SOURCED FROM CURRENT NEWSPAPERS AND JOURNALS
West Indies defeated Nepal by 10 wickets in the third and final T20I of the Unity Cup here at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Tuesday.
Scores
NEPAL 122 in 19.5 overs (Khushal Bhurtel 39, Sandeep Jora 14; Ramon Simmonds 4-15, Jediah Blades 2-20).
WEST INDIES 123-0 in 12.2 overs (Amir Jangoo 74 not out, Akeem Auguste 41 not out)
*Nepal won the 3-match series 2-1
The Bank of Jamaica(BOJ) says the outlook for real economic activity for next two fiscal years is likely to be in line with the last forecast and that preliminary indicators suggest that the economy should expand in the September 2025 quarter, resulting from expansions in electricity and water supply, agriculture and tourism and its allied services.
The BOJ’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) which earlier this month deliberated on the bank’s monetary policy stance in the context of continued low domestic inflation, global uncertainties and evolving interest rate trajectories in major developed countries, said thereafter, economic activity is anticipated to strengthen throughout financial year 2025/26.
‘In this context, real gross domestic product (GDP) is projected to recover in financial year 2025/26 in the range of one to three per cent, largely due to growth in the agriculture, mining, and tourism sectors,’ said the BOJ, which is also the country’s central bank.
It said in August this year, headline inflation in the United States increased to 2.9 per cent from 2.7 per cent in July 2025 and that it is projected to remain above the US Federal Reserve’s (Fed) target of two per cent for the remainder of the year.
‘BOJ’s July 2025 survey of businesses’ inflation expectations indicated that respondents expected inflation 12 months ahead to be seven per cent, generally stable relative to 7.1 per cent in the previous survey.’
The BOJ said the domestic banking system remains sound with adequate capital and liquidity and that the domestic fiscal policy stance continues to pose no risk to inflation over the near term.
‘The MPC reaffirms its commitment to maintaining low and stable inflation. To this end, the Committee will continue to monitor the incoming data and adjust its policy accordingly. This includes maintaining heightened surveillance of the trajectory of core inflation relative to the lower bound of the inflation target range,’ said the MPC which is chaired by Richard Byles, the BOJ Governor.
The BOJ said that during its meeting it also determined that the current policy stance continues to be appropriate to support inflation converging to the target range and therefore, unanimously agreed to hold the policy rate, which is offered to deposit-taking institutions (DTIs) on their current account balances at the BOJ) at 5.75 per cent per annum.
It also agreed to continue taking measures to preserve relative stability in the foreign exchange market.
The decision to maintain the policy rate is based on several factors including that while headline inflation of 1.2 per cent at August 2025 is below the bank’s target range of four to six per cent, core inflation continues to track within the target range.
‘Moreover, the causes of the low headline inflation rate at August 2025 are temporary,’ the BOJ said, noting that the temporary factors that caused low headline inflation in August were primarily related to improvements in supply conditions.
‘In particular, agricultural prices during the month were lower than a year earlier, when prices rose due to the negative impact of Hurricane Beryl on domestic crop production. Supplies improved subsequent to the adverse weather, leading to prices reverting to more normal levels.
‘In addition, the dissipation of the impact of a previous adjustment in public transport fares, as well as a reduction in the General Consumption Tax (GCT) on electricity consumption announced by the government in March 2025, contributed to lower-than-targeted inflation. ‘
The BOJ said that economic indicators continue to point to a stable macroeconomic environment.
‘Further, with stable domestic interest rates, the decline in interest rates abroad has improved the differential between domestic and external rates, which should better support stability in the foreign exchange market.
‘In addition, the current account of Jamaica’s balance of payments is projected to remain in surplus over the near term, and the international reserves are healthy and are projected to improve further.’
Caribbean Community (CARICOM) agriculture ministers meet here on Tuesday focusing on a wide range of issues including the status and trends in fisheries and aquaculture production, trade, and employment; initiatives to combat illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing and a new grievance redress mechanism for the Belize-based Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM).
The meeting forms part of the activities for the 19th Caribbean Week of Agriculture (CWA 2025) that got underway here on Monday with St. Kitts and Nevis Agriculture, Fisheries and Marine Resources Minister, Samal Duggins, highlighting the central role of agriculture in regional development and resilience.
