Category: Philippines Daily Inquirer

Three individuals were killed – including a four-year-old – and two police officers were wounded after three armed men ambushed the cops while arresting a most-wanted person, Calamba City police chief Lt. Col. Dennis de Guzman said on Monday.

The police were executing a warrant issued by the Calamba City Regional Trial Court against a certain Regie Abarquez in Barangay San Cristobal last Wednesday, de Guzman said in a press briefing in Camp Crame.

‘This is a semi-informal settler area, so there’s a junk shop there in front and a retail store, a sari-sari store. So, there were shoppers, kids playing. When the suspect was being taken to the car, that’s when they were ambushed,’ De Guzman explained.

He identified the officers wounded as Police Chief Master Sgt. Alberto Plaza and Senior Staff Sgt. John Principe, both 44.

He also noted that the two civilians killed were Akhiro Sañez, 4; and Florencia Enmas, 57. The other fatality was suspect Romar Awid.

De Guzman said one of the suspects, Leonardo Rico, was arrested, while another, a certain Itoy Awid, remains at large.

It is unclear how the subject of the arrest warrant and the three armed men were related.

‘The subject of the warrant of arrest is also an alleged member of a gun-for-hire group and they operate from the back of a big factory in San Cristobal (in San Cristobal),’ he added in Filipino.

Police recovered a 9mm caliber pistol loaded with a round of live ammunition, two magazines, both loaded with 14 rounds of live ammunition, an improvised magazine-fed shotgun, and a caliber .38 revolver, according to de Guzman.

He added that the Calamba police filed cases for resisting arrest, disobedience to a lawful order, two counts of murder, two counts of frustrated murder and violation of Republic Act No. 10591 or the Firearms Regulation Act against Abarquez and Rico before the city prosecutor last Friday.

The National Press Club of the Philippines (NPC) and the Bicol Press Club (BPC) on Monday condemned the shooting of media practitioner Noel Bellen Samar in Guinobatan, Albay.

Samar, 54, who is affiliated with Kadunong ITV and DWIZ, was shot along the Maharlika Highway in Barangay Morera around 9 a.m.

He was rushed to the Bicol Regional Hospital and Medical Center in this city, where he is undergoing treatment after sustaining four gunshot wounds from a .45-caliber pistol.

The motive has yet to be determined.

The NPC lauded the immediate response of the Police Regional Office 5 (PRO5) and the Albay Police Provincial Office for launching a hot pursuit operation and creating a Special Investigation Task Group (SITG ‘Samar’) to conduct a thorough probe.

NPC president Leonel Abasola called on PRO5 director Brig. Gen. Nestor Babagay Jr. and the Philippine National Police to exhaust all efforts to identify, track down, and arrest the assailant, and to determine if the attack was work-related.

‘The NPC stands in solidarity with our colleague Noel Samar, his family, and the entire media community in Bicol. We denounce this cowardly act of violence against a member of the press,’ Abasola said in a statement.

He stressed that violence and intimidation have no place in a democratic society and that journalists must be allowed to work freely and safely.

BPC president Ruel Saldico echoed the call, urging the government, law enforcement agencies, and media groups to unite to ensure justice.

‘Every attack on a journalist is an attack on press freedom itself,’ he said

I write this to express my warmest congratulations to our stunningly beautiful Miss Grand International 2025, Emma Tiglao, who recently delivered a historic back-to-back win for the Philippines. She came well prepared, proving her pageant veteran status, and was an early favorite among many international pageant fans, exuding radiant energy that captivated audiences worldwide from the moment she arrived in the host country, Thailand. Tiglao’s victory follows our very own CJ Opiaza’s assumption of the Miss Grand International 2024 crown, after Rachel Gupta of India rescinded her contract and resigned from her title months after the crowning.

Tiglao’s win is not only an idiosyncratic triumph but also a success for Philippine pageantry as well as a launchpad for future Filipino queens to showcase the full gamut of their talents, elegance, and intelligence in the global arena-backed by a strong and unwavering support system that continually uplifts and empowers them throughout their pageant journey.

As a Filipino pageant fan, I am thrilled to witness Filipinas ‘reigning’ and ‘winning’ on the international stage, especially in Miss Grand International, where competition is fiercely anticipated. I am convinced that the level of preparation, poise, and execution our queens bring to the stage is unmatched. Tiglao’s superb performance was a testament to the dedication, resilience, and excellence that define the modern Filipino beauty queen.

Who would have thought that after more than a decade of this Thailand-based pageant’s existence, the Philippines would be the first-ever country to achieve a back-to-back victory? This astounding feat simply proves, I believe, that Filipino strength, grace, and wit stand among the best in the world.

Anne Curtis was quick to dispel the rumors that she’s pregnant with her second child with Erwan Heussaff, saying that netizens might’ve gotten a glimpse of her ‘pizza bump’ instead.

