Category: Philippines Daily Inquirer

City health officials here have sounded the alarm over a clustering of Hepatitis A cases allegedly linked to local barangay water systems, with six patients currently reported hospitalized.Cipriano Pat, City Health Disease Surveillance Officer who conducted an on-the-ground investigation, told the Inquirer on Friday that male patients aged 17 to 24 have been hospitalized, with five confined at a private hospital and one at a government facility.Pat noted that five of the positive Hepatitis A cases are neighbors in Barangay Lurugan.

Hepatitis A is a liver inflammation caused by the Hepatitis A virus.

Preliminary investigations by the City Health Office and the Epidemiology, Disease Surveillance, and Research Division headed by Myra Dianne Valero point to local barangay water systems as the likely source of infection, while ruling out street food or commercial food exposures.The Environmental Sanitation Division has deployed teams to conduct water sampling across affected puroks (hamlets) to test community water safety, with laboratory results being awaited.

Pat disputed speculations that the situation constitutes a Hepatitis A outbreak.

A total of nine individuals have sought medical attention or hospitalization due to symptoms like yellowish eyes and skin across Barangay Lurugan, Barangay Poblacion, and Barangay Kahaponan.Valero confirmed that no fatalities have been reported among the patients.Health officials are coordinating with regional sanitation and educational departments to monitor the situation as they urged for community vigilance.

A family in Barangay Loakan Proper here rescued a young eagle found in the garden of their rented home on Saturday, Oct. 3 and turned it over to authorities for assessment and rehabilitation.

Leticia Amoguis said her husband, Ed, found the bird around 10 a.m. in their garden in Purok Bubon, according to the Bauio City Public Information Office.

Recognizing the bird as a protected wildlife species, the family reported the sighting through Baguio 911 and, on advice, contacted Baguio City Police Station 4.

Police personnel took custody of the bird and turned it over to the appropriate authorities for care.

Mayor Benjamin Magalong commended the family, Baguio 911 and the police for their prompt response and efforts to protect the wildlife.

Authorities reminded the public not to handle, keep or attempt to care for wild animals on their own. Injured, stranded or displaced wild animals should be reported to the proper authorities for appropriate assessment and assistance.

A loaded caliber .45 pistol was found inside the motorcycle of a 17-year-old female student during a security inspection at Notre Dame of Matalam in North Cotabato on Thursday, police said.

Brig. Gen. Alan Manibog, Police Regional Office-12 director, said a school security guard found the firearm inside a black sling bag in the motorcycle’s compartment box. The motorcycle was driven by the Grade 12 student, identified by the alias ‘Ljem,’ in Barangay Poblacion, Matalam.

The firearm, a Model 1911 U.S. Army caliber .45 pistol, had a magazine containing eight rounds. Police personnel secured it and brought the student to the Matalam Municipal Police Station for assessment and intervention.

Police said the firearm allegedly belonged to the student’s father, who reportedly forgot to remove it from the motorcycle before his daughter drove it to school. Authorities are determining whether the firearm is licensed and whether the father is a licensed gun owner.

Lt. Col. Marvin Hugos, Matalam police chief, said the firearm and ammunition were secured for documentation, verification and disposition. Police said the investigation was being conducted cautiously to avoid causing further trauma to the student.

Providing young basketball players with a more professional environment to compete, develop their skills and gain exposure will be the focus of a grassroots showcase set for Sunday in Quezon City (QC).

The HTG Sports Showcase Game will bring together youth programs from across Metro Manila in four age divisions at the MRB QC District 2 Gymnasium, with organizers hoping the event can help raise playing and operational standards at the grassroots level.

Games will be played in the 12-under, 13-under, 14-under and 15-under divisions from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., with San Beda, Diligent Basketball, R3R and Jubilee Christian Academy among the participating programs.

Beyond providing competition, the showcase is designed to give young players an environment that more closely resembles higher-level basketball, with experienced officiating, game broadcasts and media coverage.

