Category: Philippines Daily Inquirer

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Monday called on Filipinos to not just remember the nation’s heroes but also embody their courage and keep the flame of patriotism alive.

In his message in commemoration of National Heroes’ Day, Marcos said the public must renew their ‘solemn duty’ to carry forward the nation for which the heroes fought and sacrificed.

‘Our forebears won our freedom, defended our dignity, and laid the foundations of the Republic we cherish,’ he said.

‘We honor them best by embodying their courage, keeping the flame of patriotism alive, and becoming the citizens our country needs,’ the president said.

He noted that the heroes’ spirit lives on those who choose to ‘serve, care and contribute to a cause greater than oneself.’

These can be seen in soldiers and first responders who risk their lives to keep everyone safe, Marcos said.

‘We recognize it in our teachers, health workers, farmers, fisherfolk and overseas Filipinos who sustain our families and communities,’ he said.

‘We find it in every citizen who helps a neighbor, protects the vulnerable, and works honestly for the common good,’ Marcos added.

The president also hoped for Filipinos to continually prove themselves worthy of the liberty the heroes have fought for and build a country that future generations will proudly inherit.

Heavy traffic has been observed on sections of the North Luzon Expressway (NLEx), while the Libtong Exit in Meycauayan, Bulacan was temporarily closed on Monday.

This is due to flooding caused by the southwest monsoon or ‘habagat.’

In its 9 a.m. traffic advisory, the NLEx Corporation said traffic remains heavy along the NLEx-Candaba Viaduct, Tulaoc (San Simon, Pampanga), and the southbound lane of the San Simon Interchange due to continuous heavy rainfall or flooding on local roads.

‘Motorists approaching San Simon Northbound and San Simon Southbound may take the San Simon Exit and re-enter NLEx via the San Simon Entry as an alternative route to avoid the flooded section,’ the corporation said in the advisory.

‘The San Fernando Southbound Entry is temporarily closed due to heavy traffic in San Simon caused by water buildup,’ it added.

NLEx Corp. also noted that southbound motorists who want to return to the northbound lane may use U-turn slots before the Tulaoc Overpass and before the San Simon Interchange.

Patrol officers are on-site to assist motorists and manage the traffic situation in the areas, said the NLEx Corp.

Meanwhile, light traffic was continuously seen on the following NLEx roads:

Balintawak (northbound and southbound)

Valenzuela (northbound and southbound)

Meycauyan (northbound and southbound)

Bocaue (southbound)

San Simon Interchange (northbound)

Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway Concepcion entry and exit ramp

The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) earlier reported that 18 provinces in Luzon are forecast to experience heavy rainfall this Monday due to the habagat enhanced by Tropical Depression Pilandok.

The weather bureau said Pilandok had slightly intensified while moving almost stationary over the Philippine Sea east of Extreme Northern Luzon.

The tropical depression is currently carrying a maximum sustained wind speed of 55 kilometers per hour (kph) near the center (up from 45 kph from the Sunday evening bulletin), and gustiness of up to 70 kph (up from 55 kph). Pagasa said Pilandok is expected to exit the Philippine area of responsibility by Wednesday evening or early Thursday morning.

Police rescued a minor who was held hostage in Barangay Daddaay, Alilem, Ilocos Sur, on Saturday, Aug. 29.

The Ilocos Sur Police Provincial Office (ISPPO) said the suspect, a 37-year-old man reportedly with a mental disability, was inside a house with the child when police arrived after receiving a report about the incident.

Personnel of the Alilem Municipal Police Station immediately responded and began negotiating with the suspect in an effort to safely resolve the situation.

While negotiations were underway, a concerned resident called out the suspect’s name, prompting him to look toward a window.

Police seized the opportunity to move in and pull the child away from the suspect, successfully rescuing the minor.

The child, whose age was not disclosed, sustained wounds to both legs and was given first aid by a rural health unit nurse who was at the scene.

According to investigators, the victim was later brought to the Ilocos Sur District Hospital-Bio in Tagudin for further medical attention.

The suspect’s relationship to the victim was not immediately known.

Police said the operation was carried out with caution to protect both the child and the suspect and prevent further harm.

The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has delivered 24,029 family food packs (FFPs) to various warehouses and prepositioning areas in the Ilocos Region as it prepares for possible relief operations amid continuing rains.

Three trucks carrying 5,179 FFPs arrived on Saturday, Aug. 29, at the DSWD Field Office 1 satellite warehouse in Laoag City, Ilocos Norte, while another truck delivered 1,700 FFPs to a prepositioning area in Vigan City, Ilocos Sur.

