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We have a situation. We have found ourselves in a very difficult point in our history and the question is whether we, as a people, can make the change this country so desperately needs.

As the issues on corruption and transparency continue to grow, it is obvious that the country is facing significant instability. Why do I say this? In the tourism industry alone, the latest return on tourist investment (ROTI) is showing a real cause for concern. Compared to Vietnam’s rating of 1.94, Thailand 1.50, Malaysia 1.49, Singapore 1.37 and Indonesia 1.08, the Philippines’ sad 0.57 is a rather painful result and it has affected our economy, considering that in 2019, the Philippines had a record 8.2 million tourist arrivals. Today is certainly not looking like It’s More Fun in the Philippines, as the Department of Tourism under this administration has missed its target for 2024 of having 7.7 million tourists visit the country.

Then we have the issue of the stock market, which has lost about P1.7 trillion in value over the past three weeks based on reports, as flood control controversies continue to mount and fear over corruption marking the largest loss in absolute value since the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. While I am certain that I have not cited the many other issues the country is facing today, fact is, we have a serious breakdown in trust.

Looking back in history, in the 1980s we had a debt crisis that fueled inflation during the Marcos administration and then the Asian financial crisis in 1997 and a global financial crisis in 2008. We then experienced the pandemic crash in 2020 due to fear and uncertainty, which was severely devastating for the markets and to date, we have been seeing how this current crisis is affecting investor confidence and market credibility due to the misuse of funds and trust over flood control projects.

Whether we like it or not, all this and more is brought about by the deepening political crisis our country is facing today and we need to work on a plan for stability in our country that is more urgent than ever before. Due to the worsening political upheaval in the past few months, it is becoming increasingly apparent that our economic woes are compounding.

If one will recall, just last year, France called for a snap parliamentary election in the hope of gaining a clear majority, which sadly resulted in a divided parliament, with opposing factions unwilling to work together. How to proceed in spite of this now depends on French President Macron, who they say should be asking himself how far he can take the political pretense, considering that most recently, the prime minister quit after 26 days. While Macron says he will not step down before his term ends, some parties in France are clamoring for early elections, while others are pushing for him to go.

Although this is the French ‘situation,’ the Philippines has problems of its own but the effects of political crisis are the same. If one will recall, in 2009, the Greek economy crashed and Greece went into a severe recession and sadly, their financial crisis caused political unrest and the government was forced to call for an early election and lost power.

But looking at the bigger picture, studies have shown that, in countries that have high trust levels, economic crisis is less likely to cause political unrest; however, in countries where people feel less trusting of others, a failing economy is said to be more likely to result in a ruling party being voted out of power. Again, we have a situation and the situation involves trust. Considering that high trust countries did not vote governments out of office even after a recession shows how much they can bounce back from it and much faster than the ones that voted for a change in the ruling party. High trust countries also have more media freedom, higher incomes and a much stronger democracy that plays a big role in ‘bouncing back’ after crisis.

At the end of the day, our problems are all about trust. We have leaders who have failed us and caused us to lose our faith in their leadership yet, at the same time, we are more conscious than ever about trust. This is the main thing that we need to build together, as a political crisis that continues to stress us will bring us deeper into the pit of despair, making it difficult to bounce back and recover. As the saying goes, ‘there is nowhere to go but up’ and we Filipinos need to choose this path and rebuild our country on trust.

Our current political situation is causing so much unrest and suffering, leaving our people afflicted by depression and anxiety. We need to recover and that time is now. More importantly, we need to take action by building back our trust and confidence in our leaders so that they can fully lead us out of crisis. This can only happen if and only if we have the right leaders to lead our nation.

The Ateneo de Manila University topped the list of Philippine schools in the latest Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings.

Entering the 1,001-1,200 bracket, Ateneo is ahead of the University of the Philippines, which is in bracket 1,201-1,500.

With an overall score of 32.1-35.4, Ateneo garnered 27 in teaching, 11.2 in research environment, 64.7 in research quality, 23.8 in industry and 35.6 in international outlook.

UP received an overall score of 27.3-32 after obtaining 27.4 in teaching, 17.9 in research environment, 39 in research quality, 28.9 in industry and 38.6 in international outlook.

The University of Oxford in the United Kingdom retained its number one placement for the 10th consecutive year, with a total score of 98.2.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States placed second, followed by Princeton University in the US and University of Cambridge in the UK, both in the top 3.

