Category: Philippines Daily Inquirer

Residents of Mobo town in Masbate are still in need of aid after Typhoon Opong (international name: Bualoi) struck the province last week.

In a phone interview on Tuesday, Mayor Raymund Doni Salvacion said around 98 percent of the town’s 50,000 residents across 29 barangays were severely affected, with many losing their homes.

‘We are in the recovery stage, but we are in dire need of construction materials, particularly GI sheets, to rebuild their homes,’ Salvacion said.

He added that most residents are currently staying in tents serving as temporary shelters.

‘Power has not yet been restored in the municipality, and rechargeable or solar lamps would be a great help for affected residents,’ he said.

He said relief operations continue, but local officials say more assistance is needed, particularly for rebuilding efforts

Tropical Storm Nakri may enter the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR) and be locally named as Quedan on Thursday afternoon or evening, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said.

In its 5 p.m. forecast on Wednesday, Pagasa tracked that Nakri may become the 17th cyclone of the year, but will exit PAR after 12 hours.

Nakri was located 1725 kilometers east of extreme northern Luzon, moving north-northwestward at 25 kilometers per hour (kph).

It is packing maximum sustained winds of 65 kph and gusts of up to 80 kph, Pagasa recorded.

Though Nakri may enter PAR, the state weather bureau said that the cyclone is unlikely to have an effect on the country, and it is less likely to develop into a typhoon.

Meanwhile, three weather systems continue to bring rain all over the country on Wednesday evening, Pagasa added.

A northeasterly wind flow is expected to cause rain in Batanes, Babuyan Islands, Ilocos Norte, and Apayao.

On the other hand, a shear line or the intersection of the northeasterly wind flow and the easterlies will bring rain clouds and isolated thunderstorms in Mainland Cagayan, Isabela, Quirino, most of Central Luzon, Metro Manila, Rizal and Quezon overnight.

Additionally, the Intertropical Convergence Zone, where the winds from the northern and southern hemispheres meet, will carry scattered rains in Visayas, Mindanao and Palawan. /mr

Pressure mounts on the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI) to open its hearings to the public, with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. himself joining the calls of different stakeholders to promote more transparency in its investigations.

‘The President, in all instances, wants transparency. Every investigation must be transparent, with nothing hidden,’ Palace press officer Claire Castro said in a briefing on Wednesday.

‘However, how the ICI will carry this out – how it will make its proceedings public, how it will ensure transparency, and to what extent – that is up to the ICI. Still, the President continues to advocate for transparency in all investigations,’ she added.

When Marcos created ICI last month, he assured it would be fully independent and would not meddle with its work, especially on the way its three members would conduct hearings and investigations.

Castro said the President was not even asking for updates with the ongoing investigation of the ICI.

No approval needed

‘The reports are entirely in the hands of the ICI, and whatever recommendations they make will come from them alone as they do not need the President’s approval,’ she added.

The ICI, however, maintained its position of keeping its hearings in the flood control fiasco behind closed doors. ICI executive director Brian Keith Hosaka said it was the commission’s way to avoid ‘trial by publicity,’ and to not allow itself to be used for any political leverage or agenda by any individual or group.

Past and present lawmakers have been urging the ICI to open its hearings to the public to show Filipinos that there would be no coverup and its investigations on the flood control mess would not protect anyone. Despite their differences in many issues, the Catholic Church and the Filipino megachurch Iglesia ni Cristo – both politically influential religious institutions in the country – agreed that by ensuring transparency in the ICI’s proceedings and findings was the only way to restore public trust. Retired Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Carpio also called for the ICI to let the public have access to its hearings, warning that the body was ‘losing its credibility very fast.’

In an interview on dzBB on Wednesday, Carpio said he was ‘very suspicious’ of the ICI’s decision to make its hearings private, when even criminal trials of the courts were open to the public.

If the ICI was not amenable to live-streaming the hearings, similar to the congressional inquiries on the flood control projects, the media at least should be allowed to cover these.

