Category: Philippines Daily Inquirer

Mayor Greg Gasataya has suspended in-person classes at all levels in both public and private schools, as well as work in government offices in Bacolod City today, October 1, following a massive earthquake that rocked the Visayas Tuesday night.

Several other town and city mayors in Negros Occidental issued similar orders to allow for structural safety assessments of school and government buildings.

The magnitude 6.9 earthquake struck 21 kilometers northeast of Bogo City, Cebu, at 9:59 p.m. on Tuesday, September 30, and was felt across Bacolod City and Negros Occidental at varying intensities.

Gasataya said the suspension of classes and government work was based on the recommendation of the Bacolod Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council. The earthquake was felt at Intensity 5 in the city.

Schools are encouraged to shift to synchronous and alternative modes of online learning, he added.

Work in government offices is suspended, except for offices providing basic, vital, and health services, as well as those performing preparedness and response functions.

Private establishments and offices are strongly encouraged to conduct a Rapid Damage Assessment and Needs Analysis to safeguard their employees, he said.

The earthquake also triggered blackouts in some parts of Bacolod City Tuesday night. Negros Electric and Power Corp. reported that the Bacolod-Reclamation 69KV Transmission Line tripped, resulting in power interruptions.

The Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office reported that the earthquake was felt at intensities ranging from I to VI across various parts of Negros Occidental:

Intensity VI: Murcia and Manapla

Intensity V: Bacolod City, Calatrava, Himamaylan City, Hinigaran, Moises Padilla, San Carlos, Toboso, and Talisay City

Intensity IV: Bago City, Cadiz City, Cauayan, Ilog, Kabankalan City, La Castellana, Pontevedra, and parts of Binalbagan

Intensity III: Parts of Binalbagan

Intensity I: Hinoba-an and Sipalay City

Towns and cities that suspended both classes and government work include Binalbagan and Isabela.

Others that suspended classes only were Bago City, Escalante City, Sagay City, Toboso, EB Magalona, Kabankalan City, Victorias City, and Isabela./mcm

The provinces of Biliran, Eastern Samar, Northern Samar, and Southern Leyte remained without power on Wednesday morning, while internet services were reported to have slowed down after transmission facilities were damaged by the 6.9 magnitude earthquake that struck Bogo City in Cebu on Tuesday night and reverberated across many areas in the Visayas and was felt as far as the Bicol Region.

Several local governments-including Paranas in Samar and the cities of Baybay and Tacloban in Leyte-opened charging stations for mobile phones to help residents cope with the power outages.

The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) reported that 27 of its power plants sustained damage, resulting in the loss of 1,444.1 megawatts (MW) from the Visayas grid. The NGCP identified the following transmission lines that remain out of service:

Daanbantayan (Cebu)-Tabango (Leyte) 230kV L1 and L2 (Lines 1 and 2)

Daanbantayan-Compostela (both in Cebu) 230kV L1 and L2

Tabango-Kananga (Leyte) 230kV L1 and L2

Kananga-Ormoc 230kV (Leyte) L1

Ormoc-Babatngon (Leyte) 138kV L1 and L2

Babatngon (Leyte)-Paranas (Samar) 138kV L1 and L2

Paranas-Calbayog (Samar) 138kV L1 and L2

Ormoc (Leyte)-Maasin (Southern Leyte) 138kV L2

Isabel-Tongonan (Leyte) 138kV Line

Isabel-Pasar (Leyte) 138kV Line

Pasar-IASCO (Leyte) 138kV Line

The NGCP said, however, that several transmission lines had already been restored, including the Ubay (Bohol)-Maasin (Southern Leyte) 138kV Line (energized at 4:01 a.m.); the Ormoc-Maasin 138 138kV L1 (energized at 4:18 a.m.) and the Ormoc-Isabel 138 kV Line (energized at 5:11 a.m.).

Power transmission services in the rest of the Visayas grid were reported to be under normal operations. The grid covers Panay, Negros, Cebu, and Bohol, using submarine cables and land transmission lines.