Four other Philippine schools joined the list, including De La Salle University, Mapua University, Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology and University of Santo Tomas, all in the 1501+ bracket.

China has five universities in the top 40, up from three last year.

Hong Kong occupied a record six spots in the top 200, while India has the second-highest number of universities ranked for the first time, behind the US.

‘I commend the entire University community for this achievement. It is a recognition of the hard work of students and faculty, researchers, support staff and administrators,’ Ateneo president Fr. Roberto Yap said.

In the QS World University Rankings released in June, Ateneo ranked 511.

Few PhD holders

Only 0.18 percent of 5.4 million degree holders in the Philippines are Doctors of Philosophy, according to the Commission on Higher Education.

At yesterday’s commencement speech before postgraduates of the Polytechnic University of the Philippines, CHED Chairperson Shirley Agrupis said education becomes the most decent form of ambition ‘in a country where opportunity is unequal, where merit is too often replaced by connections.’

Advanced learning is pursued to expand a person’s purpose and not to elevate their status, she stressed.

‘At a time when corruption, apathy and indifference still threaten the very soul of governance,’ the country needs leaders who remember that integrity is essential and not optional, Agrupis said.

State officials, contractors and engineers have been implicated in ghost and substandard infrastructure projects nationwide, as well as anomalous budget insertions.

The cast of upcoming drama feature “Meet, Greet and Bye” did not hide their emotions upon seeing the film’s full trailer.

The movie’s stars Maricel Soriano, Piolo Pascual, Juan Karlos and Belle Mariano all attended a grand media conference for the project which Piolo admitted they were all emotional about.

“Pasensya na, napaka-emotional namin sa pelikula. It was really hard to do because I don’t wanna say personally, but it really hits home, especially for Filipino families,” Piolo said.

“It’s something that we have to face inevitably, ang sakit sa puso. When we were doing the film, pinipigilan kami ni Direk [Cathy Garcia-Sampana] kasi bawal kaming umiyak. We were full of emotions, but we couldn’t show it as much,” he added.

Entertainment journalist MJ Felipe, who was hosting the event, then asked the cast how would they react if faced with the death of a parent.

Belle began with uncertainty, thinking her character Geri would handle the situation better.

“Ang strong, strong ng characters namin kasi just to go through that and face it, I don’t know how I’ll face it. Only time will tell if I’m in that situation,” Belle continued. “Siguro, I’ll do my best to be strong not only for me, but also for my mama.”

The questions hits closer to home for Piolo and JK, who both their parents at an early age.

“I was 12. And I did not know what to do. And it’s okay. It’s okay to not know what to do,” JK responded. “There’s no right or wrong answer. We all go through these situations differently. We grieve differently. But at the very end of it, just remember that you’re never alone.”

Piolo meanwhile was 16 when he lost his dad, and he too was unable to process it at the time. Even now he finds it difficult should that situation happen again because one is just never ready.

“But you have to show up not just for yourself but also for your loved ones, especially your mom. No one is prepared for that. Kailangan mong magpakita ng kalakasan kahit masakit,” Piolo said.

A family’s story of love, laughter, togetherness, and pain is poised to captivate audiences and tug hearts in the upcoming film “Meet, Greet and Bye” beginning November 12.

The film follows the heartwarming journey of the Facundo family led by Mama Baby (Maricel), who is diagnosed with cancer but refuses to undergo chemotherapy after losing hope of getting better.

Her four children, Tupe (Piolo), Brad (Joshua), Leo (JK), and Geri (Belle) try to find and push for alternative treatment before time runs out for Mama Baby.

Two main challenges facing the Philippines in achieving continued economic growth are climate risk and the advent of Artificial Intelligence (AI), according to economists at the ASEAN+3 Macroeconomic Research Office (AMRO).

During an online press briefing held yesterday by the AMRO on its ASEAN+3 Financial Stability Report (AFSR) 2025 and the ASEAN+3 Regional Economic Outlook (AREO) October update, chief economist Dr. Dong He and lead economist Runchana Pongsaparn, retained their growth forecast for the Philippines at 5.6 percent this year, and 5.5 percent in 2026.

However, they explained that if their forecast materializes, growth would be on a downward trend from 2024’s GDP growth of 5.7 percent partly because of weaker exports, just like other countries in the region, where the impact of the new US tariffs will kick in toward the end of the year and next year.