The deliveries were part of the agency’s continuing replenishment of relief supplies and efforts to ensure that food packs are readily available for families who may need assistance as rains persist.

Additional FFPs were also delivered to the DSWD regional warehouse in Biday, San Fernando City, La Union.

The DSWD said the additional stocks would strengthen its capacity to respond to communities that may be affected by prolonged rainfall, flooding and other weather-related incidents in the region.

The agency continues to coordinate with local government units and disaster response authorities to ensure the timely distribution of assistance to affected families

Due to the southwest monsoon, or ‘habagat,’ state meteorologists warned of heavy rainfall of up to 200 millimeters in 23 Luzon provinces on Sunday.

In its 5 a.m. outlook, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said an orange rainfall warning was in effect over Ilocos Sur, Pangasinan, La Union, Benguet, Bataan, Zambales, Tarlac and Pampanga.

Under an orange rainfall warning, these areas are expected to experience 100 to 200 millimeters of rain in the next 24 hours.

Meanwhile, a yellow rainfall warning was hoisted over Metro Manila, Ilocos Norte, Abra, Apayao, Kalinga, Ifugao, Mountain Province, Nueva Vizcaya, Nueva Ecija, Bulacan, Rizal, Cavite, Laguna, Batangas and Occidental Mindoro.

These areas are anticipated to receive 50 to 100 millimeters of rain within the day.

According to Pagasa, three weather systems are being observed inside the Philippine area of responsibility.

These are Tropical Depression Sauder, formerly Obet, which is not directly affecting the country; a low-pressure area east of extreme northern Luzon; and the monsoon.

‘Right now, the southwest monsoon or habagat is still the main weather system affecting the country, particularly parts of Luzon. A large part of the western section of Luzon has been affected by the cloudiness brought by the southwest monsoon,’ Pagasa weather specialist Obet Badrina reported

The Human Organ Preservation Effort of the National Kidney and Transplant Institute (HOPE-NKTI) is encouraging the public to become organ donors for the more than 500 individuals in the country currently in need of a transplant.

According to Dr. Anthony Russel Villanueva, head of HOPE-NKTI, the average number of deceased organ donors in the hospital is ‘not increasing,’ with only around 10 to 12 per year.

On the other hand, he said, there are now more than 500 patients in need of an organ transplant, based on the NKTI data from 2025.

Villanueva also reported that there were 64,000 new dialysis patients in the country in 2024.

The number of dialysis patients tend to increase by around 10 percent to 15 percent each year, with most of them qualifying for a kidney transplant, he added.

Culture factor

‘The demand is high but the number of our organ donors is low, so we really need the help of everyone for advocacy. So that it would be in our culture to donate,’ Villanueva told reporters on Friday.

‘In other countries, it’s a great honor for them to donate. When you become an organ donor, you are a hero to the community. Hopefully we can have that same mindset,’ he added.

To become an organ donor, the public can sign up by scanning the QR code that can be accessed through the HOPE-NKTI’s official Facebook page.

Villanueva explained that HOPE-NKTI deals with deceased organ donations, which involves patients who have already been declared as ‘brain dead.’ Aside from organs, he said, bones and tissues, including corneas, can also be donated to help not just those with illnesses but also persons with disabilities.

One challenge

But before any organ can be donated, consent must be secured first from the family of the potential donor, he stressed, adding:

‘By our experience, even if it’s in your license that you are an organ donor, we still need the consent of the legal next of kin.’

Villanueva acknowledged that obtaining such consent can be challenging. ‘Because we are (usually) an extended family, sometimes a sibling has already agreed but they want to wait for their sister’s or mother’s [agreement].’

‘When it takes time, that is a challenge because of the viability of the organ. From brain death, there will come a time where the heart stops, and by then [the organ] is no longer viable for donation,’ he explained.

To prevent this problem, Villanueva urged those who are planning to become organ donors to speak with their family regarding their decision.

‘They are really the ones who decide. Maybe you consented in your personal [capacity], but of course, the family’s [consent] is still needed,’ he said.

Floods and landslides triggered by monsoon rains and enhanced by four weather disturbances so far this month have left more than 30 people dead, mostly in Luzon, authorities said.

Nine Aetas in Zambales and Pampanga and two workers at Subic Bay Freeport were among the latest fatalities confirmed on Saturday.

