Category: Philippines Daily Inquirer

A 33-year-old man was killed while two others were wounded in a stabbing brawl late Monday in Sitio Amuguis, Barangay Sta. Rita here.

The victim was declared dead on arrival when first responders tried to provide emergency treatment. The two other injured victims were identified as a 60-year-old man and a 40-year-old man, both of whom received medical assistance and were transported to a health facility.

Dennis Escosora, head of the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Department, said on Wednesday that the stabbings occurred during a drinking spree.

The Scene of the Crime Operatives (SOCO) have begun processing the site, and authorities are conducting a full investigation to establish the motive and identify the perpetrators.

Malaysia anticipates increasing its palm oil exports to the Philippines this year due to expected tighter supply from Indonesia, according to an industry group.

‘I’m expecting exports to the Philippines to increase,’ Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC) CEO Belvinder Sron said on Wednesday. ‘We probably exported more than 700,000 [metric] tons. We are definitely looking at sustaining that market.’

Sron said the archipelago will see increased palm oil shipments primarily due to limited supplies from Indonesia. Indonesia has boosted its domestic consumption after increasing its biodiesel blend to 50 percent oil-based fuel starting in July this year.

‘A lot of palm is being used domestically in the Indonesian market. There’s going to be less supply out there, so the country that will be able to provide sufficient supply for export markets will be Malaysia,’ Sron said on the sidelines of the Malaysian Palm Oil Forum.

‘We are in a position where we still have a lot of quantity or a lot of supply available for our markets there,’ she told Filipino journalists.

Sron predicts that Indonesia will use 17 million MT of palm oil for biodiesel, which will reduce the volume available for export to various importing countries.

Meanwhile, Malaysia is targeting at least 16 million MT in palm oil exports this year, up 5.3 percent from the actual shipment of 15.2 million MT in 2025as improved production bolsters its supply despite no increase in the total area planted with palm oil.

Sron said the El Niño phenomenon won’t immediately affect Malaysia’s palm oil production, adding, ‘We are only going to see that effect probably in 2027. At the moment, production has been good. We are in the peak production month.’

‘Even production is going to be good in this country. Production is not a problem here because the yields are improving. Our land area has not increased, but we are focusing on yields,’ she added.

Regionally, Sron said palm oil shipments across Southeast Asia will rise, noting that the ASEAN markets are performing very well.

The House of Representatives on Wednesday approved P116 billion in amendments to the P7.2-trillion 2027 national budget, adopting the redistribution recommendations of a select panel of ranking lawmakers.

The House floor resolved through a division of the House whether to adopt the Budget Amendments Review Subcommittee’s (BARSc) recommendation to rechannel roughly P116 billion in amendments. The vote was by acclamation of lawmakers in plenary.

The voice vote followed an objection by ACT Teachers Rep. Antonio Tinio, who opposed approving the budget realignments by substitution, arguing that the method lacked transparency.

‘A total of P116 billion was changed here, with the significant amendments … going to aid programs which involve the discretion of legislators in allocating these welfare funds,’ Tinio, an opposition lawmaker, told the floor in Filipino.

The People’s Budget Coalition, a civil group monitoring budget developments, said in a statement last week that about P99.41 billion, or 85 percent, ‘went to items we tag as red flags,’ referring to the amendments made by BARSc.

The bulk of the rechanneled funding was streamed toward programs that rely on ‘politician referrals’ and ‘infrastructure insertions with opaque project plans,’ it said.

Reina Mercedes, Isabela Vice Mayor Jeryll Harold Respicio on Wednesday (October 7) has been cleared by a P28,000 drug test at the St. Luke Medical Center in Quezon City.

After he got the results on Wednesday (October 7), the local official joked that Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla should now reimburse him.

‘Jonvic, refund me. The drug test is pricey,’ Respicio said after posting the results of the test for cocaine, ecstasy, opiates, methamphetamine, tricyclic antidepressants, terrahydrocannabinol, poproxyphen and benzodiazepenes.

A lawyer and an accountant, Respicio also posted the hospital invoice indicating his expenses.

The vice mayor had been controversial for a furious and expletive-laden exchange he had with barangay officials at a municipal council session on the use of tobacco excise tax shares.

This scene was recorded and posted online.

Remulla was quoted as saying, ‘I advised (Isabela Governor Rodolfo Albano III) to have the vice mayor undergo a drug test because his behavior looks like that of an addict.’

‘Is there any normal vice mayor who behaves like that? He seemed out of his mind. It was like he wasn’t himself,’ the secretary suspected.

‘Boss Jonvic, here are the results,’ Respicio said in his post.

Hours earlier, he tried to provoke Remulla into taking the drug test with him.

‘Secretary Jonvic, let us have a drug test… Accompany me to St. Lukes, now! Today! Let us see if Atty. Harold Respicio is using drugs,’ he posted.

He later announced in a live interview that the qualitative results of his drug test would be released within 15-minutes, and the quantitative results would take two hours.

Respicio said he will be willing to be penalized as long as the national government will also punish those alleged corrupt officials in his town, among others.

