Category: Philippines Daily Inquirer

The local government of Tarlac City has suspended classes and school-based work for Tuesday, Oct. 6, from kindergarten to high school to commemorate Teachers’ Day.

Mayor Susan Yap issued Executive Order No. 50 to provide teachers and students enough time and opportunity to participate in the National Teachers’ Day and World Teachers’ Day celebrations of the Tarlac City Schools Division (TCSD).

Part of the celebration, the order stated, is the 2026 Aldo Ning Banwat Dangal: TCSD Service and Commitment Recognition Day at the Tarlac City Plazuela Hall will be held to ‘recognize and honor’ the outstanding service and dedication of teachers and school workers.

Ma. Irelyn Tamayo, TCSD’s superintendent, has sent a letter to Yap on Sunday, Oct. 4, informing her of the activities that the schools division office has slated to commemorate this year’s Teachers’ Day.

Likewise highlighted in the celebration is the Talendadong Ka-DepEd 2026, a division-wide talent competition showcasing the talents and creativity of teaching, non-teaching, and teaching-related personnel from the division’s 10 districts.

Vice President Sara Duterte on Monday said she expects the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to file charges against dismissed police officer Rodulfo Gracioso Jr. for making false accusations against her.

This came after Duterte confirmed that she has already received a copy of Gracioso’s affidavit from the NBI, together with identification documents, with no other attachments.

According to Duterte, Gracioso-who was also former aide of then House Speaker Lord Allan Velasco-has made 29 statements against her that she and her camp believe are ‘false.’

‘Among several other pieces of my evidence, Jefry Tupas and I were nowhere near Marinduque during Mahal na Araw in 2019, nor were we in Manila on Sept. 21, 2019,’ said Duterte.

The Vice President was referring to Gracioso’s claims that he allegedly handed over two large suitcases containing P50 million cash each to Tupas for Duterte around April 2019 in Marinduque; and that he delivered two suitcases containing P50 million each to the Vice President in Manila on Sept. 21, 2019.

With Duterte claiming that the allegations are false, she cited NBI Director Melvin Matibag earlier pronouncements that a perjury case may be possible if Gracioso’s allegations are proven false.

‘We expect a case to be filed by the NBI against Gracioso once the agency completes its investigation and the evidence is fully evaluated,’ said Duterte.

Duterte’s statement came the same day the NBI held an investigative conference regarding Gracioso’s allegations, which she was also invited to.

Former Speaker Lord Allan Velasco and his wife, Rowena, on Monday failed to appear before the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to comply with the invitation letters sent to them over the ‘cash delivery’ claims of dismissed police officer Rodulfo Gracioso Jr.

Instead, the Velasco couple were only represented by their three legal counsels, who arrived at the NBI headquarters in Pasay City around 9:45 a.m.

VELASCOS NO-SHOW AT NBIWATCH: Three lawyers of former House Speaker Lord Allan Velasco and his wife Rowena arrive at the NBI to represent them in complying with their invitation letters over the ‘cash delivery’ claims of dismissed police officer Rodulfo Gracioso Jr. pic.twitter.com/aJtV7utP1Y

– MJ Salcedo (@MJSalcedoINQ) October 5, 2026

In an ambush interview, one of the counsels, Atty. Rowell Ilagan said that aside from complying with the invitation letters, they appeared at the NBI to formally request and subsequently receive the copy of Gracioso’s affidavit implicating his clients.

He reiterated the camp’s denial of Gracioso’s allegations, noting that information circulated on social media is ‘easy to fabricate.’

‘Velasco knows Gracioso’

Ilagan did not confirm that Gracioso became Velasco’s aide but affirmed that the former House speaker knows him.

‘Kilala po. Pero hindi po natin masabi kung ano po yung pagkakilala niya,’ the lawyer said when asked by reporters.

(He knows him. But we cannot say what his relationship was.)

He refused to answer media queries regarding the Velasco couple’s whereabouts abroad but asserted that they are free to travel as ‘they are private individuals.’

‘Mali pong isipin na [tumakas sila]. As private citizens, we can freely travel. That is one of our constitutional rights as an individual,’ Ilagan said.

(It’s wrong to think that [they escaped]. As private citizens, we can freely travel. That is one of our constitutional rights as individuals.)

Meanwhile, Bureau of Immigration (BI) spokesperson Anisha Hassan confirmed to the INQUIRER in a Viber message that ‘as of date, our records show that he (Velasco) is still outside the country.’

