Category: Philippines Daily Inquirer

Coach Tim Cone noted that Juan Gomez de Liaño’s inclusion in the Gilas Pilipinas pool had little to do with the way the all-around super rookie torched his Barangay Ginebra for 32 points in their recent PBA matchup.

But Cone sees the presence of Gomez de Liaño as a way to strengthen Gilas’ backcourt depth, not only for the start of the Fiba World Cup Asian Qualifiers later this month, but at least in succeeding windows.

‘It was a position that we felt we could use, a little bit more of a scorer, ball-controller and a pick-and-roll guy,’ Cone said after announcing Gomez de Liaño’s inclusion on Sunday.

Cone did not assure Gomez de Liaño an outright slot for the two matches against Jericho Cruz and Guam on Nov. 28 and Dec. 1, but he sees the need for more depth outside of those who are familiar picks under him.

‘[Scottie Thompson] is not a three-level scorer in many regards. He’s just a pure hustle guy who is a great defender and makes intangible plays that don’t show up. That’s why he’s so spectacular,’ he said.

‘[Chris Newsome] is a guy that can also defend and he has really, really improved his offense over the last couple of years. But neither of them are, I would say, pure, pure point guards. They’re more one-twos and combo guards.’

‘Much initiation’

Scoring, however, was not the sole reason for giving Gomez de Liaño strong consideration.

‘What really impressed me with Juan is his defense,’ he said. ‘I thought his defense was really spectacular. And that’s what we expect from the point guard position. We want a great defender because in the international game, there’s so much initiation through the point guard and the high screens.

‘They initiate so much. You’ve got to have a great defender to front your defense and to have a chance against these really good teams. I’m talking about the European teams, the Australians and [New Zealand]. They initiate a lot through their point guards. And their point guards are big and they’re strong. So that’s why we’re looking for bigger players at that position to match up.’

QMB debut

The window will also mark the debut of Quentin Millora-Brown to provide more cover for June Mar Fajardo in the middle, with Kai Sotto still out due to his injury.

Gilas is set to begin preparations on Tuesday at Blue Eagle Gym inside the Ateneo campus, the site of the second meeting with Guam. INQ

Ellen Adarna is further speaking up against her estranged husband Derek Ramsay, claiming he gaslighted her and even convinced other people that her ‘postpartum’ caused the breakdown of their marriage.

The actress said this while answering questions from netizens through her Instagram Stories on Monday, Nov. 17. One of the questions read, ‘Did he apologize, or did he just gaslight you to the max?’

Adarna responded, ‘He blames everything, everyone but himself. He was able to convince his friends and people that it was my postpartum.’

‘He’s also convinced that an ex-girlfriend made him kulam,’ she said, adding that the actor even supposedly asked his helpers to put a bowl of salt with garlic on their dining table as a sort of ‘anti-kulam.’ (anti-witchcraft)

The actress included in her posts a video showing the bowl of salt she was talking about. Adarna also spoke about how her recent discovery about Ramsay’s alleged infidelity validated her initial hunches.

‘In the beginning, I was made to believe that this side chick was just a friend; that what I felt was not real; that I was just acting jealous or crazy,’ she said.

‘So when I found out about it three weeks ago, I felt validated. Like, ‘Oh my God, justice. It’s real,” she continued. ‘I was right all along. All these years I felt like I was gaslighted. The truth, no matter what, comes out in so many ways.’

Adarna added she has been in communication with some of Ramsay’s exes who told her that ‘the side chick has always been there’ for decades.

In a separate video, Adarna addressed as well an apparent rumor circulating on social media that she was a ‘battered wife.’

‘No, that’s not true. No one is battered,’ she clarified.

‘Very present father’

Amid the talks about Adarna and Ramsay, the actress was also asked about her co-parenting relationship with her former actor boyfriend John Lloyd Cruz.

‘I have nothing but good things to say about him,’ she said of Cruz. ‘We had our differences in the past but I respect him because he’s a very good provider. He’s honest and he’s a very present father.’

