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To curb the spread of illegal drugs during the holiday break, police arrested three alleged major drug traffickers in separate buy-bust operations in Quezon province Thursday and Friday.

The twin operations yielded over P17.9 million worth of ‘shabu’ (crystal meth) and an unlicensed firearm, according to Colonel Romulo Albacea, Quezon police chief.

On Thursday afternoon, operatives of the Quezon Police Drug Enforcement Unit nabbed a 27-year-old woman known as ‘Rica’ at 3:09 p.m. after she sold P5,000 worth of shabu to an undercover agent in Barangay Cotta, this city.

Recovered from the suspect were 36 plastic sachets containing about 875 grams of suspected shabu.

Based on the Dangerous Drugs Board’s standard valuation of P6,800 per gram, the haul was initially pegged at P5.95 million. However, authorities said its street value could reach as high as P17.85 million at P20,400 per gram.

‘The illegal drugs were meant for distribution in Lucena City and nearby towns during the All Souls’ Day observance,’ Albacea told journalists, noting that syndicates often take advantage of the influx of vacationers during the holidays.

Rica, a resident of the same barangay, is listed as a high-value individual (HVI) on the police drug watchlist-a classification reserved for major financiers, traffickers, and syndicate members.

In a separate operation at 4:45 a.m. Friday, police in Infanta town arrested two suspects identified as ‘Rolando’ and ‘Jojo’ during a sting conducted inside a public cemetery.

Authorities seized from them five sachets of suspected shabu weighing 35.7 grams, with a street value of about P728,280, along with a Magnum .357 Smith and Wesson revolver loaded with three bullets and lacking proper documentation.

A motorcycle allegedly used in their illegal trade was also confiscated.

Police identified Rolando as an HVI, while Jojo is categorized as a street-level pusher.

Investigators are tracing the source of the illegal drugs peddled by the three suspects.

All suspects are detained and face charges for violating the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002. Rolando and Jojo will also be charged with illegal possession of firearms

The waters have stayed murky and the ground treacherously slick. There’s barely a patch of dry land left to place candles or flowers.

Yet All Souls’ Day will push through in several coastal towns of Pampanga, even as cemeteries there have remained flooded since June.

In Masantol town, Mayor Danilo Guinto has improvised footpaths made of sandbags to help residents reach tombs and niches submerged under one to two feet of water.

Through Executive Order No. 43, the mayor also designated ‘common candle areas’ in the town’s public cemetery, as well as in private burial grounds such as Sta. Elena, Holy Spirit, St. Michael, and Eternal Peace.

These shared candle areas, set up on higher ground, feature metal candle holders lent by a local Catholic church. The local government has also provided a tent and covered its rear with tarpaulin to shield visitors from the elements.

‘It is difficult to fill the ground with soil or sand because the floods are up to two feet,’ Guintu said in a phone interview on Thursday.

So aside from cleaning cemeteries, he said the setting up help desks, traffic rerouting, parking management, foot paths and common candle areas are what the local government could only do.

‘Far worse’

In Macabebe, the situation is ‘far worse,’ according to Vice Mayor Vince Flores. ‘The conditions are so different now,’ he said in a phone interview, referring to the long lingering floods. ‘Malalim masyado (It’s too deep),’ Flores added.

For one, floodwaters reached ‘lampas tao (head-high)’ in the old public cemetery in Barangay San Rafael on Thursday, according to municipal engineer Lorenzo Vicente Nabong.

‘Residents whose loved ones are interred at the topmost levels of the apartment-style tombs reach their dearly departed by swimming,’ he explained.

Because of this, most residents have transferred their kin elsewhere, leaving the old cemetery in San Rafael virtually abandoned, said Jomel Cruz, head of the municipal disaster risk reduction office.

In previous years, floodwaters would subside in just three days, Nabong said. But this year, that has not been the case. Several families now operate pumps to draw water out of their homes and have built sandbag dikes along their frontages.

The most the local government could do was to create pathways by stacking sandbags wherever possible in any of the town’s six cemeteries, Cruz said. To prevent accidents caused by slippery surfaces, residents have been scrubbing the roads, Nabong added.

Residents observing the holy days can at least light candles at the San Nicolas Tolentino Parish Church, Cruz said.

In Minalin, Mayor Philip Naguit led the cleanup of four cemeteries, filling in waterlogged areas or pumping out murky water. He said he also installed solar lights and reconnected electricity at the sites.

‘Under any circumstance, we still honor our dearly departed,’ Naguit said

AB Pascual Foods, the yogurt business under Lucio Tan-led Asia Brewery Inc., is investing P1 billion to construct a long-life yogurt production facility in Laguna, touted to be the first of its kind in the Philippines and Southeast Asia.

Michael Tan, president and chief operating officer of Asia Brewery, said the planned facility would enable them to rely on local production to meet their local yogurt requirements and eventually export to other markets in the region.

