Category: Philippines Daily Inquirer

On a day meant to showcase international talent, it was the locals who delivered the drama.

ZUS Coffee and Akari opened the PVL Reinforced Conference on Tuesday with thrilling five-set action at Ynares Center Montalban-but without their highly anticipated imports, who were sidelined by what the league hinted was a move by the sport’s national federation to dictate its schedule.

Though the Thunderbelles’ Anna DeBeer and the Chargers’ Annie Mitchem warmed up and were ready to suit up, both were relegated to the bench after the Philippine National Volleyball Federation (PNVF) refused to endorse the International Transfer Certificates (ITCs) required for foreign players to compete.

‘The PVL regrets to inform the public that the foreign guest players will not be permitted to participate in the ongoing season-ending conference until their ITCs are duly approved,’ the organizing Sports Vision wrote in a statement Tuesday.

Sports Vision claimed it had submitted all necessary documentation on time-including signed clearances from players, their federations and clubs. PVL insiders believe the PNVF is using the ITC approval as leverage to force the league to end its tournament earlier, reportedly to accommodate preparations for the 33rd Southeast Asian Games in December.

‘The PNVF reportedly demanded that the Reinforced Conference end by Nov. 16, despite the PVL having structured the tournament to run until Nov. 27, including the finals,’ the league wrote in a statement. ‘We already adjusted our calendar to support the national program-even moving the conference to start after the national team’s commitments concluded on Sept. 30.’

Suzara in hospital

The PVL further claimed that stakeholders are questioning the PNVF’s motives, accusing the federation of placing political control above sport development.

The Inquirer reached out to the PNVF and to the federation’s president, Ramon ‘Tats’ Suzara, but has yet to receive a response at press time. A source said the volleyball chief was under the weather, which Suzara confirmed when he messaged the Inquirer: ‘I am in the hospital.’

Despite missing their reinforcements, ZUS Coffee roared back from a 1-2 set deficit to stun Akari, 24-26, 25-23, 17-25, 26-24, 15-7, in a two-hour, 32-minute marathon.

Down 6-7 in the fifth, the Thunderbelles unleashed a nine-point run, powered by Riza Nogales’ timely hits and Fiola Ceballos’ back-to-back aces.

AC Miner, who had 10 points and was instrumental in forcing a decider, admitted they missed DeBeer’s presence-but made sure to win it for her.

‘Even though we prepared with Anna, and it would’ve been better if she was there so we’d be complete, we still gave it our all today,’ Miner said. ‘Even though I only really got going near the end, I’m still thankful because everything clicked and we managed to reach the fourth and fifth sets.’

Coach Jerry Yee said the late ruling caught the team off guard, but the Thunderbelles adjusted on the fly.

‘We weren’t super prepared, but it’s okay,’ said Yee. ‘We’ve always trained with different combinations, so we just went out there and played.’ INQ

Nogales led ZUS with 15 points, including five blocks. Jovelyn Gonzaga and Chinnie Arroyo added 14 each, while Ceballos and Kate Santiago chipped in 13 and 11, respectively. Setter Clo Mondoñedo tallied 28 excellent sets, and libero Alyssa Eroa anchored the defense with 22 digs and 21 receptions Eli Soyud fired 22 points to lead Akari, while rookie Chennie Tagaod scored 18 in her debut. Alas veterans Fifi Sharma (13 points, four blocks), Justine Jazareno (32 digs), and Mars Alba (24 excellent sets) also delivered-but fell short without Mitchem.

The local stock barometer settled just below 6,100 on Wednesday as optimism over the central bank’s next move intensified, especially after inflation in September had ended slower than expected.

By the end of the session, the benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange Index (PSEi) gained 0.25 percent, or 14.91 points, to close at 6,098.74.

Likewise, the broader All Shares Index added 0.31 percent, or 11.43 points, to 3,684.65.

A total of 4.54 billion shares worth P6.38 billion changed hands, stock exchange data showed.

Luis Limlingan, head of sales at stock brokerage house Regina Capital Development Corp., said investors continued shopping for shares ahead of the next policy meeting of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ Monetary Board (MB) on Thursday, Oct. 9.

The MB is expected to price in the 1.7-percent faster inflation print in September, although this was slower than the 2 percent forecast of analysts.

