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DEFENSE Secretary Gilberto Teodoro on Monday met with retired US Army Gen. David Petraeus to exchange views on the evolving nature of modern warfare.

The DND, in a statement on Tuesday, said both leaders highlighted the growing need for ‘tomorrow’s technology for today’s war.’

The two also noted that innovation is often driven by current challenges and cited the example of Ukraine in its ongoing conflict with Russia.

The two also said this initiative plays a critical role in shaping outcomes on the battlefield.

‘Secretary Teodoro emphasized the development of low-cost, asymmetrically and algorithmically designed technologies to enhance operational survivability,’ the DND statement added.

Teodoro also underscored the importance of highly mobile production systems to minimize disruptions in defense materiel manufacturing, ensuring readiness and resilience in critical defense operations.

For his part, Petraeus said ‘adaptive military strategies prevail over bigger adversaries.’

He also stressed that flexibility and technological innovation are essential to strengthening the country’s defense capabilities in an increasingly complex security environment.

Petraeus is a member of Class of 1974 of the US Military Academy in West Point, New York, and commanded troops in combat during his military service. As a four-star general, he led the US Central Command and later coalition forces in Alghanistan. He was served as director of the Central Intelligence Agency after retirement from the military.

The Philippines is grappling with a severe housing crisis, marked by a national backlog that reached 8.25 million units as of March 2025. Projections indicate this figure could swell to an overwhelming 22.6 million by 2040 if the current system remains unchanged.

In fact, it is a gargantuan challenge as 70 percent of Filipinos can only afford homes priced below P1.5 million, yet only 14 percent of available housing falls within this socialized range.

Property technology company Lhoopa argues that this is not just a crisis of supply, but a ‘Crisis of Access.’ The existing housing ecosystem was designed for a narrow demographic-stable, formally employed, middle-income earners-which fails to serve the majority of today’s service sector-driven and largely informal workforce. Lhoopa is actively addressing this mismatch by integrating technology, adaptive financing, and a localized network to redefine access and accelerate affordable homeownership.

Lhoopa’s core strategy involves leveraging technology, particularly AI and mobile applications, to inject efficiency and precision into the housing delivery process, dramatically reducing timelines and costs.

Accelerated development and turnover

Katie Chatto, head of communications of Lhoopa, told the BusinessMirror in an interview the industry standard for housing development can span two to three years. ‘Lhoopa cuts this down to an impressive 10-12 months using a data-driven approach,’ she said.

Chatto said Lhoopa’s technology analyzes thousands of data points-including land conditions, market demand, infrastructure proximity, and climate/disaster risk-to precisely identify land that is viable, safe, and socially impactful for affordable housing. She said technology-driven systems minimize risk and allow for development at scale.

According to Chatto, Lhoopa’s business model focuses on acquiring and refurbishing properties on idle or underserved land, including non-performing assets (NPAs). Once acquired, she said local contractors are mobilized for refurbishment, preparing the homes for occupancy quickly and efficiently.

Mobile technology connects local brokers and contractors (Lhoopa’s ‘real estate frontliners’) directly to the supply chain, facilitating real-time coordination.

Brokers use mobile apps to view and sell active property inventories in their locality, while contractors access projects and track progress digitally.6 This decentralized, community-based delivery model minimizes centralized coordination costs and speeds up the entire construction and sales cycle.

The use of these digital tools drives efficiency, transparency, and trust across the system, ensuring smoother sale closings and project management, which ultimately accelerates the path to homeownership for families.

Chatto said Lhoopa primarily caters to Filipino families who can afford homes priced at P1.5 million or less. Lhoopa’s internal data highlights the affordability gap: 96 percent of its buyers, with an average monthly income of P20,000, can only finance homes below P1 million. Lhoopa’s offerings are priced accordingly, with houses averaging around P650,000 and a maximum price point of P2.5 million.

