Category: Philippines Daily Inquirer

Consumers in the Visayas may experience power interruptions on Tuesday, as the grid operator issued a new red alert due to persistently tight electricity supply.

In an advisory, the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines said the red alert would be up from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.

A yellow alert would also be in effect from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m., and 8 p.m. to 10 p.m.

A yellow alert indicates that available power reserves are thinning, meaning any unexpected plant outage could trigger service interruptions. A red alert indicates that supply cannot meet demand, heightening the chances of rotational brownouts unless people manage their consumption.

The Visayas’ available capacity as of Tuesday morning was 2,421 megawatts (MW), while peak demand was 2,570 MW.

The thin power situation still stems from the unavailability of major coal plants in the Visayas and limited imports from Mindanao.

The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) on Tuesday deployed additional personnel and oil spill response equipment as authorities work to retrieve a tugboat that sank off Bucao River in Barangay Bangan, in Botolan, Zambales.

An underwater survey was attempted to assess the condition of the sunken tugboat SL SUAL, but poor weather and water conditions hampered the operation, Commander Euphraim Jayson Diciano, head of the PCG in Zambales, said.

Diciano said additional oil spill response equipment and personnel from the PCG’s Marine Environmental Protection Group in Manila had arrived in the area as a precaution against a possible fuel leak.

‘So in case there is a spill, we are prepared,’ Diciano said in a phone interview.

The vessel was carrying about 15,000 liters of diesel, but Diciano said no leakage had been detected as of the latest assessment.

He explained that although diesel was not considered persistent oil and could eventually ‘dissipate through wave interaction and evaporation,’ they continued to monitor the area because a diesel spill could still affect the marine environment.

‘Our priority now is to retrieve the vessel because it will be more difficult once it is covered by sediment,’ Diciano added.

According to Diciano, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has also conducted water sampling in the area to monitor possible contamination.

The tugboat SL SUAL sank on Monday while emergency salvage operations were underway after it ran aground at Bucao River on Aug. 14.

No bettor won the P238.84 million Ultra Lotto 6/58 jackpot in the Tuesday, Aug. 25 draw, according to the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO).

The Ultra Lotto 6/58 winning combination was 57-36-34-49-17-43. The jackpot stood at P238.84 million, but no ticket matched all six numbers.

No jackpot winner also emerged in Super Lotto 6/49. The winning combination was 17-47-20-42-40-09 for a P25-million jackpot.

Lotto 6/42 likewise had no jackpot winner. The winning combination was 07-13-24-17-01-16, with the jackpot at P13.53 million.

Minor games

6D Lotto: 2-2-1-8-9-0 – P1.05 million; no winner

3D Lotto 2 p.m.: 3-3-9 – P4,500; 152 winners

3D Lotto 5 p.m.: 7-2-6 – P4,500; 182 winners

3D Lotto 9 p.m.: 1-9-4 – P4,500; 340 winners

2D Lotto 2 p.m.: 01-24 – P4,000; 281 winners

2D Lotto 5 p.m.: 31-13 – P4,000; 44 winners

2D Lotto 9 p.m.: 09-31 – P4,000; 219 winners

Draw schedule

Ultra Lotto 6/58 draws are held every Tuesday, Friday and Sunday. Super Lotto 6/49 draws take place every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday, while Lotto 6/42 draws are held every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday

A province-wide ‘whole-of-government and convergence approach’ involving the provincial government, local governments and national government agencies is needed to effectively address Pangasinan’s recurring floods, Vice Gov. Mark Lambino said on Monday (Aug. 24).

‘There should be a province-wide flood mitigation strategy in which local governments work together rather than pursue isolated solutions to a problem that does not stop at political boundaries,’ Lambino said.

Flooding is an annual problem in Pangasinan, damaging infrastructure and causing losses to the agriculture and business sectors.

Recent rains brought by the southwest monsoon (habagat) and tropical cyclones ‘Luis’ and ‘Maymay’ inundated 150 barangays in 12 towns and three cities, leaving several roads impassable for days.

