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Bicol Congressman Elizaldy Co is toast. He will be convicted and jailed, perhaps for a long time. His name will be generic for ‘corrupt government official of the worst kind.’ ‘I-Zaldy Co mo na ‘yan’ means steal the taxpayers’ money and run.

Co knows his crime. He is a recidivist. He is now on the run, moving from one country to another, hiding from prying eyes and alert Filipinos, while wearing disguises and surrounded by hordes of bodyguards. It will take a long time before Co returns to the Philippines, if ever – unless the Interpol gets into the game.

‘Zaldy Co will be jailed,’ Department of Public Works and Highways Secretary Vince Dizon told his audience during the MOPC Infra Night, Sept. 30 in Makati. ‘The chances of conviction are higher than 80 percent,’ he assured me.

The evidence against the Ako Bicol party-list congressman is compelling, an ‘open and shut case,’ Vince quotes the lawyer of DPWH which is seeking Co’s prosecution. Co’s companies had bagged P86.1 billion worth of DPWH contracts from 2016 to 2025, the second biggest in the country after the Discayas’ P207 billion, the No. 1 in number and amount of DPWH contracts. Most of the projects done by Co and the Discayas for DPWH are either ghost or substandard. That makes them the two biggest thieves of taxpayers’ money – P86 billion and P207 billion, respectively.

The Independent Commission for Infrastructure’s case No. 1 before the ombudsman is a case against Co, Vince Dizon’s first serious attempt to demand accountability from greedy contractors.

Dizon submitted to the ICI the damning evidence involving Co’s Contract No.24E00047 – the construction of a 425-meter-long road dike along Mag-Asawang Tubig River in Barangay Tagumpay, Naujan, Oriental Mindoro for P289.498 million (up from the original cost of P279 million) under the 2024 General Appropriations Act. Co’s Sunwest Inc. won the rigged bidding.

Two bidders made a bid in 2023 – Sunwest and a Discaya company. There is no record that the Discaya company indeed made a bid. The award to Co was courtesy of the notorious DPWH Mimaropa Region IV-B director Gerald A. Pacanan.

Before any DPWH contract could be awarded, the winning bidder must submit a number of documents. Co did not submit any but got the award and Notice to Proceed (NTP) just the same. Co was supposed to finish the river protection in 360 days. He claimed to have done it in much less time and collected full payment despite shoddy construction and use of substandard but overpriced materials. It won’t protect the people of Brgy. Tagumpay from floods. They clearly lost. A no win. For them and for the national government.

Says the ICI: ‘We have yet to be furnished with copies of the various documents which were supposed to have served as preconditions for the signing of the contract (i.e., performance security; construction Methods, construction schedule, Manpower schedule, equipment utilization schedule, construction safety and health program, contractor’s al-risk insurance, latest income and business tax returns, tax clearances, certification that the contractor is free and clean of all tax liabilities, integrity pledge). For now, we cannot discount the possibility that these documents may not exist at all, or were not submitted in accordance with prevailing laws and regulations.’

What Co did with the Brgy. Tagumpay project and similar projects in Naujan will make you puke in anger and disbelief. The steel sheet piles for the project should have been 12 meters. Co’s company installed only three meters or just 25 percent, giving Sunwest an implied profit of 75 percent. In addition, the installed sheet pile was found to be substandard or below spec.

Only 22 days after the Notice to Proceed on March 14, 2024, Co claimed 25 percent completion. DPWH promptly paid P58.672 million with the gall to claim ‘Phase IV under contract with Sunwest, Inc. have been accomplished consistent with the plans and specifications, and inspected with due consideration on the quality of workmanship.’ The certification was signed by seven DPWH Mimaropa officials led by Pacanan.

Protests the ICI: ‘Certifications aside, the discovery of the apparent substandard steel sheet piles likewise casts grave doubt as to whether all supporting documents for the first progress billing were duly submitted. Moreover, the geotagged progress photos can hardly justify or accurately depict the actual progress of the works.’

