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The provincial government of Camarines Sur, in partnership with Google’s Gemini, has officially launched the Artificial Intelligence Academy on Monday, the first of its kind in the province.

Powered by Google’s Gemini as its main platform, the AI Academy has welcomed its first batch of over 300 participants from various sectors, including government employees, educators, and youth leaders.

They are now equipped with foundational knowledge in artificial intelligence, aimed at improving communication skills, teaching methods, and digital literacy.

Gov. Luis Raymund ‘LRay’ Villafuerte Jr. called the initiative a ‘big break’ for Camarines Sur and a step toward preparing the province for a tech-driven future.

‘It’s an honor to partner with one of the biggest technology companies in the world-Google Philippines. Through Google’s Gemini Academy, we are equipping every CamSur resident with new knowledge and skills in AI. Under my leadership, our province will be AI-ready and highly skilled from classrooms to communities,’ Villafuerte told the Inquirer.

He also shared that each municipality in the province will soon host its own training sessions. These sessions aim to make AI tools more accessible and practical by providing apps and software that simplify day-to-day tasks.

Gilbert Sadsad, director of the Department of Education in Bicol, expressed full support for the program, noting its positive potential across multiple sectors.

Of the 357 participants, the majority came from the provincial government, academe, information offices, and other multi-sectoral groups.

Rosean Presado, an instructor from a community college, said joining the training was a great opportunity.

‘Many of my questions about AI were answered. This experience will definitely have a positive impact not just on me, but also on my students,’ she said.

Myko Garcia, a local radio reporter in CamSur, shared the same sentiment.

‘I’m thankful to be part of the training. I’ve gained new knowledge that has helped improve my communication skills, especially in pronunciation and grammar,’ he said.

The AI Academy is seen as a pioneering initiative in the region, aiming to democratize access to artificial intelligence tools and training at the grassroots level./coa

Alert police officers manning a checkpoint in Maasim, Sarangani province, arrested a man on Monday for illegally transporting 25 endangered bird species, police reported.

Col. Jerone Orville Panganiban, acting provincial director of the Sarangani Police Provincial Office, said personnel from the 2nd Sarangani Provincial Mobile Force Company (SPMFC) and the Maasim Municipal Police Station intercepted a Mitsubishi Montero Sport during a routine checkpoint operation at Sitio Seguil, Barangay Tinoto.

The driver, identified as ‘Junior,’ 34, a resident of Digos City, could not present documents to legalize his transport of endangered wildlife.

Panganiban said the police verified with Forest Protection Officer (FPO) Jalal Pantao of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), who confirmed the suspect had no transport permit.

The Community Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO) of Kiamba documented a total of 25 hornbills, comprising six Mindanao hornbills and 19 Rufous hornbills. The DENR later confirmed these as Mindanao Wreathed hornbills and Southern Rufous hornbills, Panganiban said.

The hornbills were immediately transported and turned over to the DENR-12 Regional Wildlife Rescue Center for documentation and safekeeping.

Panganiban said CENRO Kiamba is preparing to file charges against the arrested violator for violating Republic Act 9147, also known as the Wildlife Resources Conservation and Protection Act.

‘The Sarangani Police Provincial Office, in close coordination with DENR, reiterates its commitment to protecting the environment and upholding wildlife laws to preserve biodiversity in the region,’ Panganiban said. (PNA)/coa

The Department of Agriculture (DA) on Tuesday welcomed the House of Representatives’ approval of its proposed P216.1 billion budget for 2026.

The amount is P39.4 billion more than the agency’s previous allocation of P176.7 billion.

The increase stems from a major realignment ordered by President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., who diverted over P250 billion from controversial flood control projects toward agriculture, education, and social welfare.

‘This increased budget brings us closer to President Marcos’s vision of a food-secure Philippines-where agriculture is modern and investment-worthy, and farming is a viable, profitable venture,’ said Agriculture Secretary Francisco P. Tiu Laurel Jr.

The budget hike, endorsed during plenary debates on Monday, will fund farm-to-market roads, cold storage facilities, and solar-powered irrigation systems, among other flagship projects.

A portion will also support coconut replanting, expanded crop insurance, fish port upgrades, farm-to-mill roads in sugar-producing areas, and modern post-harvest facilities.