Pangasinan is among 18 provinces identified in the National Adaptation Plan as highly exposed and vulnerable to the effects of climate change, including flooding, according to Ronnel Sopsop, Ilocos regional executive director of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

Carlos Tayag, Ilocos regional director of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau, said nearly half of Pangasinan is susceptible to flooding because the province is bounded to the east by the Cordillera mountain range, from which rainwater drains toward the Pangasinan plains.

‘Runoff generated from upland areas is conveyed downstream into Pangasinan. Urban and low-elevation areas provide favorable conditions for water accumulation and overland flooding,’ Tayag said.

Sopsop and Tayag explained the factors contributing to flooding during the ‘Question Hour’ of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan on Monday.

Pangasinan is traversed by three major river systems, all of which have headwaters in the Cordillera and drain into the Lingayen Gulf.

These are the Agno River, whose delta is the Limahong Channel in Lingayen; the Sinocalan-Pantal River, which drains through the Sabangan River in Dagupan City; and the Bued-Cayanga River, whose delta is in San Fabian.

Because these river systems cross several towns and cities, Lambino said the local towns and cities must coordinate their flood mitigation efforts.

‘The solution of one town cannot be uncoordinated with the solution of an adjacent town,’ he said, pointing out that a flood-control measure in one locality could worsen flooding in another.

‘If the solution of one town is to close off a river so it will not get flooded, what happens to its neighbor?’ Lambino said.

He cited the towns of Calasiao and Binmaley, where floodwaters eventually flow toward the Lingayen Gulf through the Sabangan River in Dagupan City.

Both towns were affected during the recent flooding because floodwaters flowed slowly toward the gulf, Lambino said, citing the need to improve the capacity of the Dagupan waterway.

Even if Calasiao and Binmaley dredged their respective rivers, he said, the flooding problem could persist if the downstream waterway could not efficiently carry the water out to the gulf.

‘That is why there is a need for inter-LGU and inter-agency cooperation to mitigate flooding,’ Lambino said.

He said the whole-of-government approach should include national agencies such as the DENR, National Irrigation Administration (NIA) and Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), alongside the provincial and local governments.

The provincial government has also requested copies of reports from a vulnerability and risk assessment (VRA) being conducted in the province so these can be incorporated into a broader master plan for flood mitigation.

A falling acacia crushed a tricycle and killed its driver in the Sta. Maria, Ilocos Sur on Monday.

The 45-year-old driver, a resident of Barangay Poblacion Sur, was resting inside his tricycle at the Innanus TODA parking area along Dakota Street when the tree fell at around 3 p.m.

Several tricycle drivers in the area noticed the tree beginning to fall and warned people nearby to move away, said Police Lt. Jenson Refuerzo, officer-in-charge of the Sta. Maria Municipal Police Station.

The victim did not apparently hear the warnings because he was asleep inside his tricycle, Refuerzo said in a radio interview.

Two tricycles were damaged in the incident, police said.

Music made by artificial intelligence will be banned from Australia’s top charts under new guidelines aimed at protecting ‘the human nature of artistry,’ an industry body said Tuesday, Aug. 25.

Under new rules in force from Friday, music must be ‘substantially human made’ in order to be eligible for the charts, the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) said.

‘Wholly AI-generated tracks will not be eligible for the ARIA Charts,’ the group said.

It said its charts would exclude songs that use AI ‘to generate the entirety or the primary portion of the creative elements’.

But ‘recordings that use generative AI in a supporting role remain eligible,’ it added.

The move follows growing concern in the music industry over a surge in AI-generated music hitting the airwaves.

In July, a cover of Madonna’s ‘Like a Prayer’ soared to the top of the charts in Australia but drew scrutiny after it was revealed to have used AI-generated vocals and drums.

Streaming giant Spotify has said it will launch a new ‘AI Persona’ badge clearly identifying content producers that are AI-generated and not real people.

More than one-third of new uploads to Apple Music are entirely created with AI, a platform executive told Billboard this year.