‘Because of these closed door hearings, people will lose faith in that ICI. That’s the number one thing that they have to correct,’ Carpio said. Former Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales, who was also an SC justice, shared the same view, expressing doubts over the results of the ICI’s insistence to conduct its hearings in secrecy.

‘I don’t understand why. Because even the courts, sitting as courts, it’s open to the public. It’s only in the interest of morality and decency that the judge may conduct hearings in private,’ she told journalist Karen Davila in an interview.

Carpio-Morales also rebuffed ICI’s defense that it wanted to prevent trial by publicity and undue political pressure in keeping its hearings behind closed doors.

‘The mere fact that Congress or the Senate conducts hearings openly does not make them a trial by publicity. It is the ICI [members] who will decide, but their decision will only be recommendatory. It should be the Ombudsman who should do the investigating,’ she added.

Malacañang maintained that the ICI, and not the Office of the Ombudsman, should take the lead in investigating alleged anomalies in flood control projects and related infrastructure.

Delays in probe

Castro dismissed calls to abolish the ICI just because Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla was appointed as the next ombudsman.

While Remulla was familiar with the flood control projects under scrutiny, Castro rejected the idea that the ombudsman should conduct the investigation by itself, raising concerns about possible delays.

‘The ombudsman does not focus only on flood control projects. There are many cases that the Ombudsman needs to pay attention to. So, we do not see this as a reason to abolish or end the work of the ICI,’ she said.

Castro told critics: ‘Would they really want the Ombudsman alone to handle all of this? How long would it take for a single case to be resolved that way? That’s why there truly needs to be an independent commission that will focus on the issue.’ She added that the work of the ombudsman and the Department of Justice would be expedited once the ICI completed its document gathering and preliminary investigations into the anomalous flood control projects.

Plans are ongoing for another massive protest against corruption to be held this month, according to Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) chair Teodoro ‘Teddy’ Casiño.

‘There are suggestions that aside from the one on Nov. 30, another big centralized rally should also be held this month. So these are the things that are being discussed now. The various sectors are also preparing their own mass actions, which we are encouraging because of what we are seeing,’ Casiño said in an interview with the Inquirer.

The Bayan chair also urged local communities to hold their own mass actions, highlighting the importance of ‘public pressure’ for the government to continue investigating corruption in infrastructure projects.

‘We are encouraging the various communities, including schools and churches and homeowners associations, to organize their own [mass] actions. Let’s start with local actions, and then let’s make them bigger and bigger,’ Casiño said.

The Church Leaders Council for National Transformation, the organizers of the Sept. 21 ‘Trillion Peso March’ anticorruption protest, announced that it will hold another rally on Nov. 30 in commemoration of Bonifacio Day. According to the religious group, 100 groups are expected to attend the gathering.

Queenmaker Arnold Vegafria has acquired a handful of international pageant franchises throughout the years under his ALV Pageant Circle. A recent acquisition – Miss Asia Pacific International – was once just a dream for him, he said.

‘When I started in the business of pageantry, this is one of my bucket list to get this pageant, to be part of this pageant. Why? Because I believe this is one of the oldest pageants in the world,’ he said during the ‘National Directors’ Night’ hosted by the pageant organization at the Temple of Leah in Cebu City on Monday evening, Oct. 6.

Every year, the Miss Asia Pacific International pageant hosts the national directors who visit the Philippines for the pageant season. The recent gathering was scaled down in solidarity with those affected by the magnitude 6.9 earthquake on Sept. 30, said Eva Patalinjug-Lim, the pageant’s president.

Vegafria had just acquired the license for this year’s edition of the international pageant. Philippine bet Anita Rose Gomez was crowned at the recent Miss Grand International Philippines competition, one of his national searches.

‘I’m so happy to be part of this because this is an original from the Philippines, one of the biggest in the Philippines, of course I want to be a part of this,’ he confessed.

