Category: Philippines Daily Inquirer

Households with unpaid electricity bills will continue to get relief as the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) is set to extend the no-disconnection policy until December.

‘We’re targeting until the end of the year, then we will assess from there on what [will be our next move],’ ERC Chair Francis Saturnino Juan said on Monday on the sidelines of the Asean Ministers on Energy Meeting in Pasay City.

But he said the no-disconnection policy would be limited to smaller consumers, or residents consuming 200 kilowatt-hours or less monthly, as the measure meant to ease consumers’ financial burden has affected distribution utilities and electric cooperatives.

‘We have also received numerous requests from our utilities, including electric cooperatives, because of the no-disconnection policy that applies to all of their customers, including large commercial and industrial customers. Many of their customers are not able to pay their bills on time,’ Juan said.

‘However, the utilities still need to pay their suppliers, including NGCP (National Grid Corp. of the Philippines), on time. As a result, their cash flow is being affected. Their operations are becoming financially tight,’ he added.

‘More vulnerable’

The ERC chief said the commission was able to preserve the protection of ‘more vulnerable’ customers as they continue to suffer from elevated costs.

Power disconnections have been suspended following President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s declaration of a state of national energy emergency in March amid escalating tensions in the Middle East involving the United States, Israel and Iran.

The war in the oil-producing region continues to cause volatility in fuel prices.

Based on earlier advisories, power distributors were directed to implement flexible payment options to consumers to cushion the impact of persistently high electricity rates.

Generation companies, the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp., National Power Corp., National Transmission Corp., NGCP, independent power producers, and market operators were also ordered to extend a similar payment framework to distribution utilities.

Meanwhile, the ERC has suspended the collection of the green energy auction allowance (GEA-All) in electricity bills until December.

Asked about a possible extension beyond 2026, Juan said they would still need to assess the sufficiency of the GEA-All fund, which is meant to finance renewable energy projects nationwide.

Senator-judge Robin Padilla vehemently denied on Tuesday receiving money from China after admitting involvement with the Tapang at Malasakit Foundation, which supposedly received a P150 million donation from the Chinese Embassy in the Philippines.

Padilla made the denial during the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte.

The foundation, which lists Duterte as a member of its board of trustees, allegedly received the donation, according to former Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV.

‘Wala po akong natanggap na pera kahit singko sa mga Intsik,’ Padilla told the Senate Impeachment Court.

(I haven’t received money even a centavo, from the Chinese.)

He also asked that he and his colleagues not be linked to the alleged payments from China.

‘Tutal hindi naman nabanggit dito yung sa Tapang at Malasakit, hinihingi ko na huwag naman kaming madamay lahat, kasi kasama kami diyan eh. Hindi naman ‘yan nabanggit sa korte, binanggit ‘yan ni former Sen. Trillanes na hindi sa korteng ito,’ Padilla said.

(Since the Tapang and Malasakit issue was not mentioned here, I request that we not all be implicated, because we are all part of it. That was not mentioned in court; former Sen. Trillanes mentioned that, not in this court.)

Padilla did not name which of his co-lawmakers are also involved with the foundation.

Mynt Inc., the parent company of the group behind GCash, opened its approximately P53-billion initial public offering (IPO), with subscriptions available through the GCash app starting at P660.

On Tuesday, Mynt said on Tuesday that the offer runs from Oct. 6 to 12 at P6.60 per share. Through GStocks PH, offered by AB Capital Securities Inc., investors can order a minimum of 100 shares.

Orders placed on Oct. 6 and 7 will have their first 100 shares allocated in real time, while shares last.

Additional shares will be processed on a first-come, first-served basis, subject to availability. Order fulfillment begins Oct. 8.

Mynt said more than 20 global and local institutions account for 70 percent of the allocation.

These include funds and accounts managed by relevant BlackRock subsidiaries, the International Finance Corp. and the trust units of BPI and Metrobank.

Full exercise of the overallotment option would bring the offering to approximately P60.9 billion, making it the country’s largest IPO, according to Mynt.

The company is scheduled to list on the Philippine Stock Exchange’s main board on Oct. 20 under the ticker GCASH.

Four Miss Grand International titleholders are coming together to share the stage at the 2026 pageant’s National Costume Competition and Preliminary Competition.

Reigning queen Emma Tiglao will share hosting chores with her predecessors, fellow Filipino queen Christine Juliane ‘CJ’ Opiaza from 2024, Luciana Fuster of Peru from 2023 and Isabella Menin of Brazil from 2022.

This is the first time that the four international titleholders will be hosting together for the Miss Grand International pageant. Fuster and Menin are already in Thailand for the 2026 competition, and have sat with Tiglao for the closed-door interview panel.

The National Costume Competition, one of the most anticipated events of the annual pageant, will be held at MGI Hall at Bravo BKK in Bangkok on Oct. 7 at 1 p.m. The crucial preliminary competition will follow at 8 p.m.