A lahar warning was also issued on Saturday for communities in Pampanga, where the devastation of the 1991 Mt. Pinatubo eruption remains indelible in local memory. This time, however, the threat of ‘noneruption lahar’ is not due to volcanic activity but to heavy rains letting deposits of pyroclastic material loose on local rivers.

A section of the decades-old Aquino Bridge in Tarlac province collapsed Friday night. Public works officials traced the cause of the structural damage to the strong currents of Tarlac River.

This month alone saw four tropical cyclones entering the Philippine area of responsibility, with the latest, Typhoon Obet,(international name: Saudel), being the 15th for the year.

In August 2025, the country by then had experienced only the ninth cyclone of the year, Isang (Kajiki). Benguet landslides

The Office of Civil Defense (OCD) on Saturday placed the death toll due to weather-induced calamities at 32, starting the count from ‘Luis’ (Peilou) which made landfall on Aug. 3. After Luis was ‘Maymay’ (Kujiri) on Aug. 5 and ‘Neneng’ (Gaenari) on Aug. 18 but no landfall and ‘Obet’ on Aug 24, also no landfall.

At least 8 million people, or 2.3 million families, have been affected across 10 regions, the OCD said.

Among provinces, Benguet recorded the highest number of deaths with 15, all from landslides. Ten of them were in Baguio City, three in Atok town and two in La Trinidad.

Four deaths were recorded in Rizal province, with two of them due to a rockslide in Rodriguez town. One person was pinned to death by a fallen tree in Antipolo, while another drowned in Binangonan.

Batangas province recorded four deaths: one drowned in Batangas City and another in Mabini, one was electrocuted in Lipa, and another was killed in a landslide in Santa Teresita.

The other fatalities were recorded in the provinces of La Union, Quezon, Oriental Mindoro, Occidental Mindoro, and Negros Occidental, and in Caloocan City.

At least 19 people have been injured, including 12 in Benguet province.

Three people remained missing: one each in Quezon City, Manila and Batangas City.

Infra, agri damage

The affected regions as of Saturday were Regions 1, 2, 3, 5, 6 and 9, as well as the Cordillera Administrative Region, Calabarzon, the National Capital Region and Mimaropa (Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon, and Palawan).

Some 25,800 people from 7,500 families were staying in 297 evacuation centers.

The OCD said about 2,900 houses had been damaged, including 349 classified as totally damaged.

Damage to infrastructure was estimated at P6.11 billion, while agricultural losses were placed at P2.32 billion.

At least 117 local government units have declared a state of calamity, with the government releasing P1.65 billion worth of relief assistance, the OCD added.

Communities along the river systems draining Mt. Pinatubo were placed on heightened alert around 11 a.m. on Saturday, after the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) warned that heavy rains could generate noneruption lahars.

Aeta passengers

Major rivers on the western side of Mt. Pinatubo still hold significant deposits from the volcano’s 1991 pyroclastic density currents, mainly mixtures of ash and rock fragments.

The potential lahar flow is likely to be confined to the upper to middle reaches of the Sto. Tomas-Marella and Bucao river systems, but could turn into muddy streamflows and flooding downstream, affecting communities in San Marcelino, San Narciso, San Felipe and Botolan.

They are among the river systems covered by a government dredging project that has been going on for the last six years.

Nine members of Aeta communities, including five children, have died in two separate incidents in Zambales and Pampanga.

In Zambales, recovered on Saturday were the bodies of two children, age 3 and 8, who went missing after a boat carrying 13 Aeta passengers capsized on Wednesday in Mapanuepe Lake in San Marcelino town.

The search was still ongoing at press time for the last missing passenger, a 26-year-old pregnant woman.

In Pampanga, a 73-year-old Aeta man died in a landslide at Barangay Pidpid in Porac town on Friday, according to Vice Gov. Dennis Pineda.

The landslide occurred about 20 kilometers south of Mt. Pinatubo amid persistent rains.

Pineda said at least 30 Aeta families had been relocated to the Pio evacuation center near the Porac town proper as a precaution.

Subic incident

At the Subic Bay Freeport, two people died and two others were injured after being buried in a landslide at Tipo High-Tech Park on Saturday.

Initial reports from the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) Law Enforcement Department identified the dead as Peng Jiahan, 26, a Chinese national and a sales and marketing supervisor at Fubong Environmental Technology; and Ernesto Ramos, a Filipino dump truck driver.

Details regarding the two injured victims were still being verified as of press time.

