Category: Philippines Daily Inquirer

No less than Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo and ‘Wicked’ director Jon M. Chu personally chose the three Filipino best friend duos who won the ‘Awiting Wicked: For Good’ competition.

The chosen duos, along with their TiktTok accounts, are: Fatima Soria (@only_ftma) and Pia Casing (@piazzicato); Jezza Quiogue (@jezzaquiogue_) and Nowi Alpuerto (@nowialps); and, Kyle Quinco (kwisssy6) and Tiffany Vistal (@tiffanyshanevistal).

Universal Pictures Philippines, which is the local distributor of the ‘Wicked’ movie, announced the winners on its TikTok page on Monday.

‘So many of you have shown your own special versions of ‘For Good’ with the world. We’re here to tell you that we heard them and we love you all even more,’ said Erivo. ‘Congratulations to the chosen best friend duos, and thank you to all the talented singers from across the Philippines who submitted.’

‘You have further proven that you are all so tremendously talented,’ Grande chimed in. ‘We’ve been so touched by your renditions and we can’t wait for you all to hear our version when the movie comes out.’

The six winners will get a chance to record their own rendition of the song ‘For Good,’ and star in a music video. They will also get to meet the Oscar-nominated Erivo, Grande and Chu in the Singapore premiere of ‘Wicked: For Good,’ the sequel to the Oscar-winning musical film.

‘Wicked: For Good’ will be screened in Philippine theaters on November 19 as last year’s global cinematic cultural sensation, which became the most successful Broadway film adaptation of all time, reaches its epic, electrifying, emotional conclusion.

Directed once again by Chu, and starring the spectacular returning cast, led by Erivo and Grande, the final chapter of the untold story of the witches of Oz begins with Elphaba and Glinda estranged and living with the consequences of their choices.

The film is produced by returning Tony and Emmy winning powerhouse Marc Platt p.g.a. and by multiple Tony winner David Stone. The executive producers are Stephen Schwartz, David Nicksay, Jared LeBoff, Winnie Holzman and Dana Fox.

The first film, Wicked, released in November 2024, earned 10 Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, and won the Oscars for Costume Design and Production Design. To date, the film has grossed $750 million worldwide.

‘Wicked: For Good’ is based on the generation-defining musical stage play with music and lyrics by legendary Grammy and Oscar winning composer and lyricist Stephen Schwartz and book by Winnie Holzman, from the bestselling novel by Gregory Maguire. The screenplay is by Winnie Holzman and Winnie Holzman and Dana Fox. The film score is by John Powell and Stephen Schwartz, with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz. /edv

The forgotten shelter that survived Tacloban’s 1944 superstorm. Not far from today’s ruined shoreline of Tacloban once stood a US naval base that faced another monster storm- long before Supertyphoon ‘Yolanda’ or Haiyan made the city a global byword for loss.

In December 1944, Typhoon ‘Cobra’ struck Leyte with 225-kilometer-per-hour winds and a 6-meter storm surge. Contemporary records show that the typhoon destroyed 80 percent of all structures on the base-except for 39 of 43 Quonset huts, which remained intact. Four others suffered only bent panels and torn seams. Engineers concluded that anchorage and geometry, not cost or material thickness, determined survival.

That small statistic-Tacloban 1944-may be one of the most important but least remembered chapters in Philippine resilience history. For those semicircular corrugated-steel huts, conceived in wartime Rhode Island and shipped 16,000 km through submarine-infested seas, had already solved problems we still agonize over today: rapid shelter construction, climate resistance, modularity, and affordability.

The engineering of necessity. The Quonset hut emerged from a desperate American wartime equation. Canvas tents rotted within weeks under Pacific monsoons; wooden barracks required carpenters and timber that many islands did not have. In early 1942, a team led by Otto Brandenberger was told to design a structure that could be manufactured in the United States, shipped flat, assembled in one day by untrained hands, and survive typhoons, monsoons, and 130-degree heat.

Their solution broke every architectural rule. They eliminated internal wooden frames, letting the corrugated steel skin itself carry the load in compression. The curved arch deflected wind and shed rain like a seashell; the ridges stiffened the thin metal as though each were a tiny L beam. Panels bolted together into a continuous ring, making the entire hut act as one enormous spring. It could flex, not fight, the wind.