Among the international partners of his ALV Pageant Circle are Miss World, Miss Grand International, Reina Hispanoamericana, and Face of Beauty International.

Before he acquired the Miss Asia Pacific International license for the Philippines, it has been with the Mutya ng Pilipinas pageant since the time of its inception in 1968. The national and global contests were established by the same personalities.

Last year, the franchise left the Mutya ng Pilipinas organization for the first time, and was acquired by Empire Philippines, organizer of the Miss Universe Philippines pageant.

The former owners of the Mutya ng Pilipinas and Miss Asia Pacific International pageants truned over ownership to the Tans of Cebu, but the family later divested from the national contest to concentrate on the global competition.

Vegafria thanked Miss Asia Pacific International Pres. Eva Patalinjug-Lim and officers Onin Mas and Vicky Bugayong for trusting him with the franchise.

He said it was when he chanced upon Mas in Taiwan for another international pageant where he signified his desire to acquire the Miss Asia Pacific International franchise.

‘I said, ‘if the franchise of the former owner expired, try my organization, and I will do my best to promote the [Miss Asia Pacific International] in the Philippines,’ Vegafria shared.

Since taking over the Miss World Philippines Organization in 2017, and establishing his own Miss Grand International Philippines search subsequently, Vegafria had produced Reina Hispanoamericana winners Teresita Ssen ‘Winwyn’ Marquez and Dia Mate, Miss Eco International titleholders Cynthia Thomalla and Kathleen Paton, inaugural Miss Multinational queen Sophia Senoron, current Face of Beauty International Jeanne Isabelle Bilasano, 2024 Universal Woman Maria Gigante, and reigning Miss Grand International Christine Juliane ‘CJ’ Opiaza.

Gomez hopes to join Marquez, Thomalla, Senoron, Gigante, and Bilasano as Vegafria’s first entrants to their respective pageants who succesfully clinched crowns.

The 2025 Miss Asia Pacific International coronation night will be held at the Cebu Coliseum on Oct. 8. Forty-three delegates from around the world are competing this year.

Malacañang on Wednesday said there is no need to abolish the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI) following President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s appointment of a new Ombudsman.

The remarks came after questions were raised about the possibility of dissolving the recently formed super body and letting the Office of the Ombudsman handle investigations into anomalous flood-control projects.

‘The Ombudsman, after all, is not focused solely on flood control projects; there are many other cases that also require the Ombudsman’s attention. So, we don’t see this as a reason to abolish or end the work of the ICI, because the ICI is specifically focused on investigating irregularities in flood control projects and other infrastructure,’ Castro explained speaking in Filipino.

‘The work and investigations of the Ombudsman and the DOJ will proceed much faster if they already have complete documents provided by the ICI,’ she also said.

The Office of the Ombudsman is the institution empowered to investigate illegal, unjust, or improper acts and omissions of public officials.

According to Castro, the ICI is necessary because it focuses on gathering and investigating documents so that when everything is submitted and recommended for filing, the process becomes more efficient.

‘And once the review is completed and it is found that a case should indeed be filed, the DOJ and the Ombudsman will be able to file it much faster,’ she also said in Filipino.

Meanwhile, the Palace official maintained that the ICI does not need to report or provide updates to Marcos regarding its findings since it is an independent body.

The ICI is composed of Chairperson Justice Andres Reyes Jr. and members Rogelio ‘Babes’ Singson and Rossana Fajardo.

Brian Hosaka serves as executive director of the ICI.

Former Philippine National Police chief Rodolfo Azurin Jr. was also named as special adviser and investigator for the commission, replacing Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong, who had served only as a special adviser but not as an investigator.

There are no active attempts to unseat Senate President Vicente ‘Tito’ Sotto III at present, according to Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano.

Speaking to reporters in a press conference on Wednesday, Cayetano said the rumors of a possible leadership change in the Senate might be coming from supporters of both the majority and minority blocs.

Cayetano categorically stated that no resolutions are being circulated among senators and that they are not expecting any leadership change before the Senate adjourns its session on Friday.

