Category: Philippines Daily Inquirer

Quezon City has terminated four infrastructure projects awarded to Discaya-connected companies after conducting a thorough city review.

Earlier, the Philippine Contractors Accreditation Board (PCAB) revoked the licenses of companies linked to Discaya. Their PhilGEPS registrations were also subsequently canceled.

The termination followed PCAB Board Resolution No. 075, Series of 2025, issued on September 1, 2025, which revoked the licenses of the Discaya-linked companies for violations of licensing requirements and procurement laws.

PhilGEPS membership for those firms was also canceled, prompting the city to conduct an immediate review of its projects.

The four terminated projects , after observing the legally required periods, as of September 19, 2025, are

-Proposed Construction of Six-Storey with Deck Multi-Purpose Building

-Proposed Construction of Reinforced Concrete Canal at Ermitaño Creek

-Proposed Construction of Housing 32Balingasa High Rise Housing (Phase 1A) at Brgy. Balingasa

-Proposed Construction of Housing 32 Balingasa High Rise Housing (Phase 2) at Brgy. Balingasa

In an official statement, the Quezon City government reiterated its commitment to transparent procurement processes, citing adherence to competitive bidding, publication, and posting.

‘This is the reason all our infrastructure projects are publicly posted on our website.’

Since the start of the current administration in July 2019, the city said it has handled more than 1,300 infrastructure projects.

Only four of those projects – or roughly 0.3% of the total – involved Discaya-linked entities or joint ventures, according to the city’s review.

Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte reiterated that Quezon City has nothing to hide.

‘We welcome all good-faith examinations of competent legal authorities of our projects and processes,’ Belmonte said.

Belmonte condemned ‘any and all malicious insinuations that only seek to distract from the actual schemes and perpetrators that have victimized our city and our country’.

‘We remain steadfast and unwavering in upholding the trust of our people, and we will continue to ensure that public funds are used solely for the benefit of our QCitizens’, Belmonte added.

House Speaker Faustino ‘Bojie’ Dy III tells the agricultural sector that the chamber under his leadership will back a better crop insurance system, aside from the provision of zero-interest loans for farmers.

Dy, in a statement on Tuesday, reiterated his stance during the joint hearing of the House committee on agriculture and food and the committee on ways and means.

He said that reforms in crop insurance and government lending programs will ensure ‘long-term stability in the agriculture sector.’

‘Part of the reforms is widening the scope of protection and the access to funding given to our farmers. We want to provide crop insurance for all and to ensure that the Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation can process claims within 10 days using our digital system,’ he noted.

‘We also call on the banks of the government to make loans for agriculture without interest and simpler, by streamlining the documents required so that agrarian reform beneficiaries can get funds easier,’ he added.

According to Dy, making crop insurance mandatory and fully digitalized would greatly help farmers recover from losses due to calamities and market shocks.

‘We need to unite for our farmers. With the immediate and lasting support and reforms, we can ensure a better future for our farmers’ livelihood and the availability of affordable rice,’ he said.

Currently, for the 20th Congress, there are different bills filed seeking to strengthen and expand the services of the Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation (PCIC).

Last June 30, former House Speaker and Leyte 1st District Rep. Ferdinand Martin Romualdez, along with Tingog party-list Reps. Jude Acidre and Andrew Julian Romualdez filed House Bill (HB) No. 14 to expand the PCIC for greater private sector participation in agricultural insurance.

Through this, PCIC coverage will extend beyond traditional crops like rice and corn to include high-value commodities, livestock, aquaculture, farm machinery, and even post-harvest infrastructure.

Dy also filed HB No. 3537, a similar measure, last August 12.

‘The PCIC shall provide insurance coverage for palay and corn crops, high-value commercial crops, livestock, aquaculture and fishery products, agroforestry crops and forest plantations; non-crop agricultural assets such as machineries, equipment, transport facilities, and other related infrastructure; and life and accident term insurance coverage for farmers and fisherfolk,’ his bill stated.

‘Such crop insurance shall cover, in every case, the cost of production inputs, the value of the labor of the farmers or fisherfolk, and members of their households including the value of the labor of hired workers, and a portion of the projected value of the crops [.], however, shall exclude losses arising from avoidable risks emanating from or due to the negligence, malfeasance, or fraud committed by the insured or any member of the immediate farm household or employee, or the failure of the insured to follow proven farm practices,’ it added.