By 1944, over 160,000 Quonset huts dotted the Pacific-from Guadalcanal to Samar-housing 6 million troops. When Typhoon Cobra hit the Philippines, their field test became legend among engineers: the aerodynamic hut endured while concrete crumbled and wood disintegrated.

From war relic to Filipino backdrop. After the war, thousands of surplus huts found new life across the archipelago. In Manila and Quezon City, they became classrooms, dormitories, and chapels. At the University of the Philippines in Diliman, students in the 1950s ate, socialized, and even bowled in Quonset huts between Vinzons Hall and Narra Residence. They were the quiet cousins of another wartime leftover-the US Army jeep that Filipinos transformed into the jeepney.

Yet, while the jeepney entered our cultural imagination, the Quonset hut faded from view. Few remember that it had withstood a superstorm in Tacloban seven decades before Haiyan, or that it embodied the very principles we now call build back safer.

A missing page in our resilience memory. Why does this matter? Because the Philippines remains a frontline laboratory for climate extremes. Each year, we rebuild as if starting from zero-forgetting that we once built smarter. The Quonset hut is not nostalgia; it is a manual for survival written in corrugated steel.

The Quonset hut idea is an innovation challenge for our youthful engineers, architects, and builders. Here’s how it might look with bamboo and local materials mixed in: (1) arch-based compression shell: can be replicated with engineered bamboo ribs and woven bamboo (sawali) or composite skins (marine plywood); (2) flat-pack logistics: mirrorable with locally prefabricated kits; (3) elevated foundations: adopt the wartime tension-anchor idea using screw piles or concrete stilts in flooded plains; and (4) ventilation systems: incorporate ridge vents and end-louvers as in the 1945 tropical versions.

Quonset huts design teaches that speed and strength can coexist; that ordinary people can assemble safety with basic tools; that geometry can substitute for expensive materials; and that design-when driven by necessity and tested by wind-can save more lives than speeches about corruption ever will.

When Yolanda flattened Tacloban in 2013, no one invoked that earlier storm, that earlier proof of concept. The Philippines had forgotten that it once hosted a global benchmark for storm-resistant architecture. Our institutional memory, like many of our archives, had rusted away.

The Quonset hut deserves to be romanced again-not as scrap metal, but as inspiration. It is time to revisit this humble arch that once protected soldiers and students alike and ask what it can teach a nation still rebuilding roofs after every typhoon.

Mandy Moore has become the talk of social media after recent photos of her surfaced online, sparking discussions about her noticeably changed appearance.

Moore’s strikingly different look circulated on X (formerly Twitter) and other platforms, with users sharing ‘before and after’ comparisons highlighting her transformation.

Netizens were particularly surprised after seeing Moore’s recent photo with fellow actress Lupita Nyong’o, taken during their visit to the US Senate and House of Representatives to advocate for funding for the Women’s Health Research Center.

More photos of Moore taken at the 2025 Inspiration Awards of Step Up in Los Angeles, California, last Sept. 26 also drew mixed reactions from the public.

‘I’m genuinely baffled. I can’t figure out how this can be the same person. Mandy Moore was such a natural beauty, why get work done to the point of being unrecognized,’ one person wrote on X.

‘I’m sorry but has anyone else seen MANDY MOORE lately?!!?!?! This is so far from her face assigned at birth????’ reacted another netizen.

In 2022, Moore revealed that she had been diagnosed with immune thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP), an autoimmune disorder that causes low platelet counts.

Moore first gained fame in the late 1990s with hits such as ‘Candy,’ ‘Crush’ and ‘I Wanna Be with You.’

She later achieved international stardom for her role as Jamie Sullivan in the 2002 romantic drama ‘A Walk to Remember.’ /ra

The fallout from the ongoing controversy over anomalous flood control projects has gone beyond the halls of Congress, the Department of Public Works and Highways and the private contractors involved.

According to Ramon Monzon, president and CEO of the Philippine Stock Exchange, some P185 billion in market capitalization was lost in the preceding weeks as the issue raged.

He agreed with the earlier statement of Securities and Exchange Commission chair Francis Lim assailing the level of corruption in the country and its adverse effects on the economy and financial markets.

Although the stock market is not a microcosm of the state of the economy, sharp movements in stock trading are considered snapshots of the reaction of investors to significant political and economic events.

Decisions

They influence the decision of investors on whether to unload their shares before things get worse or load up on stocks whose price had been or are expected to be adversely affected by those events.