Seventy-six delegates from different countries and territories around the world are competing this year to succeed Tiglao, the second Filipino woman to receive the pageant’s ‘golden crown.’

Reina Filipinas Angelica Lopez is representing the Philippines in this year’s competition, and is on a mission to give the country a rare ‘three-peat’ and become the third Filipino woman in as many years to bring home the Miss Grand International title.

Tiglao will crown her successor at the conclusion of the ‘Grand Final,’ which will also be held at MGI Hall. The program will be on Oct. 10 at 7 p.m. and will be streamed at the Grand TV YouTube channel.

The Miss Grand International Organization still has not announced who will host the Grand Final, but Thai-Australian TV presenter Matthew Deane has been hosting the Grand Final since the 2020 competition.

Tennis world number one Jannik Sinner has brought a premature end to his season due to a knee injury, the Italian announced on Tuesday.

‘Me, together with the doctors, have decided that I need a course of treatment for my knee, which means that the 2026 season is officially over,’ Sinner said in a video posted on social media.

The 25-year-old’s announcement came just over a month before he was due to defend his crown at the ATP Finals in Turin.

Sinner had finished the previous two seasons on a high by winning in Turin, leading to ‘so many beautiful feelings and emotions’, he said.

‘This year is going to be way different,’ he acknowledged. ‘But at the moment, I also need to think about my long-term career.’

He has had an impressive, if injury-hit season, winning Wimbledon in July and five Masters 1000 events. He has won all six finals he has played in this year.

The Italian’s 94 percent winning record in 2026 is the best of his career, even beating his figures from the previous two seasons in each of which he won two Grand Slams and the ATP Finals.

A statement from Sinner’s management team said that he would ‘follow a course of treatment for inflammation in his knee’, which would help him ‘to recover before beginning preparations for 2027’.

The House of Representatives on Tuesday approved on second reading a bill that would institutionalize a 30-year national infrastructure master plan to ensure projects are implemented consistently, regardless of political changes.

Lawmakers approved House Bill No. 11597, or the Masterplan for Infrastructure and National Development (MIND) Act, by voice vote.

Designed as a long-term roadmap for public works, the measure directs the government to craft a comprehensive infrastructure vision updated every six years, while allowing earlier reviews if technological advances, crises or economic disruptions require them.

‘This measure recognizes a simple but important principle. Vision building must outlast political terms,’ Surigao del Sur Rep. Romeo Momo Sr., sponsor of the bill, told lawmakers.

‘Administrations will change. Priorities may evolve. Technologies will advance. Economic conditions will shift. But the Philippines must have a long-term infrastructure direction that provides continuity, coherence and strategic purpose,’ he said.

The bill strives to create a national template ‘for determining what infrastructure we need, where it should be located… and how individual investments should work together to advance national and regional development,’ he said.

The master plan targets core developments in transportation systems, energy, water, digital infrastructure and housing, while also prioritizing agricultural and fisheries modernization, according to the bill.

And under the measure, local and regional infrastructure priorities would feed into the master plan to enable the government to identify development gaps and streamline needed projects to plug them.

‘Its purpose is straightforward: to make government infrastructure planning more coordinated, more strategic, and more accountable,’ said Momo.

Yearly infrastructure funding would also be tied to the 30-year plan to ‘prevent arbitrary changes,’ the bill’s fact sheet added.

Police intercepted a vehicle loaded with over P2.6 million worth of suspected smuggled cigarettes and arrested two male suspects during an operation in Barangay Lantian, Labangan, Zamboanga del Sur, on Oct. 5.

Captain Derf Jay Maquinta, spokesperson for the Zamboanga del Sur Police Provincial Office (ZSPPO), reported that personnel from the Labangan Municipal Police Station conducted the operation at 2:40 p.m. following a tip about the transport of illicit tobacco products through the municipality.

Responding officers spotted and pursued a gray Toyota Hi-Ace Commuter van coming from Barangay Balimbingan before blocking and intercepting it in Barangay Lantian.

When flagged down, the two occupants failed to present legal documents covering the ownership, acquisition or transportation of the cargo.

In an inventory conducted with the Bureau of Customs (BOC), authorities seized 45 master cases and 43 reams of cigarettes with an estimated value of P2,627,778.

The seized tobacco products and the van were turned over to the BOC for proper disposition.

The two suspects remain under police custody at the Labangan Municipal Police Station as authorities prepare to file appropriate charges against them.

The co-accused of former Ako Bicol party-list Rep. Zaldy Co is due for discharge upon doctor’s clearance after suffering a stroke, the Sandiganbayan Sixth Division learned on Tuesday.

Juliet Calvo, the former Maintenance Division chief of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) in Region IV-B, faces a malversation case filed against her and eight of her other co-accused under the jurisdiction of the anti-graft court.

After the testimony of Calvo’s co-accused Felisardo Casuno, Calvo’s lawyer Edwin Labro informed the court that there was a scheduled Wednesday hearing to tackle her condition.