The speaker attended the hearing on the rice importation moratorium, announcing on the onset that at least one million rice farmers will get a P7,000 cash aid for 2026, with an allocation reserved under the proposed 2026 national budget.

He revealed this after saying that the Department of Agriculture (DA) needs to implement systems properly so that the country would not be reliant on importation.

However, a farmer from Nueva Ecija told the committees that what they need is higher buying prices of palay and not another wave of cash assistance, saying that the practice of providing aid makes it seem that they are beggars.

According to Danilo Bolos, they would not need the P7,000 cash aid pushed by the speaker if the government addresses extremely low buying prices for palay – ranging from P8 to P10 per kilogram.

Bolos said they are forced to dig into their savings or ask for loans since they have invested at least P14 to P15 per kilogram, only for palay to be bought at low prices.

After Bolos aired his sentiments, Dy told him and other farmers that they think highly of workers in the agricultural sector, and that the aid is just a manifestation of the government’s yearning to support farmers

All public school teachers in the country will receive their mandated P1,000 incentive as part of the double celebration of National and World Teachers’ Day.

In his speech in Pasay City on Monday, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said the P1,000 incentive, which has been in place since 2019, was ‘a little reminder that we recognize your efforts and your sacrifices, and they have not gone unrecognized.’

The President also vowed greater investments in the education system in teachers and learners, while ordering agencies to accelerate classroom-building efforts nationwide.

The P1,000 annual World Teacher’s Day incentive benefit has been implemented since 2019 and funded under the General Appropriations Act.

Guiding hands

A P955-million allocation is provided for this incentive for the more than 950,000 public school teachers under the 2025 national budget.

Addressing teachers, Marcos said: ‘We offer you our respect, our deepest gratitude for shaping minds, touching hearts, and in your way building a nation that we can be proud of one student at a time.’

‘You are the guiding hands, and in your hands our nation’s progress is held. In your strength, in your wisdom, and in your courage, we find the assurance that our future is secure,’ he added.

According to the President, ‘the true success of education lies not only in the intelligence of our youth but also in their goodness and moral conviction. For intelligence without integrity is meaningless, but goodness and wisdom-these will uphold our New Philippines.’

Increased funding

Marcos also described teaching as a ‘partnership-between teachers and learners, between generations, between those who dream and those who make dreams possible. And it is in this collaboration that the strength of our nation is built.’

The President cited some of his administration’s initiatives to support teachers, such as the signing of the Kabalikat sa Pagtuturo Act, which provides teachers with P10,000 to help cover classroom needs, and the issuance of Department of Education (DepEd) Order No. 005, which ensures fair teaching loads.

According to the President, the government has allocated P26.55 billion from canceled flood control funds to be added to the 2026 proposed budget of DepEd, originally pegged at P928.5 billion.

DepEd received the largest allocation among all agencies, representing 13.7 percent of the P6.793-trillion proposed national budget for 2026.

‘These funds will be directed to increase funding for classrooms, child nutrition, teacher compensation, and technology in schools. Because we believe that education is the best investment that any nation can make in its people,’ said Marcos.

Clear goal

Speaking at the Philippine Development Forum 2025 in Mandaluyong City, the President also called on government agencies to prioritize projects and initiatives related to education.

‘The goal is clear: a Philippines where every child-regardless of background or circumstance-has access to quality, future-proof education,’ he said.

For this, Marcos urged the Department of Economy, Planning, and Development (DepDev), the Department of Budget and Management, the Department of Finance, and all concerned government agencies to ensure that education is given adequate funding and support.

‘To the DPWH (Department of Public Works and Highways) and the DepEd: Speed up the planning and implementation process so we can meet our target of building and rehabilitating thousands of classrooms by 2028,’ he said.

‘And to the DepDev: accelerate the review of PPP proposals for school buildings,’ he added.

The President further stressed, ‘No child should be forced to learn in makeshift spaces, and no teacher should be burdened by a system that does not support them.’

