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Sen. Mark Villar on Tuesday called for ‘well-thought-out, coordinated, and contextualized’ infrastructure projects that specifically respond to the needs of the Filipino people and the country.

During the hearing of the Senate committee on public works, which he chaired, Villar said the Philippines needs projects that promote connectivity, are people-centered, and are sustainable.

‘The past ‘Build, Build, Build’ program was an example of how impactful infrastructure projects are. It illustrates how high-impact projects promote overall development by stimulating economic growth, promoting tourism, and, most importantly, future-proofing our country,’ he said.

‘Ultimately, this Senate committee seeks to collaborate, complement, and cooperate with the national government agencies’ priority public works and legislative agenda,’ Villar added.

He urged the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to present its plans for people-centric, sustainable, and disaster-resilient infrastructure. ‘We sincerely want to have quality infrastructure that will truly last long and withstand natural disasters,’ he said.

Villar also asked the DPWH to provide the Senate panel with a concise but comprehensive and transparent briefing on the department’s current situation.

Likewise, he inquired about how the agency plans to respond to the people’s demands, ‘not just on basic infrastructure and flood control issues, but on the holistic infrastructure and public works agenda.’

Relief assistance in Western Visayas has reached more than P41.2 million as government agencies and local units mobilized to aid thousands of families displaced by Typhoon ‘Opong’ (international name: Bualoi) and the enhanced southwest monsoon that battered the region recently.

As of 5 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 30, the Department of Social Welfare and Development in Western Visayas (DSWD-6) reported that 51,834 families – or 42 percent of the 122,368 households affected – have received food packs and non-food items.

Iloilo topped the list, with P13.3 million in aid reaching 5,428 of 17,924 affected families. Aklan followed with P9.4 million for 11,860 of 28,043 families; Antique received more than P7 million for 9,197 of 38,364 affected families; and Guimaras, also with over P7 million, assisted 6,549 of 8,326 affected families. Capiz, meanwhile, received P4.1 million for 5,428 of 17,924 affected families.

The DSWD said its teams have also started psychosocial interventions, focusing on children and families shaken by the storm’s devastation.

Western Visayas bore the brunt of both Opong and the intensified monsoon rains, which triggered floods and landslides in several provinces.

As of press time, more than half a million individuals across the region have been affected. At least 1,281 people remain in 13 evacuation centers, while 297 families – or 1,297 individuals – are being assisted outside designated shelters./coa

Rabin Angeles and Angela Muji have been confirmed as the lead stars of the Philippine adaptation of ‘The Werewolf Boy,’ based on the 2012 Korean film of the same name starring Song Joong-ki.

Angeles and Muji were announced as the lead stars of the upcoming film during the finale media con of their recently concluded show ‘Seducing Drake Palma’ on Monday, Sept. 29.

‘The news is out! Rabin Angeles and Angela Muji in ‘A WEREWOLF BOY!’ Now in production. Coming Soon Exclusively In Cinemas,’ the post read. A teaser of the upcoming film also showed Muji peering closer at Angeles, who somehow followed the stature of a dog.

Further details on possible changes to the storyline and premiere date are yet to be revealed.

In its original storyline, ‘A Werewolf Boy’ centers on Kim Sun-yi (Park Bo-young) who moved to the countryside with her mother and sister when she was a young adult. She then meets the handsome but feral Chul-soo (Song Joong-ki), whom she eventually tames and develops feelings for.

The onscreen partnership between Angeles and Muji gained traction after they worked together in ‘Seducing Drake Palma,’ a series adaptation of the hit Wattpad novel of the same name. It tells the story of Alys (Muji) attempting to catch the attention of her good looking but unapproachable classmate Drake Palma (Angeles). /edv

Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo ‘Ping’ Lacson made a cryptic remark on Tuesday about an ‘overly vocal, boastful or aggressive’ person.

Lacson did not name names, but he used the pronoun ‘he,’ suggesting he was referring to a male individual.

