Category: Philippines Daily Inquirer

A ‘king’s gambit,’ former Sen. Franklin Drilon called it.

In chess, it is about conceding an early advantage to protect a more valuable piece. In the Senate, it meant sacrificing Sen. Panfilo Lacson’s chairmanship of the prized blue ribbon committee to preserve the fragile hold of his close ally, Sen. Vicente Sotto III, on the Senate presidency, under the threat of insurrection by loyalists of former President Rodrigo Duterte.

But what may have been a tactical retreat for the Senate leaders became a strategic defeat for the chamber itself, a short-lived advantage that turned a proud committee into a mere pawn in an ugly game of partisanship. On top of that, it risks derailing the momentum of the committee’s deepening investigation of public works corruption that, under Lacson’s leadership, was finally making some headway, albeit in a direction that didn’t please his peers.

What a shame that the Senate’s most powerful committee has been muzzled by its own members for the simple reason that it was doing its job. But also not surprising, for the reorganization merely demonstrates the Senate’s fraught relationship with transparency.

Instrument of oversight

For a long time, the Senate blue ribbon committee, formally known as the committee on accountability of public officers and investigations, has served as the chamber’s most potent instrument of oversight. It is empowered to investigate ‘any matter of public interest,’ particularly those involving wrongdoing by government officials. Its inquiries, often televised and headline-grabbing, have exposed corruption scandals, from the pork barrel scam to overpriced pandemic supplies, keeping public servants on their toes.

That record of vigilance, however, rests on the chair’s independence and the chamber’s willingness to let the committee fulfill its mandate unhampered by external influence. Unfortunately, those standards are rewritten when the panel dares to train its guns on the Senate’s own kind, who operate under the delusion that they are above scrutiny.

‘Some senators publicly and secretly pursue the narrative that I am zeroing in on several of my colleagues while purportedly protecting those members of the Lower House perceived to be the principal actors in the budget anomalies related to the substandard and ghost flood control projects,’ Lacson said.

To make matters worse for the embattled senator, his comments about the billions quietly inserted into the national budget by almost all of the senators from the previous Congress also struck close to home, triggering consternation among those implicated.

Five candidates

Now, the loss of Lacson at the helm raises troubling questions about what lies ahead for the blue ribbon committee, in the absence of a chair with both the investigative mettle and the moral authority to confront the corrupt.

Last week, Sotto named five candidates to replace Lacson-Senators JV Ejercito, Risa Hontiveros, Pia Cayetano, Raffy Tulfo, and Kiko Pangilinan-yet all of them demurred, most of them saying Lacson was still the best man for the job. In the end, the committee’s vice chair, Sen. Erwin Tulfo, was designated as the interim head.

But is Erwin Tulfo, a former broadcaster who has been in the Senate for all of three months, the right person to take over? Recall that he once anchored a blocktimer on a state media channel that received millions of pesos in advertising money from the Department of Tourism, then helmed by his sister Wanda Tulfo Teo.

Pia Cayetano, another candidate reportedly considering the post, would likewise be a foolish choice, given that her brother, Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano is the minority leader in cahoots with the very people threatening Sotto’s leadership. Lacson, by contrast, has a track record as a relentless scrutinizer of the budget and the gravitas to take on disgruntled colleagues.

A cowardly move

Among them, it’s evident who’s best equipped to handle the blue ribbon panel as it withstands tremendous pressure from contractors, officials, and House lawmakers, let alone fellow senators.

A committee led by a chair more concerned with maintaining alliances than unearthing the truth will only confirm that Senate investigations are not ‘in aid of legislation’ but politics. The Senate, already battling declining public trust, can ill afford another blow to its integrity.

The Senate majority must understand that a king’s gambit is only as good as the end it serves: To sacrifice the truth for temporary peace, to trade accountability for fake harmony, is a cowardly move for an institution that has routinely uncovered scams and censured presidents.

Palace press officer Claire Castro denied on Tuesday that President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. and his family are seeking ‘perpetuation in power’ as claimed by Vice President Duterte in a press briefing in Zamboanga City.