Co’s Sunwest submitted only two photographs – a dimly lit photograph of steel sheet piles and a photograph of workers supposedly engaged in ‘clearing and grubbing’ to prove 25 percent ‘progress.’

Says ICI: ‘There are no other photographs submitted to demonstrate a purported 25.03 percent work accomplishment, a mere 22 days after the Notice to Proceed was issued. Making the said progress photos all the more anomalous or suspect is that they were the very same photographs used in support of Progress Billing No. 2.’

Adds ICI: ‘On 25 June 2024, and in support of Progress Billing No. 2, Monthly Certificate of Payment No. 24062068 was issued for the period 16 March 2024 to 15 May 2024 (or a period of 60 days), in the amount of P35,134,206.86. This Certificate of Payment was supported by a Contractor’s Statement of Work Accomplished for the same period, which indicated a supposed completion rate of 40.0225 percent. The very same progress photographs in support of Progress Billing No. 1 were used to support this second Progress Billing.’

‘And unlike Progress Billing No. 1, there appears to have been no Certificate of Inspection issued in support of Progress Billing No. 2 (at the very least, the Commission has yet to be furnished a copy). Disbursement Voucher No. 2406206822 and the corresponding LDDAP-ADA was issued in support of the second partial payment of P35,134,206.86 to Sunwest. Sunwest, in turn, issued an Official Receipt No. 0024266 dated 28 June 2024, confirming receipt of the disbursed amount.’

Co committed similar shenanigans and stole our money.

Sam Bruce cooled off with an even-par 70 after an impressive opening 68 but safely secured her place in the weekend rounds of the Epson Tour Championship at Indian Wells in California, where American Anne Chen surged into the solo lead on Friday (Saturday Manila time).

Bruce, who dazzled in the first round with a four-under-par start, carded four birdies but dropped two bogeys for a 35-35 split in the second round. Her two-day total of 138 put her at six-under, tied for 23rd and six shots behind the pacesetting Chen.

Despite losing momentum in the second round, Bruce, winner of the opening leg of this year’s Ladies Philippine Golf Tour, remains very much in the mix heading into moving day. A strong weekend could vault the rising talent into serious contention, especially with her proven ability to go low. A breakout win is not out of the question if she can rediscover her first-round form and handle the pressure of a packed leaderboard.

Meanwhile, Clariss Guce rebounded superbly from a rocky opening 73, firing a sizzling six-under 66, highlighted by a pitch-in eagle on the par-4 17th. The US-based Filipina and two-time Epson Tour winner climbed to joint 31st at five-under 139, putting herself back in striking distance for a solid finish.

Dottie Ardina, backed by ICTSI, stumbled to an even-par 72 following her first-round 69, slipping to a share of 50th at three-under 141 – just making the cutline.

She started brightly with two early birdies, moving to five-under overall. However, a pair of bogeys from No. 12 halted her charge, and she had to grind out pars to secure her weekend berth in the $250,000 event.

At the top of the leaderboard, Chen produced a scorching 64 – powered by a six-under 30 on her opening nine – to post a 12-under 132 total. She grabbed a one-shot lead over in-form Yana Wilson.

Chen’s round featured three straight birdies from No. 3, and though a lone bogey on the sixth marred her otherwise clean card, her consistent play under near-ideal conditions set the tone for the field.

Wilson, a two-time Epson Tour winner in her rookie season, stayed hot with a 65 and shares second place at 134 with Alice Hodge (68) and Sophia Schubert (69).

The government is expected to impose a temporary halt on onion imports by February next year to prioritize the local harvest and safeguard farmers’ incomes without disrupting market supply or burdening consumers.

Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. said the suspension would take effect about a month before the peak harvest period to prevent oversupply in the market.

‘For onions, definitely we will stop importation one month before harvest, which is around February,’ Tiu Laurel told reporters on the sidelines of the 47th meeting of the ASEAN Ministers on Agriculture and Forestry (AMAF).

Tiu Laurel explained that imports of white onions began as early as last month, which helped bring down retail prices to about P100 to P120 per kilo from a high of P160 before importation.

He added that shipments of red onions are also expected to enter the country starting Oct. 15 in time to stabilize supply ahead of the holiday season.

