Category: Philippines Daily Inquirer

Philippines-Scottie Thompson’s defensive effort served as one of the subplots in Gilas Pilipinas’ 82-81 overtime victory over Jordan in the Fiba World Cup 2026 Asian Qualifiers on Friday at Mall of Asia Arena.

While his offensive numbers in his first game back with the national team could be seen as an eyesore after scoring just one point, Thompson put up six rebounds and three assists in almost 29 minutes.

But what did not reflect in the stat sheet was the way Thompson made an effort to defend Jordan’s naturalized player Jalen Harris and Freddie Ibrahim, something that was not lost on coach Tim Cone.

‘People give Scottie a hard time because he’s not a shooter, he’s not a true point guard, he’s gonna make a turnover here and there. But they dismissed all the stuff that he does,’ Cone said of his long-time Barangay Ginebra star.

‘As we know in the PBA, we call him ‘Scottie Things.’ He does all the ‘Scottie Things.’ He gets the rebounds, he gets the loose balls, he defends, he knows how to get teams into execution and he will make big shots and get to the rim when he needs to. But he relies on his teammates a lot to make shots.’

Thompson almost saw his effort become an afterthought when he was called for a five-second violation while trying to inbound the ball. But Kai Sotto bailed him out when he blocked Abdullah Olajuwon’s shot before time expired.

Thompson returned to Gilas duties after missing the third window due to a hamstring injury. Before this window, he had missed Ginebra’s first five games of the Governors’ Cup before suiting up against Meralco.

He was one of three returnees for this window, including two of the main stars in the win in Sotto and CJ Perez, who, like Thompson, entered the window coming off an injury.

‘He came off a really bad hamstring injury and it took a while for him to recover,’ said Cone. ‘Same with CJ, they’re both coming off injuries and both we’re really crucial to our success tonight.’

Global ports giant International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) is seeking to strengthen its foothold in Africa with a deal to acquire a port and cargo operator serving three key markets in the region.

In a disclosure on Friday, the Enrique Razon Jr.-led company said it had signed an agreement to acquire 100 percent of TLG Acquisition Holdings Proprietary Ltd., an integrated port and cargo handling services provider with operations across Mozambique, Namibia and South Africa.

The seller

ICTSI is acquiring TLG from African Infrastructure Investment Managers (AIIM) and Mokobela Shataki Proprietary Ltd.

AIIM, through AIIF4 General Partner Proprietary Ltd. and IDEAS Infrastructure II GP Proprietary Ltd., collectively owns 74 percent of TLG, while Mokobela Shataki holds the remaining 26 percent.

ICTSI did not disclose the value of the transaction, which remains subject to regulatory approvals.

In purchasing TLG, ICTSI is acquiring a business that provides port and cargo handling services for a diversified range of bulk commodities and agricultural products across its portfolio of facilities in the three African markets.

Growth mode

The deal will further expand ICTSI’s presence in Africa, where the port operator already has operations in several markets.

ICTSI operates the Onne Multipurpose Terminal in Nigeria, Kribi Multipurpose Terminal in Cameroon, Matadi Gateway Terminal in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Madagascar International Container Terminal.

In December 2025, it also secured a deal to operate a terminal at South Africa’s largest port, the Durban Container Terminal Pier 2 at the Port of Durban, now its largest operation in the region. It holds a 25-year term under a joint venture with Transnet SOC Ltd., a South African state-owned company that owns railway, port and pipeline infrastructure.

ICTSI operates 30 terminals across 19 countries in Asia-Pacific, the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Africa

In the first half, the company posted a 22-percent increase in net income to $641.39 million as revenue from port operations grew 27 percent to $1.92 billion.

Another mother who lost a teenage son to the Duterte administration’s war on drugs recounted to the civil society-led Truth Commission how she faced either intimidation or lack of support from authorities in her quest for justice.

Mariza Hamoy, mother of 17-year-old Darwin who died in what police described as a drug bust on Aug. 15, 2016, narrated her ordeal during the fact-finding body’s second hearing on Thursday.