She recalled as well how she and Cruz broke up when their son Elias was not even one year old.

‘Present siya,’ she reiterated. Ramsay has denied Adarna’s allegations through private messages to his close friends, although he has yet to publicly comment on the matter as of this writing.

The Changwon LG Sakers turned to Carl Tamayo once more in their 78-70 win over the Anyang JKJ Red Boosters in the Korean Basketball League (KBL) on Sunday.

Tamayo fired 26 points that went with four assists, one steal and a block as the LG Sakers stayed on top of the standings with a 12-4 record.

Rhenz Abando struggled mightily for Anyang, which remained in second place at 10-5, with four points but he did have three blocks and three rebounds.

With the victory, Changwon chalked up its fourth consecutive win. The LG Sakers were coming off an 82-67 romp of the Suwon KT Sonicboom on Saturday, where Tamayo tallied 11 points.

In another head-to-head between Filipino imports on Sunday, Justin Gutang and the Seoul Samsung Thunders nipped the Goyang Sono Skygunners, 75-72.

Gutang contributed 11 points, five rebounds and two assists for Seoul, which improved to 7-9.

Kevin Quiambao, meanwhile, dropped 12 points, six rebounds, two assists and a steal for Goyang (5-10).

Elsewhere, SJ Belangel helped the Daegu KOGAS Pegasus turned back the Ulsan Hyundai Mobis Phoebus, 67-57.

The Ateneo produc had five points, seven assists and two steals for the Pegasus (4-11).

Former College of St. Benilde standout Migs Oczon did not play for Ulsan (6-10).

The supposed three-day anti-corruption rally of the Iglesia Ni Cristo (INC) ended on Monday, according to INC spokesperson Edwil Zabala.

The INC originally scheduled the rally from November 16-18, 2025, at the Quirino Grandstand in Luneta, Manila.

However, Zabala said the rally did not need to reach three days to register the INC members’ call for transparency and accountability amid corruption in the country, where many government officials and employees were involved.

The highest number of participants on the second day of the rally was recorded at 6 p.m., reaching 600,000, according to the Manila Police District (MPD). The crowd estimate at the end of the program at 8 p.m. was 550,000.

Meanwhile, the Manila Public Information Office (PIO) clarified that Manila City Mayor Isko Moreno Domagoso will not lift the suspension order for face-to-face classes at all levels in public and private schools on Tuesday, November 18 – the supposed last day of the rally.

‘The two-day suspension of face-to-face classes in all levels of public and private schools in the City of Manila will remain in effect as directed by Mayor Francisco ‘Isko Moreno’ Domagoso, to avoid inconvenience and ensure the safety of all students, as several roads in the vicinity of the University Belt (U-Belt) area remain closed until further notice,’ Manila PIO said in a Facebook post.

The Manila PIO noted that classes on November 18 will proceed through alternative learning modes, while face-to-face classes will resume on Wednesday, November 19.

Resigned Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin on Tuesday ‘vehemently denied’ accusations linking him to billions of pesos in insertions allegedly made illegally to the 2025 General Appropriations Act.

The refutation came after Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo Lacson, citing information from former Public Works Undersecretary Roberto Bernardo, claimed that Bersamin had allegedly signified his willingness to ‘take care’ of P52 billion out of the P100 billion in insertions.

‘I vehemently deny the imputation against me that I said anything to Sec. Bonoan that ‘we will take care of it’ regarding the supposed facilitation of the P52 billion,’ said Bersamin in a Viber message to Inquirer.

‘Bernardo could not be a credible source of relevant information if his knowledge looks and sounds like at least triple hearsay,’ he added.

During the Senate’s plenary deliberations on the 2026 national budget earlier in the day, Lacson said Bernardo told him that former Education Undersecretary Trygve Olaivar had advised him not to discuss with former Public Works Secretary Manuel Bonoan the details of P52 billion out of the P81 billion DPWH budget.