Pampanga Representative Anna York Bondoc, who defended the DA budget, said the increase reflects the government’s recognition of agriculture as a key economic driver, employing one in every five Filipinos and contributing 10 percent to the country’s gross domestic product.

‘These additional funds are a powerful testament of our recognition that our investment in agriculture is an investment into our shared future,’ said Bondoc.

‘It means direct support for hardworking farmers, better technology for our fisherfolk, and a more stable and resilient food supply for every Filipino family,’ she added.

The title of today’s piece describes our collective reaction to all events unfolding before us, local, national, or international.

Our collective stupor has been our way of life for the last two presidential elections. Before Ferdinand Marcos Jr. became President, we had a president who made killing a normalized disciplinary action for those allegedly involved in the illegal drug trade. Many of us appreciated this, arguing that it was, so far, the best deterrent to the widespread use of illegal drugs among the youth.

When former President Rodrigo Duterte started his term, he vowed to end the illegal drug problem within six months. A lot of us applauded him, despite his crass and vulgar language, whenever he talked about this major affliction among the Filipino population.

But when he stepped down in May 2022, the drug problem was nowhere near eradicated. Duterte himself admitted that he was not able to end this problem as he promised.

The levels of corruption in many government bureaucracies-from the local to the national levels-were already quite noticeable earlier, even before Mr. Marcos cried ‘mahiya naman kayo!’ in his fourth State of the Nation Address.

When Duterte assumed the presidency, he always said that he hated corruption-even a ‘whiff’ of it. It appeared that he did not want small-scale corrupt practices and could have allowed huge amounts of corruption. But it was during his time that the now infamous contractor couple-the Discayas-bagged the biggest chunks of their contracts with the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).

We also recently learned that one of the huge contributors to the campaign of Duterte’s daughter, now Vice President Sara Duterte, is the Escandor family. A recent inquiry yielded information that the Escandors contributed P20 million to Sara’s vice-presidential campaign. The Escandors are the owners of Genesis 88 Construction. They bagged P2.9 billion of flood control projects in the entire Davao Region, with 25 percent of these projects in Davao City. The Escandors own some hotels and other business establishments in Davao City. Many of their projects are now being investigated by the new secretary of the DPWH. Some of these projects were completed in 2022, but only on paper.

This does not include the infrastructure projects awarded to the family of Sen. Bong Go, who used to be Duterte’s man Friday. In August 2025, information surfaced that Go’s father, Desiderio Go, owns the CLTG Builders (the initials stand for Christopher Lawrence Tesoro Go, the senator’s full name). The company allegedly facilitated the joint venture with Sarah Discaya’s St. Gerrard Construction, the top contractor during the Duterte presidency.

Why it took us this long to express our rage during the ‘Trillion Peso March’ last Sept. 21 spoke volumes about our collective slumber for more than a decade. It seems we have ‘accepted’ that corruption in government offices is normal. It would be unusual to find a few local and national government officials whose hands are not entangled in dirty reciprocal relationships with contractors of infrastructure projects.

And it took a force majeure from nature-in the form of endless flooding-among areas that were supposed to benefit from multimillion- and multibillion-peso flood control projects to wake us up. We reacted like audiences of a slow-burn movie, and only recently have we realized that we could do something together. And this has led to holding huge protest rallies to call out our senators, congressmen and women, and all local and regional officials.

In fairness to several journalists-both in broadcast and print media-these anomalies have been written about and discussed on television in the recent past. But collectively, many of us just listened and shrugged our shoulders, thinking that it was not something to be surprised about.

Our delayed reaction, its minimal impact, and the slow pace of the national government in addressing these problems mirror how global populations have reacted to the major human-made catastrophes of the 21st century. These include Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that continues to this day, and the most inhuman tragedy of all-Israel’s genocidal war against Palestine.

While there are several international initiatives to challenge Israel’s genocide in Gaza, they are quite late and insufficient. Global entities like the United Nations should have acted more swiftly and more strongly, rather than just issuing statements of condemnation. And all these initiatives have been quite slow compared to the swiftness of Israel’s annihilation of Palestinians.

Philippine National Bank’s (PNB) move to let go of its Bahrain operations and dissolve two of its units would allow it to cut costs and focus on expanding its core business, according to an analyst.

Ron Acoba, chief investment strategist at Trading Edge Consultancy, told the Inquirer that PNB could still serve its Middle East market. This is mainly overseas Filipino workers sending money home through a correspondent bank.