News about the misuse of government funds in ‘ghost’ and substandard flood control projects are not confined to the Philippines. Several international news agencies have picked them up and reported them in their print, online and TV reports.

They were also featured in some podcasts or online chat rooms that deal with commercial or business issues in different parts of the world.

No doubt, the hedge funds and foreign companies that have substantial investments in Philippine companies, in particular, those listed on the stock market, including international financing institutions that have extended enormous credit to flood control-related infrastructure projects, are seriously concerned about the effects of the corruption issue on their money.

Easy sell

Sad, but true, the Philippines is not exactly an easy sell for foreign investments, so those who took a leap of faith on the country may now be questioning the wisdom of their action.

Their knee-jerk reaction could be to hold in abeyance earlier plans to expand their investments or sell their shares at the best price possible to minimize possible losses, or both.

The top executive of listed companies with foreign stock portfolios who may get calls in connection with the corruption issue would be walking on eggshells, so to speak, in responding to nervous investors.

How can they discuss that issue and truthfully comment on it without impliedly shaming the government or impugning the integrity of the members of Congress who had been implicated in the anomaly?

Fudging or skirting the issue is not going to be easy and, worse, may not sit well with investors who know their onions, so they might as well tell the truth about corruption in government, in particular, how some lawmakers have used their position to enrich themselves at the expense of the people and feel smug about it.

Controversy

What puts things in a tighter spot is the fact that the present controversy is a virtual repeat of the 1996 scandal when several members of Congress (again!) were enmeshed in pork barrel scams with businesswoman Janet Lim Napoles, who is now in jail for the crimes she had committed in tandem with them.

But the irony of things is, many of her co-conspirators are still on the loose and whether or not they would eventually share her fate is a big question mark.

Given those circumstances, a foreign investor cannot be faulted for thinking that the same result could come out in the flood control project anomalies. Hence, it may be the better part of discretion to pull out the investment and put it elsewhere in the region where corruption in government is less perverse.

It would take a lot of persuasion to make an anxious foreign investor believe that the corruption issue is being forcefully addressed by the national leadership, that the guilty parties would serve time in prison and, most importantly, that the Philippines remains a viable area for investments.

Note that once business or investor confidence is lost, getting it back is not going to be easy. INQ

The Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) on Monday said they would file cases in the coming weeks in connection with their investigation into anomalous flood control projects.

Retired Philippine National Police chief Rodolfo Azurin Jr., who took his oath on Monday as ICI special adviser, said in a press conference that the commission would begin a ‘technical validation’ of 421 flood control works initially found to be nonexistent based on field investigation.

He said the commission was ‘trying to tap also the other engineers’ besides those already enlisted to the investigation from the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

The Criminal Investigation and Detection Group of the PNP and the National Bureau of Investigation will help in the case buildup resulting from the technical validation, Azurin said.

‘The volunteers, they are welcome to help, because there are so much that needs to be validated,’ he said.

Azurin said, however, that at least 15 cases may be filed before the Ombudsman in the next three to four weeks.

‘[A]nd then it will be the Ombudsman who will be determining if there is sufficient evidence to charge those referred by the ICI, and then [these charges] will be referred to the Sandiganbayan,’ the ICI adviser said.

Not satisfied with Discayas

DOJ officer in charge Fredderick Vida, in his first briefing in that capacity, said the department would file cases even without witnesses.

‘The timeline is already set. The people are impatient. If we don’t find something satisfactory, we will file the appropriate cases, with or without the state witnesses,’ he said.

Vida said the DOJ so far isn’t satisfied with the disclosures of Pacifico ‘Curlee’ and Cezarah ‘Sarah’ Discaya, the contractor couple in the center of the corruption scandal over the government’s flood control projects with private contractors.

‘In the past few weeks, and even up to now, the department has not been satisfied with what they have presented,’ he said.

According to their lawyer Cornelio Samaniego III, the Discayas delivered a ‘tell-all’ testimony before the ICI on Sept. 30 about what they knew regarding the alleged anomalies in the procurement and bidding of flood control projects.

But Vida said the DOJ had yet to receive a copy of that supposed testimony.

‘When you make a presentation, you’re telling a story, right? You’ll say, ‘On this day, I brought this amount of money to this [person].’ We have statements and testimonies that can be verified through factual and objective evidence. This is what we need to determine-whether it’s true or not, or if we’re simply being led to believe something that isn’t real,’ he said.