Fortunately, though, the AMRO economists expressed optimism that consumption in the Philippines will continue to grow steadily, supported by the strong labor market, lower inflation and by the still robust remittances.

However, Pongsaparn noted that private investment and sentiment, and export performance are the ones that would probably post moderate growth because of the external uncertainty related to the US tariff adjustments.

In terms of the corruption scandal, she said, ‘I think we would have to see, to what extent it is actually going to affect the wider economy, because if the event is short-lived and then it does not severely affect the investment sentiment, then that could be contained, and may not affect the growth forecast materially. So, we still wait and see the overall impact.’

Dr. He, for his part, commented that after concluding AMRO’s consultation visit last month with the Philippines, ‘In terms of the macro level, I think the Philippines economy actually has been performing quite well. Growth has been steady. The issue is that there has been a downward shift in the growth trajectory as compared to pandemic levels. Pre-pandemic, the Philippine economy was growing much faster. So, the challenge, really, is while maintaining short term stability, how do we lift the medium term growth to higher levels?

‘And there, I think, the conclusion of the consultation is that, investment should really be much higher to underpin the productive capacity in the medium term. It’s both public spending and public investment, and private investment, that should prepare the Philippine economy for two major shocks that could arise going forward.’

The first shock, he cited, is climate risk. ‘The Philippines, because of its geography, is quite exposed to climate risks. So, infrastructure has to be strengthened, some of these issues with flooding have to do with the infrastructure not being able to deal with these shocks, and that, you know, can be strengthened much further.’

The second shock, he continued, has to do with the Philippines’ service oriented economy which ‘plays an important role in service exports. For example, business processes, call centers and all these for major global corporates, the Philippines provides very good services there. But looking in the age of AI, how do we upgrade these services? And so that would require also upscaling of the human resources’

Additionally, Dr. He highlighted the role of public and private investments which he said must also be addressed to ‘prepare the Philippines economy for these big challenges ahead.’

The AMRO AFSR and AREO update highlighted the region’s broad resilience in the face of heightened uncertainties driven by US trade policy shifts and geopolitical tensions.

Growth in the ASEAN+3 region is projected at 4.1 percent in 2025 and 3.8 percent in 2026, an upward revision from July’s forecast, supported by robust first-half performance and stronger-than-expected export momentum as market pressures have gradually eased since peaking in April following the announcement of the ‘Liberation Day’ tariffs.

‘While intra-regional trade and domestic demand have become increasingly important growth drivers across ASEAN+3, the region remains deeply connected to the global financial system and is therefore not insulated from global shocks,’ said Dr. He. ‘Overall, the region’s financial system remains resilient, although pockets of vulnerabilities persist.’

Export-oriented corporate sectors – particularly smaller firms with high exposure to US demand – may face pressures on profit margins amid shifting trade dynamics.

Despite these challenges, ASEAN+3 economies remain well-positioned to navigate global headwinds. Well-calibrated policy mixes and strong fundamentals – including robust banking systems, deepening financial markets, ample foreign reserves and available policy space – have provided critical buffers.

With inflation largely subdued and expectations well-anchored in most economies, central banks can maintain accommodative monetary policy to support growth.

At the same time, macroprudential tools, along with foreign exchange and capital flow management measures, offer additional safeguards to maintain financial stability and mitigate external spillovers.

However, AMRO underscores that support should be carefully targeted to vulnerable sectors and deployed prudently to preserve policy space amid elevated external uncertainty.

Beyond near-term risks, the region is undergoing deeper structural transitions. Most notably, the rapid digitalization of financial services presents opportunities for greater financial inclusion and efficiency, while also introducing new challenges to financial stability.

‘Digitalization of the banking sector is reshaping the market structure, offering new pathways for inclusion and efficiency,’ said Pongsaparn, even as she qualified, ‘But it also alters the nature and distribution of financial stability risks. Policymakers must adopt a multi-pronged strategy that promotes innovation while managing risks, calibrated to the maturity of each market segment.’

As ASEAN+3 manages near-term uncertainties, AMRO emphasizes the importance of reinforcing policy frameworks, improving transparency, and deepening domestic markets and buffers to mitigate spillover risks from external shocks.

Dr. He concluded: ‘With coordinated actions and deeper financial cooperation and integration, ASEAN+3 can turn today’s challenges into tomorrow’s opportunities, and emerge stronger, more connected and more resilient.’