This, he said, would be more cost effective for the banking arm of the Lucio Tan Group.

PNB on Monday said in a regulatory filing its board of directors had approved plans to shutter its PNB Bahrain Representative Office, although this is still subject to regulatory approval.

PNB currently operates across 17 countries in North America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. However, it recently noted that it was facing stiff competition from banks and nonbanks in these locations.

‘To maintain its market position in the industry, the bank offers diverse products and services, invests in technology, leverages on the synergies with the Lucio Tan Group of Companies and builds on relationships with the bank’s other key customers,’ PNB said in its annual report.

Consumer lending

At the same time, PNB’s board has decided to dissolve the bank’s consumer finance and enterprise services sectors.

‘[This] will allow [PNB] to focus on expanding its consumer lending business,’ Acoba said in a text message.

In the first semester, PNB benefited from higher demand for loans, resulting in a 22-percent surge in earnings to P12.5 billion.

Its net interest income had climbed by 7 percent to P25.8 billion.

Loans and investment securities grew by 5 percent and 11 percent, respectively.

To stand out among their competitors, PNB president and CEO Edwin Bautista earlier said they were looking to ‘unlock new revenue streams’ to boost the bank’s net income through exploring the use of technology, such as data science and artificial intelligence, in its businesses.

Power has been restored to most areas serviced by the Oriental Mindoro Electric Cooperative (ORMECO), with 100 percent of the province’s municipalities and Calapan City now energized, according to a report posted on ORMECO’s official social media page.

ORMECO general manager Engr. Humphrey Dolor confirmed that both the 13.8-kilovolt (kV) and 69-kV power lines are now fully operational.

As of the latest update, electricity has been restored to 342 out of 426 barangays-approximately 80.3 percent-and to 215,322 out of 265,765 households, or about 81% of the total.

‘Today, we are restoring power supply to the barangay (village) level. The restoration went smoothly and faster because of innovative ways and the support of some local government units (LGUs). We are working from 6 a.m. to midnight daily for construction works and 24 hours for line works,’ Dolor said.

Dolor also reported that damage caused by Typhoon Opong to the cooperative’s infrastructure had been estimated at P16,926,645

The local bourse extended its losing streak to the seventh consecutive session on Tuesday. Domestic politics and the weak currency continued to weigh on market sentiment, leading to more investors taking cover amid the uncertainty.

By the closing bell, the benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange Index (PSEi) had lost 0.74 percent or 44.14 points to end at 5,953.46.

Likewise, the broader All Shares Index shed 0.43 percent or 15.55 points to close at 3,620.79.

A total of 1.57 billion shares worth P9.09 billion changed hands, stock exchange data showed.

The index remained in the red territory as investors remained cautious about domestic uncertainties, said Luis Limlingan, head of sales at stock brokerage house Regina Capital Development Corp.

Flood control scandal

On Monday, the Senate blue ribbon committee confirmed that resigned Ako Bicol Rep. Elizaldy Co and former House Speaker Martin Romualdez would be invited to the next hearing on the billion-peso flood control scandal.

This is the latest development in the corruption behind the projects. Twenty-one politicians and officials of the Department of Public Works and Highways are possibly facing charges.

At the same time, Limlingan said traders were closely watching the weakening peso.

International Container Terminal Services Inc. was the most actively traded stock as it lost 1.95 percent to P471.60 each. It was followed by BDO Unibank Inc., down 1.56 percent to P132.90; Ayala Land Inc., down 3.56 percent to P24.35; RL Commercial REIT Inc., down 3.84 percent to P7.26; and SM Investments Corp., down 0.68 percent to P735 per share.

Others were Ayala Corp., down 1.95 percent to P482.80; Bank of the Philippine Islands, up 3.6 percent to P115; SM Prime Holdings Inc., down 1.32 percent to P22.45; DigiPlus Interactive Corp., up 2.23 percent to P25.25; and Manila Electric Co., down 0.19 percent to P530 each.

Losers outnumbered gainers, 129 to 79, while 45 companies closed flat, stock exchange data also showed.

An alleged member of the Islamist militant Dawlah Islamiya Group was killed during a drug buy-bust operation in Barangay Sapakan, Rajah Buayan town of Maguindanao del Sur, around 4 p.m. on Monday.