World Teachers’ Day, celebrated every October 5 since 1994 by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, honors the vital role of teachers in shaping societies. In the Philippines, Republic Act No. 10743 declared October 5 as National Teachers’ Day.

Financial trading has trends and techniques that fall in and out of fashion just like any other industry does. These techniques can shift from place to place and from year to year. Traders in the Philippines in 2025 are using new tools, new techniques and making money moves just like they always have, just with a slight twist.

For financial traders in the Philippines, or anywhere else in the world, keeping up to date with the most common and effective tools and techniques for trading is imperative. As the global financial market encounters new tools and techniques, shifts in usefulness and fashion can happen lightning quick.

Maybe you’re a Filipino trader who’s been busy with other things and has fallen out of vogue with what is currently being done in the market, or maybe you’re totally new to the whole game of financial trading. Either way, taking the time to understand what tools and techniques are common and punch above their weight can be absolutely vital.

Monkey See, Monkey Copy Trade

While the world of financial trading can take skill, the real skill is gained from experience and the ability to parse information. These things can’t really be shortcutted. But you can mimic the moves of traders that have those skills and make the same moves they do. This is exactly the point of copy trading: You let someone else do the legwork and research, then you follow in their footsteps.

There are plenty of platforms that are popular across the Philippines that let traders view the profiles of other traders and pick successful ones, and simply mirror what they do. Obviously, the financial market is a harsh mistress, and even the most veteran trader can make mistakes, so it’s probably best not to sell all your belongings and let it all ride on whatever AceTrader69 thinks is a good bet, even if they have an amazing track record. Even the best traders can be blindsided by events they don’t see coming.

If you are a younger trader in the Philippines, picking a more successful and established profile on one of these platforms and following their moves, maybe at a scaled-down level, could be a great way for you to learn about trading without investing heaps of money in expensive courses.

Ride the Wave with Swing Trading

Swing trading is all about biding your time and picking the perfect moment to leap. 2025 has seen swing trading pick up a good deal of popularity in the Philippines, but it is all about trying to pick the right time to buy or sell. The whole point is that you want to buy on a dip and then sell on a peak.

There is a suite of tools that can help swing traders make incisive decisions, such as:

Relative Strength Index (RSI) tools.

Moving averages (MA) calculators.

Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) calculators.

These tools all do different jobs, which we won’t cover here, but the end result is the same: They help you to identify the best time to enter and exit the swing. Swing trading is absolutely not for everyone, and it requires that you have the time to dedicate to watching small changes as well as reasonable nerves.

Maybe You Want More Action? Maybe You Want to Try Scalping

Interestingly, this article is accidentally moving from the slowest-paced to the fastest-paced trading methods that are popular in 2025. Well, we say fast-paced. A lot of the reality of scalping is that you will need to stare fixedly at charts for hours, waiting for a tiny price movement in the right direction. When that movement occurs, that’s your queue to jump in, maybe to jump out again in mere minutes.

The idea behind scalping is that you want to make a profit from small movements in currency or price movements. Two of the biggest drawbacks of scalping are that you either need to make lots of trades in a day to make any money, or you need to have the capital to make those small movements worthwhile. Getting 0.5% back from $100 isn’t much. But from $100,000? That might be worth it.

Scalpers need to work in markets that have a high degree of liquidity, such as:

Cryptocurrency.

Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) blue-chip stocks.

Forex.

As we said earlier, scalping is all about making tiny incremental profits, but with enough volume, either of the size of the trades, or the amount (and probably both), that it adds up.

Put Those Bots to Work!

Just as in many other industries, in 2025, AI bots are seeing a lot of play in the financial trading sector. While they might not be causing the same level of disruption as they are in some sectors, they have become influential as tools for many traders.

The main usage of bots in trading has been for analysis, although some are gaining popularity for making trades while their human operators are busy. While it might be a little deeper involved and require additional skills, some traders are customizing scripts to get their bots to fulfil specific instructions.

The main advantage of using bots for analysis or to make trades is that they are entirely without emotion. They aren’t going to misread the data because they have a bias, or panic and forget the plan when they see a number lower than expected. That doesn’t mean they can’t make mistakes or are foolproof, but they have their uses.

How Should Smart Traders in 2025 Move?