Agriculture Minister, Samal Duggins, addressing the opening of the Caribbean Week of Agriculture (CWA 2025)
‘Agriculture is not just another sector. It is the very lifeblood of our people. It is the guarantee that every family can access healthy and nutritious food,’ he said in his feature address, reflecting also on the CWA 2025 theme ‘Sowing Change, Harvesting Resilience: Transforming our Caribbean Food Systems for 2025, saying that the ‘seeds we plant here today, the policies we shape, the partnerships we build, will determine the resilience and the prosperity that we shall reap tomorrow’.
He urged regional leaders to confront long-standing challenges and elevate the agricultural agenda.
‘Our region has not always given agriculture the priority it deserves. Too often, it has been seen as a last resort, rather than recognised as a pillar of sovereignty and a pillar of growth,’ Duggins said, outlining efforts being made locally including the food import reduction programme, which prioritises local investment to increase the production of high-demand crops such as bananas, plantains, coconuts, and pineapples..
‘We are scaling climate-smart practices, expanding agro-processing, and empowering our youth and women to lead in this very transformation,’ he said, acknowledging the importance of unified regional efforts and emphasising the value of South-South cooperation, particularly through strengthening relationships with African nations.
He said the twin island Federation has been actively forging closer ties with countries like Nigeria and that such South-South collaboration enables shared learning in climate-smart agriculture, the creation of cross-continental value chains, and the development of deeper trade and innovation networks.
The agriculture ministers meeting, which will be chaired by Anguilla’s Minister of Economic Development, Industry, Commerce, Lands, Planning, Water, and Natural Resources, Kyle Hodge, will also discuss a regional training and capacity needs assessment being undertaken by the CRFM with support from GRÓ-Fisheries Training Programme (FTP), under the auspices of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), as well as south-south cooperation with China.
The ministers will also receive updates and provide policy guidance on regional initiatives to address climate resilience and blue economic growth. These include the Global Affairs Canada-funded Sustainable Technologies for Adaptation and Resilience in Fisheries (STAR-Fish) Project; the GEF/CAF/FAO/CRFM BE-CLME+ Project: Promoting National Blue Economy Priorities through Marine Spatial Planning in the Caribbean Large Marine Ecosystem Plus (BE-CLME+); and the New Zealand Bioeconomy Science Institute: Plant and Food Research Group/CRFM Sargassum Products for Climate Resilience in the Caribbean Project.
Meanwhile, the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) will this week launch its landmark Common Apiculture Policy coinciding with the 9th OECS Council of Ministers: Agriculture meeting.
The policy, developed under the EU-funded BioSPACE Programme in collaboration with regional partners, seeks to protect bees as vital pollinators while strengthening the apiculture sector through sustainable practices, standardized approaches, and research-driven strategies.
‘We are going to have a technical paper and presentation presented within CWA so this is something that will be very pertinent for people like beekeepers, people who want to get into the apiculture space and policy makers,’ said Beekeeper at the Department of Agriculture here, Monroe Tweed.
‘What it is basically it is a document about how we would like to flesh out how we (standardise) beekeeping in the region and not just in St. Kitts but this is a document that’s been building up for a number of years with baseline studies funded by Small Grant Programs (SGPs)
‘We would also like to do an IPM which is an Integrated Pest Management paper because bees have their own pests, especially in the climate that we are in. It is an agricultural venture now so we must consider that as good stewards of bees.’
As part of the celebrations, the OECS-CARICOM Caribbean Honey Show will also be featured during CWA 2025, offering patrons the opportunity to taste and purchase honey and related products, including soaps made from beeswax, honey cocktails, pastries, and more.
On Wednesday, the CRFM will partner with the local Department of Marine Resources and the National Fisherfolk Organization to convene the Caribbean Small-scale Fisheries and Aquaculture Forum.
The United States Department of State has listed several Caribbean countries in its 2025 Trafficking in Person Report, stating that ‘trafficking in persons’ and ‘human trafficking’ are umbrella terms, often used interchangeably, to refer to a crime whereby traffickers exploit and profit at the expense of adults or children by compelling them to perform labor or engage in commercial sex.
‘When a person younger than 18 is used to perform a commercial sex act, it is a crime regardless of whether there is any force, fraud, or coercion involved,’ the State Department said, adding that Washington recognizes two primary forms of trafficking in persons, namely sex trafficking and forced labour.
In its report, the State Department has placed The Bahamas, Guyana and Suriname in Tier 1 which it said are those ‘whose governments fully meet the Trafficking Victims Protection Act’s (TVPA) minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking.
Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Belize, Jamaica, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Curaçao, Dominican Republic, and Trinidad and Tobago have all been placed in Tier 2 ‘ whose governments do not fully meet the TVPA’s minimum standards but are making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance with those standards’.