Velasco’s lawyer said that they would answer other allegations against his clients ‘at the proper forum and at the proper time.’

Ilagan said the NBI has not yet set another schedule for their clients.

The BI and NBI Director Melvin Matibag confirmed last week that Velasco is out of the country.

According to Matibag, the former House Speaker left the country for Nagoya, Japan, on August 30. He was supposed to be back on September 14, but based on the BI records, he still has not returned.

Meanwhile, Velasco’s wife, along with two individuals, traveled to Hong Kong on September 24. She was supposed to return on Sept. 27, but there was still no record of such.

Aside from the Velascos, supposedly invited to appear this Monday are Vice President Sara Duterte and her brother, Davao City First District Rep. Paolo Duterte.

Vice President Duterte’s camp earlier wrote to the NBI, requesting to move to another date for its investigative conference on Gracioso’s ‘cash delivery’ allegations.

Meanwhile, Rep. Duterte has yet to arrive at the bureau and did not confirm if he will comply with the invitation or not.

Gracioso is claiming to have delivered more than P2 billion to the vice president, P1 billion to the former President Rodrigo Duterte, and P100 million to the congressman in tranches starting in 2018 upon Velasco’s instructions.

He underwent another lie detector test last Wednesday, and the NBI said the result showed ‘no deception indicated.’

Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) saw its energy sales in the first eight months of 2026 slightly improve as the utility giant racked up more customers.

Charina Padua, senior vice president and head of customer relations and services at Meralco, said the sales of the group’s distribution business reached 35,938 gigawatt hours (GWh) in the January to August period, up 0.7 percent from a year ago.

‘[The] slight increase was driven by consistent energization performance, offsetting a slight decline in organic sales due to cooler weather,’ Padua told reporters.

‘We’re forecasting continued recovery for the third quarter of 2026,’ she added.

Ronnie Aperocho, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Meralco, earlier said that the company expects power sales volume is expected to rise by 2 percent to 2.5 percent this year, an improvement from the flat sales volume of 53,997 GWh in 2025.

Energy sales growth

However, the anticipated energy sales growth was slightly lower than its initial forecast of 3 percent.

Aperocho said the dip in demand could be blamed on the growing adoption of rooftop solar among households and businesses. Energy conservation efforts, particularly among shopping mall operators, duringt the height of the Middle East war could have also affected consumption.

But Aperocho remained optimistic that Meralco could regain stronger figures in the face of the expected worsening of the current El Niño.

El Niño is attended by the abnormal warming of the Pacific Ocean’s surface temperatures near the equator. This climate phenomenon is often linked to drought and less than normal rainfall in the western side of the Pacific where the Philippines is located.

Meralco’s distribution business continued to give the largest share at P12.7 billion, accounting for 48 percent of the group’s consolidated core earnings in the first semester of this year.

After years of loss and a long legal fight, the family of the late Baby Jane Teodoro Allas received just that on Oct. 2, when Vista Land and Lifescapes Inc., the country’s biggest homebuilder, turned over a Camella house and lot in Puerto Princesa to her children.

For the family, this new home brings a sense of stability Baby Jane had worked so hard to give her children. It is also a fitting gesture from a homegrown company whose own story has long been tied to the Filipino dream of homeownership.

Chasing the dream

Vista Land founder and Chairman Manny Villar led the ceremonial handover of the keys to the ready-for-occupancy home at Camella Palawan, marking one of the company’s initiatives ahead of its 20th anniversary in 2027.

For nearly two decades, Vista Land has developed communities across the country for families chasing that dream of owning a home. In Baby Jane’s case, this Camella home comes to a family that has spent years holding together what she left behind.

Baby Jane was an overseas Filipino worker (OFW) in Hong Kong and a single mother of five. She was diagnosed with late-stage cervical cancer and later challenged her dismissal by her former employer following her diagnosis. In 2026, a Hong Kong court ordered the employer to pay some P2 million in damages after ruling that she had been unlawfully dismissed.

The ruling came five years after Baby Jane died in 2021. It was a hard-won recognition of a fight she did not live to finish, but one driven by a mother’s tireless efforts to protect her dignity and secure a better future for her children.

Her sister, Mary Anne Allas, continued the case on Baby Jane’s behalf, carrying forward a fight that reflects the challenges many OFWs face in asserting their rights. The damages allegedly remain unpaid, as the former employer reportedly failed to appear before the court.

Immediate realities

Back home, however, the family has had more immediate realities to deal with.