The best move will depend largely on your circumstances. Only you know your risk tolerance and what you can afford to put on the line. That being said, traders who are positioned to take advantage of the changing techniques and tools in the market are at a serious advantage over those who let these innovations pass them by.

Tia Andaya’s PVL debut was pushed back to a later date as she and other Filipino-foreigners await the release of their International Transfer Certificates (ITCs) to play in the Reinforced Conference without a hitch.

Like the imports who were supposed to strut their stuff in Tuesday’s opening doubleheader at Ynares Center Montalban, Andaya was also forced to sit out Choco Mucho’s game against Capital1 to avoid risking her federation transfer from USA Volleyball to the Philippine National Volleyball Federation (PNVF).

Technically, Andaya is allowed to play in the PVL, which only requires Fil-foreign players to secure a Philippine passport to be eligible to suit up. But playing without an ITC puts her allegiance switch in peril.

‘It hasn’t been signed yet. Because you can get sanctioned by the FIVB, so I don’t want to jeopardize it with the FIVB,’ said Andaya, the seventh overall pick by the Flying Titans in the 2025 PVL Draft last June.

Petro Gazz’s Fil-American duo of Brooke Van Sickle and MJ Phillips as well as PLDT star Savi Davision, who is Fil-Canadian, are in the same predicament as Andaya.

Van Sickle, Phillips and Davison, who have been thriving in the pioneering pro volleyball league for the past several years, are still waiting for their ITCs for this conference. They too are eyeing to be eligible to be part of Alas Pilipinas.

In a statement Tuesday, the PVL slammed the PNVF for the alleged ‘refusal to endorse the International Transfer Certificates (ITCs).’

ZUS Coffee and Akari were forced to go all Filipino in the Reinforced Conference curtain raiser with the Thunderbelles rallying past the Chargers in five sets behind Riza Nogales.

Choco Mucho and Capital1 were also left with no choice but to bench imports Marlee Smith and Oleksandra Bytsenko, respectively, in the second game won by the Flying Titans in a hard-earned sweep.

Dwight Ramos led Levanga Hokkaido to their first win in the 2025-26 B.League season over the weekend.

Ramos exploded for 29 points as Hokkaido clipped Nagoya, 81-77, on Sunday at IG Arena.

The Gilas Pilipinas swingman also collected three rebounds, three assists and three steals as Levanga bounced back after losing their opening game.

Like Ramos, Ray Parks also had a huge offensive game for Osaka Evessa.

Parks unleashed 24 points on top of two rebounds and a steal to propel Osaka past the San-En Neophoenix, 85-69, at Ookini Arena Maishima.

Joining Ramos and Parks in the winner’s circle, Kiefer Ravena helped the Yokohama B-Corsairs edge the Ryukyu Golden Kings, 79-75, at Okinawa Suntory Arena.

Ravena finished with nine points, four rebounds, an assist and a steal in 19 minutes of action to keep Yokohama undefeated after two games.

AJ Edu, however, suffered a different fate after his Gunma Crane Thunders took a 98-71 beating at the hands of the Seahorses Mikawa, 98-71, at Kariyashi Taiikukan.

Edu finished with just 12 points and six rebounds in 27 minutes.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) may factor in the government’s widening corruption probe into flood control projects when it meets to set policy this week, as the scandal risks slowing public spending and weighing on economic growth, according to Nomura.

In a note to clients, the Japanese investment bank said the BSP may cut the key rate by a quarter point to 4.75 percent on Oct. 9, citing tame inflation that could give the policymakers enough room to shore up growth.

A rate cut would come as a widening probe into alleged graft in flood control contracts risks curbing infrastructure outlays-an area crucial to meeting the Marcos administration’s 5.5 to 6.5 percent growth target for 2025.

The government aims to keep infrastructure spending at 5 to 6 percent of gross domestic product.

Slowdown

‘The ongoing controversy around flood-control projects will likely be assessed by BSP as potentially leading to a slowdown in government capex disbursements, therefore posing downside risks to the GDP growth outlook at a time when BSP still sees the output gap as negative,’ Nomura wrote.

Still, market expectations are split.

Ten out of 16 economists surveyed by the Inquirer last week projected the Monetary Board to keep the overnight borrowing rate that banks use as a guide when pricing loans to 5 percent when the policymaking body meets on Thursday.