Big Bad Wolf Books has returned to Metro Manila with its highly anticipated massive book sale at the Filinvest Tent, running from October 2 to 13. With more than two million titles on display, the event welcomes readers to dive into an endless world of stories and ideas spanning genres that inspire, entertain and enlighten.

At the Filinvest Tent, readers of all ages can dive into a world of selections from heartwarming novels and inspiring self-help books to creative reads and comforting stories-there’s truly something for everyone.

Celebrating stories with leaders

The event opened with warm words of celebration from Big Bad Wolf’s leaders and the presence of partners. Ley Almeda, country head of Big Bad Wolf Books Philippines, shared, ‘We’re truly grateful to see such strong support from the media and our partners as we open another chapter here in the South. Big Bad Wolf has always been about changing the world, one book at a time, and it’s inspiring to know that every sale brings us closer to more Filipino families discovering the joy of reading.’

Bernard Lee, business director of Big Bad Wolf Books Malaysia, echoed the excitement saying ‘It’s always a joy to bring the world’s biggest book sale to new communities, and we’re thrilled to share this experience with everyone here at Filinvest. With millions of books, incredible deals, we hope every visitor takes home not only great reads but also lasting memories.’

The opening ceremony was graced with the presence of distinguished guests who joined the ribbon-cutting to officially launch the sale:

Dato Abdul Malik Melvin Castelino, Ambassador of Malaysia to the Philippines

Atty. Amorsolo Camara Jr., Director IV Office for International Cooperation Office and Government Relations

Mitch Dumlao, FVP and business unit head for Filinvest Malls

Denise Rae Lagayan, VP and head of corporate marketing, Filinvest Malls

Don Ubaldo, head of Filinvest Townships

Kristine Triviño, GM of Filinvest City Association Inc.

A world of stories to explore

Every shelf at the Big Bad Wolf Books sale features a wide variety of genres and authors. Whether you are looking for the latest bestsellers, motivational reads or hidden gems, this sale promises a treasure trove for every kind of reader.

Exciting prizes to win

Shopping at the Big Bad Wolf Book Sale comes with rewards. For every P5,000 spent in a single receipt, customers get a raffle entry for a chance to win:

Minor prize: IKEA bookshelf with decals plus 100 books worth P300 each

Major prize: An iPad for the ultimate reading and digital experience

Grand prize: A 3-day staycation for 2

Submit your raffle entry with your receipt at the Raffle Booth in the Customer Service area. One winner per customer throughout the promo period. Winners will be announced on October 11 at 11:45 PM.

Don’t miss out on the Big Bad Wolf Books sale at Filinvest

Every shelf at the Big Bad Wolf Books sale is packed with choices to explore. Whether you’re searching for the latest bestsellers, motivational reads or rare finds, this sale promises a rich collection for every kind of reader.

Event details

Venue: The Filinvest Tent, Alabang

Dates: October 2 to 13, 2025

Sale Hours:

Friday-Sunday: 10 a.m. – 12 a.m.

Monday: 10 a.m. – 10 p.m.

Admission: Free

Lyceum of the Philippines University-Batangas crowned itself street dance champion to highlight the successful opening of the PG Flex-UCAL Season 8 before a huge cheering crowd on Thursday, October 9, at the FilOil EcoOil Centre in San Juan City.

The 25-member LPU Dance Machine – energized by the wild chants of ‘Viva! Larga! Pirata!’ – put on a dazzling display of footwork, style and creativity to dethrone host Centro Escolar University in another tight and exciting contest among 9 participating schools.

LPU-B tallied 261 points to emerge winner by three points over CEU, which coincidentally was the winning margin of the Mendiola-based school when it ruled the inaugural event last season.

Philippine Christian University-Dasmarinas finished third followed by University of Batangas and Immaculada Concepcion College.

It was a big day for LPU-B after good-looking James Martin Paco was chosen as Mr. UCAL, while charming Zach Rhina Schell of PCU-Dasmarinas took the Miss UCAL title.

Obviously, the loudest cheers were reserved for CEU after the host school put great and concerted efforts in staging simple but significant opening ceremony, one that made this year’s affair very memorable and an inspiration to the next host.

Meantime, CEU President Danilo Concepcion exhorted student-athletes to play with pride, courage and integrity each game no matter how challenging the tasks are.