‘I’ve been saying that for a long time, haven’t I? This government is doing nothing but politicizing and spending the Philippine budget on corruption.They no longer have an objective for their tenure in the administration other than to engage in politics and their end goal is perpetuation in power,’ Duterte said partly in Filipino.

Castro dismissed the vice president’s comments, saying Duterte has no proof of her accusations, and claiming that the current government is cleaning up after the previous Duterte administration.

‘All words. all accusations, no evidence, no value. Even when the truth is President Marcos, Jr. is fighting corruption which the previous administration failed to do,’ Castro said.

‘What’s worse is that they even defended those who ‘allegedly did not abuse the public treasury’ like in the Pharmally scandal. They are now cleaning up what they spread in the past. They shouldn’t divert the sins they committed against the people,’ added Castro.

Duterte also accused the administration, and the Office of the Ombudsman of ‘controlling the narrative,’ saying that when the corruption probe comes too close to the Office of the President, the investigation dies down.

‘Why is the investigation specific? Why aren’t all corruption scandals investigated? That’s why we say everyone is controlling the narrative because they choose what they want to investigate, if someone in the Office of the President gets hit, the investigation suddenly dies or disappears or gets buried or drowned,’ the vice president pointed out.

It must be noted that newly-appointed Ombudsman, former justice secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla previously said that the complaints made against Duterte over her office’s and the Department of Education’s alleged misuse of confidential funds will be reviewed. /gsg

The government may collect at least P10 billion worth of insurance claims from flood control projects bagged by contractor couple Pacifico ‘Curlee’ and Cezarah ‘Sarah’ Discaya in the last three years alone.

Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, chairman of the Senate committee on finance, gave this estimate on Tuesday after learning from the Insurance Commission (IC) that 30 percent of the value of a project is covered by insurance.

‘Regarding the issue of flood control, we are now addressing this because we see two main problems. First, the ghost projects, and the substandard projects,’ IC Commissioner Reynaldo Regalado said speaking in Filipino during a budget hearing in the Senate.

‘We can still recover about 30 percent of the ghost projects.’ he said in Filipino.

When Gatchalian asked how much the government could recover from the reported ‘ghost’ flood control projects, Regalado could not give an estimate yet, saying the assessment is still ongoing.

The IC chief added they have yet to see the ‘actual situation per insurance and per project,’ which he said is ‘very exhaustive.’

Gatchalian later inquired if the bond companies have ‘sufficient capital.’

‘Because of the scale-we’re talking about Discaya-I think his contract was around P30 billion? So just imagine, if we’re talking of one-third, that’s P10 billion that the government could potentially recover,’ he pointed out.

He was apparently referring to the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism’s report that from 2022 to 2025, companies and joint ventures of the Discaya couple cornered 421 projects totaling P31,035,712,926.70.

But Public Works Secretary Vince Dizon later revealed that the companies owned by the couple had actually secured almost ?78 billion worth of projects since 2016.

Regalado assured the public that the government is taking steps to recover the 30 percent insurance claims from these graft-tainted infrastructure projects, citing the two agreements that the IC and the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) are set to sign on Wednesday.

‘We would be signing a memorandum of agreement and a data sharing agreement with the DPWH to ensure that we have the same data and somehow the issue of restitution, at least on the 30 percent, can be covered by insurance,’ he said.

‘The next day, we would be having a meeting on how we can have a whole-of-government approach and restitution because it has to be clearly addressed-our public is waiting on how we’re supposed to be doing that,’ Regalado added.

At present, the IC estimated about ?4.9 billion worth of assets frozen in connection with the anomalous flood control works. /jpv

Relatively cheap food, including rice and utility costs, kept inflation steady for two consecutive months in the vegetable-growing highlands of the Cordillera, which posted a 2.2-percent inflation rate in both August and September, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said on Monday.

Aldrin Federico Bahit Jr., PSA chief statistician for the Cordillera, said the most notable trend was the continued deflation – or negative inflation rate – in the interior provinces of Abra and Kalinga, which are among the region’s main rice producers.