‘There is no active courting,’ Cayetano said.

Echoing Sotto’s earlier statements, Cayetano said he had a brief phone conversation with the Senate President, during which he made it clear that he is not seeking his colleagues’ support to unseat Sotto.

‘We in the minority are not talking about whether there’s already someone, or who it might be, or how and what would happen, because we believe they’re still happy in the majority. And I think we have a role to play in the minority. But usually, it doesn’t happen when it’s noisy, because everyone’s on guard,’ Cayetano said.

‘But you can’t take it away from the supporters of the majority who are vocal on social media about not wanting any changes, and you can’t take it away from our supporters across the country who want a change in leadership,’ he added.

Rumors circulating on social media have pointed to Cayetano as Sotto’s alleged successor as Senate President.

Sotto, however, dismissed the speculation, stressing that he does not expect any moves to unseat him in the plenary before the scheduled adjournment on October 10./mcm

A study commissioned by the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) identified cultural and religious norms, poverty, and weak enforcement of child protection laws as primary drivers of child marriages in the provinces of Sulu and Tawi-Tawi.

In a report, ‘Understanding Factors Driving Child, Early, and Forced Marriage and Unions (CEFMU),’ focused on the two provinces and launched on Tuesday, Unicef said that child marriage continued to jeopardize the future of thousands of children in Jolo, the capital of Sulu, and in Bongao, the capital of Tawi-Tawi.

It also said the Philippines ranked 12th in the world in terms of the absolute number of child marriages, with 1 in every 6 girls married before they turned 18.

Patricia Lim Ah Ken, child protection chief of Unicef Philippines, said the international body commissioned the study, with support from the Australian government’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, to identify gaps in understanding child marriage in Sulu and Tawi-Tawi, and to inform targeted interventions and policies that foster a protective environment for all vulnerable children.

‘Several studies showed that child marriage remains a deep-rooted issue in the Philippines, depriving thousands of girls of their childhood, of their education, and of their futures,’ Ken said during the study’s virtual launch on Tuesday.

She cited the National Demographic and Health Survey, which showed that nine percent of girls marry at the age of 18, some as young as 13; and that in 2023, more than 12,000 adolescent girls entered marriage, a statistic that is four times greater than boys.

Among the contributing factors were poverty, limited education, cultural norms, and legal ambiguity, she said.

‘While the national poverty incidence rate from 2021 to 2023 has been reduced overall, BARMM (Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao) still has the highest rate at 40.1 per cent. This compounds the risk for girls to marry or enter into a union, cutting short their education and limiting their ability to participate in civic life and leadership,’ she said.

The study highlighted how these drivers persisted despite the passage of Republic Act 11596, or the Act Prohibiting the Practice of Child Marriage in 2022; legislation alone was not enough to end the practice.

In 2021, the Bangsamoro Women Commission estimated that 88,600 girls had been married before they turned 18. A survey conducted by Plan International and the Women’s Refugee Commission revealed that for every 100 girls in BARMM, 15 are married before age 18, two are married before age 15 – figures significantly higher than the national average.

The study found that in many cases, early marriage is seen as a way to avoid what is considered haram, a term in the Muslim faith referring to actions forbidden by Islamic law, such as premarital relationships or pregnancies outside marriage.

Families facing economic hardship may also view marriage as an escape from financial difficulties.

These factors place children, especially young girls, at risk of losing their right to education, being forced into adult responsibilities before they are ready, according to Unicef. At the same time, early pregnancy among girls further compounds their risk to health, safety, and overall well-being.

Among Unicef’s key recommendations is to keep girls in school by expanding scholarships and alternative learning systems for those at risk of dropping out, supporting families economically through livelihood and women’s empowerment programs so that early marriage would not be seen as the only option to end or minimize poverty; and working with religious and community leaders to challenge harmful norms and promote child rights.