Tournament Director Horacio Lim and other league officials, including Col. Bong Nebrija, Bernard Yang, Carmelo Navarro and representatives of school owners, expressed excitement to the next event – the volleyball competitions will start on October 14 at UB gym in Batangas City with the Brahmans out to regain the men’s title, while Immaculada Concepcion College going for back-to-back in the distaff side.

The basketball event kicks off in the second part of the academic calendar in February with the Olivarez Sea Lions gunning for a back-to-back.

Other participating schools in the league are Diliman College, Manila Central University and Philippine Women’s University.

The tournament is backed by Akari, Smart Sports, Spalding, Hapee Toothpaste, Mighty Bond, Quintana Sports, Vital Purified Drinking Water, Topflite, Crane and Maruyama, CafeFrance and RC1 Lubricating Spray.

Seeking to resolve questions over former president Rodrigo Duterte’s fitness for trial, International Criminal Court prosecutors have asked the pre-trial chamber to tap three independent specialists to evaluate Duterte’s health, including whether he may be feigning illness.

In a nine-page filing dated September 18 but made public October 9, ICC Deputy Prosecutor Mame Mandiaye Niang pushed for the creation of a ‘multidisciplinary panel’ composed of at least three experts – a forensic psychiatrist, a neuropsychologist and a behavioural neurologist – to assess Duterte’s capacity to stand trial.

The ICC Office of the Prosecutor said the experts’ mandate should explicitly include ‘an evaluation of any evidence of malingering,’ or the fabrication of symptoms.

Recap. The medical fitness issue has somewhat slowed the pace of proceedings against Duterte, who was arrested and transferred to ICC custody earlier this year. During his initial appearance before the chamber via video link, ICC Presiding Judge Iulia Antoanella Motoc remarked that Duterte had been medically examined and found to be “fully mentally aware and fit.”

The confirmation of charges hearing – a crucial stage where judges determine if there’s enough evidence to proceed to a full trial – was initially scheduled for September 23.

But in mid-August, Duterte’s lawyer Nicholas Kaufman filed a request for indefinite adjournment, claiming he was “not fit to stand trial as a result of cognitive impairment in multiple domains.”

In his filing, Kaufman said Duterte suffers from impaired memory and an inability to retain new information or to recall events, places, timing or even members of his close family and defense team. He argued that Duterte “lacks the capacity to apply the cognitive skills essential for the proper conduct of his defense.”

The defense cited medical examinations from two of their own experts and a neuropsychologist who examined Duterte inside the ICC detention center and who reportedly found “significant cognitive deficiencies” affecting memory, reasoning, spatial awareness, and orientation.

The pre-trial chamber eventually voted to postpone the September 23 hearing to allow time to resolve the fitness question.

What the independent experts should assess, according to prosecution

According to the prosecution’s October 9 filing, the appointed specialists should determine “whether and, if so, at what level Mr. Duterte suffers from any medical condition which might have an effect on his ability to follow and take part in the ongoing pre-trial proceedings, including the confirmation of charges hearing.”

The prosecution wants the panel to evaluate five specific capacities: whether Duterte can understand the purpose and consequences of the proceedings; grasp the course of proceedings, including “the nature and significance of pleading to the charges”; understand the evidence presented; testify or give an unsworn statement if he chooses; and instruct his lawyers “in the preparation and conduct of his defence.”

If the experts find any mental impairment, they must specify which areas of mental capacity are affected and “assess whether these are due to reversible or irreversible causes.”

“The panel’s assessment should also expressly include an evaluation of any evidence of malingering, particularly in light of [REDACTED],” the redacted filing states.

The filing lays out extensive materials the experts should review, including Duterte’s complete medical record, all reports from defense experts, test results from MRI and CT scans conducted in May and July, and his detention record since surrendering to the court.

Prosecutors also want the panel to access “objective information” from detention centre personnel “who have interacted with Mr. Duterte since his surrender, in particular, before his fitness was raised as an issue in this case.”

The experts should also review public recordings of Duterte’s speeches “made shortly prior to his arrest,” including a March 9 speech in Hong Kong – two days before he was taken into custody, according to the filing’s footnotes.

Prosecution skeptical of defense claims

In an earlier filing responding to the defense’s indefinite adjournment request, the prosecution called the defense expert reports “premature and speculative,” arguing “it is unclear how familiar, if at all, the Defense Experts are with judicial proceedings at this Court, or even at other international courts or tribunals.”