Bernardo had previously admitted to delivering kickbacks from government projects.

The P81 billion was part of the P100 billion insertion in the 2025 national budget. Of that amount, P52 billion was handled by Bernardo himself, while the remainder was distributed to other agencies, Lacson said.

‘This is what he [Bernardo] said. He said Olaivar prevented him from disclosing details about the P52 billion to Secretary Bonoan. Apparently, he was told not to mention it,’ Lacson said in his interpellations.

‘Then Usec. Olaivar told him [Bernardo] that Secretary Bonoan had asked Executive Secretary Bersamin several times-who would facilitate this P52 billion, which would, of course, be included in the bicameral conference, and how it would be released. Who would facilitate it?’ he added.

According to Lacson, citing Bernardo’s confession, Bersamin allegedly answered, ‘We will take care of it.’

‘They said they would be the ones to take care of how to handle the P52 billion,’ the senator said.

On Monday, Palace Press Officer Claire Castro announced President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s acceptance of the voluntary resignations of Bersamin and Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman.

They stepped down out of delicadeza (propriety) after their names were implicated in the ongoing government corruption investigation.

P100-billion insertions

Meanwhile, Lacson confirmed former Ako Bicol party-list Rep. Zaldy Co’s statement that P100 billion was inserted into the national budget, but he cleared Marcos of any involvement in the alleged kickbacks.

‘The P100-billion list is real; it was indeed inserted in the bicameral conference. But what Zaldy Co posted on social media, that he delivered P25 billion, representing a supposed 25 percent commission for the President, I will attest is not true. That is absolutely untrue,’ Lacson said in Filipino.

‘I learned from Undersecretary Bernardo that there were people in Malacañang-not the president, not authorized by the president-who misrepresented him. I will name some of them: Undersecretary Adrian Bersamin, who name-dropped the president, making Zaldy Co believe that it was the president’s order to insert the P100 billion in the bicameral conference; now, Usec. Trygve Olaivar and other personalities,’ he added.

Usec. Bersamin, a grandnephew of former Executive Secretary Bersamin, and Olaivar have already resigned from their positions.

A man was arrested in Pasay City for allegedly selling three of his online bank accounts for P3,000 each, the Philippine National Police Anti-Cybercrime Group (PNP ACG) said on Tuesday.

The suspect was caught selling his online bank accounts on social media and was entrapped at a fast food chain in Barangay Villamor on Monday night, PNP ACG spokesperson Lt. Wallen Mae Arancillo told reporters in Camp Crame.

Arancillo identified the suspect as a 31-year-old man who was working as a motor taxi rider in the mornings and as a call center agent in the evenings.

‘According to the suspect, the money he would’ve gotten from selling the three bank accounts would be loan payments for his motorcycle,’ Arancillo explained.

The suspect was taken into the custody of the Southern Police District Anti-Cybercrime Team for inquest proceedings for a violation of Republic Act No. 12010 or the Anti-Financial Account Scamming Act in relation to RA No. 10175 or the Cybercrime Prevention Act, the ACG noted.

‘There are rather many people who sell their online banking accounts and e-wallets since these are what some people see as quick or easy money,’ Arancillo further explained.

Money sent home by Filipinos abroad posted its fastest growth in five months in September, driven by seasonal increase in remittances at the onset of the so-called ‘ber’ months, which mark the start of the world’s longest Christmas celebration.

Cash remittances coursed through banks rose by 3.7 percent year-on-year to $3.12 billion, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported on Monday. This marked the briskest expansion since April 2025, when such fund transfers grew by 4 percent.

In the first nine months, overseas Filipinos sent home $26 billion in cash cushions, up by 3.2 percent from the same period last year. At this point, average remittance growth is running slightly above the central bank’s full-year forecast of 3 percent for 2025, continuing to be a vital source of fuel for the country’s consumption-driven economy.

‘The onset of ‘ber’ months marks the start of the holiday season for Filipinos,’ Reinielle Matt Erece, an economist at Oikonomia Advisory and Research Inc., said. ‘Thus, we may expect OFWs to send in their earnings to their families here for the celebrations and gatherings.’