The secretary said that prices of red onions spiked to as high as P140 to P160 per kilo in the past week.

This, he said, prompted him to quietly authorize the early entry of shipments to temper the increase.

Tiu Laurel also gave an initial estimate of the red onion imports, saying the volume could range between 3,000 and 5,000 metric tons (MT).

According to the government’s onion industry roadmap 2021 to 2025, efforts are aimed at raising national onion production to 279,270 MT from 229,539 MT by expanding cultivated areas and improving crop yields.

The roadmap said that most of the country’s roughly 35,000 onion farmers grow their crops on small plots averaging 0.5 hectare (ha) per household across select regions.

With such limited land, these farmers primarily rely on family labor, earning around P5,100 per man-day for bulb onions and P2,100 for shallots.

Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) for 2020 shows the major onion-growing regions in the country are Ilocos, Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon and the Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon, Palawan region.

Bulb onions occupy 79 percent of the total area at 14,453 ha while shallots cover 21 percent at 3,938 ha.

From 2011 to 2020, PSA data shows that production increased at an average annual rate of 10.72 percent, to 229,539 MT from 128,837 MT, while area planted grew by an average of 4.91 percent annually, to 18,391 ha from 14,641 ha.

It would seem that even nature is constantly reminding us of how corruption can ruin our country.

Aside from the persistent flooding that constantly brings to the attention of the public the corruption alleged on flood-control project dealings, Typhoon Opong and the southwest monsoon have also caused more than their fair share of damage throughout 13 regions in the country.

According to a report from the Department of Education, a total of 1,370 classrooms were damaged by the typhoon and the monsoon. Of that number 891 classrooms sustained minor damage, 225 major damage, and 254 totally destroyed. An estimated 13.3 million learners are now affected as well as 569,000 personnel in 23,796 public schools across those regions.

There was no mention as to how many of these damaged or destroyed classrooms had just been built for this new school year, but for those that have just been built only to be ruined, we can consider that money down the drain.

Of course, those classrooms will have to be repaired or rebuilt, there’s no arguing that. Our learners need somewhere to learn. Of course, these repairs will have to be shouldered by the government, and that means the taxpayers have to pay for it.

Now we can’t help but think this is where our taxes ought to be going, instead of ending up in the pockets of a few greedy politicians and their favored contractors.

Now we can’t help but think that if public money hadn’t ended up somewhere else we would have some ready cash for this development.

This makes the search for the truth behind corruption in the flood-control projects as well as the punishment of those found responsible all the more important.

It cannot be helped that we happen to be one of the countries most frequently hit by natural disasters, including ones that destroy classrooms. And with six more storms expected to enter the Philippine Area of Responsibility before the year ends, there’s no telling if more classrooms will need to be repaired or rebuilt again.

Are there intelligent beings in space?

Consider this conversation between two aliens:

Alien 1: ‘The dominant life forms on Planet Earth have developed satellite-based nuclear weapons.’

Alien 2: ‘Impressive. So these earthlings must be emerging as an intelligent species?’

Alien 1: ‘Not really. They have them aimed at themselves.’

Now, back to us humans. The question is: Are you intelligent?

I’m sure you are. And here’s the thing about intelligent people: they instinctively know the habits and practices that reflect intelligence. They also know the things they have to avoid.

We all have blind spots, we all make mistakes, and we all need improvement. The unintelligent person is not the one who struggles or fails. It’s the one who knows there’s a problem but denies it, defends it, and refuses to change.

Are you intelligent? I am sure you are. Intelligent people would instinctively know both the things they do well and the things they should avoid.

We often praise emotionally intelligent people for what they do: they listen, they empathize, they adapt. But sometimes it’s not the habits you practice, but the habits you avoid that make the difference.

As the saying goes, ‘Smart people know what to say. Wise people know whether to say it at all.’

