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Janine Gutierrez uncontrollably burst into tears hours before her birthday as she was reminded of how her late grandmother Pilita Corrales would have celebrated the occasion with her.

Gutierrez, who turned 36 last Oct. 2, showed moments from her birthday trip to Africa with her actor boyfriend Jericho Rosales, through her Instagram page on Tuesday, Oct. 7.

In the caption, the actress narrated, ‘We were having dinner the day before my birthday and when Echo said happy birthday because it was already midnight in Manila, out of the blue, I couldn’t stop crying.’

‘I could hear mamita’s voice in my head singing happy birthday and it just hit me,’ she continued, referring to Corrales. ‘She would always sing happy birthday in her full singing voice and it just kept playing in my head and I really couldn’t stop crying over my seafood like a baby. I don’t know what happened, but I guess that’s grief.’

Gutierrez then disclosed that her yaya, whom she and her siblings treat as their second mother, has been seeking treatment for an undisclosed illness-which made her think twice about leaving for her trip.

‘My siblings said I should go and it would be okay. And then the day before I leave, as I’m about to pack, I find this old letter from mamita as I get my last box of things from my old condo,’ she wrote, showing a photo of the handwritten letter.

‘I don’t even know when this was from but I also kept crying when I found it cos it felt like a message from her saying I should go. Don’t worry,’ she continued.

The actress nonetheless said that she is grateful to be blessed with another year and with people who have been nothing but supportive.

‘It’s been the toughest year but I’m just filled with gratitude for everyone who’s held mine and my family’s hand throughout everything,’ she stated. ‘I’m so grateful for my family and Echo and my friends and my work families and all of you who’ve been there.’

‘I’m so grateful for this trip. It turned out amazing,’ she added. ‘So here’s a dump from my actual birthday. Hindi na ko umiyak. Life is beautiful, just keep showing up.’

Corrales, the mother of Janine’s dad Monching Gutierrez, died last April at the age of 85.

Police have filed criminal charges against a man in South Cotabato for allegedly selling nude photos of minors to foreigners, the Philippine National Police Women and Children’s Protection Center (PNP WCPC) said on Wednesday.

In an interview with reporters in Camp Crame, WCPC spokesperson Maj. Shari Deseo did not name the suspect.

Deseo said he was a 25-year-old with a teacher’s license who was not practicing the profession and was instead operating a small internet cafe and selling snacks to schoolchildren.

‘A case was already filed before the prosecutor’s office against the perpetrator,’ she noted.

The case was for allegedly violating Republic Act No. 9208 or the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act; and RA No. 11930 or the Anti-Online Sexual Abuse or Exploitation of Children (OSAEC) and Anti-Child Sexual Abuse or Exploitation Materials (CSAEM) Act.

‘He takes pictures of the children and make them pose in sexual ways, has them undress, and sells the materials to foreigners. on a social media platform,’ the spokesperson detailed.

‘Three of them were neighbors. One of them is the perpetrator’s sibling,’ she added, further saying the suspect offered the victims P50 to P600 to take pictures of them.

The suspect was arrested at his home in Banga town, South Cotabato last Friday, following a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, according to the WCPC.

During the arrest, the four male minors the suspect allegedly victimized – with ages between 10 and 16 – were brought from their homes to the province’s social welfare and development office to undergo psychological assessment. /apl

Philippine stock market investors lost P1.7 trillion in just three weeks because of corruption behind anomalous flood control projects, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Francis Lim, chair of the SEC, recently told financial executives the billion-peso flood control project scandal had already shaken public confidence, impacting the country’s overall growth prospects.

‘It’s a stark reminder that corruption is a weapon of mass wealth destruction,’ the official said during his speech at the annual conference of the Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines (Finex).

‘When trust breaks down, capital dries up, and everyone-government, business and the public-pays the price,’ he added.

The chief of the corporate watchdog also said the ‘laggard’ market reflected a ‘crisis of confidence’ and that public servants needed to rebuild trust to ensure economic growth.