She recalled spending days in search of her son’s body, being denied access to police records, having no ally to stand as witness and filing complaints that were later dismissed.

Darwin’s killing was among the thousands documented in official records about drug suspects who supposedly fought back or resisted arrest (‘nanlaban’) in police operations. The crackdown was part of ‘Oplan Double Barrel,’ the antinarcotics policy of former President Rodrigo Duterte, with then Philippine National Police chief and now Sen. Ronald ‘Bato’ dela Rosa as lead enforcer.

Duterte has been detained in The Hague, the Netherlands, on charges of crimes against humanity before the International Criminal Court (ICC) since his arrest in March last year. He is expected to appear in court when trial starts Nov. 30.

Dela Rosa remains in hiding following the issuance of an ICC arrest warrant on the same charges.

A mother’s ordeal

Civil society groups in May launched the Philippine Truth and Reconciliation Commission, an independent body that seeks to document extrajudicial killings and other abuses linked to the drug war.

The commission held its first public ‘truth-telling session’ on Aug. 14. The first witness was Luzviminda Siapo, mother of a 19-year-old disabled man who was shot dead by masked gunmen in 2017 on suspicion that he was peddling marijuana and ‘shabu’ (crystal meth).

At Thursday’s session, Mariza, a street sweeper at Barangay Payatas, Quezon City, said that on the night before Darwin was killed, she and her husband were with their son attending a wake of a colleague.

During the wake, Darwin left ahead of them to join a birthday celebration at a house nearby.

Around past midnight, Mariza heard multiple gunshots. She later learned that Darwin was asked to buy cigarettes during the neighborhood party, and that the police showed up just as he was handing the cigarettes to the one who asked him to do the errand.

‘No questions were asked and the police officers just shot him and the others,’ said Mariza in her nearly three-hour testimony.

A spot report by the Quezon City Police District, which officers initially kept from her, showed that five people were killed and one was wounded in a buy-bust operation that day.

Two unnamed fatalities were cited in the report, but Mariza immediately knew that one of them was Darwin based on the physical features and the clothes described.

Mariza stressed that her son was never involved in the drug trade. She looked for him at two hospitals in Quezon City, where she was told no record of Darwin was ever registered. Eight days after the police operation, Mariza finally found her son at a funeral parlor in the Kamuning district-but she had to shell out P50,000 to have the body released.

Mariza later filed two complaints-first at the Commission of Human Rights, which later reached the Office of the Ombudsman; the second at the PNP Internal Affairs Service, which reached the Office of the President.

Both complaints were eventually dismissed.

No one among the people she asked for help agreed to come forward as witness in Darwin’s case. They included the lone survivor of the police operation, a tricycle driver she identified only as ‘Harold.’

Mariza’s husband was also not spared as he was charged five times starting in 2017 with drug-related offenses and illegal gambling, which she said had no basis at all since his drug tests yielded negative results.

She said someone, whom she did not identify, demanded that she withdraw her complaints in exchange for the dismissal of the charges against her husband.

‘My husband told me: Don’t drop the case. Let me go to jail; I can take it. Keep our son’s case going since you’ve already started it,’ Mariza told the commission.

Intimidation

Lawyer Raul Pangalangan, a former ICC judge who now chairs the Truth Commission, said it was important to highlight how the families of drug war victims were intimidated to ‘short-circuit or frustrate the remedies available to them under the law.’

‘[It was] a way of making sure that the legal processes in government don’t work … To prevent (them) from filing cases, or, if they have filed cases, for them to withdraw or not testify,’ Pangalangan, also a former Inquirer publisher, said at a briefing after the session.

Forensic pathologist Raquel Fortun, one of the commissioners, noted how Mariza and others like her ‘lost every step of the way.’

‘Who killed them? It’s the same people investigating … Remember that these (families) have no resources, their connection is limited, and they have no money. That’s why it angers me when people say ‘just file a case.’ Do you know how hard it is, especially if you are a nobody and a victim?’ she said.