Vida said the DOJ would evaluate further the Discaya couple’s testimonies to determine if these were made in good faith or if the couple was being ‘selective’ about the personalities they have named so far.

‘Low-hanging fruits’

The DPWH said earlier that 421 out of 8,000 flood control works were suspected to be nonexistent or ‘ghost’ projects. This was based on its initial field inspection conducted together with the AFP, PNP and Department of Economy, Planning and Development.

ICI executive director Brian Keith Hosaka, who was also at the ICI press briefing with Azurin, said the inspection found that 261 of the suspected ghost projects were in Luzon, 109 in the Visayas, and 51 in Mindanao.

According to him, only 8,000 out of a total of 29,800 flood control projects conducted since 2016 have been validated.

Hosaka said the ICI would ‘zero in,’ for now, on the 421 alleged ghost projects.

‘[T]he task of the commission is too broad and too large,’ he said. ‘We will zero in [on these alleged projects] initially because. [they are] the so-called low-hanging fruit[s].’

He said ‘upon field validation, they really are ghosts-meaning, we did not see any projects.’

Hosaka said the ICI would still compile reports on other questionable infrastructure projects that might be referred to the commission, adding that ‘once the processing of flood control projects is fixed, then we will look into that.’

‘Reinforce’ ICI

Asked about the ICI’s capability to go after the so-called big fish, Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo Lacson said the ICI needed ‘to be reinforced even to the point of empowering them with more legal authority by way of legislation.’

He said the commission, with its ‘lack of personnel and logical resources . will be overwhelmed by the magnitude and complexity of the problem it is facing, if [it is] not already overwhelmed.’

Lacson cited the uncertainty felt by residents of Provident Village in Marikina City over seeming defects in the Marikina dike, whose construction was handled by Discaya-owned companies.

‘At the rate the number of substandard, uncompleted, and even ghost infrastructure projects being attributed to the Discaya-owned firms keeps piling up, the ICI may not be able to cope with the complexity and enormity of the problem at hand,’ Lacson said.

‘Hence, the national government, including Congress, must reinforce the commission with adequate personnel and logistical resources, even additional legal power and authority by way of legislation, so they can accomplish their assigned tasks,’ he said. – With a report from Tina G. Santos

Just days after his appointment, Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla said on Monday he has ordered the withdrawal of cases filed before the Sandiganbayan over the multibillion-peso Pharmally scandal so that these could be reviewed and evaluated for refiling.

‘I gave instructions to withdraw first the cases of Pharmally, where there has been no arraignment yet with the Sandiganbayan, because I want to reevaluate the cases. I want to know the details which are put into the cases because they really matter,’ he said at a press briefing.

‘I want the Sandiganbayan to have a good grasp of the cases immediately. What I want is for the cases to be all ready for trial when we file the information at the Sandiganbayan,’ Remulla added.

According to him, there was a lack of coordination among the fact-finding, evaluation, preliminary investigation and prosecution teams that handled the cases before.

Uncoordinated efforts

‘Everybody was in the dark; [they were] not working as a complete team . It should be a fully laid-out plan. It can’t be segmented, with one team not knowing what the other is doing,’ Remulla said.

‘That is why I really thought it would be wiser to withdraw these cases so that we could reevaluate them, to make sure that the work done by the investigators, the Senate, and everyone involved in uncovering the Pharmally cases would not go to waste,’ he explained.

He said that around six to eight cases related to the Pharmally scandal had been filed before the Sandiganbayan, including two in which the accused were already arraigned. He said that he expected more cases to be filed following the review.

Asked how long the reevaluation and review will take, Remulla replied: ‘Not long, because [the cases] already underwent preliminary investigation. We just need to study the resolution thoroughly based on the evidence we collected from the investigation and what we have here at the Ombudsman.’

Forgotten cases

Shortly after he took office on Oct. 9, Remulla said his immediate tasks would include a review of the Pharmally case, which he noted seemed to have been ‘buried in oblivion.’

‘But these kinds of cases shouldn’t really be forgotten because we know the allegations have weight,’ he said.

Based on an investigation conducted by the Senate blue ribbon committee probe from August 2021 to January 2022, Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp. was awarded P11.5 billion worth of contracts despite having a paid-up capital of only P625,000.

It was the single biggest chunk of government contracts for COVID-19 supplies awarded to private companies at the time.