Captain Joel Lebrilla, chief of police for Rajah Buayan, said the suspect, Moner Usman, a resident of Darampua village in nearby Sultan Sa Barongis town, was a suspected member of the Daulah Islamiyah Hassan Group and had pending warrants of arrest.

According to Lebrilla, personnel from the Rajah Buayan police, the Special Action Force (SAF), and other units of the Provincial Police Office (PPO) of Maguindanao del Sur were about to conduct the operation when the suspect sensed he was transacting with police officers, prompting him to fight.

He was fatally shot during the exchange of gunfire, while one member of the SAF sustained injuries.

Authorities recovered a firearm, ammunition, and a sachet of illegal drugs.

Usman had six standing warrants of arrest-two counts of murder, one count of carnapping, and three counts of frustrated murder.

He was also tagged as the most wanted person by the Isulan municipal police station and one of the top three most wanted persons by the Sultan Kudarat provincial police office.

The wounded police officer is now recuperating in a hospital

Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo ‘Ping’ Lacson explained that his earlier statement that almost all senators in the 19th Congress made at least P100 billion worth of insertions in the 2025 budget was not meant to put his colleagues or the entire Senate on the spot.

Lacson on Tuesday disclosed that at a caucus on Monday, some of his peers expressed concerns that his remarks about budget insertions could affect the whole institution.

‘I can actually feel and understand completely the sentiments expressed by my colleagues, at least the members of the majority bloc during our majority caucus yesterday, so I explained to them that the mention of ‘almost all senators’ was not intended to put them or the whole Senate on the spot, nor did I have the intention of calling them out particularly,’ he said.

‘The overarching reason for my disclosure or revelation was to point out that we must accept the fact that we are all in crisis owing to the recent anomalies involving the substandard and even ghost flood control projects unearthed in the course of the Blue Ribbon Committee hearings and other similar investigations,’ the senator added.

As chairman of the blue ribbon committee, Lacson is leading its probe into anomalous flood control projects.

Several lawmakers, including Sens. Francis ‘Chiz’ Escudero, Jinggoy Estrada, Joel Villanueva, former House Speaker and Leyte 1st District Rep. Ferdinand Martin Romualdez, and now resigned Ako Bicol Rep. Elizaldy Co, have been accused of receiving kickbacks from either substandard or non-existent flood control works.

They all denied the allegations.

Lacson expressed hopes his fellow senators would take his recent remarks about budget insertions as a wake-up call.

The clear and overarching message, he said, is to avoid or at least minimize the mangling of the national budget bill especially if it means taking away funds from vetted projects – particularly foreign-assisted ones – in favor of pet projects.

‘This is not about individual senators or congressmen. This is about all of us – a reminder that we must be transparent in doing our jobs because the people are watching us,’ he said in Filipino when interviewed over Net25.

Lacson also reiterated that ‘insertion per se is not illegal.’

‘An insertion – that’s also called an amendment-an amendment is part of our constitutional mandate, because we hold the power of the purse,’ he explained.

He said they would be remiss in their constitutional duty if they would not review or introduce amendments to the National Expenditure Program or the President’s budget.

Nearly 1,000 Bulacan State University (BulSU) students staged their ‘Kick Back Kontra Korap’ protest on Tuesday (Sept 30), marching through government sites in this city despite heavy rain.

The rally began at the BulSU campus, passed the Bulacan Capitol and Malolos City Hall, but was cut short before reaching the office of First District Rep. Danilo Domingo.

Students urged Gov. Daniel Fernando and Mayor Christian Natividad to support calls for justice for flood victims, citing ‘ghost’ flood-control projects allegedly involving corrupt officials of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).

Last Saturday, nearly 1,000 residents, mostly young professionals and students, held a parallel protest in Paombong dubbed ‘Tindig Paombong.’ Convenor Alfredo Punzal demanded that Domingo personally explain the alleged P5 billion corruption in flood-control projects, saying his Facebook denial was not enough.

The Senate Blue Ribbon Committee earlier heard testimony from former DPWH officials linking Domingo and other Bulacan lawmakers to questionable projects. His district, which includes Malolos, Paombong, Hagonoy, Bulakan, Obando, and Calumpit, received nearly P9.5 billion in flood-control funds from 2022 to 2025.

Domingo has denied any involvement, insisting he neither participated in project implementation nor benefited from it.

Protest leaders, however, vowed to sustain their campaign, saying corruption worsens flooding and deprives communities of basic services.