Category: Philippines Daily Inquirer

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has urged more private hospitals to implement the no balance billing and no-copayment policies of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth), saying financial hardship should not prevent Filipinos from getting specialized medical care.

Marcos made the call on Tuesday following the signing of a memorandum of agreement (MOA) between PhilHealth and St. Luke’s Medical Center (SLMC)-Global City to expand access to private hospital services for qualified PhilHealth members.

‘This is so that people who get sick will no longer be afraid to go to private hospitals because they cannot afford to pay,’ Marcos said.

According to Marcos, the MOA between PhilHealth and SLMC ‘reflects a shared commitment to strengthen the implementation of the no co-payment policy and to support the government’s Universal Health Care agenda.’

‘By joining this effort, St. Luke’s also sends an important message: that quality care in leading private hospitals can be made more accessible to qualified PhilHealth members, and that both government and the private sector have a role in making Universal Health Care work,’ he added.

No out-of-pocket expenses

Under PhilHealth’s no co-payment policy, eligible PhilHealth members admitted to basic or ward accommodations in private hospitals do not have to pay additional charges or out-of-pocket expenses for medical services covered by PhilHealth.

The policy was initially limited to indigent patients but was expanded under Republic Act No. 11223, or the Universal Health Care (UHC) Act of 2019, covering all Filipinos regardless of their financial or employment status.

The initiative complements the Marcos administration’s zero balance billing program, which provides free hospital services to ward patients and is currently being implemented in 79 Department of Health (DOH) hospitals and the government’s four specialty centers, as well as the University of the Philippines-Philippine General Hospital.

According to PhilHealth president and chief executive officer Beverly Lorraine Ho, SLMC initially allocated 53 beds for eligible patients requiring specialized treatment, 50 of which are already occupied.

PhilHealth spokesperson Dr. Alfred Philip de Dios, meanwhile, said the agreement covers all PhilHealth benefit packages and is not limited to any specific health case.

The MOA also establishes a joint mechanism between PhilHealth and SLMC Global City to monitor the implementation of the policy, improve processes, and gather evidence that could support future reforms to PhilHealth’s payment system.

The agreement forms part of the administration’s efforts to expand Filipinos’ access to quality and affordable healthcare by strengthening cooperation between the government and private hospitals.

‘We started with St. Luke’s, and we will expand this to more hospitals. We encourage more hospitals across the country to support PhilHealth in advancing Universal Health Care by embracing the no co-payment policy,’ Marcos said.

‘Together, let us ensure that no Filipino is denied the care they need simply because of financial hardship,’ he added. Aside from SLMC Global City in Taguig, three other top-tier private hospitals have expressed support for the policy. These are Cardinal Santos Medical Center in San Juan City, Asian Hospital and Medical Center in Muntinlupa City, and The Medical City Ortigas in Pasig City

Pedestrians in Baguio City will soon be required to observe a ‘keep right’ rule when using two-way sidewalks, pedestrian lanes and other walkways.

This directive is under an amended anti-distracted walking ordinance approved by the City Council.

Jordan Habbiling, information officer of the Baguio City Council, said in an interview on Monday that the amended ordinance will take effect upon signing by the mayor and publication.

‘The City Council has approved on third and final reading the ordinance further amending the Anti-Distracted Walking Ordinance that impose a keep-right rule on two-way sidewalks, giving priority to walking pedestrians but with exemptions for persons with disabilities (PWDs) and during emergencies,’ Habbiling said.

Habbiling noted that this policy – Ordinance 77-2026 – also establishes that sidewalks shall primarily be used for pedestrians.

Other activities such as jogging, running and taking photos must give way to walking pedestrians and must not obstruct their movement, he added.

The ordinance also prohibits the use of mobile devices to text, read messages or make calls while crossing a pedestrian lane or street, or while traversing a sidewalk, when such use causes delays in the movement of other people.

A first offense carries a reprimand, while a second offense is punishable by 10 days of community service.

Under the new ‘keep right’ rule, pedestrians using two-way sidewalks, particularly those walking in groups, must stay on the right side and avoid occupying the opposite or incoming lane.

PWDs who require additional space to safely traverse sidewalks are exempted from the keep-right requirement.

The ordinance authorizes the Public Order and Safety Division, Baguio City Police Office, Traffic Management Unit, barangay tanods and other authorized enforcers to monitor and apprehend violators.

It also allows city-installed closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras to be used as evidence of violations.

Habbiling said alleged violations recorded through CCTV may be contested through other video footage.

The measure is the latest amendment to Ordinance 49-2019, which established Baguio’s Anti-Distracted Walking Ordinance. The ordinance was first amended in 2023.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is proposing a ‘One Business Start Date’ that would allow companies to begin commercial operations once they secure their SEC registration or other primary regulatory license, even while other government permits are still being processed.

On Monday, the SEC said the proposal is among the corporate regulator’s next-wave reforms aimed at cutting the time between company registration and the actual start of operations.

Under the planned system, businesses could complete other government permits in parallel instead of waiting for all requirements before commencing operations.

‘Ease of doing business is still very high in our agenda,’ SEC Chair Francis Lim told reporters on Monday.

Lim said the SEC would continue automating and digitizing its processes as part of its push to reduce regulatory hurdles.

The regulator has already imposed strict internal processing timelines, including a ‘deemed approved’ policy for applications that are not acted upon within prescribed periods.

It also cut fees for corporate document requests. The SEC said cumulative discounts had reached nearly P263 million as of July after fees were reduced by half in 2025 and by another 25 percent this year.

Discounts granted to micro, small and medium enterprises reached P157.31 million as of July.

The SEC recorded 28,724 newly registered corporations as of July, bringing the number of active corporations to 613,553.

Beyond business registration, the regulator is pursuing changes to deepen the capital market.

It is working with the World Bank to separate regulatory requirements for debt and equity public offerings, while also developing market-making rules with the Philippine Stock Exchange and Philippine Dealing and Exchange Corp.

The SEC is separately reviewing margin trading rules to improve market liquidity.

The regulator is also developing a Philippine Capital Market Master Plan with the Asian Development Bank, part of its push to position the country among Southeast Asia’s leading capital markets by 2030.

Meanwhile, SEC Commissioner McJill Bryant Fernandez said the proposed initial public offerings of GCash parent Mynt and PLDT Inc.’s VITRO data center REIT remain targeted for the fourth quarter.

These companies are still submitting requirements, Fernandez said.

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