‘The core purpose of the Showcase Game is to demonstrate HTG Sports’ commitment to raising operational and production standards in local youth sports,’ founder Miggy Al-Alawy said.

‘The event provides a platform where young players can compete, develop and showcase their skills under professional conditions, while acknowledging everyone involved in the ecosystem-from coaches and referees to event staff and families.’

The local government and African swine fever (ASF) task force of Sablayan, Occidental Mindoro, have intensified the crackdown on the unauthorized entry of live pigs amid efforts to protect local hog raisers from the effects of the disease.

Authorities intercepted a group of pig transporters in Barangay Burgos on Saturday, Oct. 3, for allegedly violating Executive Order No. 63-B, which regulates the movement of live pigs into Sablayan and Occidental Mindoro, the municipal government said.

The local government said the regulation serves as a biosecurity measure to protect Sablayan’s hog population, estimated at more than 6,006 heads, from ASF and other animal diseases.

‘The indiscriminate entry of pigs without proper authorization directly puts at risk the livelihood of our local hog raisers and the food security of our community,’ the municipal government said.

It warned pig transporters and operators that unauthorized entry could result in penalties and legal action.

The municipality urged residents, hog raisers and transporters to cooperate with authorities in enforcing biosecurity measures and preventing the spread of ASF.

ASF is a highly contagious viral disease that affects domestic and wild pigs but does not infect humans. Outbreaks can cause losses to hog raisers and disrupt pork supplies.

Bicol Saro party-list Rep. Terry Ridon responded on Sunday to the Palace’s concern that withdrawing an impeachment article might ‘shortchange’ the public, saying that evidence has already been presented with the Senate sitting as an impeachment court.

In a statement, Ridon said he respects Palace press officer Claire Castro’s remark, as he noted that evidence of alleged wrongdoing against Vice President Sara Duterte has been laid out already to the Senate, which has televised the proceedings since July.

‘We respect the view of the President’s spokesperson on this matter,’ he said in Filipino.

‘However, the previous and current impeachment articles have already been brought before the Senate Impeachment Court, and the decision now rests with the Court based on the evidence presented in the trial,’ he added.

Ridon’s remark comes after Manila Rep. Joel Chua revealed early Sunday that the prosecution team will drop the bribery charge against Duterte, a development Castro said could deprive Filipinos of the chance to know the ‘whole truth.’

‘If they withdraw the bribery allegation against the vice president, wouldn’t that shortchange or disadvantage Filipinos who want to know the whole truth about this?’ Castro said in a message to reporters.

The decision to abandon the bribery count against Duterte comes as her trial enters its 14th week.

In September, prosecutors said they were studying whether to pursue the allegation that the vice president bribed officials to persuade Department of Education (DepEd) officials to bypass procurement rules in her stint as education secretary.

The prosecution team had already presented two impeachment articles: that Duterte allegedly threatened President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr., the First Lady and a former House speaker; and that she misused P612.5 million in confidential funds.

The allegations that Duterte amassed unexplained wealth and misstated her asset disclosures are now being heard in the trial.

La Salle snapped a two-game losing streak, routing University of the East, 112-87, in the UAAP Season 88 men’s basketball tournament on Sunday at Philsports Arena.

The Green Archers returned to the win column with a 2-2 record and kept the Red Warriors winless after five games.

‘This is going to make every game very interesting,’ coach Topex Robinson said, referring to the team standings. ‘We came from back-to-back losses, which are big, but with us it’s more about focusing on ourselves. We want to make sure we get better as a group.’

UE showed little resistance early, trailing 31-19 at the end of the opening period.

By the intermission, the Green Archers had already built a 61-42 advantage that proved insurmountable for the struggling Warriors.

Mason Amos scored a season-best 19 points that went with five rebounds, four assists, and two blocks. Jacob Cortez chipped in 15 points and four assists while his younger brother, Mikey, contributed 11 points.