Curtis was speculated to be pregnant after she posted clips of herself dancing to Taylor Swift’s ‘The Fate of Ophelia’ in tourist attractions in New York on Instagram on Sunday, Oct. 19.

‘Danced my way around the city. Song on repeat this whole trip,’ she captioned her post.

However, the comments section of Curtis’ post was filled with speculations from netizens, asking if the actress-host was indeed pregnant.

This led to the ‘It’s Okay to Not Be Okay’ star denying the rumors outright.

‘Lol tumaba lang baby agad (Laughing out loud, I just gained weight. Baby right away),’ she said in response to one @ayataharaa.

‘More like pizza dump,’ she replied to another @jennn_fear. Curtis, who wed Heussaff in November 2017 in New Zealand, welcomed her first child, Dahlia Amélie, three years later.

The actress-host recently capped off her stint in the Philippine adaptation of ‘It’s Okay to Not Be Okay,’ where she starred as the lead character Mia Hernandez.

Over six thousand ‘red flag’ projects amounting to P271 billion are still hounding the Department of Public Works and Highways’ (DPWH) 2026 budget at present, Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian revealed on Monday.

Gatchalian, chairperson of the chamber’s panel on finance, made the revelation at a Senate subpanel’s hearing on the proposed funding of the DPWH for next year.

According to Gatchalian, there are 6,187 ‘red flag’ projects in the DPWH budget, and their overall cost amounts to P271 billion.

‘My first instinct is to defer the DPWH’s budget for now so that it can be cleaned up. Because if we don’t fix this, it will just happen again in 2026,’ said Gatchalian.

But Gatchalian noted that the Senate could also decide to thoroughly remove the P271 billion funding to the DPWH’s P625.78 billion funding for next year should the agency fail to submit and explain the existence of such red-flag projects.

‘Regarding Red Flag One, submit to us the exact station number of each project. Exact – if there’s a technical description, submit that too for all 4,566 projects. For Red Flags Two and Three, we will remove the duplicates. For Red Flag Four, submit the technical description to show whether it’s a continuation project and if such exists,’ said Gatchalian.

‘But if you can’t submit it, we’ll also remove Red Flag Four – because at first glance, it seems like it’s already completed by 2025, so why are we adding more in 2026? So we expect the submission for Red Flag One as soon as possible because the project is already ongoing. But if you can’t submit Red Flags One and Four, we will remove P271 billion worth of projects,’ he added.

Gatchalian identified the following red flags in DPWH existing projects:

Red flag No. 1: No Station Number

Red flag No. 2: Duplicates

Red flag No. 3: Multiple Phases

Red flag No. 4: Reappearing projects

Meanwhile, DPWH Secretary Vince Dizon agreed to Gatchalian’s terms, agreeing that the DPWH’s P271 billion worth of projects will be removed should they fail to submit the documents asked by the panel.

‘Yes, that is very clear,’ he told Gatchalian.

The DPWH’s budget for 2026 amounts to P625.7 billion. The agency slashed P252.53 billion in its funding for next year, allocating zero budget to locally funded flood control projects.

Dizon said the revised budget is P255 billion lower than their original proposed funding.

The Philippine National Police (PNP) activated its disaster response teams amid the onslaught of Tropical Storm Ramil (international name: Fengshen).

Ramil was last spotted 440 kilometers (km) west of Sinait, Ilocos Sur, the state weather bureau said in its latest tropical cyclone update at 11 a.m. on Monday.

‘The PNP’s disaster response teams across the country have been activated and are closely coordinating with the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, the Department of the Interior and Local Government and local authorities,’ Acting Chief Lt. Gen. Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr. said in a statement on Monday.

‘I have already directed all our commanders on the ground to ensure that a sufficient number of our personnel be deployed to assist in road clearing operations,’ he added.

Ramil made landfall over Gubat, Sorsogon, last Saturday, according to the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa).

Beforehand, at least 22,311 individuals were pre-emptively evacuated in Calabarzon and Bicol Region, the PNP noted.

Ramil was packing maximum sustained winds of 85 km per hour (kph) and gusts of up to 105 kph while moving north-northwestward at 25 kph, the Pagasa said.

Senate Deputy Majority Leader JV Ejercito secured the support of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Secretary Vince Dizon for his push to institutionalize a long-term national infrastructure masterplan under Senate Bill No. 2 or the Masterplan for Infrastructure and National Development (MIND) Act.

Speaking during the DPWH budget hearing on Monday, October 20, Ejercito warned that the absence of a unified plan has led to anomalous projects, wasteful spending, and overlapping flood control initiatives.

‘We spend P350 billion a year on flood control-that’s about P1 billion every day,’ Ejercito said. ‘But flooding in Central Luzon and Metro Manila keeps getting worse because projects are scattered and inconsistent. We need a masterplan that continues regardless of who’s in power.’