SEC, a member of the Anti-Money Laundering Council through Lim, recently voiced its support for the lifting of the bank secrecy law to aid in the government investigation into the flood control projects.

Lim clarified, however, that Congress would need to determine whether a full lift would be beneficial, or if there should be certain exemptions.

The Department of Agriculture (DA) has lifted the import ban on poultry products from various countries recently declared free from bird flu.

In separate issuances, the DA said the risk of contamination from importing poultry from Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Saudi Arabia, Slovenia, Sweden and Kelantan and Malaysia’s Sabah states was ‘negligible.’

The DA lifted the import restriction as respective authorities from these countries informed the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH) that all reported cases of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) had ended with resolved status and no additional outbreaks.

To recall, the agency imposed the moratorium on poultry meat, day-old chicks, eggs and semen originating from these areas.

Years-long ban

In 2005 and 2020, respectively, the DA barred the entry of poultry products from Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Saudi Arabia and Slovenia.

Subsequently, in 2017 and 2018, the DA enforced the restriction on poultry imports from Kelantan and Sabah in Malaysia.

Meanwhile, the DA implemented the temporary ban on poultry products from Sweden in March last year.

‘All import transactions of the above commodities shall be in accordance with existing rules and regulations of the [DA],’ the issuances stated.

‘Disruptive’ disease

HPAI is a highly contagious viral disease affecting both domestic and wild birds. This animal disease is considered one of the most economically disruptive animal diseases, particularly for the poultry sector.

‘Avian influenza is also a major concern for public health,’ the WOAH said, noting its devastating consequences for the poultry industry, farmers’ livelihoods, global trade and health of wild birds.

Only Sweden is a major supplier of imported meat among the above-mentioned countries.

In the January to August period, Sweden exported 2.79 million kilograms of pork, equivalent to a market share of less than 1 percent, data from the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) showed.

The BAI data said meat import arrivals had risen by 16.5 percent to 1.06 billion kg during the first eight months, about 400,000 kg short of last year’s 1.5 billion kg.

Government data also showed that pork, chicken and beef were the top meat imports of the Philippines.

There is a pattern here: shoot first, ask questions later. It is a mentality characteristic of the police, but they have no monopoly on it: politically speaking, even many of the well-intentioned indignant over corruption, subscribe to it, or at least, enjoy it.

Former Philippine National Police chief Gen. Nicolas Torre III, Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong, and Sen. Panfilo Lacson, incidentally, all three once upon a time senior police generals, have thrilled at riding high in the public’s estimation, only to smear themselves against an immovable wall of institutionally acceptable conduct. The barrier is this: you really can bite off more than you can chew.

Torre, whatever his justifications might be, indulged in an act of insubordination too far; so did Magalong, who went from adviser to bloodhound after already being cautioned that his acceptance of a presidential task while retaining a local executive’s job (and his own enthusiastic acceptance of political backing from a senator being questioned over his public works record) represented conflicts of interest, no trivial matter for someone presenting himself as the incarnation of good governance; and where have you seen a Senate President Pro Tempore put his Senate President in peril in the manner Lacson did, by casting a wider and wider dragnet even as he inched forward on initial investigations?

In all three instances, their self-proclaimed aims of good governance could have been better-because longer- served-by their having a little more self-control, indulging in a little less grandstanding, and displaying a lot more situational awareness of those who are motivated by already being incriminated in crimes, ready to pounce the moment their tormentors made a mistake.

Of the three, it was Lacson who demonstrated that old habits truly die hard. ‘Gratuitous’ is the precise word to describe his tarring nearly all his colleagues with a wide brush, and ‘imprecise’ is the precise way Senate President Vicente Sotto III had to describe that effort at attributing guilt. Virtually all senators, he said, proposed amendments to the budget in open session, something that is every legislator’s job; but only a few made insertions to it behind closed doors in the small huddles comprising the bicameral conference committee-the scandal at hand.

Sen. JV Ejercito objected to being tarred, and by so doing, set off the alarm that a coup was in the works. Lacson fired off a letter-a formal tantrum-declaring not only his virtue but also his sulky resignation from the chairmanship of the blue ribbon committee. The adults in the room tried to soothe the wounded pride of their colleague.

