacles are worth noting. The first is infrastructure. Even on the University of the Philippines campus, a payment often fails because of weak internet connection; outside Metro Manila, the network completely vanishes the moment the power is cut. The second is trust. Nothing deters Filipinos from using their phones to make payments more than unauthorized charges against their accounts. No one has measured the fraud, but it must be pervasive; otherwise, banks would not be sending almost daily warnings not to share passwords.

Banks and other financial entities are now liable for fraudulent transactions, but not when account owners themselves hand over their passwords or passkeys. That exception says a lot. Trust among persons is cultivated through norm-setting and institutionalization. When it is transferred from persons to systems, it rests less on knowing anyone than on knowing that someone is ultimately answerable when things fail. The exception leaves out precisely the scams that are able to manipulate victims to authorize the payment themselves.

One can only imagine how much faith it takes to entrust one’s money to an automated system whose workings one barely understands. At that Chongqing restaurant, the waitress lingered a while after bringing us warm water. The system had taken over her work in the transaction chain, but not her courtesy. That arrangement is what is fast becoming the norm: systems for the specialized transactions, persons for the remaining face-to-face hospitality.