The contracts included 8,000 BGI real-time fluorescent RT-PCR test kits totaling P600 million; 2,000 A*Star Fortitude RT-PCR test kits worth P688 million; and 41,400 BGI real-time fluorescent RT-PCR kits worth P2.877 billion.

The Senate inquiry led by then blue ribbon committee chair Sen. Richard Gordon resulted in a draft report that endorsed criminal charges against several public officials and private individuals. But it was archived at the close of the 18th Congress in June 2022, as the majority of seated senators at the time refused to sign it.

In a recent interview, Gordon urged Remulla to revisit the case and hold former President Rodrigo Duterte liable for allegedly defrauding the government during the height of the pandemic.

He accused Duterte of being ‘part and parcel of a conspiracy to fleece the country of at least P11 billion to P47 billion in the Pharmally scandal.’

When a company’s success is measured not just in numbers but in the trust and loyalty of its people, the recognition means so much more. This year, PJ Lhuillier Inc., the parent company of the largest and leading microfinance center in the country, Cebuana Lhuillier, has done just that – earning not one, but three People’s Choice Stevie Awards for Favorite Companies in Conglomerates, Diversified Services, and Financial Services.

What makes this recognition especially meaningful is that it comes straight from the people. Unlike most awards decided by a panel of judges, the People’s Choice Stevie Awards are determined entirely by public vote – a reflection of how deeply Cebuana Lhuillier has connected with millions of Filipinos through its mission of financial inclusion.

For President and CEO Jean Henri Lhuillier, this recognition is more than a trophy – it’s a validation of the company’s mission. ‘We are truly honored to receive the People’s Choice Awards across three categories,’ he shares. ‘This recognition means so much to us because it comes from the very people we serve. Their trust and continued support inspire us to push further in our mission to provide accessible, reliable, and inclusive financial services to every Filipino.’

For over three decades, Cebuana Lhuillier has been more than a financial institution. It has been a lifeline for everyday Filipinos – helping them secure their future, build their dreams, and weather life’s uncertainties. What began in 1953 as AgenciaCebuana, a small family-run pawnshop, has evolved into a diversified conglomerate employing more than 12,000 people nationwide. Today, through over 3,500 branches across the country, it provides a wide range of services – from pawning, remittance, microloans, and insurance to banking and micro-savings – each designed to make financial empowerment within everyone’s reach.

Cebuana Lhuillier’s purpose goes beyond transactions. Through programs like the Kanegosyo Center, it has helped more than one million MSMEs grow their businesses, releasing over ?3 billion in funding. Its innovative products – Microinvest and Cebuana Gold Bars – encourage everyday Filipinos to start investing, while HealthMax, MindCare, and Takaful provide accessible protection to families across the country. Even its remittance services continue to evolve, embracing digital partnerships with PayPal, MoneyGram, and Web3 technologies to serve a new generation of users.

At the heart of these efforts is a commitment to inclusion. By continuously expanding its digital and nationwide network, Cebuana Lhuillier ensures that financial services reach even the most underserved communities, promoting financial literacy and resilience among millions of Filipinos.

Indeed, Cebuana Lhuillier’s triple win is not just a celebration of success – it’s a celebration of the Filipino spirit. Guided by innovation, integrity, and service, the company continues to uplift lives, proving that when business is driven by purpose, it becomes more than a brand – it becomes a trusted partner in every Filipino’s journey toward a more secure future.

While cases of influenza-like illnesses were lower this year compared to last year, the public is still urged to isolate themselves should they exhibit symptoms to avoid spreading the infection, which can become severe and lead to hospitalization.

‘When you look at this type of infection, we sometimes think. it’s just a fever. But sometimes it can lead to what we call severe acute respiratory infection,’ Dr. Rontgene Solante, chair of the adult infectious diseases section at San Lazaro Hospital, said during a forum on Tuesday.

According to Solante, a person 5 years old and above may have a severe acute respiratory infection if they have a history of fever with a temperature of 38 degrees Celsius or higher, while also suffering from coughs, with an onset of within the last 10 days.

He warned that once a person has a severe infection, he or she may find it difficult to breathe and may have to be hospitalized. Based on data from the Department of Health shared by Solante, a total of 15,868 cases of severe acute respiratory infections have been recorded in the country this year as of September 27, which is lower than the 24,032 cases reported the previous year.