Baby Jane left behind five children, who have been living with their grandmother in Brgy. Antipuluan in Narra, Palawan. Rosemarie, now 23, has finished Grade 12 and is raising two children of her own. Joa Christian, 22, is a second-year college student at Western Philippines University in Aborlan, Palawan. John Christian, 17, is in Grade 12; Jessica Shane, 16, is in Grade 10; and Jenno, 11, is in Grade 4. Four of them are still pursuing their education.

Now, they will have a permanent place of their own at Camella Palawan in Puerto Princesa City. Turned over to them was the Cara unit, which has 66 sqm of floor area on an 88-sqm lot, with three bedrooms and two toilet-and-bath areas.

Beyond its size and features, the home gives Baby Jane’s children a permanent place to return to as they continue their studies and build lives of their own. It answers, in part, the hope that had driven her years abroad, which was to give her children a better future.

For hardworking Filipinos

For Vista Land, the turnover also comes at an important point in its own history. As the company heads toward its 20th year, it looks back at nearly two decades of building quality homes and conducive communities across the Philippines. Over that period, Vista Land has grown alongside generations of hardworking Filipinos saving for and eventually moving into homes of their own.

Baby Jane’s family now becomes part of that story.

The donation cannot undo what the family went through. But it can, at least, ease one concern that has followed the family for years.

Baby Jane spent years working abroad with her children’s future in mind. Today, part of that hope has found a place to stay in a home they can finally call their own.

Motorists will have to brace for another round of gasoline price increases on Tuesday, while diesel products will see a slight reduction.

In an advisory, Shell Pilipinas said gasoline prices would increase by P1.90 per liter.

Kerosene will also rise by P3.30 per liter.

Diesel, meanwhile, will have a price drop of P1.30 per liter.

Other oil firms have yet to announce their price adjustments.

In a statement late last week, Jetti Petroleum Leo Bellas said the potential price increases for October 6 to 12 could be attributed to the continued supply disruption worries due to the conflict in the Middle East.

China’s decision to suspend exports of oil products to markets beyond Hong Kong and Macau likewise fueled ‘fears of worsening global product shortages,’ Bellas said.

Parts of the Visayas and Mindanao will continue to experience cloudy skies, rain and thunderstorms on Monday as trough of super typhoon Choi-wan affects the country, while Luzon is expected to have generally fair weather, the state weather bureau said.

In its 5 a.m. weather forecast, PAGASA weather specialist Aldczar Aurelio said Choi-wan was expected to move farther away from the Philippines and would remain outside the Philippine area of responsibility (PAR).

‘Dahil sa trough ng bagyo, makakaranas ng maulap na kalangitan na may kalat-kalat na pag-ulan at thunderstorm sa Mindanao, gayundin sa Negros Island Region, Western Visayas, Central Visayas, Southern Leyte, at Leyte,’ Aurelio said.

(‘Because of the typhoon’s trough, cloudy skies with scattered rain showers and thunderstorms are expected over Mindanao, as well as the Negros Island Region, Western Visayas, Central Visayas, Southern Leyte and Leyte.’)

The trough was expected to affect the country until Monday. On Tuesday, the intertropical convergence zone, or ITCZ, is expected to affect Palawan, the Visayas and Mindanao. the convergence of winds from the northern and southern hemispheres, will affect Palawan, Visayas, and Mindanao on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, fair weather was raised over any of the country’s coastal waters.

Forecast temperatures were 24°C to 33°C in Metro Manila, 24°C to 32°C in Laoag, 17°C to 25°C in Baguio, 22°C to 30°C in Tagaytay, 25°C to 35°C in Tuguegarao, 24°C to 33°C in Legazpi, 25°C to 33°C in the Kalayaan Islands, 26°C to 33°C in Puerto Princesa, 25°C to 32°C in Iloilo, 26°C to 32°C in Cebu, 26°C to 33°C in Tacloban, 25°C to 31°C in Cagayan de Oro, 24°C to 32°C in Davao and 25°C to 32°C in Zamboanga.

The license of a driver who was heard making an inappropriate remark about a road incident was revoked by the Land Transportation Office (LTO) for violating the Anti-Distracted Driving Act.

The LTO said the driver violated traffic laws by using a cellphone while driving to record the incident. ‘[He] deliberately slow[ed] down amid heavy traffic to record the incident while driving,’ it said.

The video showed the driver saying, ‘Sayang naman, hindi pa namatay (What a waste, he didn’t even die),’ referring to the incident being attended to by law enforcers.