‘Every girl deserves the chance to grow into adulthood with dignity, health, and hope. Child marriage and early unions can interrupt education, compromise health, and place girls in roles they are not yet ready for, including motherhood. UNICEF stands with communities of every faith and tradition to protect girls and uphold their right to choose their future,’ said Ken./coa

The Philippine National Police – Highway Patrol Group (PNP HPG) said it arrested three suspects and recovered five allegedly stolen vehicles in the cities of Pasay and Mandaluyong.

In a press briefing in Camp Crame on Wednesday, HPG spokesperson Lt. Nadame Malang said the suspects were entrapped while attempting to sell two vehicles at the Esplanade Seaside Terminal on Tuesday night.

Once arrested, the suspects pointed to a garage along R. O. Santos Street in New Zaniga, Mandaluyong City, where the three other vehicles were found.

Malang only identified the suspects as a seller named ‘Vitara;’ an alleged accomplice; and a supposed financier.

‘These cars have monthly dues with car financing companies,’ he said in Filipino.

‘Once they can no longer pay the monthly dues, that’s the time they can steal it and evade the financing company to sell the car to another person,’ he added.

The HPG spokesperson noted that the cars were being sold for P120,000 to P600,000.

‘Vitara’ was also allegedly caught with an unlicensed .22 caliber revolver.

The suspects are under PNP-HPG custody in Camp Crame.

They will face formal complaints for estafa and violation of Republic Act No. 4136 or the Land Transportation and Traffic Code; RA No. 10175 or the Cybercrime Prevention Act; and RA No. 10591 or the Firearms and Ammunition Regulation Act.

If the ’30 percent’ is removed, a kilometer-long farm-to-market road could only cost as low as P10 million, but the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) quoted P15 million for it, Agriculture chief Francisco Tiu Laurel revealed on Wednesday.

Tiu Laurel, citing his experience in the private sector, made this candid admission during the Senate committee on finance hearing for the proposed P176.7 billion budget of the Department of Agriculture (DA).

This topic surfaced as committee chair Sen. Win Gatchalian noted that DA’s proposed budget for farm-to-market roads in 2026 was reduced to P16 billion from this year’s P23.2 billion allocation.

Tiu Laurel explained that the budget reduction was due to ‘budget constraints’ and the agency’s small fiscal space – or its flexibility in its spending choices – as advised by the Department of Budget and Management earlier this year.

This P16 billion will be used to build ‘a little bit less than’ 1,100 kilometers of roads, the DA chief said, citing the DPWH estimates.

This means that each kilometer of farm-to-market roads will cost P15 million to build or P15,000 per one meter, according to him.

Tiu Laurel, when asked by Gatchalian if this amount is agreed upon by DA and DPWH, said: ‘No. This is set by DPWH.’

‘I am from the private sector, and I build roads. It’s too high,’ the DA chief stressed.

The secretary said this could ‘easily’ be reduced to P10 million per kilometer or P10,000 per meter if the ’30 percent’ is removed.

It is not clear what Tiu Laurel was referring to in his ’30 percent’ remark.

However, it could be noted that a former DPWH assistant district engineer in Bulacan alleged that senators were asking for a 30 percent kickback for flood control projects.

During the previous Senate hearings, DPWH’s Bulacan 1st District Assistant District Engineer Brice Hernandez alleged that Sens. Jinggoy Estrada and Joel Villanueva maneuvered to allocate P355 million and P600 million for projects in Bulacan’s first district in exchange for a 30-percent cut.

Both senators denied the accusations, with Estrada filing a perjury case against Hernandez before a Quezon City prosecutor’s office on Tuesday.

A major corruption scandal involving flood control projects prompted congressional inquiry and the formation of an independent commission to investigate the suspected collusion between lawmakers, government officials, and contractors to embezzle billions of pesos from the country’s coffers.

Amid all these developments, a nationwide and widespread Sept. 21 protest occurred – with a deadly Mendiola riot stealing the show – and even rumors of a coup also emerged, which the military later denied. /apl