UE guard Toper Lagat fired a game-high 30 points. Mo Tañedo added 14 points and nine assists, while Gene Carillo and Kean Dungca had 12 points apiece.

There was a point during the 2026 Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan when sports fans began railing against athletes who missed their opportunities to score medals for the Philippines.

The noise became loud enough that it prompted a reaction from national boxer Nesthy Petecio, who reasoned that there was no reason to bash non-medal athletes, who are even more disappointed by the result.

It also spurred several more opinions from other athletes, who used their social media clout to defend their fellow sports heroes.

The generated noise is proof of something positive: Filipinos have come to expect more from themselves in international arenas.

There was a time, it should be noted, that we were generous with participation praise in big events such as the Asian Games, World Championships, and the Olympics.

Not anymore.

We are, without doubt, in the golden age of Philippine sports-an era where we have not only ended our Olympic dry run but, in a span of three years, won three gold medals in two editions of the celebrated Summer Games.

Olympic triumph

We have a Filipinas football team that qualified to the World Cup-twice. The program has a World Cup win chalked up, too. EJ Obiena is the best pole vaulter in all of Asia, and the greatest track and field star the country has ever had, rising at one point to No. 2 in the world.

Carlos Yulo, owner of two of those Olympic golds, deserves a monument. So does Hidilyn Diaz, who opened the door to Philippine Olympic triumph.

And then there’s Alex Eala, the country’s fast-rising tennis GOAT who is arguably the most popular women’s tennis player in the world right now.

It is the heroics of these athletes that give us the ability to sneer at defeats in events that we feel we shouldn’t have lost.

But all that bristling can be distracting, too.

And in the Asian Games, where we long to protect and extend this period of unprecedented success in international sports, we must not only pick up lessons from those defeats.

We should not only search from the rubble of what we deem as results we could have done better in.

To extend this golden run, we should also look at the spaces where we expected victories-and got them.

We are already past building blueprints out of our shortcomings; we can now begin building off replicable success.

What can we learn from the gold medals in pole vault in gymnastics? That building teams around athletes to cater to their physical, mental, and emotional needs produces great results.

That we should find ways to fund scientific training no matter where we are based-Obiena trained abroad, Yulo has started camping out in the country.

Noise from defeats

What do we pick up from our gold in taekwondo? That maybe targeted funding is not the answer to our meager financial resources.

With the Los Angeles Olympics practically just around the corner, the Asian Games has to be dissected in terms of wins and losses and the stewards of the country’s national program must not react in a knee-jerk manner to diagnose and then address what went wrong.

There are defeats, after all, that bear no need for additional scrutiny because they can be remedied at the level of the athlete. There is, for example, no need to overthink Eala’s bronze medal. Being the No. 1 seed in the tournament was never a guarantee for gold.

Even in the Olympics, where the biggest tennis stars gun for their nation’s glory, only one of the last eight singles winners was the event’s top seed.

In Eala’s case, all it takes is to have an opponent playing on fire in the worst moment and you miss out on the target.

And the noise from defeats such as these can distract preparations for future events.

Spotlight on victories

The best way to build is to shine the spotlight on victories that the country collected in the Asiad. What worked? Of the processes that led to gold, or whatever unexpected success we encountered in Japan, what can be scaled to the grassroots so we can build a bigger pool of world conquerors?

What paths to victory are realistically replicable?

Our current run of success coincides with good news from the resources side. A recent court victory awarded the Philippine Sports Commission with billions in terms of sports funding.

Actor-politician Mark Lapid took up the cudgels for his father, Senator Lito Lapid, amid criticisms that he underperformed as a lawmaker, and mocked for supposedly being a member of the Senate ‘committee on silence.’

Speaking to the entertainment press, Mark got candid when asked about how the elder Lapid, known for being reticent on the Senate floor, was really taking the bashing over the years.

The ‘Sigabo’ actor said that he and his siblings also feel hurt when they read about it on social media, but that as public servants they shouldn’t be too onion-skinned when it comes to criticisms. As seasoned politicians, Mark said that they have learned to take the criticisms in stride.