Fortun again noted the lack of proper protocols in the police handling of the victims’ bodies, the inaccessibility of information, and the apparent acquiescence of some doctors in manipulating reports on the cause of death.

Mariza urged other families who had the same experience to continue fighting for justice, to keep speaking up, and to not lose hope as there are nongovernment entities that can help them.

‘That was my child … As long as I am alive, I will not give up- win or lose,’ she said.

The next Truth Commission hearing is scheduled for Sept. 11, where another mother is expected to share the story of her 23-year-old son who was killed in 2019

The middle portion of the Aquino Bridge in Tarlac City collapsed before midnight on Friday, Aug. 28, following heavy rains brought by the southwest monsoon or habagat.

Tarlac was placed under a red rainfall warning on Friday, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC).

The bridge connects Tarlac City to the municipalities of Sta. Ignacia, Mayantoc, Camiling and San Clemente, with access toward Mangatarem, Pangasinan.

The Tarlac City government advised motorists using the Agana Bridge, an alternative route, to exercise caution and prioritize safety.

The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) will also prohibit trucks and heavy equipment from crossing the Agana Bridge to prevent further damage.

Authorities have yet to provide details on the extent of the damage or when repairs to the collapsed portion of the Aquino Bridge will begin.

Nearly a decade after the 2017 Marawi siege, about 300 families continue to seek answers on the fate of relatives who disappeared during the five-month conflict.

Ahead of the International Day of the Disappeared on Sunday, relatives of the missing held gatherings in Marawi City and Iligan City, renewing calls for authorities to determine what happened to their loved ones.

The families continue to endure ‘ambiguous loss,’ a painful form of grief made more difficult by the absence of remains and official confirmation of death.

The uncertainty has also created practical problems. Without death certificates or formal legal status, some families have been unable to claim government benefits and insurance, while others continue to hope their relatives may still be alive.

One of them is Bolawan Buyog, whose eldest son and family breadwinner, Abdul Jabaar, disappeared during the 2017 fighting.

Compensation

Buyog said her family’s claim for compensation was rejected by the Marawi Compensation Board, which questioned missing-person attestations issued by humanitarian workers.

Sittie Jamerah Mohammad, a field officer for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), said attestations issued for missing persons were initially recognized but later faced scrutiny, including allegations that some documents were fabricated.

‘If it weren’t for the ICRC, I don’t know what would have become of us. We didn’t even know if we would make it out alive,’ Buyog said, crediting the humanitarian group’s support sessions and livelihood assistance for helping her family cope.

In Iligan City, relatives offered prayers and flowers at Paseo de Santiago before proceeding to the Maqbara cemetery in Marawi, where unidentified remains of people killed during the conflict are buried.

Families also gathered in Marawi to remember their missing relatives and discuss the newly formed Marawi Family Association, which seeks to advocate for affected households.

The ICRC said finding and identifying the missing is an obligation of authorities under international humanitarian law, which also recognizes families’ right to know the fate of their missing relatives

With the 10th anniversary of the Marawi conflict approaching in May 2027, families said they hoped authorities would finally provide answers and the closure they have awaited for years.

The Department of Health (DOH) on Friday said cases of leptospirosis so far this year had decreased by 23 percent, with 5,486 cases recorded from Jan. 4 to Aug. 26 this year compared to 7,163 in the same period last year.

At a press briefing, Health Undersecretary Dr. Gloria Balboa noted that the National Capital Region (NCR), Cagayan Valley and Central Luzon had the highest number of cases in the country.

‘In connection with the widespread flooding in our country in the past week, the DOH is continuing and strengthening the surveillance of cases of leptospirosis through our epidemiology bureau,’ she said in Filipino.

Balboa said a total of 521 patients with leptospirosis had been admitted in DOH hospitals in Metro Manila alone as of Aug. 23. The majority of these patients or 158 are currently confined at San Lazaro Hospital in Manila.

‘Our reminder to our fellow Filipinos is if they waded through floods, whether they have a wound or not, with or without symptoms, they should go to the nearest health center for early intervention and to get proper advice from our health workers,’ she said.