Sen. Francis Pangilinan revealed, ‘My sense was and is that while there were some colleagues in the majority bloc who disagreed with earlier public pronouncements made by him, the matter had been threshed out and clarified by him in a majority caucus held last Wednesday, Oct. 1. No one in the majority bloc sought his replacement as blue ribbon committee chair,’ adding, ‘I appeal to Sen. Ping to stay on.’ Sotto remarked, ‘Sen. Lacson is frustrated; I will support whatever decision he makes.’

But whether Lacson relents-and it would be good if he did, because he does know how to conduct a thorough investigation-the damage has been done. He rashly painted a target on the entire institution, rending it-and Lacson and his committee-vulnerable because, if true, his accusations extinguished the legitimacy of the Senate.

Were alarmed senators to push through with their warning of a coup, it wouldn’t save their necks but rather paint vivid targets on their backs. On one hand, there would be greater public anger; on the other, it would add to the perception of the foul public mood as fostering adventurism among the original suspects: those already facing cases and fearing future cases, because of the many crimes they can be accused of when it comes to public funds. In a time of extremism-bloodcurdling romanticizing of the Nepal lynchings and burnings, outright sedition by retired officers, and constant rhetorical and social media escalation by the former regime wanting to accelerate the dawn of its own restoration-then the least extreme, because still constitutional, emergency measure not only becomes plausible but objectively necessary.

Recall: there is one official whose popularity is rising, and it’s the President. If the public sees no further utility in Congress and yet is alarmed by efforts of the investigated to shield themselves by inciting military coups and stoking the fires of sedition, no President would be able to resist the invitation to impose order through emergency rule.

Kabataan party-list Rep. Renee Co condemned the subpoenas issued by the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) to two youth leaders for questioning over their alleged involvement in violence during the Sept. 21 anti-corruption rallies.

‘While the people are rising up against corruption, they are trying to silence us. They are quick to prosecute innocent citizens but slow to hold the corrupt accountable,’ Co said in Filipino in a statement on Wednesday.

‘We condemn this kind of repression. The only response to such treatment by the state is the people’s continued struggle in the streets,’ she added.

Co identified two of those subpoenaed as Aldrin Kitsune of the youth group Kabataan Kontra Korapsyon and Jacob Baluyot of the campus journalist alliance Alyansa ng Kabataang Mamamahayag.

In a separate statement on Tuesday night, the College Editors Guild of the Philippines also denounced the subpoena against Baluyot, saying he merely ‘covered the anti-corruption protests that day along with hundreds of student journalists.’

However, during a press briefing at Camp Crame on Wednesday, CIDG public information chief Maj. Helen dela Cruz declined to confirm whether Kitsune and Baluyot were among the four male ‘leaders with large followings’ who had been subpoenaed.

‘Witch hunt’

Asked for comment, in a phone interview with the Inquirer later on Wednesday, Kitsune confirmed police brought the CIDG’s subpoena to his Manila and Quezon City residences last Sept. 30.

But, Kitsune explained he was unable to receive the subpoena personally since he was working with human rights groups assisting the protestors detained during the Mendiola riot. He only managed to access an electronic copy over the weekend.

‘I consulted with paralegals and attorneys about this. They’re also confused. What the CIDG is doing is alarming. Shouldn’t a prosecutor or a judge issue a subpoena?’ he said partly in Filipino.

‘They make it appear like those who protested or rioted were terrorists. That’s the impression for me, which is extremely alarming, traumatizing. I’m just a film student,’ he added in a mix of Filipino and English.

Kitsune said he had been at the Luneta rally with his group since 8 a.m. and arrived in Mendiola at around 3:39 p.m.

The Mendiola program ended and the violence erupted sometime at 3:30 p.m.

Kitsune added that he will answer the CIDG soon with the support of his organizations but did not specify when.

For his part, in a separate phone interview with the Inquirer on Wednesday, Baluyot said the subpoena was dated Oct. 3 and police brought the subpoena to his Manila home last Tuesday while he was in class.