Active stocks

International Container Terminal Services Inc. was the most actively traded stock as it climbed 3.02 percent to P528. It was followed by: Philex Mining Corp., which surged by 12.22 percent to P10.10.

BDO Unibank Inc. was up 0.43 percent to P140 each, while Bank of the Philippine Islands was down 3.63 percent to P108.70.

Property giant Ayala Land Inc. slipped 1.88 percent to P23.55 each.

Other key movers were:

Converge ICT Solutions Inc., up 3.81 percent to P13.08

Ayala Corp., up 1.16 percent to P490

Universal Robina Corp., up 2.82 percent to P76.60

Jollibee Foods Corp., down 0.45 percent to P219

Apex Mining Co. Inc., up 1.69 percent to P10.86.

Gainers edged out losers, 94 to 92, while 65 companies closed flat, stock exchange data also showed.

The Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) on Wednesday called on the public to exercise ‘discernment’ when voting for the country’s leaders as it condemned the ‘unbridled corruption’ and ‘moral bankruptcy’ of government officials.

In a statement, the PPCRV said that recent revelations of ‘unbridled and unmitigated corruption, profligate consumption, insensate greed, and moral bankruptcy by the government officials’ cause the group ‘disbelief and deep outrage.’

‘We are outraged that the taxes which we paid for with our blood, sweat and tears. have instead been pocketed by politicians, government employees and contractors who condemn fellow Filipinos to suffering and even death when they built substandard and ghost flood control structures,’ the PPCRV said. The group also slammed the country’s justice system, which seems to be ‘blind to the culpability of others and incapable or unwilling to reach to the very highest echelons of our social and political hierarchies.’

The ‘innate patience,’ ‘ingrained amiability’ and ‘Christian forgiveness of the Filipino people,’ the PPCRV said, were ‘being depended upon to whitewash, forget and forgive yet again.’

‘But for how long can we accept? How much more can we forgive? How many more acts of dishonesty and cheating can we turn a blind eye to?’ said the group. ‘Our faith demands action.’

‘We demand that the wheels of justice be quick, thorough, and blind to personalities and positions and power bases,’ the group said. ‘We demand accountability and the incarceration of those who are guilty, proving that no one is above the law.’ The PPCRV also demanded transparency from the government, saying that ‘shadow’ contracts and procedures must be stopped.

Instead, the group said government projects should be published publicly and monitored by citizens. Addressing the public, the PPCRV also called on fellow Filipinos to vote with discernment as it stressed how voting can allow unscrupulous individuals to be put in positions of power.

‘It is our all-important vote which places government leaders in the positions of power which they may wield correctly or as we have seen, powers which some have wielded for self-aggrandizement in lieu of service-orientation with predilection for the neediest in our society,’ the PPCRV said.

The Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) on Wednesday announced that it is relaxing its policies when it comes to claiming Z Benefit packages for selected orthopedic implants for those affected by the 6.9 magnitude earthquake that struck Cebu province on Sept. 30.

In a statement, the state-run insurer noted that there was only one accredited health facility in Cebu that was authorized to provide Z Benefit packages for orthopedic implants, prompting the PhilHealth Board to effect special policy relaxations in order to widen access.

‘This is not just a matter of policy, but of timely action to save lives and limbs. By easing restrictions, we are ensuring that those injured in this calamity receive the proper treatment without delay or undue cost,’ said PhilHealth acting President and CEO Dr. Edwin Mercado.

‘We are loosening policies not to compromise standards, but to maximize access to care at a time when scarcity of accredited providers could mean the difference between recovery and permanent disability,’ he added. Taking effect retroactively on Sept. 30, PhilHealth said health care institutions in Cebu have been granted provisional accreditation to claim Z Benefit packages for orthopedic implants, covering injuries sustained during the quake.

Among the services offered by contracted providers of Z Benefit packages include implants for hip arthroplasty or hip replacement surgery, implants for hip fixation, implants for pertrochanteric fracture, implants for femoral and tibial shaft fracture, implants for total knee replacement, and implants for upper extremities. Earthquake victims needing urgent orthopedic intervention will also be exempted from the 24-hour confinement rule. No co-payment policy is also extended to those with eligible injuries.