St. Lucia and Barbados have been placed in Tier 2 Watch List ‘whose governments do not fully meet the TVPA’s minimum standards but are making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance with those standards (with certain exceptions), and for which the estimated number of victims of severe forms of trafficking is very significant or is significantly increasing, and the country is not taking proportional concrete actions’.
Sint Maarten, Venezuela and Cuba have been placed in Tier 3 ‘whose governments do not fully meet the TVPA’s minimum standards and are not making significant efforts to do so.’
The State Department also listed Haiti, along with Libya, Somalia and Yemen in the ‘Special Case’ category.
The State Department said the US Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, as amended (TVPA), defines ‘severe forms of trafficking in persons’ as sex trafficking in which a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such an act has not attained 18 years of age; or the recruitment, harbouring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor or services, through the use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery.
The State Department said more than 180 countries ave ratified or acceded to the UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons (the UN TIP Protocol), which defines trafficking in persons and contains obligations to prevent and combat the crime.
The report says the TVPA directs the US Secretary of State to consider, as proof of a country’s failure to make significant efforts to fully meet the TVPA’s minimum standards, adding that governments on Tier 3 may be subject to certain restrictions on foreign assistance, ‘whereby the President may determine not to provide US government nonhumanitarian, nontrade-related foreign assistance as defined in the TVPA’.
The report states that the US President may also determine to instruct the US executive director of each multilateral development bank and the International Monetary Fun(IMF) to ‘vote against and use their best efforts to deny any loans or other uses of the institutions’ funds to a designated Tier 3 country for most purposes.
In a significant move to secure the future of West Indies cricket, Cricket West Indies (CWI) has officially unveiled its list of players offered International Retainer Contracts for the 2025/26 season.
The new contract cycle, beginning October 1, sees a blend of established stars and exciting newcomers across both the Men’s and Women’s teams.
A key feature of this year’s list is the expanded use of multi-year deals, an initiative designed to provide players with greater financial security and help CWI retain its most valuable assets in the competitive global cricket landscape.
Miles Bascombe, CWI’s Director of Cricket, emphasised the dual focus of the selection process.
‘We have placed a premium on both current performance and long-term potential,’ Bascombe stated. ‘Our strategy is firmly focused on building competitive squads for major global tournaments, ensuring stability for our top performers, and aligning our pathways with long-term success for West Indies cricket.’
The senior Men’s list features 15 players who have become central figures across formats. The exciting pace duo of Alzarri Joseph and breakout sensation Shamar Joseph are retained, alongside batting mainstays like Shai Hope and Brandon King. Spin options Akeal Hosein and Gudakesh Motie are also included, highlighting their importance to the squad.
Notably, the ‘Starter Contracts’ for developing players have been offered to promising teenagers, including young wicketkeeper-batter Jewel Andrew. Furthermore, the Men’s Academy list features a 15-player pool, such as Nathan Edward and Rivaldo Clarke.
The Women’s squad sees a strong core of experienced campaigners like captain Hayley Matthews and legendary Stafanie Taylor. They are joined by key players such as Chinelle Henry and Karishma Ramharack.
The commitment to development is mirrored in the Women’s program, with ‘Starter Contracts’ awarded to Jahzara Claxton and Realeanna Grimmond.
A 14-player Women’s Academy, including names like Trishan Holder and Shabika Gajnabi, rounds out a comprehensive plan to build depth and sustain success for the Maroon women.
West Indies Men’s Contracts 2025/26 Senior Men Alick Athanaze, Keacy Carty, Roston Chase, Justin Greaves, Shai Hope, Akeal Hosein, Alzarri Joseph, Shamar Joseph, Brandon King, Gudakesh Motie, Rovman Powell, Sherfane Rutherford, Jayden Seales, Romario Shepherd, Jomel Warrican.
Starter Contracts (Development) Jewel Andrew, Jediah Blades, Johann Layne,
Men’s Academy Ackeem Auguste, Ryan Bandoo, Jediah Blades, Rivaldo Clarke, Mavendra Dindyal, Giovonte Depeiza, Nathan Edward, Damel Evelyn, Amari Goodridge, Mbeki Joseph, Johann Layne, Zishan Motara, Kelvin Pittman, Renico Smith, Carlon Tuckett.
West Indies Women’s Contracts 2025/26 Senior Women Aaliyah Alleyne, Shemaine Campbelle, Deandra Dottin, Afy Fletcher, Jannillea Glasgow, Shawnisha Hector, Chinelle Henry, Zaida James, Qiana Joseph, Hayley Matthews, Ashmini Munisar, Stafanie Taylor, Karishma Ramharack.