Abra recorded a -0.4 percent inflation in September from -0.1 percent in August, while Kalinga’s rate dropped further to -0.5 percent in September from -0.4 percent in the previous month.

Baguio City, the region’s highly urbanized hub, saw its inflation ease to 3.5 percent in September from 4.6 percent in August, said Imelda Buyuccan, PSA Benguet chief statistical specialist.

Despite the decline, the city continued to post the highest inflation rate in the Cordillera, also composed of six provinces and the component city of Tabuk in Kalinga.

Bahit said overall inflation in the region was sustained partly by the rising prices of vegetables and pork, even as many commodities showed slower inflationary movements.

Rental costs across the region registered a 5.7-percent inflation rate in September, lower than 6.4 percent in August. Pork inflation declined slightly to 11.9 percent from 12.1 percent, while poultry meat prices rose marginally to 8.8 percent from 8.5 percent.

Cabbage prices, however, surged sharply, posting an 89.4-percent inflation rate in September, up from 73.7 percent in August.

Benefits for households

The inflation trend benefited upland households in the bottom 30 percent income bracket of the Cordillera’s 1.79 million population (as of the 2020 census), which experienced deflation of -1.6 percent in September, improving from -0.5 percent in August.

In Abra, the lower inflation was attributed to the continued decline in rice prices, which dropped to -13.1 percent in September from -7.9 percent in August, said Felixberto Perdido, the province’s chief statistical specialist. Prices of cocoa and soft drinks also fell, from 3.3 percent in August to -0.1 percent in September. Information and communication services, including mobile communications, likewise saw inflation slow to 0 percent from 2.1 percent.

In Kalinga, the deeper deflation was mainly driven by a reduction in rice prices, from -16.4 percent in August to -21.8 percent in September, said Maribel Dalayday, the province’s chief statistical specialist.

Bahit said Apayao’s inflation rose slightly from -1.3 percent in August to 0.1 percent in September, while Benguet’s rate inched up from 2.4 percent to 2.5 percent.

Ifugao, home to the world-famous rice terraces, recorded an inflation increase from 1.9 percent in August to 2.7 percent in September, while Mountain Province also posted a higher rate of 2.6 percent, up from 1.7 percent in the previous month.

Thunderstorms are expected to lash Metro Manila and nearby provinces again on Tuesday, Oct. 14, the weather bureau said.

In its 8:20 a.m. advisory, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) reported that moderate to heavy rain with lightning and strong winds may affect Rizal, Bulacan, Metro Manila, Cavite, Bataan, and Pampanga within the next two hours.

In Bataan, the affected areas are Mariveles, Limay, Pilar, Bagac, Orion, Balanga, Abucay, Samal, Orani, and Morong.

Meanwhile, in Pampanga, the towns covered by the advisories are: Masantol, Sasmuan, Lubao, Apalit, Minalin, Macabebe, San Simon, San Luis, and Candaba.

Similar conditions are already being experienced in Quezon, Laguna, and Batangas and may persist for up to two hours, possibly affecting nearby areas. /mcm/abc

Why does the mention of Greta Thunberg, the young Swedish climate change-turned-pro-Palestine activist, get the panties of so many white (and those with pretensions to whiteness) men in a twist? Piers Morgan for one. They label her activism performative, dismiss her actions as stunts, and portray her as an attention-seeking opportunist riding on the coattails of some cause or another.

Not just white men, mind you, but even all of the white so-called feminists who waste no time clamoring for the liberation of Afghan/Iranian/(insert Global South nation here whose resources the West is itching to extract and control) women under cruel subjugation by medieval and unenlightened leaders who trample on their human rights.

Yet when one of their own, someone who, by their own measure, embodies the qualities they loudly extol-confidence, compassion, intelligence, and integrity-is kidnapped whilst on a humanitarian mission by a foreign military power on international waters and taken to prison where she is tortured, these self-declared foghorns of democracy are deafeningly silent.

Not a word, not a sound

Where is the outrage? Seriously, why aren’t these people up in arms at this display of inhumanity toward someone who shares the same melanin deficiency as they do?