‘It will also mark a breakthrough for the industry as we will be producing locally made long-life yogurt, a first in the Philippines and first in Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations),’ Tan said in his speech during the National Dairy Authority’s event in Manila.

Tan said the plant that would produce shelf-stable and long-life yogurt, which will rise beside Asia Brewery’s manufacturing complex in Cabuyao, Laguna, will allow the company to produce dairy on a larger scale.

Joint venture

Construction is set to begin ‘soon,’ with the facility targeted for completion within two years. Tan said the company would rely mainly on internally generated funds to bankroll the project.

‘We don’t have to worry that it’s going to spoil. Because there are many islands in the Philippines, so by the time we get to Mindanao, that’s a few days. Fresh yogurt is 30 days shelf-life. This is much longer,’ Tan said on the sidelines of the event on Wednesday.

AB Pascual Holdings Pte. Ltd.-a joint venture between Asia Brewery and Spanish dairy company Calidad Pascual-currently imports yogurt from Spain and distributes it to the Philippines through the Pascual Creamy Delight Brand.

The brand offers different yogurt variants: original, nonfat, thick and creamy and Greek style.

The company also has a manufacturing plant that produces dairy and soy milk-based beverages located in Sta. Rosa, also in Laguna.

LT Group

Tan said Asia Brewery sees growing local demand for yogurt as Filipino consumers are becoming more health-conscious.

‘Filipinos are learning how to eat yogurt . People are becoming more aware,’ he told reporters.

Asia Brewery is one of the subsidiaries of the listed holding company LT Group. led by tycoon Lucio Tan. It offers alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverage products, such as Asahi Super Dry, Colt 45, Beer na Beer, Cobra, Vitamilk, Absolute, Summit and Pascual yogurt.

Another relatively unknown bet in Russell Bautista, still starstruck playing against some of his heroes, stood out under strength-sapping heat on Thursday to become the new toast of the ICTSI South Pacific Golf Classic in Davao.

A three-putt bogey on the 54th hole ruined what would have been a flawless round, but a five-under-par 67 was enough to give the Cebu native a two-shot lead over Ramil Bisera as two-round leader Jeff Lumbo finally succumbed to the conditions to fire a 74 and be four back.

‘I wasn’t expecting this at all, especially playing against my idols like Angelo Que,’ Bautista, a PGT campaigner for the last two years but never in contention for a title until now, said in Filipino as he moved within a round of breaking through as a pro.

Bisera also fired a 67 for 209, while Lumbo is another shot back after falling off the lead when Bautista birdied the 12th.

Lumbo, from being bogeyless in an opening 67, to shooting a 70 built around four birdies on Wednesday, had just one third-round birdie and all three of his bogeys coming in the last five holes.

Multiple leg winner Guido van der Valk of the Netherlands sits five shots off after a 68, while ex-PH Open champion Clyde Mondilla is among three players another shot behind after a week-best 66.

Que, who finished in the top 30 of the International Series Philippines at Sta. Elena won by Miguel Tabuena last week, fired a 71 like Marvin Dumandan and both are tied with 214 aggregates heading into the final round.

Acting Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief Lt. Gen. Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr. inspected bus terminals in Cubao, Quezon City late Thursday night amid the influx of travelers for All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day, or Undas.

‘We haven’t seen any threats to security, but the security forces are continuously monitoring,’ Nartatez told reporters in an interview during the inspections.

The PNP previously said it deployed 50,253 cops and 5,192 police assistance desks across the country for this year’s commemoration of All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day.

‘We are utilizing our resources, not only our logistics but our personnel as well. Our personnel are always on standby, and we’re utilizing them,’ Nartatez said.

‘Our police are also ready to investigate. Some travelers are being fooled by ticket fraud or tricked as to where to get transport services,’ he added.

Last week, ahead of the holiday exodus, the top cop said he ordered the Anti-Cybercrime Group to flag fake advisories, phishing messages, and online scams pretending to offer travel assistance or cemetery services.

To understand why corruption remains deeply rooted in the Philippines, one must look beyond politics and laws and examine the moral patterns that shape our daily lives. Ours is a nation of faith yet also a nation haunted by dishonesty, patronage, and moral compromise. Every Sunday, millions of Filipinos attend Mass, pray for grace, and seek divine guidance. Yet on Monday, the same society tolerates deception, favoritism, and abuses of power as if they were part of ordinary life.

This is not simply hypocrisy. It is a sociological paradox that the most devoutly Christian nation in Asia continues to struggle with systemic corruption. Christianity has shaped Filipino culture so deeply that it defines our festivals, our language, and even our politics. But while faith permeates our identity, it often functions more as culture than conviction. Religion comforts, but it rarely confronts. It soothes the conscience, but it seldom provokes reform.