According to the LTO, the driver’s use of a cellphone while driving and his deliberate decision to slow down to record the incident posed a danger not only to his own safety but also to that of other motorists.

The investigation also found that the driver had a previous record with a local government unit’s traffic enforcement office for an earlier counterflow violation.

‘As a result, the driver was declared an Improper Person to Operate a Motor Vehicle, which served as the basis for the LTO’s revocation of his driver’s license,’ the LTO said in a release on Monday, Oct. 5.

The driver has already voluntarily surrendered his license, while the vehicle remains under alarm status as part of the agency’s enforcement action.

‘An incident in which someone is injured or put at risk is no laughing matter, so motorists should not disregard any act that could endanger people on the road,’ said Assistant Secretary Markus Lacanilao.

‘In this case, it is clear that the driver is accountable for using a cellphone while driving and for his actions during the incident. Because of this, the LTO imposed the appropriate action in accordance with existing laws,’ he said.

The LTO once again urged motorists to use mobile phones responsibly while driving and to observe proper conduct on the road.

Some customs brokers and truckers are expected to halt operations today at Manila’s ports in a voluntary ‘rest day’ protest over what they say is foreign shipping lines’ failure to address a mounting backlog of empty containers that has disrupted cargo flows since 2025.

The protest calls on customs brokers to hold off on securing gate passes, booking trucks and releasing shipments, while truckers are being urged not to haul containers until shipping lines provide enough space to take back their empty boxes.

Reynaldo Soliman, chair of the Practicing Customs Brokers and Port Truckers Alliance of the Philippines Inc. (PCBAPI), said the protest could last for a week, depending on the response from shipping lines and the government.

Although the protest is voluntary, Soliman expects broad participation among practicing customs brokers serving terminals at the Port of Manila. He estimated that around 3,000 brokers could take part.

‘Even though we want to ship, we can’t move,’ Soliman said in an interview with the Inquirer, claiming that even without the protest, only 10 percent of goods at Manila ports are moving while the rest face backlogs.

At the center of the dispute are empty shipping containers that Soliman said can take two weeks to a month to be accepted for return after imported goods have been unloaded.

The problem has persisted since December but worsened around August, he said, when truckers increasingly resorted to temporarily storing empty containers in their own yards to free up vehicles for other shipments.

Those storage spaces, he added, have since filled up.

Soliman estimated that thousands of empty containers are now stranded on trucks and in private container yards awaiting acceptance.

‘They (shipping lines) don’t have a container yard. That is why we are demanding that they provide a container yard depot to solve the congestion,’ he said.

In a statement, PCBAPI called on shipping lines not to neglect their ‘business, social, and moral obligation and responsibility’ to provide adequate depots for their empty containers.

‘Vacate your empty containers now, bring them home to the origin,’ PCBAPI said.

‘We pay what you want, we deserve better services,’ it added.

Soliman said the bottleneck had also driven up logistics expenses through detention, storage and trucking costs.

‘Our demand is to remove the pileup to normalize and lower the cost of our food and other goods. It’s a pass-on cost,’ he said.

Philippine Exporters Confederation, Inc. president Sergio Ortiz-Luis Jr. said exporters would naturally be concerned about any disruption, although he did not expect the protest to deliberately hold up urgent shipments.

He nevertheless said the dispute showed longstanding problems involving foreign shipping lines.

‘There should be a way that we can regulate shipping lines,’ Ortiz-Luis told the Inquirer.

PCBAPI’s calls for a rest day could prove critical as it coincides with the fourth-quarter peak shipping season.

Soliman said Manila’s ports handle around 70 percent of the country’s imports, with the remainder passing through Batangas, Subic and other international gateways.

Senate impeachment court spokesperson Atty. Reginald Tongol on Monday expressed gratitude to the senator-judges after he was criticized for alleged repeated blunders.

Senator-judge Raffy Tulfo earlier took to the open court his qualms over Tongol’s remarks over the weekend seemingly preempting an end-date for Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment proceedings, saying Tongol must be admonished.

‘I’m very grateful actually for their guidance and for always hand-holding me in how to perform this job as a spokesperson. So I’m just full of gratitude,’ Tongol told the media as a reaction to Tulfo’s remarks.

Tongol also said he accepts the comments of the senator-judges.

‘As a good soldier in this line of profession and as my duty as a spokesperson, I take the comments of the good Senator-judge Raffy Tulfo and all the other senator-judges. I take it on the chin,’ he added.