The deadline for the filing of claims is also extended up to 120 calendar days from the date of discharge, and will also include retroactive coverage for admissions up to 60 days before Sept. 30. PhilHealth added that it will reduce the requirements for claiming benefits to only include forms 1 and 2, as well as the operative record.

Health-care professionals accredited by PhilHealth will also be compensated for performing surgeries regardless of where it is conducted, even in health facilities that they are not affiliated with.

These provisional measures will be in effect until the ‘state of calamity’ declaration in Cebu is lifted, said PhilHealth.

In last week’s column (see ‘Learning languages, seeing realities,’ (10/01/25), I wrote about the 2025 Speak Dating event, where I got to both brush up on my languages and make new friends.

While awaiting our turn at the Ukrainian booth, I met a young professional who wants to learn languages because she is so interested in European politics. She could talk about European policies, Ursula von der Leyen and her work before she took leadership of the European Union, and the Russia-Ukraine war, which she connected to our conflicts with China in the West Philippine Sea from both economic and ideological standpoints.

I found myself having to dig through my memories, because my goodness, she could talk! I had met only very few people like her, and most of them are already faculty members in political science or international relations.

Her friends often criticized her as being too quiet, she said, almost exasperatedly; but she also said that she would rather remain silent than speak up and feign interest for a topic that she didn’t understand or like.

She wasn’t someone educated in what we often label as our top educational institutions, nor was she employed by a diplomatic office. She had a desk job, had come from a city university, and was simply eager to learn.

My fellow faculty members would call this grit. It’s what professors dream of when we interact with students, what thesis advisers love when they watch their advisees grow from student-hood to scholarship, what non-academic circles prize when they seek out new hires.

Some might lambast the idea of grit: that it glorifies long hours of work at the expense of one’s health, both physical and mental; that it encourages the growth of bad systems because it reduces people to their output; that it makes people workhorses rather than valued members of society.

The problem with this kind of thinking is that it equates grit with effort. There is no critical examination as to whether that effort is truly fruitful and efficient, or simply effort performed for the sake of showing that one is doing something.

We see this in our students when they negotiate their grades with us, and say that we didn’t see their ‘effort.’ Their output, however, shows that the process they went through wasn’t right: they did work at the last minute, didn’t move systematically from one idea to the next, were too focused on grades.

We have to keep reminding them that the A does not stand for ‘average.’ Rather, an A is given to those who can rival even our graduate students, who take risks and work beyond their comfort zones, who are unafraid of uncertainty, who can show that they have a broader understanding of the connections among disparate concepts.

Grit is not working hard per se. It’s showing that one is willing to put in the long hours of thinking and sorting out ideas, but is also willing to be criticized when those ideas fall flat. It is the ability to appreciate that not everyone will be gentle, or will speak your language, or will know how to cushion the blows of criticism. It is effort joined with humility. It is a willingness and flexibility to learn and unlearn.

Last week, my fellow professors and I echoed these sentiments as we went through strategy planning. We could only do so much planning, but if our students aren’t willing to make mistakes and to bounce back from them with renewed vigor, then our plans would amount to nothing.

As we discussed our ideal student, I couldn’t help going back to the young woman I met and conversed with at the language fair. I remember how she told me that she liked reading news and commentaries because there was just so much to know about the world, so much to discover in the mess of content.

A few days after the event, she found me on Facebook, and we’ve been chatting ever since.

She wants to take a graduate degree in international studies, with a focus on European politics, but she doesn’t know where to start. I’ve been coaching her on how to make connections between her current work and the field in which she wants to do research.

She has been eager to get back to school, even with her undergraduate degree and current job being in separate fields. She wants to teach after she graduates, but she is more interested in learning about a field she has always wanted to study-even if it means having to approach a whole other world with very few tools to go on.

I still have students who like to learn and are less fixated on their grades. But in these last few years, I’ve had more and more students despairing when they don’t get the grade they want, disengaging from difficult material when their first forays challenge their skills, or celebrating only their high grades but forgetting their lessons when they move to the next semester. Perhaps we can add a few more concepts to grit: a hunger to learn in the long term, a willingness to get dirty and messed up in an uncertain world. The kind of spirit that breeds leaders who are not afraid to condemn corruption. The kind of courage that makes citizens.

The over P12 billion set aside for the Department of Education (DepEd) school-based feeding program will still be the highest-ever allocation, despite P50 million being removed from it for 2026, House of Representatives lawmakers said on Wednesday.