While the Home Development Mutual Fund (Pag-IBIG) is a vital partner, Lhoopa focuses its efforts on assisting the large demographic of fund members. 99 percent of Lhoopa’s clients are active Pag-IBIG members, making the government institution the primary enabler of financing for these low-to-middle-income earners. Lhoopa actively seeks to integrate further with Pag-IBIG to make the process more accessible, potentially through shared technology and community outreach.

Bridging the information gap

A lack of knowledge is a significant barrier to making an informerd decision in buying a home. Lhoopa’s data shows that 75 percent of its homebuyers had no prior knowledge of the available affordable housing pathways. By providing clearer access to information and simplifying the complex homeownership journey, Lhoopa effectively serves households that are currently underserved by the fragmented system.

Lhoopa’s strategy is currently focused on high-growth corridors and emerging cities like Cavite, Batangas, Bulacan, Pampanga, and Naga, where land is more accessible. The success of this model is evident in its rapid growth: the company sold 2.5 times more houses in the first half of the current year compared to the same period in the previous year.

For families like Mario and Yhang, visually impaired massage therapists who bought their first home in Laguna, and Jennifer, a church caretaker who now owns a home in Cabanatuan, Lhoopa transforms the abstract aspiration of homeownership into an achievable reality.

By tackling the problem as a crisis of access, Chatto said Lhoopa provides a viable blueprint for expanding secure, quality, and affordable homeownership for millions of Filipino families, offering a clear path from chronic backlog to a definitive breakthrough.

FILIPINO students are shifting their overseas study priorities toward technology, healthcare, and management programs in Europe-a change diplomats say mirrors both the country’s evolving economy and global labor demand.

Speaking at a news conference ahead of the European Higher Education Fair (Ehef) 2025, European diplemats said last week that the growing preference for skills-based and postgraduate programs reflects how Filipino learners are adapting to economic opportunities at home and abroad.

Irish Deputy Head of Mission Erica Duffy said more Filipinos are pursuing fields that connect with the country’s growth engines.

‘These are all areas where the Filipino economy has started to grow more and more,’ she said, adding that the shift in student preferences reflects the broader evolution of the Philippine economy toward services, technology, and management-oriented industries.

Arnulf Gressel, Commercial Counselor of the Austrian Embassy, said hospitality remains the top draw for Filipino students in Austria.

‘There is a lot of interest in anything involving hospitality,’ he said.

Data from IDP Philippines showed that about 53,000 Filipinos were enrolled in universities across the top study destinations-Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, the United States, and Ireland-as of 2023.

The number is expected to grow by 8 to 10 percent annually, with most students pursuing post-graduate degrees in business, health services, hospitality, and IT-related disciplines.

Jens Rösler, Deputy Director of the Goethe-Institut Philippinen, noted that more Filipinos are entering healthcare and service-related programs in Germany.

He added that many of these students deliberately learn the language as part of their preparation.

‘It would be a fallacy to think that language is unimportant,’ he said. ‘It’s essential to truly live and work in a country, especially in healthcare and service sectors.’

Deepening cooperation

THE EU Delegation to the Philippines deputy head, Agata Nowicka, said the changing study patterns among Filipino students underscore how education has become a key pillar of cooperation between the Philippines and Europe.

‘The EU is investing heavily in quality education with a lifelong-learning perspective,’ she said, adding that programs such as Erasmus+ are designed not only to promote academic mobility but also to align higher education with the skills needed by partner countries.

Nowicka said this cooperation has expanded beyond scholarships to include joint research and institutional development.

Data from the EU Delegation show that an average of 55 to 65 Filipino scholars each year complete joint master’s degrees in Europe through Erasmus+, while 47 capacity-building projects have linked Philippine and European universities in areas such as innovation, climate studies, and digitalization.

‘The EU has endeavored to become more strategic in reaching out to students, academicians and researchers. We have continued to engage the support of several universities as ‘regional hubs’ from Metro Manila, Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao,’ Nowicka added.

The Ehef will be held on November 21 and 22 at the Midtown Atrium of Robinsons Manila, while online sessions will be conducted on November 24.