‘Of course masakit yan, bilang isang anak. But we’re here, nandito kami sa trabahong ito, so we just have to accept all criticisms as a learning stage, and we all know na hindi naman totoo,’ Mark said of his father, who is now on his last term as senator.

‘Nasasaktan yan (Lito). Syempre tao naman tayong pare-pareho. Kasi if we will balat-sibuyas, hindi kami dapat dito. Wala kaming karapatan na magsilbi kung di kami tumatanggap ng kritisismo. Kasi hindi naman kami perpektong tao e… It’s part of our job to be criticized,’ he further said.

Mark said his father is naturally quiet and not given to grandstanding, that’s why people often equate his silence to nonperformance. In truth, he said, his father was more of an action man, who has already passed hundreds of bills into law.

”Di namin kelangang i-brag, but the records are there to prove that he has done his job even though he is not loud… There are some issues kase where he doesn’t need to talk or say something to be relevant. So ganun lang yon. Ang kanya, kung kelan sya kelangang maging relevant, dun sya nagsasalita,’ he further said.

Mark said the bad perception about his father may be due to the fact that people still look down on his father, who is just a high school graduate and actor before joining politics.

With the presence of social media, they are hopeful that more people would be more aware of his father’s achievements.

‘Hndi lang nya binibida, hindi alam na sa kanya, dahil siguro tingin pa rin sa kanya hindi sya nakapagtapos, high school graduatuate sya, so medyo mababa ang tingin, artista lang sya. May mga ganyang factors siguro. We hope with all the records out there, sana ma appreciate na sya,’ he added.

Mark is currently the chief operating officer of the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (Tieza), an attached agency under the Department of Tourism in charge of tourism infrastructure. Prior to this post, he was the general manager of the Philippine Tourism Authority, the precursor of Tieza, after serving as governor of Pampanga from 2004 to 2007.

Marian Rivera has been recognized as one of the top taxpayers of the Bureau of Internal Revenue’s (BIR) Revenue District Office 041 in Mandaluyong City.

The BIR RDO 41-Mandaluyong City recognized Rivera as one of its ‘Natatanging Taxpayers’ during a ceremony on Oct. 1, according to a post on the district office’s official Facebook page.

‘RDO 41-Mandaluyong City proudly honors Ms. Marian Rivera as one of its Natatanging Taxpayers for her valuable contribution to nation-building through responsible tax compliance,’ the BIR said.

Photos shared by the agency showed Rivera receiving a plaque from BIR officials.

The plaque cited Rivera as one of the top taxpayers of RDO No. 41-Mandaluyong City and recognized her contribution to the district’s revenue collection for the first semester of 2026. No specific amount of taxes paid by Rivera was disclosed.

The recognition comes as Rivera continues to maintain an active career in show business. She is set to star in the upcoming Star Cinema film ‘Remember,’ which reunites her with husband Dingdong Dantes and ‘Rewind’ director Mae Cruz Alviar. The film was shot in Quebec, Canada, and is slated for theatrical release later this year.

She is also set to headline Prime Video’s upcoming mystery drama ‘Behind Closed Doors,’ where she will play a radio announcer who becomes a prime suspect in the assassination of the Philippine president. The project marks Rivera’s return to series after ‘My Guardian Alien’ in 2024.

Meanwhile, aside from Rivera, other Filipino celebrities have also previously received tax-related recognition from the BIR.

In July 2026, Alden Richards and Barbie Forteza were recognized among the country’s top taxpayers. Richards was recognized as one of the highest taxpayers for 2025, while Forteza was also honored for her tax contributions and for using her platform to promote proper tax compliance.

In 2025, the BIR also honored several other entertainment personalities as responsible taxpayers, including Jennylyn Mercado, Dennis Trillo, Vice Ganda, Kim Chiu, Darren Espanto, Catriona Gray, Karla Estrada and Julia Barretto, among others.