The October 9 filing also reveals the prosecution opposed appointing one expert recommended by the defense, saying the specialist was suggested by one of Duterte’s own medical team. “Given the possibility that [REDACTED] may be part of the appointed experts’ assessment, the Prosecution respectfully submits that it would be advisable to appoint experts who have [REDACTED] in order to mitigate any potential bias,” the redacted filing states.

Prosecutors asked judges to bar any further suggestions of experts from either side, arguing that additional proposals would “delay the process of appointing experts” despite “the urgency of this matter.”

Pressure to speed up

There is also, according to the filing, somewhat of a need to prod the ICC Registry to speed up the turnaround time for translated documents, which currently take up to five weeks. The ICC prosecution requested that “the Chamber encourage the Registry to accelerate” this timeline, stating that “an accelerated timeline for translations will help to ensure that the issue of Mr. Duterte’s fitness is resolved swiftly.”

In an earlier filing, Niang said that “it is likely that this case will still proceed to the hearing on the confirmation of charges sooner than previous cases before this Court,” and pushed for the hearing to be completed “before the end of 2025.”

Duterte faces charges of crimes against humanity in connection with thousands of killings during his administration’s war on drugs. His case one of the ICC’s most closely watched prosecutions involving a former head of state.

China is manipulating the bidding for the Philippines’ longest bridge. Five state-owned firms are tendering for the P210-billion, 32.15-kilometer Bataan-Cavite span.

The five bids are not independent. They are coordinated to be 20 to 30 percent below market rate. China will subsidize the losses.

On paper, it looks like healthy competition. In reality, they are one and the same bidder – the Chinese government.

Multiple bids from the same government do not promote fair competition. They only create an illusion of choice.

It’s like the Discayas fielding five of their nine construction outfits to bid for the same flood control project. After bagging it they take the money and run.

New Sec. Vince Dizon should look into this DPWH mess that he inherited. The Philippine Competition Commission must scrutinize the opening of bids late this month.

There are eight bidders. Five are Chinese, three Filipino.

The Chinese are China Harbor Engineering Co., Beijing Urban Construction Group Ltd., China Wu Yi Ltd., Shou Road and Bridge Group and Human Road and Bridge-China Civil Engineering Joint Venture.

They are conspiring to elbow out Filipinos POSCO E and C-Sta. Clara Int’l Corp. JV, EEI Corporation-PMI JV and D.M. Consunji Inc.

All major Chinese builders fall under Beijing’s State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC). They share the same lenders: Export-Import Bank of China and China Development Bank. Also the same insurer: Sinosure.

That invites disaster. SASAC contractors bid low but projects are often substandard in materials and workmanship. Examples:

In Ecuador, the Coca-Codo Sinclair Dam was built by multiple Chinese state-owned enterprises. Thousands of cracks appeared within three years. None of the Chinese contractors took responsibility.

In Montenegro, China Road and Bridge Corporation built the Bar-Boljare motorway. With a $944-million bid, it was only able to finish 41 kilometers – 130 kilometers short of required. To finish the project, it demanded another $1 billion.

In Kenya, the Kenyatta International Convention Center renovation was estimated at 1.94 billion Shilling, but ballooned to 3.2 billion Shilling due to under-specifications.

In Nigeria, the Changjiang Construction Nigerian Ltd. renovated Kogi Specialist Hospital, later found to be substandard.

In Vietnam, Chinese contractors built Da Nang-Quang Ngai Expressway Phase 2. Courts later ordered the builders to recompense Vietnam $18.7 million for low quality output.

In Indonesia, several Chinese state firms bid low to bag the Jakarta-Bandung highspeed railway. They couldn’t finish it, so the Indonesian government had to put in $2 billion more.

Chinese state firms are notorious for bribery. In 2009, the World Bank blacklisted China State Construction Engineering Corp. and China Geo Engineering Corp. for bid collusion in Philippine roadworks. Both are subsidiaries of China Road and Bridge Corp. that bungled Montenegro.

In 2012, Dalian Rail Corp. bribed DOTr execs P190 million to supply 48 MRT-3 coaches worth P3.8 billion. All 48 were faulty, undersized, overweight, unusable.

The Bataan-Cavite Interlink Bridge will cross over Manila Bay from Mariveles to Naic. Done right, it will be an iconic Filipino opus. BCIB will be 15 times longer than the Leyte-Samar San Juanico bridge.

