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The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) is targeting an initial P113.5 million in emergency cash transfers for over 11,000 farmers whose farms were affected by the red-striped soft scale insect (RSSI) infestation across the Negros Island Region (NIR).

Social Welfare Secretary Rex Gatchalian led the rollout of a P10.56 million payout to affected farmers in Talisay City and San Carlos City, Negros Occidental on Wednesday.

Gatchalian said he was dispatched to the province under the direct orders of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to fast-track distribution of aid to sugarcane farmers suffering RSSI crop losses.

‘President Marcos is well aware of the RSSI problem and wants the cash assistance in Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental to start immediately,’ Gatchalian said.

‘The moment we receive the validated list of farmers from each local government unit, we will schedule more distributions, ‘ he said.

During the launch at the Talisay City Public Market, P6.26 million was distributed to 607 farmers in Talisay City at P10,325 each.

In San Carlos City, P4.29 million was allocated for 416 beneficiaries.

The assistance covers smallholder farmers cultivating five hectares or less.

Beneficiaries are identified using validated lists provided by LGUs and the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA), Gatchalian said.

According to an SRA report as of July 17, the invasive sap-sucking pest has infested 61,382 hectares across 335 barangays in Negros Occidental.

Ground validation and field monitoring remain ongoing throughout the region.

Gatchalian emphasized that while the Department of Agriculture (DA) focuses on technical interventions to contain the pest, the DSWD is stepping in to protect farming families from falling into poverty.

‘Whenever the people’s livelihoods are affected, it becomes a social welfare issue,’

Gatchalian noted: ‘When there is no profit and no work, poverty and hunger set in. Our intervention provides social protection to ensure families don’t sink deeper into hardship.’

‘All affected farmers will be assisted by the DSWD. We will keep monitoring to see if we need to return for additional help,’ he added.

Accompanying Gatchalian during the payout at the new Talisay City Public Market were Negros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson, Talisay Mayor Rowena Lizares, and Rep. Mercedes Alvarez.

Lacson expressed gratitude to the national government for responding promptly to the crisis.

We are thankful that the national government recognizes the challenges being faced by our sugar farmers, especially the agrarian reform beneficiaries suffering from RSSI,’ Lacson said.

The Akbayan party-list has filed a resolution seeking a House investigation into the country’s participation with Pax Silica as it raised the alarm on President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s ‘rushing’ to commit the country into the United States-led initiative.

The party-list filed House Resolution (HR) 1227 on Tuesday, a day after Marcos’ fifth State of the Nation Address when he mentioned the Pax Silica initiative, noting that it will bring ‘quality jobs’ that would revitalize the country’s economy.

‘It is deeply troubling that the President is rushing to commit our country to Pax Silica while he has yet to disclose the full details of the deal,’ said Akbayan Rep. Perci Cendaña in a statement on Wednesday.

Akbayan also noted that Marcos is ‘fast-tracking’ the framework agreement on Pax Silica amid a possible Manila visit of US President Donald Trump in November for Association of Southeast Asian Nations Leaders’ Summit.

As a separate branch from the executive, HR 1227 said it is incumbent upon the Congress to determine whether there is a need for legislative measures to safeguard the national interest.

The country became the 13th member of the Pax Silica initiative on April 16.

In line with this, the country has designated a 1,620-hectare site in New Clark City in Capas, Tarlac as the proposed location of an AI and advanced manufacturing hub, which the Bases and Conversion Development Authority said could bring up to P180 billion in total revenues per year and generate almost 200,000 local jobs.

‘[N]otwithstanding these projected economic benefits, various stakeholders, including civil society organizations, environmental advocates, academic experts, and concerned citizens, have expressed legitimate concerns regarding the possible environmental, social, and governance implications of the initiative, including its potential effects on water resources, electricity demand, biodiversity, land use, climate resilience, local communities, indigenous peoples, and the long-term sustainability of natural resources,’ the resolution stated.

To further look into this, the HR 1227 urged appropriate House committees, particularly committees on trade and industry, economic affairs, natural resources, ecology, climate change, bases conversion, labor and employment, science and technology, energy and other relevant committees ‘to conduct an inquiry, in aid of legislation’ into the Pax Silica Initiative.

‘Congress must steadfastly do its role in sifting through the details of Pax Silica,’ Cendaña said.

Cendaña said the inquiry would be part of a ‘basic due diligence’ to find out if there are ‘unfair’ provisions therein.