Ejercito said the MIND Act aims to institutionalize long-term planning so that major infrastructure programs such as railways, highways, and floodways remain consistent through different administrations.

‘With the MIND Act, we can hit two birds with one stone; we ensure continuity in development while preventing waste and corruption,’ the lawmaker from San Juan added.

Once passed, Ejercito said the MIND Act would not only rationalize infrastructure spending but also strengthen transparency, continuity, and national development planning.

Dizon agreed with the lawmaker’s observation, saying many existing projects were implemented without coordination or alignment with a central plan. He confirmed that the DPWH is now developing a Central Luzon Floodway Masterplan, funded by the Asian Development Bank, targeted for completion by August 2026.

It can be remembered that Ejercito first filed the MIND Act in the 19th Congress. It is now among the priority measures identified by the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) in the 20th Congress.

The recent flood defense scandal in the Philippines underscores the long-standing issue of corruption.

Allegations of misallocated funds and opaque procurement processes have eroded public trust. Valuable resources have been wasted.

These concerns are not just hot air. They are part of a recurring pattern in infrastructure and disaster-related spending.

The need for structural reform in how government accounts for public funds is therefore pressing.

Sen. Bam Aquino’s initiative to explore blockchain technology as part of the national budgeting process is a timely and constructive response. Senate Bill No. 1330 has been officially filed and is under consideration but has not yet been passed into law.

As proposed, it seeks to embed blockchain into the management of the national budget. It would be a world first if enacted.

By ensuring that every peso is recorded on an immutable and transparent ledger, the measure could make the Philippines a global reference point for digital governance.

Blockchain is best understood as a shared digital ledger, comparable to a spreadsheet that is simultaneously duplicated across many computers. Every transaction is recorded in a block, linked to the previous one and secured through cryptography.

Because the ledger is distributed and securely sealed, no participant can secretly alter past entries. This combination of openness and tamper resistance makes blockchain an ideal technology to track government spending.

Public confidence depends on reliable and permanent records. Blockchain has these properties. It therefore directly addresses the weaknesses exposed by the scandal.

With blockchain, every record is carved in stone.

Immutability ensures that once a budget transaction is recorded, it cannot be altered without detection.

Transparency provides real-time visibility of spending to authorized stakeholders and, where appropriate, the public.

If disbursements and contractor payments for a flood defense project were placed on such a ledger, each transfer of value would be time-stamped and permanently verifiable.

This approach is not merely theoretical. Pilot projects in other jurisdictions already demonstrate this.

Examples include blockchain-based land registries and municipal bond issuance.

Applied to the national budget, blockchain could provide line-item traceability from congressional appropriation to agency spending and down to local project execution.

The bill mandates that all government financial platforms, such as budgeting systems, disbursement tools, accounting applications and reporting software, must comply with blockchain interoperability standards.

This requirement would eliminate hidden projects unknown to local governments. It would also enable easy price comparisons for materials such as cement or classroom construction supplies across different contracts.

However, the path to implementation will require careful preparation. Infrastructure constraints must be addressed to ensure reliable digital access across the archipelago.

Chief among these is the availability of information technology skills. Legal and regulatory frameworks must also be adapted to recognize blockchain records as authoritative.

Digital literacy, particularly among local government units and auditing bodies, is essential.

If these challenges are met, the Philippines could position itself as an Asean leader in digital governance.

By embedding transparency at the protocol level, blockchain offers a new paradigm for public finance. The result would be stronger public confidence, more efficient auditing and a deterrent to misuse of funds.

The strength of interest in this idea is evident.

On two recent occasions, I gave talks to large audiences at the Asian Institute of Management.

When mentioning blockchain’s potential to ensure transparency in government budgeting, the concept drew loud applause.

This spontaneous response signals that the concept resonates with professionals, students and policymakers alike. It reflects widespread support for the Senate bill.

Education has an important role in realizing this vision.

At the Asian Institute of Management, we teach blockchain technology in the Master of Science in Financial Technology program and within the Executive Master in Cybersecurity Management modules.

Students learn how to design and deploy blockchain systems and to understand their policy and ethical implications. These programs equip graduates to apply emerging technologies to both industry and governance.

The flood defense scandal is a reminder of the cost of opaque financial systems.

By adopting blockchain, the Philippines has an opportunity to ensure that national budget expenditures can be traced, verified and accounted for.

Such an approach would lay the groundwork for a more transparent and trustworthy fiscal future

Filipinos have always loved beauty pageants and in this time of great need, following the recent and devastating earthquakes that struck Cebu and Davao, the Philippines is getting some love back.

The Miss USA Organization has partnered with the Philippines Disaster Resilience Foundation (PDRF), the country’s major private sector coordinator for disaster risk and reduction management, chaired by tycoons Manuel V. Pangilinan, Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala and Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, to support its relief efforts, reaffirming the pageant community’s deep bond that transcends borders.