One would think these defenders of freedom would be rushing to condemn Israel for this blatant bulldozing of international law (not surprising, really, when you consider that bulldozing Palestinians and their homes is part of the Israeli arsenal of genocide in Gaza), as well as for the flagrant abuse of human rights. Other activists from the humanitarian Global Sumud Flotilla who were taken captive by Israel witnessed Thunberg’s mistreatment, recounting that she was beaten, dragged on the ground, and, bizarrely, made to kiss the Israeli flag while unlawfully detained.

But the West, of course, never calls out its allies, especially one it is actively supplying with bombs, aircraft, and intel in the wholesale extermination of an Indigenous people.

Thunberg was not the only white woman from the flotilla to experience this degradation. Activist Yvonne Ridley, 67, a former Welsh newspaper editor once kidnapped by the Taliban, declared, when she was released from Israeli custody, that she would rather spend two months in a Taliban jail than two days in an Israeli prison.

Such a strong condemnation should have elicited, one would assume, stringent denials from the Western establishment; after all, their nemesis, the Taliban, has long been the poster child of oppression and cruelty.

But not a word. Liberal hypocrisy, is that you? Why the double standard?

Equal opportunity sadists

It wasn’t just the white women (and men) who were subject to torture-including the deprivation of food and water as well as medication-whilst being held in Israeli prisons. The Israeli military, after all, is an equal opportunity sadist. Muslim hostages from Malaysia and South Africa have reported being strip-searched, their hijabs torn from their heads in the presence of men. One woman, Fatima Hendricks, said they received harsher treatment when the military found they were South African; as a breast cancer survivor, she said her mastectomy scars were even exposed and mocked by her captors.

But the West doesn’t really care about them; they’re not white, for one, and they come from the country that filed the case against Israel, and by extension, its complicit allies, in the International Court of Justice.

Yet all the hostages, regardless of gender, have insisted that the issue is not about them. It is Gaza, and the torture they were subjected to was only a fraction of the torture Palestinian detainees are regularly meted out as they languish in Israeli jails-many without formal charges, under the nebula of administrative detention.

And I suppose this is part of the problem the West has with Thunberg and other white female activists. In sticking steadfastly to the cause, they refuse to center themselves, the very opposite of the individual-as-brand approach, the self-absorbed look-at-me media whoring prevalent these days.

The wrong kind of blonde

The erstwhile international darling who at 16 confronted the world and demanded the powers-that-be take concrete actions to protect the Earth for future generations, Thunberg could have had a cushy life doing the Davos and TED Talk route, hobnobbing with the likes of Hilary Clinton and all these ‘global thought leaders’ who really are, at the end of the day, instruments of imperialism milking the system that was created to keep them entrenched in power and wealth.

But she saw through the artifice of liberalism fairly quickly and understood that to be a climate activist is to be an advocate for climate justice. One cannot claim to care about the environment when one country is dropping the equivalent of over 100,000 tonnes of explosives on Gaza, uprooting its olive trees, cutting off food and water, and poisoning its wells, among others.

Her identification with the cause of the Palestinians basically nipped any aspirations to speaking engagements at $100,000-a-plate benefit galas with the world’s movers and shakers (for a list of names, see the Epstein files).

Not that she was ever about that life. There’s Malala for that.

And, because we live in a society where looks matter, Thunberg is the wrong kind of blonde. She’s cute, but not glamorous or even conventionally pretty. She is frank, disconcertingly so for some, and doesn’t smile or giggle coyly or feign performative concern for an audience drowning in its own liberal delusions that it constantly congratulates itself for caring about the world, reciting daily affirmations while children are literally being starved and sliced in half by bombs.

There’s Taylor Swift for that.

Dearest gentle reader, the love story of Benedict and Sophie will be revealed soon, as ‘Bridgerton’ season 4 will be arriving in two parts in 2026.

Netflix announced that the first four episodes of ‘Bridgerton’ season 4 will be dropped on Jan. 29, while the remaining four will be out on Feb. 26. This continues the period romance’s two-part release model set by season three in 2024.