That month several major music industry organisations unveiled a labelling system for content created with generative AI that they would like to see widely adopted.

‘These changes reflect our intent to remain dynamic and promote the human nature of artistry in what is – to say the least – a rapidly developing space,’ ARIA CEO Annabelle Herd said.

‘The ARIA Charts will always remain a transparent measurement of the music Australia consumes, but a chart that rewards unlicensed AI output would undercut the very basis of the recorded music we exist to represent,’ she said.

Authorities inspected the fish section of the Baguio City Public Market on Monday (Aug. 24) after a consumer reported buying an unfamiliar crab that she feared could be poisonous.

In a statement issued by the Baguio City Veterinary and Agriculture Office (CVAO), the office said the consumer bought crabs from the market’s Fish Section on Aug. 22 and later noticed a brownish-red crab, estimated to be three to four inches long, mixed with the smaller edible crustaceans she had purchased.

Concerned about the crab’s unusual appearance, the consumer searched online for information and found reports suggesting that it could be poisonous. She decided not to consume the crabs and discarded her purchase.

The consumer reported the matter to the CVAO-Abattoir and Animal Products Quality Assurance Services Division on Aug. 23. She also shared her concern on several online community platforms, where the report gained public attention.

On Aug. 24, CVAO personnel met with the consumer to obtain first-hand information and retrieve the specimen for identification and analysis. However, the crab had already been discarded and was no longer available for examination.

The Meat and Fishery Products Monitoring Task Force, led by the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources-Cordillera (BFAR-CAR), then conducted a joint inspection of the market’s Fish Section together with CVAO, the City Treasury Office-Market Division and the Mayor’s Office Public Safety and Order Division.

The inspection was led by Nazario Briguera, OIC BFAR Cordillera regional director . No suspected poisonous crabs were found during the inspection, according to CVAO.

CVAO said BFAR and the city office could not determine the identity of the crab reported by the consumer nor confirm whether it was poisonous because the specimen was no longer available for examination.

The office also cautioned that photographs alone are not sufficient to establish the species of a crab or determine whether it is poisonous, saying actual species identification and appropriate laboratory analysis are needed.

During the inspection, authorities also distributed information posters on poisonous fish and crabs to raise awareness among consumers and seafood vendors.

CVAO said its personnel conduct daily inspections and monitoring at the Fish Section to help ensure the safety of seafood being sold.

It urged consumers who encounter unfamiliar marine species to immediately report them to BFAR or CVAO and, whenever possible, preserve the specimen for proper assessment.

The office also reminded the public not to rely solely on online searches, artificial intelligence or social media posts to determine whether an unfamiliar marine species is poisonous or safe for consumption

Residents in some remote communities in Mindanao will soon have easier access to free family planning services as DKT Philippines Foundation launched the country’s first family planning ‘floating clinic’ in partnership with the Ministry of Health of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).

The floating clinic, named ‘Hiraya’ (dream or aspiration) and operating under the foundation’s Service Outreach and Distribution Extension (Sodex) Program, was unveiled at BangkaPro, its vessel builder in Taguig City on Thursday.

It will begin serving communities in Tawi-Tawi, Basilan, Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao del Norte, and Maguindanao del Sur in September.

The clinic will also offer free consultations and counseling, long-acting reversible contraceptives such as intrauterine devices (IUDs) and two-rod implants, as well as temporary methods including pills, injectables, and condoms.

‘By bridging the gaps in access to quality, affordable, and culturally sensitive family planning services, [the facility] will empower women, couples, and families in hard-to-reach communities to make informed choices about their reproductive health and to plan the size and spacing of their families,’ said Dr. Ahmad-Fawadz Israel, director general of the Ministry of Health, representing minister Dr. Kadil ‘Jojo’ Sinolinding Jr.

Life-affirming services

Israel pointed out that, ‘in Islam, the religion teaches us the importance of balancing family size with physical, emotional, and financial capacities. This balance is crucial not only for the well-being of the family but also to safeguard the health of both the mother and the child or children.’