As a sociologist, I see this gap between belief and behavior. Filipino Christianity is often practiced as belonging rather than becoming. Faith marks one as part of a community but not necessarily as a participant in moral transformation. It provides symbols and rituals yet sometimes lacks the power to reshape social structures. The result is a kind of cultural Christianity that thrives in devotion but falters in discipline, a faith strong in sentiment but weak in consequence.

Corruption in the Philippines cannot be understood only as greed or theft. It is woven into social systems that blur the line between compassion and compromise. A favor for a friend, a shortcut for convenience, a job for a relative-these can all be justified in the name of care or necessity. In this moral economy, pakikisama or getting along, utang na loob or debt of gratitude, and hiya or sense of shame become guiding values. These are not evil in themselves, but when distorted, they protect wrongdoing instead of discouraging it. We become silent for the sake of harmony, loyal for the sake of kinship, and complicit for the sake of belonging.

Here lies the heart of the sociological problem. Corruption survives not simply through the powerful but through the consent of the ordinary. It is sustained by a culture that confuses kindness with tolerance and faith with resignation.

Christianity was meant to redeem this weakness. The gospel offers not only personal salvation but also a vision of social renewal. Christ preached compassion, yes, but also courage. His call was to justice, honesty, and love that transforms. Yet Filipino Christianity has often settled for comfort over conviction. We pray for a better nation without confronting the injustices that make it worse. We admire the humility of Christ while ignoring His boldness to challenge hypocrisy. Faith becomes a refuge from the world rather than a force to renew it.

The Church, as both a spiritual and cultural institution, occupies a central place in this moral landscape. Its authority is vast, yet it, too, struggles with silence. Homilies speak of sin but rarely of systems. Sermons remind us of heaven but hesitate to name the hells we create here on earth. To be fair, many priests and lay leaders stand courageously for truth and justice. But as an institution, the Church must recover its prophetic voice to remind the faithful that worship without witness is hollow and that prayer without reform is incomplete.

What the Philippines needs is not merely stricter laws but stronger consciences. The renewal we seek is not only institutional but also spiritual and cultural. Integrity must again be seen as a form of social strength, not a liability. The honest must be honored, not mocked. The moral courage to say no in a society of convenience must become the new standard of patriotism.

Christianity, in its essence, is a call to conversion, not only of the soul but of society itself. It asks the believer to embody truth, justice, and compassion in every sphere of life. Our problem is not the absence of faith but the failure to live it beyond the pew. We must reclaim the moral power of Christianity, not as a badge of identity, but as a way of life that resists corruption at every level.

Corruption is not destiny. It is culture, and culture can change. But such change requires more than outrage. It requires conscience. The gospel reminds us that transformation begins in the heart but must never end there. Faith that does not seek justice is sentimentality. Justice that ignores faith is emptiness. Only when faith becomes action and conviction becomes culture will the Philippines finally reconcile its Christianity with its integrity.

Film producer Dondon Monteverde said there is no rivalry between him and his sister Roselle Monteverde in the film production business.

Dondon recently met with members of the press during the partnership launch of his Reality MM Studios and Gerald Anderson’s The Th3rd Floor Studios, where he was asked how he handles competition with his sister Roselle.

‘Una sa lahat, gusto natin suportahan ang pelikulang Filipino. It’s not a competition. It’s really more about producing more films, makapag-bigay ng trabaho, makapag-bigay ng maraming proyekto para maipagmalaki natin ang gawang Filipino. Nagsusuportahan kami (Roselle). Walang inggitan. Fair competition,’ he said.

Dondon’s studio is working with Anderson’s studio for the upcoming film ‘Rekonek,’ which explores a global internet outage and human connection.

Dondon and Roselle are children of the late Lily Monteverde, widely known as Mother Lily, who founded Regal Entertainment Inc. (also called Regal Films). Under Mother Lily’s stewardship, the company produced long-running franchises such as ‘Shake, Rattle and Roll’ and ‘Mano Po,’ which launched the careers of many stars.

Following Mother Lily’s death last year, Roselle now leads Regal Entertainment, while Dondon heads his own production outfit, Reality MM Studios (formerly Reality Entertainment). The studio was co-founded by Dondon and filmmaker Erik Matti.

One of Regal’s latest major releases is the Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) 2024 entry ‘My Future You,’ a romantic comedy starring Francine Diaz and Seth Fedelin, which was among the final films green-lit by Mother Lily before her passing.

The company is also moving ahead with the 17th ‘Shake, Rattle and Roll’ installment, titled ‘Shake, Rattle and Roll: Evil Origins’ (2025), which is set to premiere at this year’s MMFF.

Meanwhile, one of Reality MM’s recent projects is the adaptation of ‘Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum,’ a horror thriller starring Enrique Gil, Jane de Leon and Alexa Miro, among others.