The streaming giant also shared glimpses of Benedict (Luke Thompson) and Sophie’s (Yerin Ha) Cinderella-inspired romance in a teaser clip and poster, with the video showing the pair locking eyes on a staircase during the much-awaited masquerade ball.

‘With each passing season, one is known to experience plenty of ups and downs. So then, we must ask ourselves, do we rise to the occasion? As always, time and this author will tell,’ a voice-over from Lady Whistledown (portrayed by Julie Andrews) said in the background.

Netflix also thrilled viewers with snippets of Benedict and Sophie’s blooming romance in the Masquerade Ball on X on Monday, Oct. 13, showing Thompson and Ha sharing a longing gaze and an intimate moment, and holding hands.

‘It would seem the Masquerade Ball shall be quite eventful, indeed,’ the caption read.

It would seem the Masquerade Ball shall be quite eventful, indeed. pic.twitter.com/lanIOcryrb

– Bridgerton (@bridgerton) October 13, 2025

Based on the Julia Quinn-helmed novel ‘An Offer from a Gentleman,’ season 4 revolves around Benedict falling in love at first sight with a mysterious Lady in Silver at Lady Bridgerton’s famed masquerade ball. He goes on a search to uncover her identity; however, the maiden turns out to be Sophie, a maid who works at the house of Lady Araminta Gun (Katie Leung).

‘When fate brings Benedict and Sophie back together, Benedict wrestles between the reality of his affection for this intriguing maid and the fantasy of the Lady in Silver – unaware that they are the same person. Will Benedict’s inability to see these women as one in the same derail the undeniable spark between him and Sophie? And can love truly conquer anything?’ the logline reads on Netflix’s Tudum.

Thompson expressed his excitement in having the audience witness the ‘magic and romance’ of the Cinderella-inspired love story in season 4.

‘It’s such a great story, but it’s also, I hope, really relatable,’ he said. ‘What’s striking about Season 4 is that it’s the struggle between a proper old-school fairy tale – the romance of it – and the actual reality of the world. Both are true. You have to hold both of them – the romance and the reality – in your hand. In its best version, ‘true love’ happens in the middle of that.’ Meanwhile, Ha said she is looking forward to the viewers seeing Sophie’s inner turmoil on screen.

‘What drew me to Sophie was that she immediately has obstacles – something that she constantly has to overcome. Whether it’s this battle around social status or trying to hide her feelings from Benedict,’ she said.

Returning to ‘Bridgerton’ season four are Jonathan Bailey, Simone Ashley, Luke Newton, Nicola Coughlan, Ruth Gemmell, Claudia Jessie, Florence Hunt, Hannah Dodd, Will Tilston and Adjoa Andoh.

Joining the cast are Katie Leung, Michelle Mao and Isabella Wei. /ra

Senator Chiz Escudero’s legal counsel has filed an affidavit before the Commission on Elections (Comelec) explaining the P30-million donation made to his 2022 campaign by a contractor, according to commission chair George Garcia.

‘His lawyer filed this morning. He has an affidavit,’ Garcia said in an interview with reporters on Tuesday after a dialogue on the Supreme Court ruling on the first Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao Parliamentary Elections.

‘Therefore, for us, all the ingredients are complete to have a disposition for their office,’ he added.

Garcia clarified that the decision on Escudero’s case was being handled by the office of the Political Finance and Affairs Department and not by the Commission en banc, emphasizing that he himself had inhibited himself from the case.

‘Because they (referring to the Political Finance and Affairs Department) are engaged in what is called data gathering, fact-finding, and therefore, it is up to them if they are charged,’ Garcia explained.

‘The contractor and former Senate President Chiz Escudero will not be charged. We are not interfering in that process,’ he noted.

‘We are not interfering in that process. In fact, your servant has inhibited himself there as the lawyer of former Senate President Chiz Escudero several times. So we will ignore whatever our office thinks is appropriate in this case. He has given a defense, and therefore, we will clash that with the provision of our law,’ he pointed out.

According to Garcia, the affidavit contains Escudero’s defense that he only accepted the donation from contractor Lawrence Lubiano, president of Centerways Construction and Development Inc., with the knowledge that it is a ‘private fund.’