‘The Filipino pageant community has given so much love, talent, and spirit to the Miss USA and Miss Universe families over the years,’ said Thom Brodeur, chair and CEO of the Miss USA Organization. ‘When they hurt, we hurt. When they rise, we rise with them. It’s our honor and our duty to show up for them now, just as they have always shown up for us.’

Indeed, the global pageant family has always come together in times of crisis-and this moment is certainly no different.

In a letter to PDRF president Rene Meily, Brodeur said that the organization will pledge a portion of the proceeds of online streaming sales from the 2025 Miss USA and Miss Teen USA national pageants to PDRF.

The funds will go to help PDRF’s ongoing restoration programs in the affected regions.

‘In times of tragedy, it is often the collective compassion and generosity of others that lights the path to recovery. It is in that spirit that we are honored to support your tireless efforts in disaster response and community rebuilding,’ he said. -Tina Arceo-Dumlao

Veloso: ‘I have no agenda’

Jose Arnulfo ‘Wick’ Veloso is no stranger to boardroom battles, given his nearly four decades of experience in banking and finance, thus he is not entirely fazed by the latest attempts to remove him from the helm of state pension fund Government Service Insurance System.

Last Oct 14, current and former high-ranking GSIS officials called for his ‘immediate and irrevocable’ resignation as president and general manager of the fund, and accused him of ‘poor investment decisions’ that they said resulted in losses amounting to P8.8 billion.

Veloso dismissed these allegations as ‘baseless’, adding in his statement that GSIS’ performance ‘speaks for itself.

As of August 2025, GSIS’s total assets have climbed to ?1.92 trillion, net income has reached ?100.02 billion, and total income stands at ?231.06 billion. These results clearly demonstrate that, despite market headwinds, GSIS remains financially strong, resilient, and highly profitable, he said.

‘With nearly four decades of experience in banking and finance, my sole objective in joining government is to contribute my expertise toward strengthening our institutions. I have no hidden agenda, only a clear commitment to serve,’ Veloso said.

‘I appeal to everyone to spare GSIS from politics. As head of GSIS Management, I am committed to ensuring that our institution is treated with the respect it deserves, and I will not allow unwarranted fault-finding to derail our collective progress,’ he added.

Veloso stressed that he would continue to serve as long as the administration wants him there, thus it will ultimately be up to Pres. Marcos to decide his fate. -Tina Arceo-Dumlao INQ

Roselle Marisol Andaya, Chief Executive Officer of MR.DIY Philippines, earned top recognition as Grand Winner for Woman Leader of the Year during the 2025 Asia CEO Awards at the Manila Marriott Hotel.

This marks the leading home improvement retailer’s first participation in the renowned recognition program for the country’s most exceptional business leaders and organizations. The recognition celebrates Ms. Andaya’s visionary leadership, transformative impact, and advocacy for inclusion in the retail sector.

As the first female country CEO in the MR.DIY Group’s history, she has guided the company through remarkable growth-expanding to over 800 stores nationwide while ensuring that MR.DIY remains a people-first organization grounded in purpose, innovation, and compassion.

Under her leadership, MR.DIY implemented several groundbreaking initiatives in Philippine retail, including:

Gender-neutral hiring in warehouse operations, breaking traditional gender norms;

The Store Internship for Special Learners, providing retail training for individuals on the autism spectrum; and

The transition to 100% renewable energy in its distribution centers, cutting emissions by 34% annually.

‘These achievements are built on the strength of our people,’ said Roselle Marisol Andaya, CEO of MR.DIY Philippines. ‘This recognition is a reflection of our shared mission to make everyday living simple, joyful, and complete. Leadership, to me, is about lifting others and creating spaces where everyone can thrive.’

In addition to Ms. Andaya’s individual recognition, MR.DIY Philippines was also recognized with the Circle of Excellence Awards for Woman Leader of the Year and Diversity Company of the Year, underscoring the company’s continued dedication to empowering women leaders and promoting inclusivity in the workplace. At the forefront of this recognition is MR.DIY’s Store Internship for Neurodiverse Learners, launched in partnership with Candent Learning Haus and later expanded with Marvelous Minds Tutorial Center. The program provides workplace exposure and training for individuals on the autism spectrum while preparing MR.DIY employees to foster empathy and inclusion within their teams.

‘We see inclusion not as a destination but as a continuous commitment to responsible growth-one that ensures every individual, regardless of ability or background, has the chance to learn, contribute, and belong,’ shared Atty. Suzie Cu, Head of Legal, Compliance, and Sustainability, MR.DIY Philippines.

Each awardee was chosen from among hundreds of nominations for their outstanding contributions to national progress, innovation, and corporate leadership.