Our historical experience tells us that we should approach promises from any superpower with skepticism,’ he said

The Philippine National Police (PNP) will review its deployment of police officers for security operations following the death of a police officer in a traffic incident on his way home from duty during the State of the Nation Address (Sona).

‘The entire Philippine National Police expresses its condolences. We’re looking after the morale and welfare of every officer,’ PNP chief Gen. Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr. said in Filipino in a chance interview with reporters in Camp Crame on Wednesday.

‘How we will address that is by conducting the proper investigation. After that, we’ll do the recalibration or look at the deployment… Then, we’ll get to releasing the benefits of that police officer,’ he added.

In a statement earlier on Wednesday, Nartatez identified the late police officer as Patrolman Allan Chris Heredero, 33, an officer of the National Capital Region Police Office Mobile Force Battalion Administrative Holding Unit.

Heredero was traveling along C3 Road in Barangay 22 when he was run over by a 10-wheel truck early Tuesday morning after his Sona duty.

‘A relative said the officer had just completed a 24-hour Sona security duty and may have been exhausted before the crash,’ the PNP chief said.

‘A delivery rider who witnessed the incident said the police officer appeared to be swerving before the collision,’ he added.

The truck driver was taken into the custody of the Caloocan City Police Station and is awaiting charges of reckless imprudence resulting in homicide and damage to property

Government troops are engaged in an ongoing firefight with suspected members of the New People’s Army (NPA) in Naujan town, Oriental Mindoro, on Wednesday (July 29), according to the Philippine Army’s 76th Infantry (Victrix) Battalion.

In an initial report that was posted mid afternoon on social media, the battalion said its troops encountered about 10 armed individuals believed to be members of the Kilusang Larangang Gerilya Ignacio Calavria Magadia (KLG-ICM) under a commander identified only by the aliases ‘Antonio Baculo’ and ‘Floro’ or ‘Duralite.’

The encounter occurred in Barangay Del Pilar.

‘The firefight is ongoing,’ the battalion said in its advisory.

As of posting time, military authorities have yet to release details about casualties nor the circumstances that led to the encounter.

A magnitude 5.0 earthquake struck Burgos town in Surigao del Norte on Wednesday morning, July 29, according to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs).

The tectonic quake occurred 34 kilometers (km) northeast of Burgos town at 8:39 a.m., with a recorded depth of 10 km, Phivolcs stated in its earthquake bulletin.

Phivolcs reported the following intensities:

Intensity III – San Francisco, Southern Leyte

Intensity II – Hinundayan, Pintuyan, Saint Bernard, and Silago, Southern Leyte; Surigao City, Surigao del Norte

Meanwhile, instrumental intensities, or the measured strength of the tremors, were also recorded in the following areas:

Intensity III – San Francisco, Southern Leyte

Intensity II – Surigao City, Surigao del Norte; Hinundayan and Silago, Southern Leyte; Surigao City

Intensity I – Mahaplag and Abuyog, Leyte; San Juan, Southern Leyte; San Fernando, Bukidnon

Phivolcs said no damage was recorded but warned the public to expect aftershocks

The former manager of the Land Bank of the Philippines (LandBank) branch on Shaw Boulevard – where the Office of the Vice President (OVP) got its P125 million confidential funds (CF) – has admitted that withdrawing a huge amount in one transaction is unusual.

During the resumption of Vice President Sara Duterte’s trial before the Senate Impeachment Court on Wednesday, ex-LandBank department manager Violeta Constantino gave this observation when asked by Senator-judges Erwin Tulfo and Risa Hontiveros about her views on the OVP’s transaction.

Tulfo first asked whether withdrawing P125 million in one single transaction is normal for government agencies, to which Constantino said that it is ‘unusual.’

‘Is this normal to do withdrawals as big as this for a government agency, is this normal, have you seen other government agencies with withdrawals as big as this?’ Tulfo said.

‘None, these withdrawals are unusual,’ Constantino replied.

After Tulfo’s questioning, Hontiveros asked whether Constantino, in her 32 years of banking experience with the LandBank, had seen such a transaction. The former LandBank official said it was her first time.

‘In your 32 years in the banking industry, with the LandBank, have you seen a withdrawal as big as this, ever, before?’ Hontiveros asked.

‘It’s my first time,’ Constantino said.

The P125 million withdrawn by OVP in December 2022 refers to the CF that was allocated to the agency under Duterte, despite the original budget not having any entry for such purposes.

The original budget was crafted during the time of former Vice President Leni Robredo, who oversaw the OVP budget for 2022. Since Robredo left office in June 2022, Duterte inherited a budget originally crafted by Robredo’s OVP.