A decision to stand pat would mark a pause in an easing cycle that began in August last year, during which the central bank lowered rates by a total of 1.5 percentage points.

At its most recent meeting in August, when the BSP cut by a quarter point, Governor Eli Remolona Jr. said monetary policy was in a ‘sweet spot’-neither too low to fuel inflation nor too high to choke growth.

Since then, markets have increasingly expected the easing cycle to near its end, though Remolona has left the door open to another reduction later this year if demand falters.

Close call

For Nomura, this week’s decision could be a close call.

‘We assign a 60 percent likelihood to our forecast and 40 percent to BSP leaving the policy rate unchanged, taking into account BSP’s previous ‘goldilocks’ signal and the possibility that BSP could adopt a wait-and-see approach to assess the downside risks to growth, citing elevated uncertainty,’ it added.

At a press conference on Monday, Secretary Arsenio Balisacan of the Department of Economy, Planning and Development downplayed the potential drag from reduced state spending, noting that the economy remains largely driven by private demand.

‘Our economy is very much a private economy. Government spending contributes about 15 percent or so to the economy,’ Balisacan said, adding that the weakness seen in the last two quarters was ‘not entirely due to domestic factors’ but largely because ‘the global economy has deteriorated.’

Budget Assistant Secretary Romeo Matthew Balanquit told the same news briefing that the ‘worry of underspending is not really there.’

‘We still have accounts payable, meaning those projects that were already finished in the previous year, and we have to pay them,’ Balanquit said. ‘Meaning we will never really lose any reason for where to spend our money, because we have many, many things to fund in the end.’ INQ

Six rice traders with either ‘interlocking’ directors or similar office addresses have raised red flags in the ongoing Senate investigation into smuggling of agricultural products in the country.

At Tuesday’s hearing of the Senate committee on agriculture, its chairman Sen. Francis Pangilinan disclosed that four companies had delivered imported rice to Arvin International Marketing Inc.

Located in Calaca, Batangas, Arvin International is engaged in agricultural products and chemical and has been doing business for the past 23 to 24 years, according to its president, Joseph Yao.

Yao is also the president of Renzy International Marketing Inc. which, he said, was established in 2020 but only started importing rice in 2023.

At first, Pangilinan asked Yao during the hearing if he was familiar with Beatus Grain Emporium Corporation, Atara Marketing Inc., Manus Dei Resource Ent. Inc. and Orison Free Enterprise.

When Yao answered in the negative, Pangilinan cited import clearance documents which showed Beatus had imported about 520,000 kilos of well-milled rice ‘but its final destination is Arvin International marketing.’

‘We have records here that, for example, there are four companies – Beatus, Atara, Orison and Manus Dei – and they have interlocking directors,’ the senator added.

‘Our concern is, is the rice importation likewise being controlled, manipulated by a few traders which have been able to corner these Sanitary and Phytosanitary permits issued by the DA (Department of Agriculture)?’ Pangilinan later asked, citing a similar case last year involving onion traders.

Yao, however, noted that there are more than 100 importers in the country and he said, ‘it would be very difficult to connive with each other.’

But that remains to be seen, according to Pangilinan, as he went on to cite many similarities linking the six rice importers – Arvin, Renzy, Beatus, Atara, Manus and Orison.

Atara, Manus and Orison, for instance, were located in the same street in the City of Manila as shown in a photo presented during the hearing.

‘[They are in] just one street. Just one area. And mind you, Orison, Manus Dei and Beatus are the top importers of rice. So how do you explain that they happen to be in the same address, they happen to be interlocking directors, or it appears to be interlocking directors?’ Pangilinan then asked.

Even the board members of Beatus and Atara identified as Warren Lumbang and Raiza Lumbang, have similar addresses in Lubao, Pampanga, the senator also noted.

Pangilinan likewise revealed that five of the six traders have one attorney-in-fact, whom he identified as Brix Sadama.

Notably, Sadama has also listed at least three different addresses, according to the senator.

‘It seems that off hand, of course this is not definitive and conclusive, but there are red flags showing that there are interlocking corporations, importers who seem to be working together to bring in the rice and to make the most of out the opportunity of their hugeness,’ Pangilinan said.