Meanwhile, classes were suspended in several parts of Eastern Visayas on Wednesday in the wake of the powerful earthquake.

Among the areas where classes were canceled due to safety concerns were Catbalogan City in Samar; Ormoc City and the Leyte towns of Isabel, Matag-ob, Palompon, Villaba, Leyte, and Tabango; Macrohon in Southern Leyte; and the entire province of Biliran, which is still reeling from the devastation of Typhoon ‘Opong’ that pummeled the province on September 26.

In Tacloban City, no official suspension was declared by the city government, but several schools opted to cancel classes, with parents choosing not to send their children amid fears of aftershocks.

Local government units immediately conducted rapid damage assessments.

In Ormoc City, engineers declared the city hall building safe after a post-quake inspection.

In Isabel town, the Philippine Phosphate Fertilizer Corp. (Philphos), the country’s leading fertilizer producer, assured the public that its ammonia tanks and pipelines at the Leyte Industrial Development Estate were secure. Its management emphasized that safety valves are in place that automatically shut down operations during emergencies such as earthquakes.

The quake also triggered landslides in some areas of Leyte province, including Barangay Abijao in Villaba town, a vital access route to nearby Palompon, and in parts of Leyte, Leyte town.

As of 10:30 a.m., electricity had not been fully restored in Leyte, although supply returned to some areas in the province’s second district and in Tacloban City./coa

I attended the 2025 Speak Dating last weekend, an event celebrating European languages. It came in the form of a fair featuring 18 booths, where you could explore different languages, whether you wanted to learn basic phrases or converse with native speakers.

I thought it would be sparsely attended, and only by language nerds finally finding each other after years of isolated practice. Instead, I was treated to the most heartwarming sight.

Crowds of high school students lining up to go for quick Slovenian and Hungarian lessons, with neither shyness nor timidity; herds of college students speaking in halting French or Spanish after their semester of studying the language; adults gathering in newly formed circles of friends, bonding over the challenges that come with learning a new language as a professional.

The lines were long, but the wait was worth it. At the Ukrainian booth, the instructor called me ‘my best speaker of the day’ after he drilled me on words and sentences in Cyrillic script. I confessed that I had studied the language on the Duolingo app because I wanted to support Ukraine.

This prompted our little group to chorus ‘Slava Ukraini!’ which made him beam with both pride and surprise.

At the Italian booth, I went straight into fangirl mode and had a conversation on travels to Italy, green spaces, and museums with a lovely Italian woman who had lived in the Philippines for decades. At the French booth, we had mere minutes before the event ended, so we breezed through basic greetings while we laughed with the teachers.

The venue had been too cramped, the waits were long, and yet it was an event that made everyone want more. For my part, I wanted to practice my German, try simple phrases in a Nordic language, and twist my brain around Irish. But there were just too many people, too many eager, excited students.

What a nice problem to have.

Anecdotal evidence and intuition say that Filipinos are natural language learners: they grow up bi or trilingual, as they have to learn English, Filipino, and even their provincial language. Learning a language is not simply a skill; it is a gateway to a culture, and achieving fluency in a language means seeing the world from a new pair of eyes.

I bring this up in my research classes when we discuss the constructivist paradigm. There are branches of constructivist thought that contradict the idea of an objective reality: that is, they contest the notion that we can all see reality without fail, and that sharing across cultures simply means translating information into local languages.

There is a brand of constructivism, however, that says that our reality is dictated by the language in which we were raised. If we have no word for an emotion, situation, or thing in our language, then we will never feel, experience, or see it, even when the word is translated. It will never be real to us.

For example, the concept of kilig, which has no exact equivalent in other languages, is real only to those who have been raised speaking Filipino. Try to explain the concept to another culture, and they might understand the concept as butterflies in one’s stomach, or uncontrollable giggles-but they will never truly imbibe the experience in its entirety.

The opportunity to learn a language, therefore, is one that has to be taken when presented. It is a chance to partly unlock realities to which we might be blind. Like travel, it is a chance to see the world so that one knows both the strengths and shortcomings of one’s native culture.