Here are seven habits emotionally intelligent people refuse to entertain – and why avoiding them can help you succeed in work and in life:

1. Reacting impulsively instead of responding accordingly

Have you ever written an email during an emotional state and then wished for an actual ‘unsend’ feature in everyday life? People with emotional intelligence recognize this common pitfall. The ‘pause’ button replaces the ‘send’ button in their workflow. People who practice emotional intelligence choose to delay their responses until their emotional turmoil subsides. The impulsive nature of their reactions leads to enduring regrets that could have been avoided.

Don’t let temporary emotions make permanent decisions.

2. Blowing setbacks out of proportion

A failed project. A missed target. A wrong call. Every person faces these types of situations at some point in their life. The difference? People with emotional intelligence can prevent minor issues from escalating into major disasters.

People who understand failure as feedback instead of calling themselves failures. Thomas Edison explained his process by saying, ‘I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.’

The way you view setbacks determines whether they become stepping stones for success.

3. Gossiping

Every office has its unofficial ‘radio station,’ and the name of the station is ‘DZMARITESS.’ Emotionally intelligent people don’t tune in. They know gossip poisons culture, kills trust and turns colleagues into factions. Instead of listening to the grapevine, they go to the source.

Gossip makes you look small; integrity makes you stand tall.

4. Criticizing and putting others down

Feedback functions as a vital element for personal growth. People who possess emotional intelligence use feedback to help others grow and improve, rather than using it for destructive purposes. The purpose of their feedback delivery remains to assist others rather than to make them feel embarrassed or humiliated. They provide handy answers instead of delivering negative feedback. Criticism communicates defeat to others, but coaching offers them solutions to enhance their future performance. One destroys trust, the other builds it.

Be a coach, not a critic. Nobody ever grew from being belittled.

5. Suppressing their emotions

EQ doesn’t mean ignoring your feelings; it means acknowledging, owning and sharing them in the proper context. The worst mistake is bottling things up until you explode like a shaken soda bottle. Emotionally intelligent people don’t deny emotions; they process them. They discuss how they feel in safe spaces and use their emotions as a basis for making better choices.

Silence may look strong, but healthy expression is stronger.

6. Avoiding tough conversations

No one likes tough conversations, whether it’s confronting a colleague, addressing underperformance, or admitting mistakes. But emotionally intelligent people know avoiding them only makes the problem bigger. They prepare, calm themselves and face the issue directly but respectfully. They speak truth with empathy, not hostility.

Hard conversations may hurt for a moment, but avoidance hurts for much longer.

7. Holding grudges

Grudges feel good at first. Like scratching an itch, it gives temporary relief but leaves lasting damage. Emotionally intelligent people know resentment is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to get sick. They don’t forget, but they let go for their own peace.

Forgiveness is not about excusing the other person; it’s about freeing yourself from the burden of resentment.

Learning what not to do is just as powerful as knowing what to do. When you avoid the traps that trip others up, you sharpen your edge in work, leadership and life. True brilliance isn’t about being perfect – it’s about being wise enough to sidestep the wrong turns.

After all, success is not only built on the decisions you make, but also on the mistakes you refuse to repeat.

Catch Kongversations with Francis on YouTube and all major podcast platforms – Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and more. Plus, listen to Inspiring Excellence wherever you stream.

Latest market surveys say that one can buy illicit cigarettes for P3 to P4 per stick. In contrast, the lowest priced legal brand goes for P7 per stick.

The choice is obvious. The three-to-four-peso difference seals the deal for many Filipinos. It also makes cigarettes cheaper for minors who are experimenting with and exploring tobacco at their tender age and the poor.

One of every five cigarettes sold in the country today comes from illegal sources, untaxed and unregulated. In just four years, illicit cigarette trade in the Philippines has more than tripled, from 7.4 percent of total volumes in 2021 to 20.9 percent in 2025. This reflects a staggering 182 percent increase in just four years, equivalent to an average annual growth of almost 30 percent.

As a result, smoking prevalence has risen for the first time in 15 years, from 18.5 percent of adults in 2021 to 23.2 percent in 2025, reversing years of progress under the Sin Tax Law.

More alarmingly is the doubling of youth smokers (10 to 19 years old) from 2.3 percent to 4.8 percent over the same period.