The Ateneo and La Salle rivalry has built numerous stars over the years.

It was in those fabled rivalry games where Ateneo notables like LA Tenorio, Chris Tiu, Kiefer Ravena and La Sallians JVee Casio, Joseph Yeo and Mac Cardona truly showed their potential as future stars of Philippine basketball.

So when Jacob Cortez and company saw Ateneo in their calendars, they wanted to show just how motivated they were for the duel and what they could do in one of the most premier rivalries in the country’s basketball scene.

Unfortunately, that seemed to have cost them.

‘Everyone was trying to get theirs, including me,’ Cortez told the Inquirer after La Salle’s 81-74 loss to the Blue Eagles at Mall of Asia Arena on Sunday.

‘We found out now that it’s not going to work, no matter what team that is. Ateneo showed that to us.’

The Archers were impossibly mired in a mess of their own making, hitting just 9 of 46 attempts beyond the floor after three quarters of play. But the message was clear for La Salle: it needed to move the ball more. The team had eight assists entering the fourth, meaning all but one of its made shots came from passes.

La Salle shot better in the fourth, where it outscored Ateneo, 36-13, forced eight turnovers on the Eagles and made the deficit seem respectable in the end.

‘The way we played for the first three quarters is about as good as an Ateneo team can play,’ Ateneo coach Tab Baldwin said after watching his team lead by as many as 31 before the fourth.

‘Then in the fourth quarter, we played about as badly as an Ateneo team has played,’ Baldwin added.

‘Fortunately, it was only one quarter.’

Three players finished with 15 points each for Baldwin, including Shawn Tuaño, the team’s energy guy who came through on offense with clutch momentum-sapping baskets to help hold off La Salle’s charge.

‘If I’m needed to be the energy guy, I’ll be the energy guy. If I need to score, I’ll try to score. If I need to play defense, I’ll play defense,’ Tuaño said after the game. ‘I just try to do my roles to the best of my abilities.’

Bulldogs next

Ateneo thus kept its record clean after four games while La Salle dropped to 2-2, with the Archers left to rue about where the effort was in the first three periods.

‘We can’t just play one quarter,’ Cortez said after dropping his first Ateneo-La Salle game.

‘We have to play the whole game. We weren’t ready for them. Obviously, they were ready for us. We’ll find a way to win in the next round [vs. Ateneo] and the next game,’ he added.

Cortez finished with 10 points and four rebounds, but the second-generation Archer made just three of 13 attempts from the field and had only two assists.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has admitted that he often has long ‘conversations’ with his late father and namesake, Ferdinand Marcos Sr., seeking advice on how to lead the Philippines.

In Part 2 of the BBM Podcast Episode 5 on Tuesday, the president was asked a personal question about who he would want to have a sit-down interview with if given the chance.

‘Just one person? I might creep people out, but I have long conversations with my father still,’ he responded.

According to Marcos Jr., he often asks his father for advice in situations similar to those he encountered during his tenure as president of the Philippines.

‘Dad, what am I supposed to do? What would he say? Because I’m in government. And I’m president and he was president. That’s a treasure trove of good advice right there. I try to look back and see what you know of him,’ he said.

Marcos Jr. also lightheartedly shared that he sometimes ‘hears’ his father and his father’s political allies in the back of his mind, telling him that politics is indeed difficult.

‘Oh, it’s difficult, right?’ Marcos said, referring to the voices he ‘hears.’

‘I have the advantage of having watched my father being president at very, very close quarters. So, yes. You have a good idea. But you don’t really know until you’re there,’ he also said.

Marcos Sr. died on September 28, 1989 in Hawaii, where he was ousted and exiled after imposing martial law. He was 72.

In 1993, then President Fidel V. Ramos allowed Marcos’ body to be brought home but did not allow the late president’s burial at the Libingan ng mga Bayani (LNMB).

Twenty-three years later, behind shut gates and away from public view, his remains were laid to rest at the LNMB.

During his 36th death anniversary last month, Marcos Jr. penned a short but heartfelt message for his father on his social media account.

‘Remembering my father, Apo Lakay, on his 36th death anniversary. His memory and his dreams remain with me always,’ he wrote in his post