Starter Contracts (Development) Jahzara Claxton, Realeanna Grimmond.
Women’s Academy Abigail Bryce, Asabi Callender, NaiJanni Cumberbatch, Shabika Gajanbi, Brianna Harricharan, Trishan Holder, Djenaba Joseph, Nyia Latchman, Samara Ramnath, Amrita Ramtahal, Selena Ross, Shunelle Sawh, Steffie Soogrim, Kate Wilmott.
A revitalised West Indies outfit delivered a crushing ten-wicket victory over Nepal in the final T20I, preventing a historic whitewash and showcasing the potent talent within their ranks.
Despite the emphatic nature of the win, the result does little to overshadow Nepal’s landmark achievement in securing their first-ever series win against a full member nation after claiming the series 2-1.
Choosing to bowl first on a sluggish Sharjah pitch offering consistent sideways movement, the regional side were vindicated by a disciplined bowling performance.
The tone was set early, with Nepal’s openers finding boundaries hard to come against accurate bowling led by skipper Akeal Hosein.
Player of the series Kushal Bhurtel managed to hit a few lusty blows in his top score of 39, as the visitors put a stranglehold on the home side’s top order, stifling the powerplay that included 20 dot balls.
The pressure told quickly after the fielding restrictions eased, with Hosein and the impressive player of the match, Ramon Simmonds, exploiting the conditions perfectly.
Simmonds, brought in as one of two changes for the must-win encounter, was the game-changer, finishing with remarkable figures of 4-15 from three overs.
His impact was immediate, triggering a catastrophic middle-order collapse for Nepal. In his first two overs, Simmonds removed the dangerous-looking Rohit Paudel for 17 and Aarif Sheikh for 6, while a mix-up saw Gulsan Jha run out for 10.
From a precarious position of 91-5 in the 15th over, Nepal never recovered, with Simmonds mopping up the tail to bowl them out for 122.
The West Indies chase was a masterclass in controlled aggression. Openers Amir Jangoo and Ackeem Auguste extinguished any faint hopes of a Nepal fightback from the very first over, with Jangoo launching a Karan KC delivery onto the stadium roof.
The pair feasted on anything short or wayward, peppering the leg-side boundary with ease. They raced to a 47-run power play, effectively ending the contest within the first six overs. A rare dropped chance by Paudel to reprieve Auguste on 29 was a symbol of Nepal’s deflated energy.
Jangoo was in sublime touch, and after a solid foundation, he shifted into a devastating top gear. He brought up his fifty off just 38 balls and then unleashed a brutal assault, smashing five sixes in his last nine deliveries. The Trinidadian left-hander would finish not out on 74.
At the other end, Auguste provided the perfect foil with 41 not out, as the visitors galloped to their target with a massive 46 balls to spare, securing their first-ever ten-wicket win in T20Is.
TO boost transparency, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) on Tuesday has officially adopted blockchain technology in the government budgeting process.
According to DBM Undersecretary Goddes Hope Libiran, it marks a bold step toward redefining transparency, efficiency, and accountability in public financial management.
‘Blockchain is more than a buzzword-it’s a governance tool. By leveraging this technology, we can ensure that every peso is accounted for, every transaction is transparent, and every citizen can trust how public funds are managed,’ said Libiran.
Although blockchain is not the silver bullet, Libiran said it offers a game-changing response by making transactions visible and verifiable in near real time, protecting data integrity through cryptographic consensus, and streamlining workflows for faster reconciliation with fewer bureaucratic layers.
Blockchain initially gained prominence in the private sector for its applications in cryptocurrencies to supply chain tracking, Libiran said. He noted that DBM’s adoption of the technology signals one of the first large-scale government implementations in Asia. She pointed out it puts the Philippines at the forefront of technological governance innovation and may inspire neighboring countries to follow suit.
This quarter, the DBM launched a production portal that records Special Allotment Release Orders (SAROs) and Notices of Cash Allocation (NCAs) as verifiable, on-chain entries. In partnership with BayaniChain and ExakIT Services, the site is widely regarded as the country’s first blockchain-backed budget transparency platform, making records tamper-proof while allowing the public to inspect how funds are authorized and released.