This issue became the smoking gun for House of Representatives lawmakers to look into the CF allocations obtained by OVP under Duterte. In August 2023, former ACT Teachers party-list Rep. France Castro said Duterte violated laws when funds were realigned for CFs in 2022.

Unusual in many aspects

But aside from the amount being unusual, Constantino admitted that the way that the funds were transferred – through withdrawal instead of cheques – was also unusual.

‘You said earlier that the amount was unusual, the first time that you saw that amount of P125 million, why did you say it was unusual, what was your floor or basis to say this amount was unusual?’ Hontiveros asked.

‘Usually – the reason why this became unusual for me – is because it was withdrawn cash, when other agencies opt to issue cheques in their disbursement methods, not cash,’ Constantino said.

‘So it’s not only the amount of P125 million which was unusual, the amount of cash being withdrawn and not written as cheques was also unusual’ Hontiveros asked, which Constantino confirmed.

Tulfo also asked Constantino about her description that it was unusual, with the former LandBank branch manager explaining that they were curious as to how the P125 million CF will be used.

‘But you doubted the purpose for this huge amount. Is that correct?’ Tulfo asked.

‘In our personal opinion, as bank employees, of course we thought ‘where will this be used?’ But we didn’t ask them because there was an official advisory,’ Constantino replied.

Later, Constantino also said that other agencies usually opt for online transactions, which made the OVP’s transaction also unusual.

‘Are there other agencies with accounts before your branch?’ Tulfo asked. ‘But none made withdrawals as huge as this?’

‘So far, other offices have converted to an online system, like ATM payroll. So they do not have to withdraw sums of money that big,’ Constantino replied.

The P125 million CF is part of the issues raised under Article I of the Articles of Impeachment. Part of this allocation – specifically P73 million – have been disallowed by the Commission on Audit (COA).

The CF issue is an integral part of the allegations against Duterte. At the hearing of the House of Representatives’ committee on justice last April 14, the panel examined the evidence for the grounds related to CF misuse, listening to the supplemental affidavit of Ramil Madriaga – Duterte’s former aide.

In his supplemental affidavit, Madriaga claimed that the Vice President ordered her in December 2022 to coordinate with Col. Dennis Nolasco about delivering cash to allies in San Pablo, Laguna; a comedy bar in Quezon City, and the Office of the Ombudsman parking lot as a way of ‘returning a favor.’

According to Madriaga, four large duffle bags were unloaded from the vehicles, three of them were dark and one was light-colored – containing around P30 million to P35 million each.

This is believed to be the P125 million confidential fund in 2022, which Madriaga said he liquidated in one day and not the reported 11 days.

Vice President Sara Duterte’s defense team on Wednesday said it decided to forgo the cross-examination of one of the prosecution’s witnesses on Article I of the impeachment complaint to avoid unnecessarily prolonging the proceedings and ‘being petty by asking unnecessary questions.’

Defense spokesperson Michael Poa, who also served as the counsel assigned to Wednesday’s cross-examination, said this after skipping the cross-examination of former LandBank department manager Violeta Constantino during the 10th day of Duterte’s impeachment trial.

‘There was nothing questionable or damaging in what the witness presented. The witness merely identified the checks, which is something we are not even disputing,’ said Poa in a press conference after the trial.

‘So, I didn’t want to prolong the proceedings and, you know, be petty by asking questions when they weren’t even necessary,’ he added.

Meanwhile, while Poa cross-examined the second witness, former LandBank’s DepEd branch manager Nenita Camposano, the entire process took only two short questions.

Constantino was the House prosecution panel’s first witness in tackling Article I nvolving Duterte’s alleged misuse, misappropriation and irregular liquidation of confidential funds, as she personally oversaw the encashment of four checks worth P125 million each by former Office of the Vice President Special Disbursing Officer Gina Acosta.

Camposano, on the other hand, oversaw the Department of Education’s P37.5 million encashment of confidential funds back when Duterte still led the department as its secretary.

Asked why he didn’t even choose to question the witnesses’ characterization of the encashments as ‘unusual,’ Poa explained that he viewed the pronouncements merely as personal opinions of the two former LandBank executives.

‘I don’t see how it will affect the case. It’s not even an issue here. We’re not questioning the validity of the encashment, are we?’ said Poa.