‘The purpose of the hearing has become moot and academic,’ Labro said. ‘She is due for discharge already.’

Hence, the court, through Associate Justice Kevin Vivero, ordered the hearing cancelled after being deemed ‘moot and academic.’

Calvo suffered a stroke on Aug. 5 which led to a total paralysis, her lawyer Edwin Labro told the court on Aug. 13.

Labro noted that they have a motion if Calvo could still be detained in a medical facility at the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) Female Dormitory in Camp Caringal ‘while she remains immobile.’

Associate Justice Sarah Jane Fernandez, the division chair, however, said it’s up to the BJMP to determine that.

Calvo’s non-bailable malversation of funds through falsification of public documents case stemmed from a P289.4 million worth of road dike project in Naujan, Oriental Mindoro which state prosecutors said was found to have serious structural deficiencies.

Public Works and Highways Secretary chief Vince Dizon, who inspected the site, discovered that the road dike only has a three-meter steel sheet pile (SSP), way off the 12-meter requirement.

However, the certificate of inspection (COI) for March 18, 2024 signed by Calvo declared that the SSPs in the project are compliant with the 12-meter requirement.

The COI is one of the requirements for the first progress billing for the contractor, which is Sunwest.

Sunwest is co-founded by Co, who also used to be the chairperson of the powerful House committee on appropriations before his resignation as a party-list representative in September last year amid the widespread public outrage on the multibillion flood control corruption scandal.

For his part, Co could not participate in the trial as he was earlier declared by Sandiganbayan as a fugitive from justice.

The intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) is bringing cloudy skies and rain to Palawan, the Visayas and Mindanao on Tuesday, according to the state weather bureau.

In its 5 a.m. weather forecast, Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) weather specialist Veronica Torres said the ITCZ, a convergence of winds from the northern and southern hemispheres, would continue to affect Palawan and the Visayas until Wednesday and Mindanao until Saturday.

‘Sa Visayas at Mindanao, patuloy ang epekto ng ITCZ sa kanilang mga lugar at patuloy itong magdadala ng maulap na kalangitan at kalat-kalat na pag-ulan, pagkidlat, at pagkulog,’ Torres said.

(ITCZ will continue to affect Visayas and Mindanao and this will bring cloudy skies, scattered rainshowers, and thunderstorms.)

Meanwhile, the northeasterly wind flow will bring cloudy skies and light rains to Batanes and Cagayan. Pagasa said the weather system could persist in the two areas until Saturday.

Metro Manila and the rest of Luzon will have partly cloudy to cloudy skies, with isolated thunderstorms possible due to localized thunderstorms.

Torres said Pagasa was not monitoring any low pressure area or tropical cyclone inside or outside the Philippine area of responsibility.

Temperature forecast in the following areas:

Metro Manila: 25°C to 33°C

Laoag: 25°C to 32°C

Baguio: 18°C to 25°C

Tagaytay: 22°C to 30°C

Tuguegarao: 25°C to 35°C

Legazpi: 25°C to 33°C

Kalayaan Islands: 25°C to 33°C

Puerto Princesa: 25°C to 33°C

Cebu: 25°C to 32°C

Iloilo: 26°C to 32°C

Tacloban: 26°C to 33°C

Cagayan de Oro: 25°C to 32°C

Davao: 25°C to 33°C

Zamboanga: 24°C to 32°C

Police arrested 48 drug suspects and confiscated at least P1.7 million worth of suspected shabu during a weeklong series of synchronized anti-criminality operations across Caraga (Region 13), a police official said Monday.

Brig. Gen. Rolindo Suguilon, Police Regional Office-13 (PRO-13) director, said that police operatives seized a total of 257.31 grams of alleged shabu valued at P1,749,732.48 during the Simultaneous Anti-Criminality Law Enforcement Operations (SACLEO) conducted from Sept. 28 to Oct. 4.

Data from PRO-13 Regional Operations Division showed that the Surigao del Norte Police Provincial Office (PPO) netted the largest haul, confiscating 121.95 grams valued at P829,277.68.

The Surigao del Sur PPO followed with 57.30 grams valued at P389,640, and the Butuan City Police Office with 44.87 grams worth P305,136.40.

In Agusan del Norte, provincial operatives seized 22.94 grams amounting to P155,978.40.

Operatives in Agusan del Sur and Dinagat Islands also netted 9.75 grams (P66,300) and 0.50 grams (P3,400), respectively.

All arrested individuals are currently detained and face formal complaints for alleged violations of Republic Act No. 9165, or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.

Suguilon commended local operatives for the sustained campaign, stressing that removing illicit drugs from street circulation protects vulnerable communities from crime and exploitation.

‘This accomplishment is a victory for every Caraganon. Every gram of shabu that we take off the streets is one less threat to our communities,’ Suguilon said in a statement.

‘PNP Caraga will remain relentless. We will continue to intensify our efforts to identify and arrest those behind the proliferation of illegal drugs in the region,’ he added.