‘Our mission is to equip government and businesses with the tools to keep their systems secure and reliable. By using blockchain technology combined with the capabilities of advanced AI, we not only help the DBM strengthen transparency and the security of public finance, but also show how technologies can help institutions safeguard critical processes and deliver lasting value to their stakeholders,’ said BayaniChain CEO Paul Soliman in a press statement.
The workflow starts with DBM’s Action Document Releasing System (ADRS), which issues the official budget papers. These are then secured using BayaniChain’s Lumen Blockchain-as-a-Service platform, co-developed with ExakIT.
Transparency and protecting the data will go a simultaneously as the Prismo Protocol governs what details are made public and what stays private. After approval, SAROs and NCAs are immutably written to the Polygon blockchain as NFTs, preventing any alteration or tampering-an effective defense against deepfakes and document fraud.
Documents from 2024 onward can be retrieved either by scanning the QR code on a valid SARO or NCA, or by searching manually using fields like document type, department, agency, and operating unit.
Beyond SARO and NCA
LIBIRAN said the DBM envisions a broader digital ecosystem in which the full budget lifecycle-planning, allocation, disbursement, and audit-is traceable on-chain, complemented by AI-assisted analytics to detect anomalies, forecast needs, and inform smarter fiscal policy, as well as citizen-facing dashboards that turn complex budget data into clear, understandable insights.
‘We’re not just digitizing SAROs and NCAs, we’re building a next-generation public finance system that combines blockchain transparency with Artificial Intelligence to allocate resources more effectively and uphold accountability at every level,’ said Libiran.
She added that the DBM plans to extend blockchain-powered platforms across budgeting, procurement, and monitoring, with pilot programs already underway. The ultimate vision is a trustless (decentralized), transparent, citizen-first financial ecosystem that strengthens democratic governance through technology.
With this milestone, the Philippines notwithstanding the current challenges it is facing in the national expenditure program, hopes to demonstrate that the government can evolve with the times and lead, positioning the country as a regional model for digital trust and innovation aligned with global best practices.
BayaniChain is a trusted blockchain infrastructure provider for government and enterprises. It delivers secure, transparent, and scalable systems that enable institutions to harness blockchain for real-world impact.
Building on the higher volumes of milk and meat collected in the last five years, the Philippines is now aiming to scale up its carabao population to boost rural incomes, according to the Department of Agriculture-Philippine Carabao Center (DA-PCC).
DA-PCC said this in a statement on Tuesday after it revealed that the government national program on genetically improving the Philippine carabao has made ‘headway’ as it recorded 145,181 genetically improved calves in the last five years.
This represents a 31.1 percent increase from 2019 to 2024 and translates to an estimated 12 million kilograms of milk and 114,380 jobs supported by the carabao supply chain.
The attached agency of the country’s Agriculture department said 90 percent of these calves are meant for milk and meat purposes while the remaining 10 percent is for draft power.
In the recent year alone, the DA-PCC said 36,618 superior-breed calves were produced out of the organized crossbreeding program.
‘Building on these gains, the program now aims to scale up the adoption of genetically superior carabaos across the DA-PCC network of service areas,’ the attached agency of DA said in its statement.
Liza G. Battad, Executive Director III of DA-PCC, explained that the ‘accelerated shift toward a more productive carabao population is expected to strengthen farmer cooperatives due to higher volumes of milk and meat handled collectively, enhance market linkages, significantly increase farmers’ incomes, and improve household nutrition through greater milk availability.’
DA-PCC said the carabao topped the list of the national dairy animal inventory, with 82,908 carabaos, followed by goats with 36,022, and cattle with 35,322.
‘With 99 percent of the carabao population owned by smallholder farmers, efforts to improve its productivity directly translate to better incomes and livelihoods for rural households,’ the attached agency of DA noted.
This ‘buildup,’ DA-PCC said, supports the livelihood of 227 assisted cooperative-led enterprises, comprising some 14,000 cooperative members and their families.
The DA-PCC also note the ‘steady increase’ in price per liter of raw carabao’s milk signals the ‘economic viability’ and competitiveness of the industry, underscoring the importance and timeliness of these advancements for the industry.
‘From P63.27 in 2020, a liter of raw carabao milk is now at P84.87,’ the attached agency of DA noted.
To match the increase in production, the DA-PCC assisted cooperatives are ‘actively’ supplying toned pasteurized milk for the national School-based Feeding Program (SBFP) of the Department of Education (DepEd) and Supplementary Feeding Program (SFP) of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).
‘This market channel alone has generated for these cooperatives P2.4 billion from 2019 to 2024 for the SBFP and P504 million from 2020 to 2024 for the SFP,’ DA-PCC said.