This year’s edition will feature 97 participating universities and institutions from across the EU, including new entrants Romania, Latvia, and Slovakia, alongside long-time partners such as Germany, Ireland, Spain, France, Italy, Hungary, the Netherlands, Austria, Finland, and Sweden.

The Philippine Air Force (PAF) on Tuesday confirmed that one of its four helicopters tasked to conduct a ‘rapid damage assessment and needs analysis’ (RDANA) to check on the effects of typhoon ‘Tino’ went down in Agusan del Sur.

‘The PAF confirms that one of its Super Huey helicopters encountered an air mishap today, November 4, 2025, near the vicinity of the 60th Infantry Battalion at Agusan Del Sur,’ it added.

The aircraft was part of a flight of four helicopters that had departed from Davao to Butuan to conduct a RDANA mission.

Communication with the helicopter was lost, which immediately prompted the launch of a search-and-rescue (SAR) operation.

A thorough investigation is being conducted to determine the circumstances and cause of this accident.

Further details will be released as they become verified and available.

‘The PAF is focusing all efforts on the ongoing SAR operations. We are praying for the safety of the pilots and crew involved in this unfortunate air mishap,’ the PAF said.

The Cebu Provincial Government has confirmed the latest death toll from typhoon Tino is now at 20.

According to the latest update from the Public Information Office as of 5:35 pm on Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025, 3 deaths were recorded in Cebu province and 17 deaths in Cebu City.

The data was based on a verified report from the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Cebu Province.

A total of 33,661 families or 105,588 individuals were evacuated, spread across 33 affected local government units (LGUs).

Rescue efforts continue as teams from other LGUs within the province were deployed to the heavily affected towns of Consolacion, Liloan, and the cities of Mandaue and Danao.

In Cebu City, Mayor Nestor Archival said an estimated 200,000 families were affected.

Of the number, 15,000 residents have evacuated to 64 identified evacuation centers in the city.

A new nationwide survey by Tangere (Acquisition Apps, Inc.) has revealed alarming insights into the prevalence of bullying in the Philippines, both in-person and online.

Conducted on October 28-29, 2025, among 2,000 Filipino respondents aged 18 and above, the survey paints a troubling picture of how bullying continues to affect Filipinos’ well-being, particularly the youth.

According to the study, 68% of Filipinos said they have personally experienced bullying, whether in person or online. Among those who have been bullied, verbal abuse remains the most common form (86%), followed by social bullying (50%), physical bullying (42%), and cyberbullying (33%).Schools emerged as the primary setting for such incidents, with 78% of victims of physical bullying reporting that they were bullied within educational institutions. This underlines the urgent need to strengthen anti-bullying mechanisms and psychosocial support systems in schools.

Online harassment was also identified as a growing concern. Among cyberbullying victims, a staggering 91% said it occurred on Facebook, followed by reports of bullying on TikTok (40%), Instagram (34%), and gaming platforms (33%) such as Mobile Legends, Call of Duty, and Roblox.

Despite these alarming figures, many victims choose to remain silent. 53% of respondents said they ignored the bullying, while only 45% reported their experiences to parents, teachers, or authorities. Nearly half (49%) said they felt comfortable discussing their emotional or mental health struggles – leaving the other half hesitant to seek help or intervention.

Public confidence in institutional response remains divided: 52% believe that government and educational institutions are adequately addressing bullying, while 45% of Filipinos said heftier penalties are needed to deter offenders and ensure accountability.

The survey highlights how bullying, in all its forms, remains deeply intertwined with Filipinos’ psychosocial well-being. Respondents themselves identified solutions such as stricter punishments (45%), new or stronger anti-bullying and cyberbullying laws (14%), and more training for teachers, parents, and counselors (8%) to prevent and address cases early.

Conducted nationwide through the Tangere mobile app, the survey has a margin of error of ±2.83% at a 95% confidence level.

Since the declaration of martial law 53 years ago, public fatigue over corruption runs deep, with eight in 10 Filipinos or 81 percent believe corruption has worsened, indicating that the issue remains entrenched despite decades of reform pledges, a new data from PAHAYAG 2025 Third Quarter (PQ3-2025) Survey bared.