Solante also pointed out that influenza A, which is the most commonly detected pathogen for influenza-like illnesses, can also lead to severe viral pneumonia and cardiovascular complications, such as heart attacks. Another cause of influenza-like illnesses, the respiratory syncytial virus, may also lead to an exacerbation of chronic respiratory or cardiac insufficiency, Solante added.

‘Those with asthma or [chronic obstructive pulmonary disease], you might be asking why your asthma isn’t going away.[or] I’m taking my maintenance [medicine] but my condition is still the same, you might be having [respiratory syncytial virus],’ he said.

According to Solante, those who are most vulnerable to severe infections are children, the elderly, people with comorbidities and pregnant women. He urged people who are exhibiting symptoms of influenza-like illnesses to take a rest, isolate themselves and wear a mask in order to avoid infecting vulnerable members of the population.

Should vulnerable individuals become infected with influenza-like illnesses, Solante said they should be closely monitored and taken to the doctor if their symptoms become worse.

‘If you’re still coughing after five to seven days, you’re experiencing difficulty in breathing and you still have a fever, don’t wait for your fever to last for seven or eight days. Go to the doctor,’ he said. ‘It might be too late when you go to the doctor, and there would not be medication that can be given to you,’ he added.

A magnitude 3.2 earthquake was felt in Nasugbu, Batangas, on Tuesday morning, Oct. 14, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) reported.

The tremor struck at 6:11 a.m., with its epicenter 24 kilometers southwest of the town. It was tectonic in origin, occurring at a depth of 130 km-caused by sudden movement along faults and plate boundaries.

Phivolcs said no damage or aftershocks are expected.

On Sept. 18, Nasugbu experienced a magnitude 3.3 earthquake, located 65 km south of Manila.

On Monday, two minor quakes also hit Batangas: a magnitude 2.9 tremor in Tingloy town and a magnitude 2.4 quake in Calatagan municipality

If not for corruption, the Philippine economy might have been growing by 6 to 6.2 percent, according to Finance Secretary Ralph Recto.

This was disclosed by Recto at a Senate subpanel on finance’s Tuesday hearing on the proposed 2026 funding of the Department of Finance when he was asked by Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian why the government fails to surpass its revenue targets.

According to Recto, there are various factors, but he particularly named corruption among these.

‘Nakikita natin na because of corruption issue na nangyari at nakita natin in the last few years, dahil nga dito sa flood control program – nagtataka ako, sa laki ng ginagastos ng ating pamahalaan ay dapat mas malaki ang growth ng ating ekonomiya,’ said Recto.

(We can see that because of the corruption issues that have happened which we’ve seen in the past few years, especially in the flood control program – I find it puzzling that despite the large amount our government is spending, our economic growth isn’t higher.)

Big spend on tainted projects don’t convert to economic growth

‘So this explains that in spite of having this level of expenditure, dahil napunta ang parte ng capital outlay doon sa ghost projects or substandard projects – halimbawa sa flood control – ay apektado ang growth natin. Ibig sabihin, kung hindi napunta sa corruption ang parte ng budget na yan ay siguro ang ekonomiya natin would have been growing by 6 to 6.2 percent at mas malaki ang koleksyon ng Bureau of Internal Revenue at Bureau of Customs,’ he added.

(This explains that despite this level of expenditure, part of the capital outlay went to ghost projects or substandard projects – for example, in flood control – and that has affected our growth. This means that if that portion of the budget hadn’t been lost to corruption, our economy might have been growing by 6 to 6.2 percent, and the collections of the Bureau of Internal Revenue and the Bureau of Customs would have been higher as well.)

Philippine gross domestic product (GDP) expanded by 5.5 percent in the three months ending June, up marginally from 5.4 percent annual growth in the first quarter.

However, this marked a significant slowdown from the 6.5 percent growth recorded in the second quarter of 2024 and fell short of market expectations. An Inquirer poll of economists projected a 5.6 percent increase for the June quarter.

Before this, Gatchalian – who chairs the Senate panel on finance – said that since 2015, the Philippine government has only surpassed its target by three times: in 2020, 2021, and 2022.

The senator said the government failed to surpass its targets in the subsequent years, but saw a ‘very good trend in the last three years’ in terms of non-tax revenues.

Meanwhile, amid the corruption scandal hounding some government agencies at present, Recto said they observed a ‘slow down’ in paying taxes. He, however, maintained that it remains to be ‘manageable’ at present.