Last weekend’s fair was one such opportunity that would have benefited so many students had it been held in a wider space outside the mall, a place that reflects privileged learning rather than education for all.

Several days of the event, perhaps, in different universities? A park tour? A round of elementary or high schools to get students to say bonjour, buongiorno, buenos dias, or bom dia? Such an event could be carried out more frequently if the government is truly devoted to education that broadens people’s horizons rather than turning them into mere obedient sheep. Such an event could be mounted in more places if we had good infrastructure that ensures that learning can happen both inside and outside the classroom.

This includes constructing parks conducive to out-of-school activities, regardless of weather; streets that don’t flood and descend into traffic chaos at the slightest rain; fast, reliable internet that can support language learning anywhere, regardless of sunshine or thunderstorms. Corruption stifles learning, discourages mobility, and halts activities that would otherwise benefit us all.

Weeding out corruption isn’t just a money issue. It ensures that we invest in a future that allows us to keep learning, to keep questioning, to make the next generation better than we ever were.

If your government is holding you back from this kind of future, then it’s afraid of the best version of you. It’s afraid of the strength of the generation to come.

The Philippine National Police has mobilized its full resources to assist communities in Cebu and other parts of Visayas after a magnitude 6.9 earthquake struck late Tuesday night, resulting in fatalities, power outages and widespread structural damage.

PNP acting chief Lt. Gen. Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr. said Wednesday he ordered Police Regional Office 7 to activate its Disaster Incident Management Task Group, account for all deployed personnel, and conduct rapid damage assessments.

‘Our men and women in uniform are on the ground securing affected areas, assisting evacuations, and ensuring public order as we continue to assess the full extent of the damage,’ Nartatez said.

Initial reports confirmed structural damage in several areas, including a fire at SM Consolacion, a collapsed tunnel in Mambaling, damage to commercial establishments in Cebu City and the collapse of a church in Daanbantayan.

Power outages were also reported in Talisay City, Bogo, Danao, Toledo and other northern municipalities.

Nartatez said police are working closely with the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, local governments and other agencies to coordinate relief and security efforts.

Additional police resources from neighboring regions are on standby for deployment.

‘The PNP is working in lockstep with all agencies concerned under the guidance of the president,’ he said.

If you ever held on to a stock that fell and told yourself ‘it will bounce back,’ you are not alone. This is one of the most common behaviors in investing and also one of the most costly. Logic says that when an investment goes sour, you cut your losses and move on. But in reality, many investors freeze, refuse to sell, and cling to the hope that prices will turn around.

To understand why, let us revisit the work of Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky, two psychologists who changed the way we think about money.

In the late 1970s, while at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and later Stanford University, they developed what is now called Prospect Theory. Their research challenged the traditional idea that people act rationally when faced with financial decisions.

Riskier options

The researchers argued that people experience losses more intensely than gains of the same size. For instance, losing P1,000 hurts about twice as much as gaining P1,000. The study also revealed that when people face the possibility of a loss, they often choose riskier options.

If the choice is between accepting a guaranteed small loss or taking a gamble that could either eliminate the loss or make it even larger, most people take the gamble.

The chance to avoid any loss at all feels more attractive than the safety of limiting the damage. This tendency, known as loss aversion, explains why investors often cling to losing positions. Selling makes the loss permanent, while holding keeps the hope of recovery alive.

Back in January 2018, the Philippine Stock Exchange Index (PSEi) hit its all-time high of around 9,000. The mood was upbeat, and many investors believed the rally still had room to run.

Portfolios

Imagine putting P100,000 into the market at that moment. Instead of rising further, prices slid through the rest of 2018, and the index never returned to that peak. By the end of 2024, it was closer to 6,500. That P100,000 had dropped to about P72,000, which represents a loss of roughly 28 percent. For investors who held on, that loss has remained in their portfolios ever since.