He said the Quran, the sacred scripture of Islam, teaches that whoever saves a life is as though they have saved all of humanity, adding that ‘this sacred guidance anchors our mission to extend life-affirming services to those in need.’

He also cited Prophet Muhammad’s teaching that the best among people are those who bring the greatest benefit to others.

‘As we move forward, we commit to expanding access to modern family planning methods, promoting informed choices, addressing misinformation and cultural barriers, and reducing teenage and unintended pregnancies,’ Israel said.

Reducing maternal deaths

Dr. Hardy Dumawing, program manager of National Family Planning under the Department of Health, emphasized that family planning is an essential health intervention under Universal Health Care, the country’s major healthcare reform.

The average Filipino woman now has 1.7 children over her lifetime, the lowest level on record, according to the 2025 National Demographic and Health Survey released by the Philippine Statistics Authority.

The latest total fertility rate marks a sharp drop from 4.1 children per woman recorded in 1993.

‘So, we are already at 1.7 total fertility rate. But why do we keep investing in family planning? Because family planning is no longer a means to control the population. However, it is a means, a health intervention aimed at reducing maternal mortality, adolescent birth rate,’ said Dumawing.

The maternal mortality ratio measures the number of women who die during pregnancy or childbirth, making it an important indicator of women’s health and of the effectiveness of healthcare systems in safeguarding mothers.

According to a report by the World Health Organization, the Philippines recorded 84 maternal deaths for every 100,000 live births in 2023.

While this marked a 28-percent improvement from the 117 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births recorded in 2010, the country still faces a challenge in reaching the Sustainable Development Goal target of 70 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births by 2030.

Topography challenge

Dumawing said one of the Philippines’ challenges is its topography, with many islands that can be difficult to reach, especially when transporting heavy equipment or supplies.

He said the Hiraya initiative will bridge the gap.

Denise van Dijk, board chair of DKT Philippines Foundation Inc. and president of DKT Health Inc., said the foundation has, ‘for more than three decades ,…worked to remove barriers to family planning through innovation and strong partnerships.’

Van Dijk said the Sodex floating clinic marks another significant step toward that goal, helping extend access to family planning products and services to more communities based on their needs and preferences.

BangkoPro founder Romeo Orio said the Philippines’ remote islands pose a unique challenge in delivering healthcare, which the vessel seeks to address by bringing healthcare and family planning professionals directly to underserved communities.

‘When this boat goes into operation, it’s not only going to be carrying passengers, it’s going to be carrying medicine, healthcare professionals. It’s going to be providing valuable family planning services to communities that may be hard to reach by others,’ Orio said.

‘Our work goes beyond providing services-we continuously look for ways to deliver care that is more accessible, responsive, and sustainable for the communities we serve,’ said Loida Almendares, the foundation’s director of programs.

Expansion plans

During the press conference, Van Dijk said they ‘always work from a choice-based perspective,’ educating clients and letting them choose the contraceptive that fits them most.

‘We’ve shown that when public-private partners work together and when you have a community that supports it, the sky is the limit,’ she told the Inquirer when asked about expansion plans.

‘May there be calm waters, meaningful journeys, and many, many lives touched,’ she said during the ceremonial ship christening where she broke a champagne bottle on Hiraya’s bow.

Orio said ‘We’re not only turning over a boat, we’re not only turning over a vessel. We’re sending out a boat that can help change the lives of many people. So to Hiraya, may she sail safely, may she reach many communities and serve many families for many years to come.’

Consumers in the Visayas may experience power interruptions on Tuesday, as the grid operator issued a new red alert due to persistently tight electricity supply.

In an advisory, the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines said the red alert would be up from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.

A yellow alert would also be in effect from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m., and 8 p.m. to 10 p.m.

A yellow alert indicates that available power reserves are thinning, meaning any unexpected plant outage could trigger service interruptions. A red alert indicates that supply cannot meet demand, heightening the chances of rotational brownouts unless people manage their consumption.