‘There is a saying: ‘The loudest one in the room is the weakest’,’ Lacson said in a post on X (formerly Twitter).

‘He is overly vocal, boastful, or aggressive so he can create an image of strength through noise,’ he also said.

The best way to deal with such a personality is ‘to ignore and make him stand on an empty platform,’ according to the senator.

Lacson chairs the Senate Blue Ribbon committee, which saw him locking horns with former panel chair Rodante Marcoleta. He also listened to bombshell revelations implicating current and former senators in the flood control anomalies.

Lacson admitted the revelations made during the hearings pained him – a sentiment he expressed when asked to react on Sen. Francis Escudero’s Monday manifestation that senators are being made a ‘fall guy’ in flood control anomalies.

‘I would like to reiterate my previous and oft-repeated statement that we will go where the evidence leads us,’ the senator told reporters in a text message, adding that no senator is being ‘targeted’ and neither will anyone be ‘shielded or spared’ by the probe.

‘No matter how unpopular, even painful for me, to hear the names of my colleagues being implicated by resource persons, I will not be deterred,’ Lacson said.

During the Blue Ribbon committee hearing, Escudero and former Senators Ramon ‘Bong’ Revilla Jr. and Nancy Binay were alleged by former Public Works and Highways Undersecretary Robert Bernardo to be involved in a purported scheme involving anomalous flood control projects.

All of them denied the allegations.

Aside from them, Senators Jinggoy Estrada and Joel Villanueva were also the subject of a damning testimony by Brice Hernandez, a former assistant district engineer of DPWH-Bulacan, during a House infrastructure committee hearing.

Estrada and Villanueva refuted the allegations.

Hernandez alleged that Villanueva and Estrada maneuvered to allocate P600 million and P355 million for funding in Bulacan’s first district in exchange for an alleged 30-percent cut.

Over the weekend, Lacson disclosed that ‘almost all’ senators in the 19th Congress inserted at least P100 billion worth of items in the 2025 General Appropriations Act.

Estrada, in thinly veiled allusion to Lacson’s revelation, on Monday said: ‘Since a senator has already mentioned that we have significant insertions, let’s allocate them to the Office of the Vice President so she can be a working vice president.’ /apl /atm

Biliran, Romblon and Oriental Mindoro were placed under a state of calamity on Monday amid widespread destruction in the three provinces caused by Severe Tropical Storm Opong.

The declaration by the these provinces brought to five the total number of local governments in a state of calamity in the aftermath of Opong, which lashed through parts of Luzon and the Visayas between Sept. 25 and Sept. 26.

On Saturday, the province of Masbate and Calbayog City in Samar also approved similar declarations to speed up release of local quick response funds needed for their recovery from the storm that had displaced thousands, destroyed infrastructure, farms, homes and schools, and left at least 14 people dead.

Biliran registered the highest number of fatalities at 10, on top of widespread damage to crops and vital facilities.

In total, Eastern Visayas recorded 12 deaths attributed to the typhoon, including two fatalities from Tagapul-an and Calbayog City, both in Samar.

The worst

Biliran Gov. Rogelio Espina described as ‘massive’ the destruction in the province caused by Opong.

‘This is the worst typhoon in years to hit Biliran, leaving massive destruction to both property and lives,’ Espina said in an interview with local reporters on Monday.

The governor appealed for national assistance, saying, ‘We hope President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and other government agencies will notice our province and extend the necessary aid.’

The declaration of a state of calamity was approved by the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (Provincial Board) in a special session on Monday afternoon upon the recommendation of the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (PDRRMC), which Espina chairs.

With the declaration, the provincial government down to the barangay (village) level can now access their calamity funds to support rehabilitation efforts.

Based on Espina’s report, the typhoon killed 10 people-four each from the towns of Maripipi and Kawayan and one each from Caibiran and Culaba.

Damage to crops, mostly rice, was estimated at over ?140 million, while damage to various infrastructures reached over ?1.26 billion.