‘So I really thought it would have been petty to dwell on it. The only question I raised was to clarify why they exited through the fire exit,’ he further said, adding that he asked this question simply to remove any negative connotations about exiting the bank through the backdoor

Sonia Citron scored 22 points and Kiki Iriafen added 20 points and 10 rebounds to help the Washington Mystics beat the Connecticut Sun 92-84 in the WNBA on Tuesday night.

Citron sank 6 of 9 shots with two 3-pointers, adding four assists to help Washington (15-12) extend its win streak to three. Iriafen posted her third straight double-double.

Shakira Austin had 17 points and six rebounds for Washington, which moved a season-high three games above .500.

Aneesah Morrow led Connecticut (7-21) with 21 points. Olivia Nelson-Ododa had 16 points and six rebounds.

Citron and Morrow both scored 17 points in the first half as the two teams played to a 54-all halftime tie.

Austin scored the first five points for Washington in the third quarter, Iriafen scored the next seven and Citron sank a 3-pointer for a 68-60 lead with 4:49 remaining. The Mystics outscored the Sun 25-14 to lead 79-64 heading to the fourth.

Morrow had 14 points in the first period to help the Sun take a 33-26 lead with their highest scoring quarter this season.

Connecticut has gone 1-11 without the injured Brittney Griner in the lineup.

The Philippines’ antimoney laundering watchdog is preparing an overhaul of its rules as it seeks to tighten its grip on illicit financial flows, expand oversight of high-risk industries and preserve the country’s hard-won exit from the global dirty-money watch list.

In its 2026 annual regulatory plan, the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) said it would pursue amendments that would broaden its enforcement and investigative powers, including widening the scope of entities subject to antimoney laundering rules.

The council wants to bring real estate buyers and sellers, virtual asset service providers and online gambling operators under its regulatory umbrella, according to the plan. It also plans to impose updated customer due diligence requirements on casinos, dealers in precious metals and stones, and virtual asset service providers.

The watchdog also wants power to issue bank inquiry orders, transaction suspension orders and administrative freeze orders.

Under current rules, the council generally needs a court order to examine bank deposits, although it may proceed without judicial approval in investigations involving kidnapping for ransom, drug offenses, hijacking and terrorism. It must also obtain a court-issued freeze order before assets suspected of being tied to money laundering or other illicit financial activity can be immobilized.

To implement the changes, the AMLC is drafting a revision of the implementing rules and regulations for the Anti-Money Laundering Act that would replace the 2018 version. The council aims to complete the revisions by the fourth quarter of 2026.

The timetable reflects the urgency of staying ahead of the Philippines’ next mutual evaluation by the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF) in 2027, when the country’s antimoney laundering regime will once again come under international scrutiny.

‘The swift revision and updating of the IRR is needed,’ the AMLC said, warning that delays ‘can materially increase the risk’ of the Philippines being returned to the global dirty-money gray list.

‘It addresses urgent public policy concerns, including financial system stability, investor confidence and the Philippines’ standing on AML watch lists, where delayed or weakened safeguards could carry significant economic and reputational costs,’ it added.

The overhaul comes after the Philippines strengthened its antimoney laundering regime in recent years, helping it secure its removal from the global list of jurisdictions under increased monitoring maintained by the FATF, the international watchdog for money laundering and terrorist financing.

The country’s latest National Risk Assessment, covering 2021 through 2024, assigned the Philippines a score of 0.67 out of 1.0 for its antimoney laundering and counterterrorism financing framework, up from 0.60 in the previous assessment

A 67-year-old farmer was arrested after allegedly stabbing his 64-year-old wife in Barangay Datu-Tutukan, Dumingag in Zamboanga del Sur, on Tuesday evening.

Capt. Derf Jay Maquinta, spokesperson of the Zamboanga del Sur Police Provincial Office (ZSPPO), said the incident occurred at around 6:40 p.m. while the victim was in a store.

Initial investigation revealed that the suspect attacked his wife with a bladed weapon locally known as ‘plamingko,’ inflicting multiple stab wounds on her chest, back, and left hand.

The assault was stopped with the intervention of the punong barangay (village chairperson).

The victim was rushed to the Dumingag Rural Health Unit for initial treatment and later transferred to a hospital in Ozamiz City due to the severity of her injuries.

Responding police, in coordination with the village chairperson, launched a hot pursuit operation that led to the suspect’s arrest in Purok 2, Barangay Datu-Tutukan.

Authorities recovered the plamingko believed to have been used in the attack.

The motive of the suspect in attacking his wife was still under investigation.

The suspect and the weapon were brought to the Dumingag Municipal Police Station for proper disposition.

Police said appropriate criminal charges are being prepared against him