The Visayas’ available capacity as of Tuesday morning was 2,421 megawatts (MW), while peak demand was 2,570 MW.

The thin power situation still stems from the unavailability of major coal plants in the Visayas and limited imports from Mindanao.

The Philippine cacao queen is Charita Puentespina. She provided a legacy for us to follow. Sadly, she passed away last Aug. 16 at 86. In 2024, Puentespina was recognized as one of the Inquirer ‘Women of Power’ awardees for her contribution to Philippine agriculture and the cacao/chocolate industry.

She was a farmer, agripreneur and founder of the Puentespina Farms and Malagos Chocolate. Her first farm was established in Davao in 1963. She started with orchid cultivation and propagation and helped save the Philippine waling-waling orchid from extinction.

In 2003, Puentespina ventured into cacao production. In 2017, her cacao beans were feted among the world’s 50 best in the Cocoa Excellence (COEX) competition in Paris, France. This is where more than 400 entries from at least 30 cacao-producing countries compete.

In 2021, Puentespina won the coveted Gold Award for ‘Best Drinking Chocolate in the World’ from the International Chocolate Meals in Hanover, Germany.

Learnings

Puentespina traveled all over Mindanao to share her learnings so that others would benefit. Her objective was ‘not only to make better products, but also to employ more farmers.’ She was the founder and first president of the Cacao Industry and Development Association of Mindanao. This formed the core of the current Philippine Cacao Industry Association, now headed by Armi Lopez-Garcia.

In partnership with Mars Inc., Puentespina put up the Mars Cocoa Development Center, teaching good agricultural practices. She was so successful that, since she won the international COEX award in 2017, a Philippine representative using her learnings has consistently won the same award in every single year.

When we asked Dante Muyco Jr., a 2021 COEX awardee, what impressed him most about Puentespina, he said: ‘She was very generous sharing all she knew about the cacao value chain, including giving us her export contacts in the United States and Asean. She truly inspired us, specially when we had difficulties. She said we should unite and help each other, so that people would know the Philippines has the best cacao and chocolate in the world.’

Cacao credit model

Puentespina’s legacy is a model for agriculture credit. Today, many small farmers have productive capacity, but are not bankable because of insufficient collateral. Puentespina emphasized that loan decisions should instead be made mainly on a cash flow-based value chain with consolidated farmers, supported by an anchor agribusiness, cooperative or processor.

The farmer retains land ownership. Consolidation is in production, technical services, financing and market. The model combines an anchor agriculture enterprise, farmer training and technology, organized smallholder suppliers, quality control, processing/value addition and access to markets. The commercial relationship between an anchor enterprise and small farmers is the main basis for the credit decision, not collateral.

How to do this? An anchor must first be identified. Individual farmers would then be organized into a production cluster or cooperative, with the unifying anchor.

The farmer should then submit a production plan with the following components: crop, area, inputs, yield, production cost, selling price and cash flow. Insurance should be provided, where our extremely limited crop insurance today is recommended to be leveraged with the massive resources of our Government Service Insurance System.

Anchor agribusiness

This anchor is critical. It can help in technology, inputs, training, aggregation, quality control, market and records for credit assessment. The bank will now lend to an agriculture production system, not to an isolated farmer. This approach is similar to Thailand’s Bank of Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC). Of BAAC’s lending, 88-90 percent goes to agriculture, compared to the Land Bank of the Philippines’ 15-20 percent. However, BAAC’s 8-percent return on equity (ROE) and 5.6-percent non-performing loans (NPL) are inferior to Landbank’s 16-percent ROE and 2-percent NPL.

It is acknowledged that Landbank is also a universal bank with commercial lending responsibilities. Though agriculture credit access should be improved, the main problem today is that there are not enough qualified agriculture borrowers with financially feasible loan proposals. The Government should now devote much more attention and resources to reach out to farmers and fisherfolk. It should implement this Puentespina model for credit to grow and the agriculture sector to significantly develop. Puentespina will then become not just the queen of cacao, but also a queen for our current ailing agriculture.