Now this is where Prospect Theory comes into play. Many investors who bought at the peak still hold their positions and wait for the index to return to 9,000. They do not want to sell because selling makes the loss final. The reference point of the 2018 high anchors their decisions. They convince themselves the market will return to that level eventually, even if it takes years.

Opportunity cost

The problem is that as you wait, your money remains stuck. Imagine you invested P100,000 at the 2018 peak and by the end of 2024 it fell to about P72,000. If you had sold earlier, let’s say at the end of 2019 when the index stood closer to 7,800, you would have cut your loss to about 13 percent and walked away with P87,000.

If you then placed that P87,000 in a fixed income instrument that earns 4 percent a year, by 2024, it would have grown back to almost P106,000. Instead of holding a paper loss for six years, you would have recovered your capital and even gained.

This shows what waiting for break-even really costs. When you hold on, you lock your money in place and miss other chances to grow it. Hope keeps you stuck in the past, but discipline gives your capital a chance to move forward.

The question then becomes: how do you build that discipline and avoid the trap of loss aversion?

The first step is acceptance. Losses form part of investing. Even the best investors in the world make wrong calls. What separates them from the rest is discipline. They know when to cut and move on.

The second step is to reframe the question. Instead of asking, ‘Will this stock ever go back to my entry price?’ ask, ‘If I had cash today, would I buy this stock at its current price?’ If the answer is no, then holding no longer makes sense.

The third step is to protect your capital. Small losses are manageable. A 10-percent loss requires an 11-percent gain to recover. A 30-percent loss requires a 43-percent gain.

The math shows why cutting early often works better than waiting for a miracle rebound.

The final step is to stay diversified. When you spread your investments across different sectors or asset classes, one bad bet does not dominate your portfolio. That helps keep emotions in check and prevents one decision from dragging everything down.

Prospect Theory shows why we hold on too long, yet waiting for break-even can trap you for years. Hope cannot protect your money. Only discipline can.

Selling at a loss is not failure, but a smart move that frees your capital and sets you up for the next real opportunity.

The Indigenous Teduray-Lambangian community in Maguindanao del Sur is in mourning following the brutal beheading of another tribal leader around 6 p.m. on Tuesday in Limpongo village, Datu Hoffer Ampatuan in the same province.

Timuay Leticio Datuwata, head of the Timuay Justice and Governance, the indigenous political structure of the Teduray-Lambangian tribe, identified the victim as Nel Lupos, 60, a former village councilor of Barangay Mantao and currently a resident of Limpongo village.

‘He was alone inside his nipa hut in his farmland when several armed men forcibly entered and brutally killed him by beheading,’ said Datuwata.

According to him, Lupos had previously evacuated from Mantao village following the murder of another tribal leader, Baywan Angan, also a village councilor, who was gunned down in Sitio Kukor on December 7, 2024.

Datuwata attributed the killing to land conflict, which continues to plague indigenous peoples’ communities in the province.

‘This unending violence targets tribesmen who refuse to give up their ancestral lands. When you resist, they kill you,’ he said, pointing to what he believed was the same group of gunmen responsible for previous attacks.

Despite the recurring violence, Datuwata said he is no longer issuing formal condemnations.

‘The more I speak out, the worse the killings become,’ he explained. ‘We’re tired of this cycle of violence against us, but still, there’s no direct action from government.’/coa

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) on Wednesday said it would be seeking the assistance of the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) to compel former Police Colonel and Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) general manager Royina Garma to come home and face charges of murder and frustrated murder over the 2020 killing of former PCSO Wesley Barayuga.

According to NBI Director Jaime Santiago, the investigating team has already reached out to Interpol agents in the country, who would relay the matter to counterparts in Malaysia, where Garma is presumed to be staying since leaving the Philippines on Sept. 7.

‘We will coordinate with Interpol. And Malaysia has been cooperative with us. we would let them know that Garma has a standing warrant of arrest against her,’ Santiago told a news briefing.

He noted that the Interpol agents in the Philippines would be the ones who would coordinate with various law enforcement agencies, including Interpol.