Under the Sagip Saka Act or Republic Act No. 11321, community-based organizations such as the assisted carabao cooperatives of the DA-PCC are prioritized as suppliers under the guided procurement.
DA-PCC also noted that other market development interventions are now underway, including the establishment of 80 Dairy Boxes nationwide, 18 of which are positioned as Kadiwa ng Pangulo Dairy Box.
The Dairy Box is a business model by DA-PCC developed to absorb the produce of carabao dairy cooperatives.
The Milka Krem, an advocacy dairy outlet and café managed by the DA-PCC, showcases quality carabao milk and carabao-based products, serving as another market support for dairy farmers.
The Department of Tourism-accredited outlet can be found in Science City of Muñoz in Nueva Ecija and at the University of the Philippines in Los Baños Laguna.
Meanwhile, DA-PCC said there is also a ‘significant’ growing appreciation of carabao meat and consistent increase in meat production with 76,046 metric tons in 2024 from 70,572 in 2020.
‘The demand for carabao meat has also influenced the prevailing liveweight price per kilogram at P164.61 from P110.28 in 2020,’ the attached agency of DA also noted.
DA-PCC said another ’emerging subsector’ alongside the dairy sector is the leather production industry, which taps into carabao by-products and creates additional income streams for farmers.
‘This Cara Cuero brand, a market development initiative by the DA-PCC at Central Luzon State University, seeks to enhance the value of carabao hide by creating high-quality leather products, positioning them in the high-end,’ it also noted.
Filipino domestic workers in Hong Kong will get a 2.2-percent increase in their monthly allowable wage in the special administrative region of China, according to Department of the Migrant Workers (DMW).
The Hong Kong government decided to raise the monthly salary of foreign domestic workers from HK$4,990 (equivalent to P37,329.64) to HK$5,100 (equivalent to P38,152.64).
The new salary adjustment will apply to employment contracts, which were signed starting September 30, 2025. However, contracts, which were signed under the previous wage level will still be accepted by the Hong Kong Immigration Department until October 27, 2025.
DMW Secretary Hans J. Cacdac lauded the development since it exceeded DMW’s proposed new monthly minimum wage for domestic workers.
‘The wage increase surpasses the Philippines’ US$500 [equivalent to P29,098.75] z minimum wage standard for domestic workers as outlined in DMW Advisory No. 25, Series of 2025,’ he said in a statement.
The new wage adjustment will cover majority of the over 190,000 overseas Filipino workers (OFW) in Hong Kong, who are mostly domestic workers.
DMW said its Migrant Workers Office (MWO) in Hong Kong will assist OFWs in enforcing contracts and reporting any cases of non-compliance.
It said it will continue to push for better benefits for Filipino domestic workers in Hong Kong such as raising their food allowance, which remained at HK$1,236 (equivalent to P9,246.40).
‘The DMW stressed the importance of ongoing discussions to address additional issues, like the unchanged food allowance despite rising living costs,’ the agency said.
THE Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) has teamed up with the Blockchain Council of the Philippines (BCP) to roll out ‘Integrity Chain,’ a blockchain-powered platform aimed at embedding transparency and accountability in government infrastructure spending.
The initiative, formalized through a memorandum of agreement signed on September 30, will see foreign-assisted projects of the DPWH digitized and recorded on an immutable ledger.
Key details-ranging from budgets and procurement processes to construction milestones and contractor payments-will be uploaded on the system, which will be accessible to the public.
‘From the budget process to the procurement process, to the award of the contract, to the implementation of the project, to the monitoring of the project, to the payments made to the contractors, to the acceptance of the project. Everyone should be watching now, everyone,’ said Dizon.
The Integrity Chain will feature a real-time dashboard for tracking project progress, citizen feedback, and anomaly reporting. Its tamper-proof recordkeeping is designed to deter corruption and reinforce accountability in one of the most corruption-prone agencies of government.
‘For the first time, the private sector isn’t just demanding integrity-we’re building the infrastructure to deliver it,’ said BCP President Donald Patrick Lim.
As part of the pilot, BCP will provide the DPWH with a one-year complimentary subscription, including training, technical support, and cybersecurity safeguards.
Dizon has intensified anti-corruption efforts at the DPWH in the wake of the multibillion-peso flood control scandal, which exposed how public funds were allegedly siphoned off through ghost projects and collusion between contractors and agency officials.
Since taking office, he has ordered the removal of several executives and regional officers, while initiating criminal and administrative cases against erring contractors and personnel.