About 62 classrooms were also damaged, while power and water supply have yet to be restored in several barangays.

‘Out of our 132 barangays, 43 currently have no water supply, and many remain without electricity,’ Espina said.

He urged residents to remain resilient.

‘Let us not lose heart. We will rise again,’ Espina said.

Romblon, Oriental Mindoro

In Romblon, the provincial board placed the entire province under a state of calamity on the recommendation of its Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO) based on the extent of the damage it suffered, including the destruction of homes, infrastructure, livelihoods, and the loss of power and communications, the Romblon Provincial Information Office (PIO) said in a statement.

The Romblon PIO said more than 9,800 homes and other infrastructure were damaged or destroyed by the typhoon in the province.

In Oriental Mindoro, the declaration was made during the 13th regular session of the Provincial Board (PB, as announced by Vice Gov. Antonio ‘Jojo’ Perez Jr. in a Facebook post on Monday. Perez, the PB’s presiding officer, led the approval of the resolution, which aims to fast-track rehabilitation efforts, implement necessary emergency measures, and ensure the immediate distribution of aid to all affected families across the province.

Masbate rehab starts

Masbate province, meanwhile, has started the slow process of rehabilitation, with aid coming from its neighbors in the Bicol region – the provinces of Albay, Camarines Sur, Sorsogon and Catanduanes – that have sent manpower, equipment and relief goods – to help in the cleanup and restoration of basic services on the island-province.

A team of linemen from the First Catanduanes Electric Cooperative also arrived in the province on Monday, ‘rolling up their sleeves and helping us fix and restore our power lines,’ according to a Facebook post of the Masbate Electric Coop, Inc. Opong destroyed over 600 classrooms and affected some 30,000 students in Masbate, according to a report from Department of Education (DepEd) Bicol.

Classes in the province would be suspended for a week starting Monday, said a memorandum issued by Nelson Morales Jr., superintendent of the Masbate Schools Division. DepEd Bicol Director Gilbert Sadsad, in a private message on Sunday, said classes in Masbate would resume through asynchronous learning, adding the agency has yet to finalize the cost of the damage, as reports were still being validated.

In a separate message, DepEd Bicol information officer Mayflor Marie Jumamil said that based on initial rapid damage assessments, 43 schools were flooded and 11 others were hit by landslides.

At least 138 classrooms were rendered unusable, while 303 sustained major damage. Another 250 classrooms suffered minor damage.

Given the extent of the destruction, DepEd estimated it will need 564 temporary learning spaces to allow classes to resume.

‘If in-person classes resume, they may be held in makeshift classrooms. If there are still available and usable classrooms, a shifting schedule may be adopted,’ Jumamil said.

Across Bicol, over 200,000 learners were affected by storm-related class suspensions, Sadsad said. INQ

A truck driver’s license was revoked on September 23, after an individual atop the cargo of his vehicle fell and died on July 23 in San Miguel, Iloilo, the Land Transportation (LTO) Office.

According to the LTO, the 22-year-old victim was the helper of the truck driver who was ‘seated on bamboo poles loaded onto a truck when he slipped on the rain-soaked cargo, fell, and sustained fatal head injuries.’

Though taken to a hospital, the helper was declared dead on arrival, the LTO reported.

‘The presence of a passenger atop unsecured cargo constitutes a clear breach of safety protocols and reflects a failure to exercise control and diligence,’ LTO-6 Regional Director, lawyer Gaudioso P. Geduspan II said in the resolution.

In response to the show-cause order issued to the truck driver on July 28, he claimed that the cargo was secured and he advised the victim to ride on the passenger seat, but the victim ‘insisted on staying atop the load while allegedly recording a video.’

Still, the LTO held the driver liable for the helper’s safety, citing that drivers must ‘exercise reasonable caution,’ thus ruling the truck driver an improper person to operate a motor vehicle ‘at this time.’

Upon recommendation of the LTO’s Intelligence and Investigation Unit, the license revocation will last four years.