Branch 279 of Mandaluyong Regional Trial Court has issued a warrant of arrest against Garma, former National Police Commission (Napolcom) chair Edilberto Leonardo, Police Lt. Col. Santie Mendoza as well as former police officers Nelson Mariano and Jeremie Causapin for the killing of Barayuga on July 30, 2020.

On Wednesday, NBI presented Police Lt. Col. Santie Mendoza and former police officer Nelson Mariano, who are both in custody of the bureau after they surrendered to authorities last month and confessed their role in the killing.

The two served as ‘middlemen’ between the hitman and implicated Garma and former National Police Commission (Napolcom) chair Edilberto Leonardo as masterminds, NBI said

More cracks are showing in the ranks of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) as the erstwhile rebel group heads to the polls to seek a democratic mandate if the regional parliamentary elections push through on Oct. 13.

The recent firestorm stems from the social media comment of Deputy Education Minister Haron Meling characterizing Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) Chief Minister Abdulraof ‘Sammy Gambar’ Macacua as a ‘puppet’ of Presidential Peace Adviser Carlito Galvez Jr., whom he also described as someone who is out ‘to dismantle the MILF.’

Meling is identified with a faction of the MILF that had questioned the appointments made by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. last March to the interim regional government, especially his pick of Macacua, then acting provincial governor of Maguindanao del Norte, as Chief Minister, replacing MILF chief Murad Ebrahim.

Macacua’s appointment on March 12 came as Ebrahim tendered his resignation a week earlier so he could focus on leading the United Bangsamoro Justice Party, the MILF’s political party, to a victorious outcome in the upcoming BARMM elections.

Although Ebrahim had praised Macacua’s leadership experience and bade him well in his new role, the issue about him being eased out had refused to die down, splitting the MILF’s supporters.

Over the weekend, Ebrahim told journalists he was indeed eased out, only to backtrack in saying that he refused an offer to be a Member of Parliament (MP) as he ‘already resigned from the BARMM.’

On Monday, some 14 base commanders of the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces, the MILF armed wing headed by Macacua, condemned Meling’s remarks as ‘not only baseless but also detrimental to the fabric of unity’ of the group, which fought four decades of secessionist war with the government and won political concessions through 17 years of peace negotiations.

‘We cannot afford to allow the rhetoric that seeks to fracture our organization to prevail. We urge all parties, especially those in positions of authority, to exercise caution in their words and actions,’ the base commanders said in a joint statement.

MP Abdulbasit Benito called out Meling’s remarks as ‘reckless,’ for which he should be made accountable.

MP Naguib Sinarimbo said Meling’s remarks were ‘utterly unbecoming of a public official, especially one who serves within the very administration led by the individual he now seeks to defame.’

Sinarimbo, who served as one of the legal counsels of the MILF during its negotiation with the government, stressed that while constructive criticism is a vital part of democratic discourse, ‘it must be exercised within the bounds of truth, respect, and legality.’

Efforts to reach Meling proved futile as requests for comments remain unanswered.

But Deputy Speaker Lanang Ali Jr. hit back at the base commanders for supposedly being selective in whom to defend among the MILF leaders, pointing out that Ebrahim was also heavily criticized on social media.

‘With just one comment from Haron Meling, you already react this way?’ Ali wrote on social media./coa

Sen. Francis ‘Chiz’ Escudero has sought the disbarment of a lawyer over ‘speculative’ and ‘malicious’ social media posts regarding his supposed insertions in the national budget.

In a complaint submitted to the Supreme Court (SC) on Monday, Escudero asked the justices to disbar lawyer Jesus Nicardo Falcis, who was found guilty of direct and indirect contempt in a 2018 case that sought-but failed-to push for the legalization of same-sex marriage in the country.

Aside from being cited for contempt by the high tribunal, Falcis was also fined P5,000 for allegedly failing to observe provisions on propriety and fidelity under Canon VI of the Code of Professional Responsibility and Accountability.

Escudero, likewise a lawyer and member of the Philippine Bar, enumerated several instances in which Falcis made public posts on Facebook that contained ‘accusatory, defamatory, demeaning, speculative, hateful, and/or malicious statements and remarks’ against him.