Awarding all the construction packages to Chinese firms is dangerous. Accountability vanishes. If problems arise, liability bounces between ‘sister companies,’ leaving proponents negotiating not with a contractor, but with the Chinese government. China notoriously ignores reason when its interest is at stake.

In this huge bridge work, unfair subsidies from the Chinese government edge out Filipino contractors. The latter are bound by real commercial risks and operate without subsidies.

There’s little trickle-down to the Philippine economy from Chinese projects. Records show that in the Binondo-Intramuros Bridge construction, over 80 percent of materials, labor and all design works came from China. Filipino engineers and builders learned and profited little.

If profits derived from a project are all repatriated, then every peso of repayment becomes a Philippine remittance to China. Bataan-Cavite Bridge funding will be loaned by Asian Development Bank and Beijing’s Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.

If done by Communist China, this bridge will open the Philippines to espionage – even sabotage. Mariveles in Bataan hosts a Navy anti-submarine facility and a Coast Guard harbor. Naic is beside the Navy’s main base in Sangley Point.

Chinese law obligates its companies and citizens to participate in overseas surveillance and to keep such activities secret. China state firms are led by Communist Party cadres. Although reporting to SASAC, they all are under the CCP Central Military Commission.

It’s one thing to be manipulated by crooked Filipino politicos. It’s another to be duped by a foreign government – more so one grabbing Filipino sovereign waters.

Soldiers arrested and turned over to the police on Friday, October 10, one of the six men who allegedly beheaded a Teduray tribal chieftain in Datu Hoffer, Maguindanao del Sur last week.

Brig. Gen. Edgar Catu, commander of the Army’s 601st Infantry Brigade, said the suspect was cornered by soldiers in Sitio Pangayawan, Barangay Tukanalugong, Datu Abdullah Sangki, Maguindanao del Sur, before dawn Friday.

The now-detained suspect and five others, who remain at large, were tagged in the brutal killing and beheading on September 30 of Ramon Lupos, a Teduray timuay (chieftain), in a secluded area within their state-recognized ancestral domain in Barangay Limpongo, Datu Hoffer.

Neighbors and relatives of Lupos told reporters that the attackers first beat him with wooden planks and shot him several times before cutting his neck with a machete ‘like an animal.’

Catu said combined personnel of the 601st Infantry Brigade and its component unit, the 90th Infantry Battalion under Lt. Col. Luqui Marco, launched the operation after villagers reported the suspect’s presence in the area.

The suspect, initially identified only as Tagal, is reportedly a member of the Dawlah Islamiya terror group, according to local executives who assisted in the Army operation.

Local officials said Tagal, a Maguindanaon, surrendered peacefully and turned over his .45 caliber pistol to soldiers who found him hiding in the area.

Maj. Gen. Donald Gumiran, commander of the 6th Infantry Division, thanked the vigilant residents of Datu Abdullah Sangki for promptly alerting the military about Tagal’s presence in Barangay Tukanalugong.

Officials of the 90th Infantry Battalion have turned over Tagal to the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region for detention.

PhilWeb and WEB [link] announced on Oct. 9, 2025 that its principal shareholder, Gregorio Araneta Inc., has agreed to sell its controlling 57% stake to two domestic holding firms for a total of P1.8 billion, or P2.17 per share. In a disclosure, WEB said the deal covers 829.6 million common shares to be acquired by Nexora Holdings Inc.-led by WEB president Edgar Brian Ng-and Velora Holdings Inc. The announcement prompted a one-hour trading halt on WEB shares, with the company noting that the transaction, which will trigger a mandatory tender offer to all remaining shareholders, could affect its public float and raise its foreign ownership level from 4.90% to 40%.

MB bottom-line: I’m not sure what to make of WEB, and I don’t think this transaction has changed much. Mr. Ng has paid the iron price to acquire the company that employs him, and Greggy ‘Scarf Guy’ Araneta gets to ride off into the sunset with a big payout. I don’t understand why Durterte went so far out of his way to mess with WEB in the first place, and that uncertainty is already disqualifying (for me) from a long-term investor’s perspective. Maybe there’s a lot of potential here, maybe Mr. Ng will backdoor in something interesting, or maybe WEB’s just going to float on doing a whole pile of not much just as it has since Mr. Araneta pocketed it after the Duterte smash-and-grab.