‘Let them punish me. But what I also want to happen is for them to punish those who are stealing from our town, and those who are taking advantage of the water, or the farmers,’ he later suggested.

More Filipinos were employed in August as unemployment and underemployment declined, but labor coalition Sentro ng mga Nagkakaisa at Progresibong Manggagawa (Sentro) called for more decent jobs and higher wages, saying the latest labor figures also raised concerns about the quality of employment and workers’ purchasing power.

The number of employed Filipinos rose to 49.79 million in August from 49.21 million in July, while unemployment fell to 5.3% from 6% and underemployment declined to 11.9% from 12.9%, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

In a statement Wednesday, Sentro welcomed the improvement but said the employment figures should also be examined alongside the types of work being generated and the number of hours workers are getting.

‘From July to August, the largest increase in employment by class of worker came among those who worked without pay in their own family-operated farm or business-the so-called unpaid family workers. This was followed by the self-employed and then those who worked for private households,’ the labor coalition said.

It said the same pattern was seen in the annual change from August 2025 to August 2026, with unpaid family workers recording the largest increase, followed by self-employed workers without employees and those working for private households.

‘This tells us something important about the nature of the employment being generated. An increase in the number of employed Filipinos does not necessarily mean an increase in the number of Filipinos finding stable, adequately paid jobs,’ the group said.

The labor coalition also pointed to the decline in working hours. The average Filipino worker worked 39.2 hours a week in August, down from 40.6 hours in July and 41 hours a year earlier.

‘So the question is no longer simply whether Filipinos have jobs. The question is whether those jobs provide enough work and enough income to live decently,’ Sentro said.

The latest labor figures came as inflation accelerated sharply in September.

The PSA reported that headline inflation rose to 7.2% in September from 6.1% in August, with food inflation reaching 6.7% and transport inflation accelerating to 14.6%.

Inflation was even higher among households in the bottom 30% income group, rising to 9% in September from 8.2% in August.

According to the PSA, inflation for households in the bottom 30% income group in the National Capital Region (NCR) accelerated to 5.7% in September from 4.3% in August. Outside the NCR, it also increased to 9.1% from 8.4% over the same period.

Sentro said the combination of fewer working hours and rising prices was putting additional pressure on workers’ incomes.

‘The government should not be satisfied with simply counting jobs,’ the group said. ‘The real measure of employment recovery must be whether jobs provide workers with enough income to feed their families, pay their bills and live decently.’

Sentro reiterated its call for an immediate ?200 across-the-board national wage increase, saying it would help restore workers’ purchasing power and support domestic consumption.

It also called for a stronger industrial policy backed by public investment, a public employment program, greater protection for workers in informal, precarious and platform-based employment, and the convening of a national dialogue on the cost-of-living crisis.

The group said the proposed dialogue should bring together workers, employers, transport workers, farmers, consumers and government representatives to discuss rising prices, wages and household incomes.

Sentro also urged the government to consider faster wage adjustments when inflation accelerates, provide income support during major external shocks, protect workers and commuters from fuel and transport price increases, and strengthen domestic food production.

‘The August LFS tells us that Filipinos are willing to work,’ Sentro said. ‘The challenge is whether the economy can provide them with enough work, decent wages and secure livelihoods.’

Two bank accounts belonging to a banana chips company partly owned by Vice President Sara Duterte’s husband, Atty. Manases Carpio, were closed in July 2026, the same month her impeachment trial began, the Senate Impeachment Court learned on Wednesday.

During Senator-judge Francis ‘Kiko’ Pangilinan’s questioning, prosecution witness and Security Bank Branch Banking Group Head Leslie Cham confirmed that Calle88 Foods Corp. had two peso-denominated checking accounts with the bank, both of which were closed in July 2026.

The first account, ending in 2013, was opened in August 2024 and had an ending balance of P332,530.95 in 2024 and P16,987.59 in 2025. The second account, ending in 8581, was opened in October 2025 and had an ending balance of P21,164.27 that year.

‘Both closed in July 2026,’ Cham said.

When Pangilinan asked the witness if the bank had records of monthly transactions in the company’s accounts from 2024, Cham answered in the negative.

‘These are all system-generated, and I don’t look into the day-to-day transactions of it. So I was not able to have that transaction in place,’ Cham explained.

Pangilinan noted that the two accounts were opened and terminated when Duterte was already vice president.

‘So from 2024 to 2025 to 2026, it would be interesting to get the information as to the amounts that went in and out, considering that in the AMLC (Anti-Money Laundering Council) report, about P319 million went in for transactions from China,’ the senator-judge said.

‘So we don’t know if that was through the peso account or if that was through the dollar account. That would be something that is worthy of looking into, honestly,’ he added.

Testifying for the prosecution on Monday, AMLC Secretariat Executive Director Ronel Buenaventura confirmed that Calle88 received over P319 million in funds from various Chinese companies.

The company appeared in the vice president’s statement of assets, liabilities and net worth from 2021 to 2025.

When later pressed by Senator-judge Raffy Tulfo, the Security Bank official confirmed that Calle88’s first account had total incoming and outgoing funds of P40,138,766.28 and P40,001,101.79, respectively.