‘That is what he is saying publicly in interviews that he really accepted it in his belief that it was a private fund and in a personal capacity as an acquaintance, a friend of Mr. Lubiano,’ the Comelec chair said.

‘And therefore, for us, we will weigh that. We will find out if that is a sufficient defense or a violation of our existing law in Section 95C of the Omnibus Election,’ he added.

In a statement sent to reporters on Tuesday, Escudero’s legal counsel Ramon Esguerra confirmed that he filed the affidavit ‘to respect the Comelec process.’

‘Our position is clear: The donation was legal, fully declared, and follows long-standing practice. The law is on our side, and we are confident the Comelec will find no fault,’ Esguerra said.

Comelec had earlier issued a show-cause order to Escudero, directing him to explain the P30-million campaign donation he received from Lubiano during the 2022 elections. /apl

Investors raced to buy some recently battered blue chips on Tuesday amid possibly easing trade tensions between Washington and Beijing.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange Index (PSEi) briefly broke through the 6,100 barrier during the session before settling at 6,076.22 by the closing bell. The benchmark went up by 0.39 percent.

Likewise, the broader All Shares Index added 0.36 percent or 13.04 points to end at 3,668.63.

A total of 3.17 billion shares worth P6.17 billion changed hands, stock exchange data showed.

Luis Limlingan, head of sales at stock brokerage house Regina Capital Development Corp., said the bourse’s gain came after the United States confirmed President Donald Trump’s upcoming meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea later this month.

This could open up more discussions about easing tariff tensions, US media reported.

International Container Terminal Services Inc. was the top-traded stock as it shed 1.47 percent to P537 per share. It was followed by BDO Unibank Inc., up 1.78 percent to P137.40; Apex Mining Co. Inc., which surged by 5.15 percent to P11.02; Manila Electric Co., up 1.56 percent to P555; and Ayala Land Inc., up 0.43 percent to P23.25 each.

Others were Philex Mining Corp., up 1.92 percent to P10.60; Ayala Corp., down 0.13 percent to P471.40; Bank of the Philippine Islands, down 0.19 percent to P106.80; Manila Water Co. Inc., up 3.27 percent to P37.90; and SM Prime Holdings Inc., up 1.77 percent to P23.

Gainers outnumbered losers, 102 to 87, while 62 companies closed flat, stock exchange data also showed.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Tuesday vowed to impose safeguard duties on rice importation to protect the livelihood of local farmers.

Marcos said this in a sit-down dialogue after leading the inauguration of the P500-million Union Water Impounding Dam in Claveria, Cagayan.

‘We know that the lives of our farmers are not easy, and we are giving all the support that we can provide to them,’ he said.

‘We will impose safeguard duties on importation so that imports won’t ruin local prices, because the price of rice here is dictated by imported rice,’ he told farmers.

‘If imported rice is expensive, all prices go up. If imported rice is cheap, all prices go down,’ he explained.

The president also announced the government’s plan to distribute P10,000 each to farmers who suffered losses due to the decline in the buying price of palay (unhusked rice).

He further guaranteed that the National Food Authority has sufficient funds to buy wet and dry palay at higher prices-ranging from P17 to P23 for wet palay and P23 to P30 for dry palay-compared to traders’ offers of P8 to P13.

The government will also put up service canals, rice processing centers, and farm-to-market roads for easier transport of harvests, he said.

Inbound rice shipments this year have declined as of early October amid the government’s temporary import ban, according to data from the Bureau of Plant Industry.

New impounding dam in Cagayan

The Union Water Impounding Dam, located in Barangays Union and Cadcadir, was a collaboration between the National Irrigation Administration and the Department of Public Works and Highways under the convergence program called Kalsada Tungo sa Patubigan Program or ‘Katubigan.’

It’s a major infrastructure project aimed at improving flood control, irrigation, and climate resilience in the province, projected to benefit more than 1,000 farmers in seven barangays.

Designed to support over 1,050 hectares of farmland, the project features slope protection and drainage systems to minimize river siltation and slope erosion and prevent flooding in agricultural areas. /apl