This sentiment, as showed in the survey conducted from September 27 to 30, 2025, is consistent across all regions, underscoring the public’s enduring cynicism toward anti-corruption efforts. It also revealed that Filipinos increasingly demanding tangible accountability, not just rhetoric, from those in power.

The alleged anomalies in the flood control projects and other corruption in some government agencies have sparked mass protests across the country, but the survey showed that 3 in 4 registered voters (77 percent) did not join the recent rally against corruption last September 21, 2025 -possibly reflecting a sense of resignation that corruption has become a persistent, unresolved feature of governance.

When asked about accountability for the P1 trillion in budget realignments between 2023 and 2025, half of respondents, comprising 1,500 registered Filipino voters, or 49 percent hold both President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and the House of Representatives, with 24 percent blamed the President alone while 11 percent the Congress.

‘Taken together, these figures show that nearly nine in ten Filipinos attribute responsibility to either or both the Executive and Legislative branches, underscoring a broad public perception that issues of corruption and fiscal mismanagement are systemic rather than isolated to a single leader or institution,’ the survey noted.

Moreover, two in five Filipinos (41 percent) believe stolen public funds should be returned before charges are filed.

Meanwhile, one in four or 26 percent of Filipinos agreed that President Marcos should take a leave of absence if investigated by the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI) -reflecting a strong public demand for real accountability and restitution, not just rhetoric.

The Pangasinan Salt Center in Barangay Zaragosa, Bolinao town, aims to produce 8,500 metric tons (MT) of salt, up from 7,500 MT in the previous season, for use as agricultural-grade salt fertilizer by coconut farmers.

The increase in salt production is scheduled to begin late November and continue through June 2026.

In a phone interview Wednesday, Assistant Provincial Agriculturist Nestor Batalla said they are still in the preparation stage, which has been slightly delayed due to recent weather disturbances.He said the provincial government, which has been the interim manager of the salt farm since 2023, has signed a memorandum of agreement with the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) for an initial order of over 17,500 bags of 50-kilo agricultural-grade salt fertilizer.

‘It will be for coconut farmers in Ilocos Region, Cagayan Valley, and Cordillera Administrative Region. Central Luzon might also order 25,000 bags of salt fertilizer, but it is still in the works,’ Batalla said.

He added that PCA’s total requirement is 1.5 million bags, which other companies or groups bid on.

‘We are hoping that the other winning bidders near our province will also order from us,’ he said.

Priced at P750 to P800 per bag, the PCA’s coconut fertilization project aims to boost coconut productivity by rehabilitating low-bearing palms. ‘There are also walk-ins who buy the salt directly at the salt farm; they go to us,’ Batalla said, adding that the provincial government is preparing to implement projects specifically aimed at further boosting salt production in the area.

He also noted that Gov. Ramon Guico III, representing the province, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Mariano Marcos State University (MMSU) for the Pilot Saltern Farm on October 27.

‘The MOU aims to allow MMSU to conduct research on how to improve salt production using different kinds of technology they learned from India and Indonesia, which they will test here to see if it could be adopted in the country’s climate,’ he said.

The Pangasinan Salt Center supports President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s ‘Philippine Salt Industry Development Act,’ which aims to strengthen and revitalize the country’s salt industry. It also directly responds to the President’s call to address the nation’s salt crisis.

Guico said about 93 percent of the country’s salt needs are currently imported from China and Australia.

‘We need to drastically reduce our dependency on imported salt and produce 100 percent of our consumption needs. We must even think of becoming a net exporter of salt in the future,’ he said.

SEN. Pia Cayetano on Tuesday moved to ensure the P60-billion returned to the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) remains in the 2026 national budget.

Cayetano insisted that the P60 billion returned to PhilHealth, as ordered by President Marcos ‘must be kept in the 2026 national budget, ‘not only to implement the President’s directive, but because the law requires it.’