Isabela town Vice Mayor Jeryll Harold Respicio tested negative for illegal drugs after undergoing a P28,000 test at a private hospital, following Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla’s call for him to undergo testing after his outburst during a council session.

Respicio took a test at St. Luke’s Medical Center-Quezon City, saying it was expensive.

‘Jonvic, irefund mo ako. Ang mahal ng drug test,’ he said in Facebook post.

(‘Jonvic, refund me. The drug test was expensive.’)

Remulla earlier said Isabela Governor Rodolfo Albano III is addressing the incident involving Respicio, the Reina Mercedes vice mayor whose video went viral engaging in a heated confrontation with barangay officials during a Sangguniang Bayan session.

The confrontation erupted during discussions over projects funded by tobacco excise tax shares, prompting police officers to step in.

The incident was livestreamed and later circulated on social media.

‘Governor Albano is handling it. Pero I advised him to give him a drug test kasi mukhang adik ‘yung asal niya. Meron bang normal na vice mayor na gano’n? Parang wala sa sarili. Parang hindi halal,’ Remulla said during a media interview.

(‘Governor Albano is handling it. But I advised him to have the vice mayor undergo a drug test because his behavior looks like that of an addict. Is there any normal vice mayor who behaves like that? He seemed out of his mind. It was like he wasn’t himself.’)

‘Dapat mag focus siya sa health niya, itigil niya ‘yang drugs,’ he added.

(‘He should focus on his health and stop using drugs.’)

Philadelphia 76ers center Ariel Hukporti suffered a season-ending right Achilles tendon tear in Monday night’s preseason game against the New York Knicks, the team said Tuesday.

Hukporti, who signed a free agent deal with Philadelphia in July, suffered the injury in the first quarter. He went down grabbing at his right leg after the non-contact injury before leaving the game.

The team said Hukporti will undergo surgery later Tuesday.

The 76ers signed Hukporti to a $3.4 million, one-year deal to add frontcourt depth behind two-time NBA scoring champion Joel Embiid and Adem Bona. Hukporti averaged 2.2 points in 54 games with the reigning NBA champion Knicks last season.

The 24-year-old Hukporti, who is from Germany, was the final pick of the 2024 draft by Dallas and had his rights traded that night to the Knicks.

Los Angeles Clippers guard Max Strus is out for at least a month with a right foot injury.

The team said he suffered a partial tear of the plantar fascia in Sunday’s 104-101 win over the Golden State Warriors in the teams’ preseason opener in Hawaii. He’ll be reevaluated in four weeks.

Strus joins forward Brandon Ingram (Achilles tendon) as new Clippers players who will be sidelined initially.

The Clippers open the season on Oct. 21 at home against Sacramento.

Strus averaged 11.2 points and 5.4 rebounds while appearing in 12 games for Cleveland last season after missing the first five months with a broken left foot.

The Clippers acquired Strus in August as part of a five-team trade.

Philippine Olympic Committee president Bambol Tolentino stood by his gold forecast for Team Philippines at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, saying a series of close calls showed the ambitious target was within reach even after the country finished with four gold medals.

Tolentino defended his projection as Filipino medalists gathered late Monday evening at Century Park Hotel for a welcome dinner that doubled as an assessment of the Philippines’ campaign in Japan.

Carlos Yulo, EJ Obiena and Jeus Yape, who combined to win all four Philippine golds, were among the athletes honored after the delegation also brought home nine silvers and 16 bronzes.

‘I can say that I am not ashamed [when I said] eight [gold medals] were doable. I can explain it,’ Tolentino said.

Yulo accounted for half of the gold-medal haul, Obiena retained his dominance in pole vault, and Yape emerged as an unexpected champion in the obscure virtual taekwondo.

The four golds matched the Philippines’ output from the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Asian Games and the pandemic-delayed 2022 Hangzhou edition.

But Tolentino, who predicted eight golds before the delegation left for Japan, said several results could easily have pushed the total closer-or even past-his target.

‘To those asking, ‘Where’s eight?’ Yes, it was eight,’ Tolentino said. ‘Maybe we’ll just pick from those who got a silver and one from bronze so it would be eight.’

He pointed to the disputed finals loss of boxer Carlo Paalam, the defeat of mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter Jean Claude Saclag and the bronze-medal finish of middle-distance runner Victoria Bossong among the opportunities that got away.

‘You all saw what happened to Carlo Paalam, and it’s all up for you to judge what happened,’ Tolentino said. ‘Both jiujitsu and taekwondo silvers got zero in the scoring. It was the referees who decided the outcome.’

‘I’ve long been saying that we have someone who could win in MMA, and it was Saclag who got the silver. He knocked out his opponent in the first round [but he became] too eager. And with all due respect to Victoria, her heat time was better than the winning time in the final, so it should have been gold.’

‘So we are not denying that it can be achieved, because I and [Philippine Sports Commission Chairman Pato Gregorio] had every reason to believe that we could get eight. It’s actually more than eight,’ he added.