Furthermore, the driver’s license was placed on alarm and the driver was fined for reckless driving. /cb

The Anti-Money Laundering Council secured a third freeze order against individuals tied to flood control controversy, building on two earlier directives and collectively paralyzing 1,563 bank accounts, 54 insurance policies, 154 vehicles, 30 properties and 12 e-wallets.

The third order, granted by the Court of Appeals on Sept. 30, covered 836 bank accounts, 12 e-wallets, 24 insurance policies, 81 motor vehicles and 12 real estate properties, marking the most extensive asset freeze since the probe began.

‘By freezing a wide range of assets-such as bank accounts, e-wallets, vehicles, and properties-the AMLC is disrupting the financial channels used in corrupt activities,’ said AMLC Executive Director Matthew M. David.

‘Our goal is straightforward: prevent stolen public funds from being dissipated and misused, recover them for the National Government, and ensure that those involved in money laundering are held accountable,’ David added.

The contractor couple Pacifico ‘Curlee’ and Cazarah ‘Sarah’ Discaya are now ‘financially constrained,’ as all of their bank accounts have been frozen, their lawyer, Atty. Cornelio Samaniego III, said on Tuesday.

Samaniego bared this in an ambush interview at the office of the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI) when asked if the Discayas will also surrender luxury cars to the commission, just like what former Department of Public Works and Highways-Bulacan assistant district engineer Brice Hernandez did when he previously attended a hearing.

‘We won’t be returning anything because the account has already been frozen,’ Samaniego said. ‘So we haven’t discussed that yet.’

‘They are financially constrained now. Their bank accounts have been frozen. All their bank accounts have been frozen,’ he emphasized.

The contractor couple attended the hearing of the ICI on the flood control anomalies for the first time on Tuesday.

Samaniego said the Discayas gave ‘tell-all’ testimonies during the proceeding, adding that they will return at the ICI next week to also serve as resource persons.

When asked if the real properties of the Discayas were also frozen, the lawyer said they have no idea about these movements yet.

Earlier, the Anti-Money Laundering Council said it has already frozen the bank accounts of individuals linked to corruption complaints in connection with the questionable flood control projects.

Curlee also mentioned the status of their bank accounts at a recent Senate Blue Ribbon Committee hearing. /apl

Oxford-Everything, everywhere, all at once. That’s how I felt shortly before heading out of the country again for yet another academic engagement. Barely a week after returning to the country following my visiting scholar stint in Canada, where I met senior policymakers, academics, and community members from across the country, I headed out to the United Kingdom to further hone my public policy analysis under a Jardine scholarship at the University of Oxford. Thanks to the generous (and highly competitive) scholarship and the impeccable academic environment at Oxford, I looked forward to finally carving out some time to fully focus on research, deep writing, and, overall, to embracing a measure of scholarly solitude.

Truth be told, my mind was tethered to developments back home, especially after an intense week that started with covering the historic ‘Trillion Peso March’ and, over the following days, holding long conversations with leading experts and citizens of the country. In fact, just before I flew out of the country, I hosted a quadrilateral episode for my ‘Deep Dive’ podcast with former Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Carpio, a titan of our West Philippine Sea struggle; former Associate Justice Adolf Azcuna, a leading jurist who helped frame both the 1973 and 1987 Constitutions; and former Political Affairs Secretary Ronald Llamas, a rockstar pundit and a beating heart of social democracy in the Philippines. At the core of our discussions was a singular question: Are we peering into the abyss?