During the hearing of the Budget Amendments Review Sub-committee (BARSc), appropriations chairperson and Nueva Ecija 1st District Rep. Mikaela Suansing informed members of the panel that the proposed P1.88 billion increment to the school-based feeding program has been changed to P1.83 billion.

The P50 million cut, Suansing said, would go to the Palarong Pambansa – which means that the proposed allocation will still be under the DepEd budget.

‘For the school-based feeding program, you can see that there’s a little bit of a reduction, but only because we needed to carve out – upon the request of DepEd – we needed to carve out an additional amount for the Palarong Pambansa,’ Suansing said.

‘Because if we will not give additional funding for Palarong Pambansa, what will happen is that delegates from Luzon will travel by sea. And as said by Secretary Angara, that kind of has a problem in terms of the equity because students are already tired by the time that they get to the venue for Palarong Pambansa,’ she explained.

FPJ Panday Bayanihan party-list Rep. Brian Poe, meanwhile, said the school-based feeding program is still enough to address the needs of Filipino students.

‘I just want to clarify also for our fellow Filipinos online who are watching – that the school-based feeding program amendment is still the largest school-based feeding program amendment we’ve had at P1.8 billion increase, in recent Congresses,’ Poe said.

‘And the change was only P50 million, which was reallocated still within DepEd,’ he added.

Suansing, for her part, thanked Poe for the clarification, noting that the current allocation for the school-based feeding program is the largest ever.

‘So for the school-based feeding program, there is already an allocation of P11 billion within DepEd, and again, with the additional P1.83 billion that we’re adding, that is the highest-ever budget for the school-based feeding program, ever in history,’ she repeated.

‘So definitely, we did not take out anything from education. We just reallocated this to be able to fund the P50 million, so in general, the realignments increased,’ she added.

Other education amendments

Suansing also said that there are other amendments to the education budget, including the increase of the proposed budget under the Basic Education Facilities (BEF), from P22.5 billion to P35 billion.

The BEF includes allocation for the construction, completion, and rehabilitation of classrooms, and the provision of furniture.

‘We have found the fiscal space to add more to the basic education facilities program, towards the new construction, completion, and rehabilitation of classrooms,’ Suasing said.

‘So, if before what the BARSc approved is P22.5 billion, we are able to find the space to increase that to P35 billion. So that’s an additional P13 billion towards the creation of classrooms,’ the lawmaker said.

‘So just to clarify, that’s in addition to what’s already there in the NEP for the BEF. So there is currently P28 billion in the NEP (National Expenditures Program) for BEF. So if we add the P35 billion, that will be P63 billion in total for classrooms,’ she noted.

Last September 23, during the BARSc’s first hearing, the panel proposed to transfer P37.3 billion of the P255.5 billion budget cut suffered by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to the education sector.

A huge chunk of the changes was for DepEd’s Basic Education Facilities (BEF), as the BARSc’s current proposal will place P22.5 billion for the construction of new classrooms, and the provision of school equipment.

The proposed amendments will be just an addition to what has been allocated under the NEP.

Suansing said the P63 billion would allow the government to build around 25,000 classrooms for 2026.

‘So with the new proposal for the BEF amounting to P63 billion, we will now be able to create more or less this, because it’s spread across construction, completion, rehabilitation, and fixtures. We’ll roughly be able to build 25,000 classrooms in 2026,’ she said.

‘In addition to that, in addition to the NEP amount, we are also proposing to add P414 million towards the computerization program of DepEd, and an additional P50 million towards the procurement of textbooks and learning materials,’ she added.

Several proposed amendments to the budget have been geared at enhancing allocations to the education sector, in accordance with the 2026 NEP’s theme.

Last September 26, Suansing also announced that there will be a special provision in the 2026 General Appropriations Bill (GAB) ensuring that the P12.3 billion deficit brought by the implementation of the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act (UAQTEA) will be addressed.

According to Suansing, the provision will compel the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) to release P7.8 billion for the UAQTEA deficits, while the remaining P4.4 billion will be appropriated by the House as part of its GAB.

Suansing also told state universities and colleges that the funding of the UAQTEA deficit will come on top of programs that the House committee on appropriations has allocated to CHEd programs like the Tertiary Education Subsidy (TES) and the Tulong Dunong Program.