Earlier, the SBMA reported that a ‘soil erosion incident’ occurred at Tipo due to nonstop heavy rains

Four people were missing and another was rescued after a sport utility vehicle (SUV) plunged into a river when the Agana Bridge in Tarlac City collapsed Saturday night, Aug. 29, authorities said.

Nathaniel Dion, 20, was rescued shortly after the incident as authorities launched a search for the four other passengers.

The missing passengers were identified as Shanen Tuhao, 26; Paul Harvey Collado, 30, the SUV owner; James Harvey Taborlupa, 35; and Shiel Mae Taborlupa.

The Agana Bridge had been serving as an alternative route after the middle portion of the Aquino Bridge in Tarlac City collapsed shortly before midnight Friday, Aug. 28, amid heavy rains brought by the southwest monsoon.

Authorities continued search and rescue operations for the missing passengers as heavy rains persisted in the province.

The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) and Ateneo de Manila University have urged banks and other financial institutions to use the country’s National ID Authentication Services (Nidas) to verify customers during a forum earlier this month.

The National ID Forum: Utilizing the National ID for Financial Services gathered 45 representatives from banks and other BSP-supervised financial institutions.

Meanwhile, the forum took place as the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) considers asking banks and other regulated financial institutions to link their customer verification systems to the National ID database and use NIDAS for identity checks.

Additionally, Nidas enables financial institutions to verify customer identities using National ID records. It supports Know Your Customer (KYC) requirements for account opening and other financial services.

For his part, PSA Officer-in-Charge Assistant National Statistician Atty. Henedine P. Palabras said the National ID can improve access to financial services by giving Filipinos a reliable way to prove their identity.

‘For many Filipinos, access to financial services starts with one essential need: a trusted way to prove their identity,’ Palabras said.

At the same time, the forum featured discussions on how NIDAS works and how banks can integrate their systems with it. In addition, representatives from the BSP Financial Inclusion Office joined a panel discussion.

Meanwhile, Ateneo faculty member Gerald G. Divinagracia presented a KYC process map. Technical Resource Lab Director Richard P. Lozada also showed an AI-assisted National ID validation application.

Additionally, the push comes as more banks adopt the National ID in their services. On August 27, the PSA announced a partnership with Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) letting customers verify their identity and open accounts using a selfie matched against National ID records.

PSA said it will continue working with financial institutions and government agencies to expand NIDAS use and support safer digital transactions and wider access to financial services.

The Philippines is poised to record the highest rate of people experiencing food insecurity in Southeast Asia this year despite a better forecast a decade from now, according to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).

The Global Food Assessment (GFA) report of the USDA’s Economic Research Service released Aug. 26 shows the Philippines having an estimated 15.4 million food-insecure people, equivalent to 12.6 percent of its population.

But Indonesia topped the list with 32.1 million food-insecure individuals, representing 11.2 percent of its total population.

The USDA publishes its GFA report annually to assess food demand in 83 low and middle-income countries, including the Philippines. It also monitors each country’s ability to meet this demand from its own production and local sources.

‘The resulting gap between local food availability and food demand helps identify potential markets for US agricultural products,’ the report said.

The US agency said the Philippines’ per-capita food gap-or the difference between the 2,100 kilocalorie (kcal) threshold and the average calorie availability for food insecure people-is also the most critical at 294 kcal per day. The threshold is the kcal needed for a healthy diet.

Yet despite its continued population growth, the Philippines is expected to reduce its overall rate of food insecurity over the next 10 years due to rising incomes and economic growth, the USDA said.

PH population, GDP forecast

According to the report, the projected number of food-insecure individuals in the country will decline to 5.7 million by 2036 or 4.1 percent of the population.

The Philippine population is anticipated to reach 138.7 million by 2036, a 13.8-percent increase from 121.9 million in 2026. This reflects an annual growth rate of 1.3 percent.

Still, the country’s food gap is seen to narrow to 243 kcal per day over the decade.

The USDA also estimated the Philippines’ gross domestic product (GDP) to reach $789.49 billion, surging by 85.5 percent from $425.63 billion in 2026.

Moreover, the report noted that the per-capita GDP is projected to reach $5,691 in 2036 from $3,899 in 2026.

On a regional basis, USDA said Southeast Asia will exhibit the most significant improvement in food security within Asia, expecting a reduction of 72.4 percent in the number of food-insecure individuals between 2026 and 2036.

‘By 2036, only 2.5 percent of the population in this subregion is projected to be food insecure, compared to 9.9 percent in 2026,’ the report said.