Reality MM also announced a major collaboration with Coco Martin to co-produce two big-budget action films: ‘On the Job: Maghari’ and ‘Maypagasa: The Battles of Andres Bonifacio,’ both set for 2027 release.

While in the same room as Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Billie Eilish encouraged billionaires to extend financial help to the needy amid ‘really dark’ times.

The American singer made the statement during her speech at the Wall Street Journal’s Innovator Awards on Wednesday, Oct. 29, where she was honored with the Music Innovator Award.

‘We’re in a time right now where the world is really, really bad and really dark, and people need empathy and help more than ever, especially in our country,’ she said on the stage.

‘I’d say if you have money, it would be great to use it for good things and maybe give it to some people that need it,’ she continued.

The audience appeared to have nodded in agreement as they applauded and cheered for the ‘Ocean Eyes’ singer.

Eilish continued with a bold statement that alluded to the wealthy attendees at the event.

‘Love you all, but there’s a few people in here that have a lot more money than me,’ she said.

‘And if you’re a billionaire, why are you a billionaire?’ she added, eliciting murmurs at the venue. ‘No hate, but yeah, give your money away, shorties.’

During the event, it was also revealed that Eilish has raised $11.5 million through her ‘Hit Me Hard’ concert tour, which she will donate to organizations addressing food equity and climate change.

Meanwhile, Zuckerberg – who was ranked by Forbes as the fifth-richest man in the world with $228 billion estimated net worth – was present at the event to support his wife Dr. Priscilla Chan, who was also among the honorees.

Aside from Zuckerberg, American filmmaker and philanthropist George Lucas – who created the Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises and reportedly has a net worth of $5.1 billion – attended the event as well.

Thousands of passengers rushed on Friday, October 31, to secure buses in terminals in Cubao, Quezon City, to travel to their home provinces ahead of All Saints and Souls Day, or Undas.

In an interview with the INQUIRER, terminal dispatchers in Cubao said that the peak of passengers arriving at their terminals this Friday was in the morning until noon. In Baliwag bus terminal, 167 buses with a 49-seating capacity or more than 8,000 passengers travelled for Bulacan and Nueva Ecija from its first trip at 12 a.m. until 4 p.m.

For the Five Star bus terminal, 218 buses with a 45-seating capacity, or more than 9,800 passengers, to the Nueva Ecija, Pangasinan, Cagayan, Pampanga, and Isabela routes from 12 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Fifty buses with a 49-seating capacity, or more than 2,400 passengers, left at the Cisco terminal from 1 a.m. to 4 p.m. to Nueva Ecija and Pangasinan. The Solid North bus terminal routing Pangasinan recorded 23 buses with a 45-seating capacity, or more than 1,000 passengers, from 1 a.m. until 4 p.m.

Ten buses with a 45-seating capacity bound for Baguio City left the Genesis terminal from 12 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Bus terminal dispatchers said they expect the influx of passengers to subside on Saturday, All Saints’ Day, adding that most of the Filipinos in Metro Manila have already returned to their provinces. /cb

The Southern Police District (SPD) has deployed almost 1,000 police officers to ensure public safety during the All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day commemoration.

SPD in a statement on Friday said that 968 officers have been deployed across seven police stations under the district’s supervision, strategically located near cemeteries and other places of convergence in the cities of Makati, Taguig, Pasay, Parañaque, Muntinlupa, Las Piñas, and the municipality of Pateros. ‘Of this number, 691 police personnel are assigned to cemeteries and columbaria, 162 are detailed to places of convergence such as malls, churches, and parks, while 115 are deployed to transport terminals including bus stations, MRT/LRT (Metro Rail Transit/ Light Rail Transit) platforms, and airport terminals,’ SPD said.

‘For the deployment in places of convergence, SPD identified key areas that include places of worship, malls, markets, parks, community centers, commercial establishments, tourist destinations, and major transport terminals where large crowds are expected to gather,’ it added.

Furthermore, SPD stated that personnel from other agencies would assist police officers deployed – a combined 449 personnel from the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the Bureau of Fire Protection, the Philippine Coast Guard, local government units, and the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA).

There would also be 3,474 force multipliers who have been ‘mobilized to assist in traffic management, crowd control, and emergency response.’

SPD director Brig. Gen. Randy Ygay Arceo stated that their goal is to ensure the commemoration of All Souls’ Day is conducted safely.

‘Our goal is to ensure that everyone can honor their departed loved ones peacefully and safely. The success of Ligtas Undas 2025 relies not only on our security preparations but also on the cooperation of the public,’ he said.

‘The SPD continues to remind the public to remain alert, follow security protocols, and report any suspicious activities to the nearest police station. Through unity, discipline, and preparedness, the Southern Police District stands firm in providing ‘Serbisyong Mabilis, Tapat, at Nararamdaman’; a public service that is swift, honest, and felt by the community,’ he added.