The BARSc also previously hiked allocation for TES and the Tulong Dunong Program, leading to an additional P6.6 billion and P2.6 billion. /apl

Among the simple pleasures of my 36-kilometer daily commute to school is sitting by the window while a random song blasts through my earphones. I ride a bus, a jeepney, and a tricycle almost every day, and I’ve memorized each tree, house, and stoplight through my extensive commute. Traveling is a weary sacrifice, but I have turned this into a sublime quest for the mundane.

Commuting is not just simply sitting inside a vehicle, but a chance to connect to the world around me. There are days when a group of students will ask for directions, help a lady lift her baggage, pass fares to the driver, and have conversations with strangers. These small acts of kindness give more significance to my existence, and these conversations made me realize that these traveling people, aside from their luggage, carry their distinctive stories, too.

One random Wednesday, a middle-aged lady going to Mindoro sat beside me on the bus. She carried a backpack and a tote full of pasalubong. Since the bus was almost full, she was separated from her husband. Unsure of how much the fare was, she asked me how to read her bus ticket. We had a chitchat that turned into a meaningful conversation about life and family.

Traveling also has its share of appalling encounters. Times when a passenger and driver would fight, getting a headache while paralyzed in traffic, discomfort due to the confined seats, long lines in terminals, the epic race during evening rush hour, and the entirety of the trip itself. But there is no space for complaints because they are a part of the journey.

Last week, I went to Manila. As a probinsyano, the skyscrapers and skyways felt foreign to me. Everything that travels at a constant speed seems to accelerate twice as if the roads were collapsing behind. There was so much going on in the metro, where people were in an endless procession to ride and commute. I’ve never quite seen anything like it. The arrival of the jeepney looked like a piece of bread dropped to a flock of birds. I wondered how people survive this kind of daily setup. Was this normal? Or people somehow tailored themselves to endure the adversities that the government fails to see? Somehow, it felt unfair to me watching them swarm while I sat inside an air-conditioned bus. Do we deserve this? I wish I had never sat beside the window that time.

In contrast, there were also times when kindness and humanity manifested themselves inside public vehicles. Like when somebody would pay for someone’s fare or offer their shoulder to a sleepy student. We commute, ride, travel. Would it be selfish to desire and wish for comfort and accessibility from the higher-ups to give us a smooth avenue to reach our distinct destinations, metaphorically, and literally?

The majority may see this as a mere tableau of mundanity, but to me, this prosaic likeness is what makes it an odd metaphor for life. I realized that the entirety of our life is an endless journey, a trip to define the very meaning of our existence through our patterned living, to a definition that can be deduced only if you see beyond what’s visible.

Each passenger commutes to survive life, and each of them bears untold narratives. Though I may not know each premise, their dedication and perseverance are the prologue of their life. Through all these ‘supercuts’ of windowpane moments, my constant travelling gave me a lot of realization; that the desire to arrive at your destination is more important than anything else. Everyone is constantly traveling, not to work or school, but toward their existence.

My eyes have seen many faces: inside the bus, on pavements, in bookstores, and in restaurants. Overheard conversations through loud phone calls inside a jeepney, laughed secretly at couples’ cheesy text messages that I read from my periphery, and talked to a total stranger on the back of a tricycle. These scenarios are pretty normal if you commute a lot. You’ll be exposed to different kinds of strangers who are also traveling to their destinations.

As a student commuter, aside from my leather bag and the books inside, I also carry a vision of certainty, that no matter what road we take and wheels we ride, every one of us will arrive at the destination that we always aimed to be.

James Permejo, 22, is a graduate of english language studies at Batangas State University-TNEU who loves seeing the world from a window seat.

Consumers might pay more for electricity this month as power generation charges could rise, utility firm Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) said.

‘This is due to the depreciation of the peso, which affects costs of our suppliers that are mostly dollar-denominated,’ Joe Zaldarriaga said in a statement on Tuesday. He is vice president and head of corporate communications at Meralco.

The generation charge accounts for more than half of the monthly electricity bill.

With the US dollar gaining more ground against the local currency, this means that costs related to power producers and supply deals that are dollar-denominated could become more expensive.

But Zaldarriaga remained optimistic that the possible hike could be softened by the reduction in prices at the spot market.