‘Fast lanes’

Acting Health Secretary Dr. Edwin Mercado said cases are expected to further increase in the next two weeks. But health facilities will remain operational and will have sufficient supply of medicines, he said.

He noted that 33 leptospirosis ‘fast lanes’ have already been opened across DOH hospitals in the other affected regions, including the Ilocos region and the Cordillera Administrative Region.

He added that the DOH is coordinating with local health offices in Metro Manila to improve the referral system across hospitals as part of efforts to prevent a surge in the number of patients.

At San Lazaro Hospital, a tent has been erected to temporarily treat patients who may be infected with leptospirosis, Mercado said.

Additional nurses and ‘med-tech’ from Jose R. Reyes Memorial Medical Center and Dr. Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital were also deployed to San Lazaro to augment its medical staff

Bohol has declared a province-wide dengue outbreak after recording 1,883 cases and 21 deaths from the disease from Jan. 4 to Aug. 22.

Gov. Erico Aristotle Aumentado issued the declaration on Thursday after health authorities recorded 1,883 dengue cases and 21 deaths from Jan. 4 to Aug. 22, 2026.

The province had exceeded the dengue epidemic threshold for three consecutive weeks, with a case fatality rate of 1.12 percent, according to the executive order declaring the outbreak.

A significant number of cases were reported in Talibon, Tagbilaran City, Ubay, Getafe and Tubigon.

The Provincial Local Health Board, with the support of the Department of Health’s Central Visayas Center for Health Development and the Provincial Health Office, recommended the declaration based on the latest epidemiological data and the increasing pressure on local health facilities.

Control

‘There is an urgent need to escalate and intensify dengue outbreak management measures to control the transmission of dengue in the community and prevent the occurrence of deaths due to the disease,’ Aumentado said in the executive order.

The declaration calls for the immediate intensification of dengue prevention and control measures across the province.

These include the strict implementation of the enhanced 4S Strategy, the reactivation of local dengue task forces and the implementation of Aksyon Barangay Kontra Dengue.

Local governments were also directed to mobilize households, schools and communities in ‘Search and Destroy’ activities to eliminate mosquito breeding sites, particularly through the 4 o’clock habit.

Health authorities were instructed to intensify vector-control measures for confirmed dengue cases, while city and municipal health offices and hospitals were ordered to establish Dengue Fast Lanes to speed up consultation and treatment.

Local governments must also ensure proper patient referrals, allocate funds for essential dengue-control supplies and services and coordinate with government agencies and other stakeholders.

The Bohol Provincial Anti-Dengue Task Force will likewise be reconstituted and strengthened to lead the province-wide response.

Aumentado said the intensified measures were intended to curb dengue transmission and prevent further deaths from the disease.

American technology firm Meta Platforms Inc., which owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, has made a commitment to the Philippine government to remove harmful artificial intelligence (AI)-generated deepfakes from its platforms and cooperate with investigations on cybercrime and other online threats.

A Philippine delegation met with Meta policy officials handling the Asia-Pacific region on Thursday in Singapore to discuss details of the company’s commitment in the wake of violent incidents that local officials suspect stemmed from social media content.

Among those who attended the meeting were Secretary Henry Aguda of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), Director Melvin Matibag of the National Bureau of Investigation, Laguna Rep. Ann Matibag who chairs the House committee on women, and representatives from the office of Sen. Risa Hontiveros.

‘We were able to convince Meta to commit to providing our authorities with subscriber information and traffic data once they identify a threat to the safety of our children, even before an actual attack takes place,’ Hontiveros said in a video message on Friday.

Hontiveros chairs the Senate committee on women, children, family relations, and gender equality.

Online risks

She said the ‘parallel development’ will further gain traction for Senate Bill No. 2424, or the proposed Child Online Safety and Protection Act, which seeks to regulate children’s access to social media platforms. The bill sets 16 years as the minimum age for social media use.