Labor demand

Beyond seasonality, strong labor demand in key host economies, particularly in the Middle East, also supported inflows, said Robert Dan Roces, group economist at SM Investments Corp.

The local currency’s weakness, which can increase the peso value of remittances, provided only a modest conversion boost, he added. The peso has hovered near the 58 to 59 range in recent weeks amid growing downside risks to local economic growth, which was dampened by governance issues and severe weather disruptions.

‘The peso may remain under pressure from a firm US dollar and lingering political noise, so any foreign exchange-related lift to remittances could be limited and will not offset broader risks to inflation and sentiment,’ Roces said.

United States

The United States remained the single largest source of remittances in the January-to-August period, accounting for 40.4 percent of the total, the central bank said. But that figure comes with a caveat: many remittance centers abroad route their transfers through correspondent banks based in the US, inflating America’s share.

This was followed by Singapore with a 7.1-percent share, and Saudi Arabia, where 6.4 percent of inflows came from.

Jonathan Ravelas, senior adviser at Reyes Tacandong and Co., said the BSP’s 3-percent remittance growth forecast for the year ‘looks well within reach.’

‘For the fourth quarter, expect remittances to stay resilient and peak in December,’ he added. INQ

The Supreme Court has denied the very urgent motion filed by Sen. Ronald dela Rosa seeking to compel the production of the alleged International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant issued against him.

In a statement, the Supreme Court Office of the Spokesperson said the justices rejected Dela Rosa’s plea during a full-court session on Tuesday.

It instead directed the respondents to comment on a separate manifestation alleging that Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla had publicly stated that an ICC arrest warrant had already been issued against the lawmaker and that a diffusion order against him was in place.

Dela Rosa’s manifestation, filed on Nov. 13, also claimed that the Philippine government would surrender him to the ICC without undergoing extradition proceedings, and that the Department of Justice had placed at least three witnesses under the Witness Protection Program at the ICC’s request.

‘Acting on these submissions, the SC denied the Very Urgent Motion seeking to compel the production of the alleged ICC warrant. It directed respondents to comment on the Very Urgent Manifestation, through personal service and filing, within a non-extendible period of 10 days from notice,’ the spokesperson said.

The pleadings stem from the main petition filed by Dela Rosa and former President Rodrigo Duterte on March 11, which challenged the latter’s arrest and turnover to the Hague, the Netherlands, and the government’s cooperation with the ICC.

The Orchid and the Ashtray have become theatrical props in a process that should prize results over rhetoric. What began-presumably-as a civil-society effort to spotlight constructive engagement at WHO FCTC Conferences of the Parties has metastasized into a crude instrument of narrative control. When awards meant to encourage progress instead reward conformity to an orthodox line, they cease to be useful; they become propaganda.

Look at the record. Countries routinely lauded in advocacy circles are not always those producing the biggest declines in tobacco harm. According to WHO’s 2025 fact sheet, India’s adult tobacco prevalence fell from 33% in 2010 to an estimated 22% in 2025, and Thailand’s from 27% to roughly 20% over the same period-meaning both are unlikely to meet the WHO’s 30% reduction target by 2025. Meanwhile, Japan and Sweden, which have embraced pragmatic pathways for adult smokers-heating technologies in Japan, snus in Sweden-have achieved dramatic reductions in combustible cigarette use and some of the lowest smoking prevalences in their regions. Japan’s cigarette demand plunged by more than half between 2010 and 2022 as many smokers migrated to heated tobacco products; Sweden now records smoking prevalence near historic lows in Europe, with snus widely credited for much of that displacement.

Yet Japan and Sweden rarely figure as models in the awards-driven narrative. By contrast, countries that dutifully recite the same ideological script get celebrated, even when their outcomes lag. This is not benign favoritism-it is a perverse incentive structure. Awards that reward alignment with dogma rather than measurable public-health outcomes steer policy discussions away from what actually reduces death and disease and toward what looks good on a campaign placard.