Spot prices down 34%

On Monday, the Independent Electricity Market Operator of the Philippines (IEMOP) said the prices of electricity traded at the spot market dropped by 33.8 percent in September. This settled to its lowest in the last seven months.

IEMOP operates the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market. It is a platform where power is traded between producers and distributors to boost their supply.

The systemwide power rates covering the September supply declined to P3.04 per kilowatt hour (kWh) from the previous month’s P4.59 per kWh. This will reflect in consumers’ October bills.

This, as the supply volume slightly rose to 20,712 megawatts (MW). Meanwhile, demand fell by 2.9 percent to 13,640 MW.

All three major island groups booked lower prices amid weaker demand. Both the Visayas and Mindanao grids saw a 37-percent drop in prices. – INQ

The 50th anniversary kickoff of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) served as a gathering of beauty queens, with titleholders serving as the teams’ muses, led by Miss Universe Philippines 2025 Ahtisa Manalo.

Aside from Manalo, her 2025 national pageant batchmates, Laguna’s Eloisa Jauod, and current The Miss Philippines-Cosmo Chelsea Fernandez were also at the PBA kickoff event.

Fernandez waxed emotional as she shared a photo of a pageant observer’s page wherein the three of them are posing side by side with their respective muse sashes. ‘My queens,’ she posted.

Manalo will represent the Philippines in the coming Miss Universe pageant in Thailand next month, while Fernandez will compete in the Miss Cosmo contest in Vietnam in December.

Also among the muses was 2024 Binibining Pilipinas International Myrna Esguerra, who is set to compete in the 63rd Miss International pageant in Tokyo, Japan, next month.

‘My First PBA opening appearance (I’m so lucky because Queen Ahtisa was also present and I finally got the opportunity to have a picture with her),’ she posted on Instagram.

Manalo was also a Binibining Pilipinas titleholder and was sent to the 2018 Miss International pageant, where she finished second overall.

Also at the event was Manalo’s Miss Universe Philippines predecessor Chelsea Manalo, the reigning Miss Universe Asia.

The PBA kicked off its golden anniversary in a grand celebration held at the Smart Araneta Coliseum at the Araneta City in Quezon City on Sunday, Oct. 5.

Sen. Erwin Tulfo is the acting chairman of the Senate Blue Ribbon panel at present, said Senate President Vicente Sotto III.

Sotto confirmed the matter to reporters in an ambush interview on Wednesday following an hour-long caucus with the majority bloc.

The Senate president said Senators JV Ejercito, Risa Hontiveros, Pia Cayetano, Raffy Tulfo, and Francis Pangilinan all declined to head the committee.

‘None of the five wants it now. As of now, acting chairman is Sen. Erwin Tulfo. When he comes back, we are going to conduct a blue ribbon meeting,’ said Sotto.

The Senate chief explained that the five declined because they want to focus on their committees.

Tulfo, meanwhile, is the vice chairperson of the powerful blue ribbon committee.

Sotto earlier said that if none of the five senators accept their offer to chair the panel, Tulfo would automatically be named as its head, being the current committee vice chairman.

According to Sotto, committee hearings in the chamber will continue despite the Senate’s scheduled session adjournment on Friday.

‘Just because we’re on break or some are out of town, it doesn’t mean that the Senate will not proceed,’ said Sotto. ‘The reason why we have this break [is] so that the committee hearings continue.’

‘There will be continuous hearings of different committees, most especially the committee on finance,’ he noted.

But now that Tulfo has been designated the acting chairperson of the Blue Ribbon panel, will he become permanent in his post? Sotto said it would be decided upon by Tulfo and the majority.

For now, the Senate president said Tulfo accepted the post: ‘He accepted. He said: ‘Just acting in the meantime, right?”

The search for the next blue ribbon panel head started after Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo Lacson resigned.

In a resignation letter, dated Oct. 7 and addressed to Sotto, Lacson explained how a number of their colleagues have expressed disappointment with the ‘direction’ of the blue ribbon committee hearings regarding the anomalous flood control projects.

‘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,’ said Lacson.

But according to him, nothing could be further from the truth.

‘This narrative is categorically false. These misrepresentations are being floated mostly by critics opposed to our efforts to get to the bottom of the flood control anomalies,’ he said. /apl