SB 2424, which was sponsored in plenary on Wednesday, will also obligate social media companies to protect minors from various online risks.

In a Viber message to the Inquirer, Aguda outlined Meta’s commitment, including the establishment of a technical working group with the Philippine government to improve coordination, response times, and action on harmful content; the designation of a point of contact to facilitate faster response time; and the sharing of crucial data when necessary.

‘Good step’

Aguda said Meta also pledged continued cooperation with Philippine investigations, ‘particularly (on) cases involving imminent harm to children or risk of death or serious physical injury.’

A team from Meta is expected to visit Manila in mid-September to formalize the framework and commitments made.

Senate President Sherwin ‘Win’ Gatchalian welcomed the development as a ‘good step.’

But it doesn’t mean that the Senate will no longer push for SB 2424, which also proposes that Meta set up a Philippine office, he told the Inquirer in a phone interview.

‘So if there’s a problem, we can easily coordinate with them and we can prevent future problems,’ he said.

Gatchalian added that a bill will make it easier to penalize social media companies for violations, citing the case in the United States where Meta was slapped with a multistate lawsuit accusing it of intentionally designing addictive social media platforms that harm children’s mental health.

The company entered into a landmark $18-billion settlement this month to resolve the cases.

But because there is no law in the Philippines yet, he said, it would be difficult to make social media companies accountable for harmful content.

‘For example, what happened in Zamboanga, the was uploaded and they did not stop it. They could be penalized [if a law exists],’ Gatchalian said. The senator was referring to the video of the Ateneo de Zamboanga University shooting earlier this month that was uploaded on Facebook but was not immediately taken down.

The livestream of the deadly incident remained online for about 14 minutes, according to reports. It stayed for five minutes before the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) flagged it and notified Meta, which took approximately four minutes to take it off the platform’s video feed.

Agreeing with Gatchalian, Sen. Erwin Tulfo said ‘we still have to craft a law for all social media apps-to penalize them. We penalize all of them if they fail to follow their community standards.’

According to the CICC, which was also represented at the Singapore meeting, Meta will ‘readily provide the credentials and relevant data of users behind online sexual abuse and exploitation of children, child sexual abuse and exploitation material, obscene content and other forms of online abuse.’

Deepfakes

The CICC said the requested data will be provided once the NBI issues a subpoena, subject to legal requirements and applicable laws. This is intended to help investigators identify perpetrators behind online offenses and build up cases against them more quickly.

The CICC noted that one of the critical results of the talks was the establishment of a stronger mechanism for addressing AI-generated content, specifically deepfakes.

‘This is an important step forward because it gives us a more preemptive layer of protection. We look forward to working with Meta so that individuals who are targeted by deepfakes can receive assistance before the content causes further damage,’ CICC Executive Director Renato Paraiso said.

Under the proposed mechanism, individuals may apply for protection, allowing Meta to identify and remove deepfake content targeting them.

Harmful online content involving minors, including videos of the fatal school shootings in Zamboanga and Tacloban cities, has led to calls to ban Meta in the Philippines.

But with the social media giant now agreeing to cooperate, Paraiso said in a statement, ‘For now, banning is the last option.’

‘We now have concrete areas of cooperation, and we are looking forward to seeing these turn into actual improvements in online safety for Filipinos, especially for our children,’ he added.

Meta’s Facebook remains the top social media platform in the country, with 95.8 million users as of late 2025. This represents an 81.9-percent reach of the total population and 97.7 percent of the country’s internet users

Philippine trade deficit widened in July as heavy reliance on imported electronic components continued to outweigh gains from robust electronics exports.

Data released Friday by the Philippine Statistics Authority showed the trade gap expanded by 34.9 percent year-on-year to $5.97 billion.

From January to July, the trade deficit stood at $37.34 billion, 29 percent wider than a year earlier.

In a commentary, Chinabank Research said electronic products continued to drive Philippine trade in both directions, boosting exports while also fueling demand for imported components.