Cayetano noted that the amount is already reflected in the 2026 General Appropriations Bill (GAB) of the House of Representatives and said it is imperative that it is retained in the final General Appropriations Act (GAA). ‘The inclusion of these funds in the budget is not a matter of discretion or politics: it is a matter of compliance with the law,’ she stressed.

‘We must ensure that this directive is not left to pronouncements alone but enforced through the budget process, with every peso serving the health needs of our people,’ she added.

She cited that under the Universal Health Care Act and the Sin Tax Reform Laws of 2012 and 2019, a fixed share of sin tax revenues is

earmarked for PhilHealth to fund universal health care. These provisions, she said, are reinforced by Article VI, Section 29 (3) of the Constitution, which mandates that taxes collected for a special purpose be used solely for that purpose.

‘These laws make it clear that funds from sin taxes must go to health. Diverting or withholding them is a violation of the law,’ Cayetano said. ‘Keeping the P60 billion in the GAA is not optional; it is a legal and moral obligation to the Filipino people.’

‘Our goal should always be to strengthen PhilHealth’s capacity to deliver on its mandate,’ she concluded. ‘Every peso invested in healthcare is an investment in the lives and future of our people.’

LOWER infrastructure spending in the third quarter may have weighed on the country’s economic performance, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) said, as the government braces for the release of the latest gross domestic product (GDP) data this week.

Budget Secretary Amenah F. Pangandaman acknowledged that the slowdown in disbursements-particularly from the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH)-could have trimmed growth during the July-to-September period.

‘Well, you know, generally our [infrastructure] spending for the third quarter decreased because we stopped; DPWH Secretary Vince [B. Dizon] temporarily stopped the biddings. So, maybe a little,’ Pangandaman told reporters in an ambush interview at the Manila City Hall.

A video posted on the DPWH on September 3 showed Dizon announcing the temporary suspension of all bidding for the department’s locally-funded infrastructure projects while a thorough review is conducted over the next two weeks as part of the ‘intensified campaign against corruption’ in the agency. (See https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1150830926967047)

Latest DBM data showed that infrastructure and other capital outlays dropped to P84.9 billion in August from P108.6 billion a year earlier.

The decline, according to the agency, reflected the ongoing validation of the status of implementation, quality and completion across DPWH undertakings nationwide.

Pangandaman said the government will assess how to further ‘pump-prime’ the economy should growth fall short of the full-year target of Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) of 5.5 to 6.5 percent.

‘Let’s see. Let’s wait for the numbers. We’ll check how we can pump-prime to be able to get the target of 5.5 assuming we don’t change’ said Pangandaman, the DBCC chairman.

Economic Planning Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan earlier shared the same view, saying that infrastructure controversies and slower public spending likely weighed on the third-quarter growth. (See: Andrea E. San Juan, November 4, 2025, ‘Weak industry, infra mess, jitters hurt GDP,’ BusinessMirror)

‘It was a challenging quarter,’ Balisacan said in a separate interview. ‘I would have expected [that], given all these scandals in the infrastructure, that you would expect [to weigh on] government spending particularly on construction, fixed capital formation.’

He added that industry and services may have also slowed, citing external headwinds, domestic disruptions, and recent typhoons that hampered activity.

State think tank Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) Senior Research Fellow John Paolo R. Rivera earlier warned that the decline in infrastructure spending poses a ‘significant risk’ to both the country’s fiscal consolidation and growth trajectory.

‘Infrastructure outlays have been a key driver of aggregate demand and productivity improvements, so a sharp slowdown signals both an immediate demand shortfall and longer-term capacity constraints,’ Rivera told the BusinessMirror. (See: Reine Juvierre S. Alberto, October 22, 2025, ‘Government infrastructure spending down by 21.8% in August,’ BusinessMirror)

‘The national government itself has flagged this weakness as a factor that may cause it to miss the full-year growth target,’ he added.

Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed that the economy expanded by 5.4 percent in the first quarter and 5.5 percent in the second quarter.

The PSA is set to release the country’s third-quarter GDP figures on November 7.