Of this number, Mindanao continues to be the hotbed of illicit cigarette products with over 50 percent incidence followed by Luzon (7.4 percent) and Visayas (4.8 percent) as of end-2024.

These developments pose threats to our economy, to public health, to national security and to the livelihood of many Filipinos.

Illegal cigarette trade has caused the government to lose revenue. Collections dropped from P176 billion in 2021 to an estimated P113 billion in 2025. The Bureau of Internal Revenue estimates annual losses of at least P50 billion due to smuggling and illegal manufacturing.

The government slaps an excise tax on tobacco products. This is implemented progressively, and the tax for this year is P66.15 per pack. This is intended to curb smoking, on the one hand, and sustain government revenues on the other.

Legitimate manufacturers and importers of cigarettes suffer from lower volumes, translating into lower excise and value-added taxes for the government. This means less funding for Universal Health Care (PhilHealth) and the Department of Health (DOH)’s Health Facilities Enhancement Program. Lost revenue from tobacco excise taxes deprives millions of Filipinos of essential health services.

Equally worse is the fact that these cheap illicit cigarettes contain harmful chemicals such as cadmium, lead and contaminants like insect parts and human waste. Furthermore, the rise of counterfeit products like ‘tuklaw’ cigarettes, which contain synthetic cannabinoids, has led to severe health issues, including seizure-like symptoms.

And then, there is the effect of illicit cigarettes on the lives and livelihoods of tobacco farmers in the Philippines. There are currently 2.2 million Filipinos dependent on the tobacco industry, according to the National Tobacco Administration, whose families depend on their earnings from locally grown tobacco to sustain their families and help send their children to school.

Legal cigarette production has dropped from 62.6 billion sticks in 2021 to 39.1 billion in 2025, leading to lower tax contributions and reduced economic activity.

Illicit cigarettes also fuel organized crime and are linked to corruption, drug and arms smuggling, human trafficking and terrorism.

The rise of illicit trade undermines the objectives of Republic Act 11346 or the Sin Tax Law and undermines the DOH’s goal of achieving a 30 percent relative reduction in tobacco use in the Philippines.

To be sure, the trend has not just been observed in the Philippines. Other countries have also had their share of problems fueled by illicit cigarette trade.

For instance, sharp duty hikes have incentivized smuggling in Hong Kong, thus halving revenues from legitimate tobacco trade. Seizures of illicit cigarettes have tripled.

Malaysia, for its part, experienced a significant rise in illicit cigarette trade following an increase in excise taxes. While Malaysia did not double the excise tax, it raised the rate from RM280 per 1,000 sticks to RM400 per 1,000 sticks in 2015. The steep and substantial 43 percent increase in excise taxes in 2015 led to a 42 percent rise in the consumption of illicit cigarettes, with no significant decline in overall cigarette consumption (16.7 billion sticks in 2015 vs. 15.1 billion in 2024).

As a result, the illicit cigarette market now accounts for half of all cigarette sales in Malaysia, costing its government a staggering RM5 billion annually or P68 billion.

Australia has a more daunting situation, with illicit tobacco trade going beyond mere revenue loss. Rather, the trade has been directly linked to organized crime and terrorism. Syndicates are now using arson as a weapon. Worse, these have also been connected to foreign state-backed destabilization efforts.

What is happening in the Philippines and in other countries transcends fiscal or regulatory issues. Urgent and decisive action is needed.

What, then, can be done about the proliferation of illicit tobacco products in the Philippines?

We need greater collaboration between the public and private sectors. Any excise hike beyond five percent per annum carries the risk of fanning illicit trade. There should also be laws that would close legal loopholes and deter the activities of smugglers and illegal manufacturers. Increased inter-agency cooperation for tracking, tracing and enforcement should be institutionalized.

Alongside efforts to ensure that the people’s taxes are spent prudently as planned, instead of lining the pockets of corrupt officials, we must also pay attention to arresting the detrimental effects of illicit cigarette trade on our public coffers. Much can be done with the revenues being lost. We hope the government listens and cracks down on illegal manufacturers and traders who are sapping the life out of our industries and our people.