‘The sector is powering export growth, but its heavy reliance on imported components is also widening the trade deficit, with electronic inputs now rivaling oil as a major import item,’ Chinabank economists said.

‘The global AI (artificial intelligence) boom presents an opportunity to deepen local manufacturing and move up the value chain, allowing the Philippines to capture more of the gains from the electronics upcycle,’ it added.

Exports jumped by 10.8 percent to $8.15 billion during the month from $7.36 billion a year earlier, with electronic products accounting for more than half of total export earnings at $4.79 billion.

Under the sector, semiconductor exports rose by 26.1 percent to $3.7 billion. But as Chinabank pointed out, imports of electronic components likewise surged by 140 percent to $2.2 billion, underscoring the industry’s dependence on foreign inputs.

As it is, total imports reached $14.12 billion in July, rising by nearly 20 percent from a year earlier. Electronic products also dominated the import bill, accounting for 32.6 percent, or $4.6 billion, of the total.

‘This highlights an opportunity for the Philippines to deepen domestic electronics manufacturing and capture more value from the sector,’ Chinabank said.

‘A potential risk is a new round of semiconductor tariffs under US President Trump. However, any measures are likely to remain targeted and should have only a limited impact on the Philippine industry,’ it added.

Energy-related purchases also kept the import bill high, with mineral fuel imports climbing 34.8 percent to $1.95 billion. This came amid renewed tensions between the United States and Iran, which pushed Dubai crude prices to an average of $76.7 per barrel in July, up from $69.2 a year earlier.

Kai Sotto, CJ Perez and Scottie Thompson made sure their return to the Gilas Pilipinas roster would be impactful.

On Friday, the trio came together and gave the Philippines and its fans something to cheer about as it held off Jordan in overtime, 82-81, in the Fiba World Cup Asian Qualifiers that kept the Filipinos tugging at the coattails of the group leaders.

Kevin Quiambao, meanwhile, didn’t hesitate in grabbing the spotlight on what he later described as a game where he wasn’t as sharp, knocking down the go-ahead triple that broke a 79-all tie with 11.7 seconds left to also stand out as one of the reasons why the Filipinos were able to come through before a sellout crowd at Mall of Asia Arena.

It was a highwire win that put some sense of hope in the Filipinos’ quest to make the global main event for the fourth straight edition, and they get back to work Sunday when they battle formidable Iran with the stakes the same for Gilas-that match again being a must-win.

Quiambao’s three-pointer came off an assist from Perez who, before that shot, had kept Gilas in the game with basket after basket in regulation and the extra five-minute period.

‘I would just like to thank CJ for that pass,’ Quiambao told a courtside reporter later. ‘We will enjoy this tonight, but will be back to work (Saturday).’

But that shot almost went for naught after Thompson, who put the clamps on Jordanian ace Jalen Harris, committed a five-second inbound violation that gave Jordan the chance to salvage the game.

Jordan could not, as Abdullah Olajuwon, the son of NBA great Hakeem, ran into Sotto, who came through with a massive block that triggered a thunderous roar from the gallery as practically an entire country erupted in celebration when the final buzzer sounded.

Gilas snapped a four-game skid in the Qualifiers and improved to 3-4 to start off the second round and the fourth window. More importantly, it narrowed the gap not only with Jordan, but also with Iran, which earlier lost, 93-91, to New Zealand, also in overtime.

‘It’s a huge thing, because we’ll be back to close the gap even further if we beat Iran [on Sunday],’ Perez said as Gilas now sets itself for another difficult battle in less than 48 hours at the same venue.

Australia, which routed Syria, 123-64, earlier, remained unbeaten in Group E to be at 7-0, while New Zealand joined Jordan and Iran in a three-waytie at 5-2, with Gilas at 3-4 and Syria dead last at 2-5.

The top four teams in the group after the Qualifiers get to play in Qatar for next year’s World Cup. And Gilas regained a solid shot with the close win.

While it’s a huge win, the margin of error remains slim for the Philippines as one loss may still jeopardize its ambitions of a fourth successive World Cup appearance.