The Philippines is a cautionary example of how this dynamic can malign earnest, context-sensitive policymaking. With roughly 16 million adult smokers, policymaking must balance public health goals with adult autonomy, farmer livelihoods and enforceable regulation.

Proposals to create a working group of state parties and an expert advisory arm-ideas meant to resolve complexity, not to obstruct progress-were nonetheless caricatured by outside observers. That matters, because it signals to national delegations that independence and nuance will be punished with ridicule rather than assessed on their merits. It is encouraging, however, that at COP10 the Philippines received formal recognition from Committee A for a whole-of-government approach that acknowledged national realities while cooperating internationally-proof that the treaty process itself can reward prudent, pragmatic engagement.

The deeper problem is institutional: observers observe; Parties negotiate. The Global Alliance for Tobacco Control (GATC), which hands out these ‘awards’, is merely an observer. When outside actors such as the GATC begin to masquerade as scorekeepers and moral arbiters-handing out Orchids and Ashtrays according to a narrow ideological script-the clarity of that architecture erodes. Negotiation requires trade-offs: taxation and enforcement, swapping illicit-trade control for customs capacity, supporting farmers through transition, and now the thorny regulation of alternative nicotine products that may be less harmful than combustible cigarettes. These are not trivial choices; they deserve rigorous evidence, transparent metrics and a respect for national sovereignty-not performative shaming.

If advocacy awards are to retain any credibility, they must change their rubric. Celebrate outcomes, not orthodoxy. Reward meaningful declines in combustible tobacco use, demonstrable reductions in disease burden, and policies that responsibly expand safer alternatives for adult smokers. Publish transparent, data-driven criteria. Include independent scientific review. And stop using public humiliation as a substitute for debate.

Public-health advocacy should be about saving lives, not scoring political points. Treat adult smokers as citizens with rights, recognize that harm reduction can be part of a realistic public-health toolkit, and give nations credit for measurable progress-however uncomfortable it may be for an ideological posture. The moment observers put virtue-signaling ahead of verifiable outcomes, they compromise the very cause they claim to advance. It is time to retire the spectacle and restore evidence to the center of global tobacco-control recognition.

Police in Maguindanao del Norte arrested an Army sergeant for transporting suspected smuggled cigarettes during checkpoint operations in Parang town on Sunday, police said on Monday.

Lt. Colonel Jopy Ventura, spokesperson of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region (PRO-BAR), identified the soldier as Technical Sgt. Vergelio Marapao Jr, 46, a resident of Zamboanga City and a member of the First Army Scout Ranger Battalion in Carmen, Cotabato province.

Ventura said Marapao was driving a Toyota Vios and was flagged down about 7 p.m. on Sunday at a checkpoint manned by personnel from the Regional Mobile Force Battalion in Barangay Macasandag, Parang, Maguindanao del Norte.

He said the mobile force police found 10 small boxes containing 248 reams of smuggled San Marino cigarettes with an estimated value of P194,680.

Marapao is facing charges for violation of the Anti-Smuggling Act Law, even as his vehicle and the smuggled cigarettes were turned over to the Bureau of Customs.

In Midsayap, Cotabato, a trader was arrested on Monday for transporting smuggled cigarettes at a police checkpoint in Barangay Central Glad.

Police said P36,000 worth of contraband was seized from the suspect, identified as ‘alias Al.’ The investigation is still in progress.

In Makilala, Cotabato, agents of the Highway Patrol Group, while conducting a law enforcement operation, chanced upon a pick-up vehicle loaded with smuggled cigarettes in Barangay San Vicente, also on Monday.

The suspect, Jerric Albarico of Barangay Kawayanon, Makilala, was transporting in his Nissan Navara some P427,000 worth of smuggled cigarettes.

HPG personnel first discovered that Albarico had an expired car registration and, upon inspection, found piles of smuggled cigarettes