‘Unfortunately, and as will be shown hereunder, such statements and remarks are actually gratuitous instruments of contempt designed to publicly humiliate [the] complainant. As such, their irresponsible and unrestrained character serves to provide a bad and scandalous example of how a lawyer should not behave publicly,’ Escudero said.

In a statement, Falcis said it was Escudero who should be disbarred for publicizing the disbarment proceedings, which, according to the Rules of Court, should be private and confidential.

‘He is a Senator of the Republic. I am but one of the many Filipinos who are calling out his reprehensible actions as a public official,’ Falcis said.

July 21 post

In his petition, the senator pointed to a July 21 post of Falcis that said: ‘Ang kapal ng mukha ni Chiz Escudero na pagalitan ang House of Representatives for budget insertions and pork barrel pero siya pala mismo, hitik na hitik ang insertions! (The nerve of Chiz Escudero to scold the House of Representatives over budget insertions and pork barrel when he himself is loaded with insertions!)’

Escudero likewise cited a Sept. 6 post of Falcis about his alleged political ties with Lawrence Lubiano, saying that it ‘sweepingly’ suggested that the lawmaker’s supposed insertions in the 2025 national budget for projects in Sorsogon were a ‘quid pro quo’ for Lubiano’s campaign donation in the 2022 elections.

Lubiano, the president of Centerways Construction and Development Inc., is being investigated by the Commission on Elections after he was found to have donated P30 million to Escudero when the latter ran for the Senate in 2022. The poll body has also asked Escudero for an explanation.

Under the Omnibus Election Code, candidates cannot source any ‘contribution for purposes of partisan political activity . directly or indirectly’ from, among others, people who hold government contracts or subcontracts.

Escudero also mentioned in his petition another post by Falcis on Sept. 24, which went: ‘Chiz Escudero is in an emergency meeting with his lawyers and crisis managers in BGC (Bonifacio Global City) today in preparation for tomorrow’s Senate Blue Ribbon.’

Public conviction

‘The unrestrained tone above is rendered in so-called gotcha fashion, which can virtually ‘convict’ [the] complainant in the public mind. Again, this lack of civility and non-observance of fairness compromises the image of [the] legal profession,’ Escudero said.

The ‘irresponsible conduct and vitriolic language’ of Falcis, he added, prompted him to urgently raise the matter before the SC.

‘A victim like [the] complainant is virtually ‘sentenced’ in the bar of public opinion that now exists also in cyberspace. Be that as it may, clearly at stake here is not only complainant’s good name and reputation but also the integrity and honor of the legal profession,’ Escudero added.

He noted that his status as a public official does not give Falcis an ‘unbridled discretion’ to attack him and put him in ‘public ridicule.’

Roberto Bernardo, a former Department of Public Works and Highways official, told the Senate blue ribbon committee last week that he delivered P160 million to Escudero’s friend and campaign contributor, Maynard Ngu, representing the senator’s supposed cut from infrastructure projects.

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) has issued an advisory for possible minor sea-level disturbances following a magnitude 6.9 earthquake that struck Cebu Tuesday evening. In its advisory, Phivolcs urged the public to be on alert for unusual waves, noting that people should ‘stay away from the beach and not go to the coast’ of the following provinces until the advisory is lifted:

Leyte

Cebu

Biliran

‘People whose houses are located very near the shoreline of these provinces are advised to move father inland,’ the Phivolcs said.

‘Owners of boats in harbors, estuaries, or shallow coastal water of the above-mentioned provinces should secure their boats and move away from the waterfront. Boats already at sea during this period should stay offshore in deep waters until further advised,’ it added.

The Phivolcs earlier said that the center of the magnitude 6.9 quake, which occurred at 9:59 p.m. and was initially reported as magnitude 6.7, was located 21 kilometers northeast of the City of Bogo, Cebu, at a depth of 5 kilometers.

The agency added that aftershocks are expected and property damage may occur./mcm