Just as I warned earlier this month (see ‘Fighting corruption: Brazil’s hard lessons,’ 9/16/25), comparative politics in developing democracies shows that anticorruption investigations tend to become polarizing, politicized, and ultimately destabilizing. This is especially the case if institutions are weak, clowns and crooks dominate elected offices, and the public is fed up with continuous cycles of corruption and misgovernance. As dramatic as it has been, the revamp in the government-starting from the change of leadership in both the Senate and the House of Representatives, as well as the comprehensive purge of top leaders in the Department of Public Works and Highways-is far from sufficient. People are asking for blood, and heads have to roll. To begin with, the people’s outrage is palpable. From journalist Kara David to celebrities, such as Vice Ganda, prominent personalities are openly calling for the literal demise of corrupt officials or the reinstatement of the death penalty: ‘Sana mamatay sila!’ ‘Bring back the death penalty for corrupt officials. Jail even their families.’

Moreover, there seems to be no center of gravity, nor a clear road map. It’s far from certain where and how far President Marcos is willing to take his newly found anticorruption crusade when corruption is so endemic and could reach the highest echelons of power.

To put things into perspective, Sen. Panfilo Lacson has claimed that almost all senators, with the notable exception of principled progressives such as Sen. Risa Hontiveros, made shady insertions in the previous fiscal year. ‘It was humongous . I have never seen such amounts,’ the current chair of the Senate blue ribbon committee claimed, referring to at least P100 billion in de facto pork barrel funds.

Just like Brazil in the mid-2010s amid the ‘Operation Carwash’ corruption scandal, we might end up with the collapse of the entire political center. And this brings us to the third factor, namely the vultures circling and ready to destabilize and dismantle our democracy altogether.

The riots in Mendiola by unidentified elements are just the tip of the iceberg. ‘If only Sara Duterte were not the Vice President, you guys would have taken over,’ an administration ally shared in a closed-door meeting. He was referring to rumors of a possible coup. No less than Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Manny Mogato referred to an ‘attempt to unseat’ the President, with ‘a large Christian-denomination sect [meeting] with a top Army commander days before the protest’ to trigger an en masse defection in the barracks on the back of the massive anticorruption protest on Sept. 21. In fairness, the Armed Forces of the Philippines has vehemently rejected the rumors, which are yet to be substantiated.

What is clear, however, is that the next ‘Trillion Peso March’ may turn less peaceful if the chief perpetrators continue to enjoy impunity and the notorious Discayas are given de facto immunity under a witness protection program. Criminal liability is what people are demanding beyond the seeming theatrics of hearings and investigations.

Anxiety lingered in Barangay Nahapay of Guimbal town in Iloilo, even after Severe Tropical Storm ‘Opong’ had left the country, as residents fear that a P18.5-million slope protection project along their riverbank may collapse.

Villagers first alerted the municipal government on Sept. 12, when some 30 meters of the structure started eroding. Days later, rains from the southwest monsoon, intensified by Opong, deepened the damage.

‘The cracks keep spreading, and we feel unsafe because the concrete continues to give way even without rain,’ a resident told reporters.

The 43-meter-long structure, completed in May 2016 and turned over to the local government the following year, has shown cracks since 2024, according to residents.

Residents, who requested not to be named, said the municipal engineer’s office has patched the dike at least three times using local funds, fueling doubts about the project’s quality.

To review

Rep. Janette Garin (Iloilo, 1st District) vowed to push for a review and determine if the project falls under Project NOAH, the science-based disaster risk reduction program set up during the administration of the late President Benigno Simeon ‘Noynoy’ Aquino III, unfunded by former President Rodrigo Duterte and is now managed by the University of the Philippines.

‘I will make representation so that funding for rehabilitation can be prioritized since budget deliberations are ongoing,’ Garin said over the weekend.

The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Iloilo First District Engineering Office estimated that P8 million to P10 million is needed for full rehabilitation, but promised preventive measures to avert further collapse.

Roprim Construction, which built the project, has distanced itself, citing the expiry of the government’s five-year warranty period.

‘We complied with DPWH standards, and the structure has stood for nearly 10 years, enduring multiple storms and floods,’ said company manager Ron Primaylon when sought for comment.

For now, both DPWH and the Guimbal Municipal Engineer’s Office said they are coordinating on stopgap measures while waiting for rehabilitation funds. INQ