Baluyot is scheduled to appear before the CIDG on Friday.

‘Honestly, I will describe this incident as an orchestrated witch hunting sa mga youth activists at saka sa campus journalists,’ he maintained.

Will he comply with the subpoena? Baluyot answered, ‘Yes. Just to make sure and to clear things up na I’m a campus journalist that day and nothing more than that.’

‘Crimes were committed’

Asked to respond to Co’s statement, Dela Cruz defended the CIDG’s move to summon the individuals.

‘Crimes and violations were committed during the rally, as we saw that there was unrest and violence. The investigation is proper and still ongoing,’ she pointed out in a mix of Filipino and English.

Dela Cruz cited Republic Act No. 10973 as the basis for the CIDG’s authority to subpoena individuals for its investigations and to file a case before a regional trial court for indirect contempt if they fail to appear.

Dela Cruz earlier said only one of the subpoenaed individuals appeared before them last Monday.

The lone respondent, in a phone interview with reporters, identified himself as vlogger Park Alamada Pangawilan.

Pangawilan denied involvement in the riot, saying the violence had already broken out at both Ayala Bridge and the Mendiola Peace Arch when he and his group arrived from another program at Liwasang Bonifacio.

The violence erupted at the foot of Ayala Bridge and the Mendiola Peace Arch – both leading to Malacañang Palace – during and after the Baha sa Luneta rally in Rizal Park on Sept. 21.

Police arrested more than 200 rioters – including over 80 minors – amid the chaos, prompting human rights groups to condemn law enforcement for allegedly failing to exercise maximum tolerance.

The Baha sa Luneta rally, its subsequent program in Mendiola before the riot, and the Trillion Peso March were part of a series of protests denouncing government corruption amid ongoing investigations into alleged irregularities in flood control projects.

Moderate to heavy rain with lightning and strong winds is expected over parts of Quezon and Batangas on Wednesday morning, according to the state weather bureau.

In its 6:50 a.m. advisory, Pagasa’s National Capital Region wing reported that thunderstorms are expected within the next two hours in Quezon province, including the towns of Mauban, Perez, Polillo, Real, Sampaloc, Lucban, Tiaong, San Antonio, Dolores, Tayabas, Candelaria, and Sariaya.

In Batangas, the affected areas are Santo Tomas, Lipa, Tanauan, Malvar, Balete, and Mataasnakahoy.

The agency said similar conditions are being experienced in San Pablo, Nagcarlan, and Rizal in Laguna and may persist for two hours, affecting nearby areas.

In a separate weather forecast, Pagasa reported that rains will continue across the Philippines as the Intertropical Convergence Zone, northeasterly wind flow, and localized thunderstorms persist on Wednesday.

Sen. Erwin Tulfo is the acting chairman of the Senate Blue Ribbon panel at present, said Senate President Vicente Sotto III.

Sotto confirmed the matter to reporters in an ambush interview on Wednesday following an hour-long caucus with the majority bloc.

The Senate president said Senators JV Ejercito, Risa Hontiveros, Pia Cayetano, Raffy Tulfo, and Francis Pangilinan all declined to head the committee.

‘None of the five wants it now. As of now, acting chairman is Sen. Erwin Tulfo. When he comes back, we are going to conduct a blue ribbon meeting,’ said Sotto.

The Senate chief explained that the five declined because they want to focus on their committees.

Tulfo, meanwhile, is the vice chairperson of the powerful blue ribbon committee.

Sotto earlier said that if none of the five senators accept their offer to chair the panel, Tulfo would automatically be named as its head, being the current committee vice chairman.

According to Sotto, committee hearings in the chamber will continue despite the Senate’s scheduled session adjournment on Friday.

‘Just because we’re on break or some are out of town, it doesn’t mean that the Senate will not proceed,’ said Sotto. ‘The reason why we have this break [is] so that the committee hearings continue.’

‘There will be continuous hearings of different committees, most especially the committee on finance,’ he noted.

But now that Tulfo has been designated the acting chairperson of the Blue Ribbon panel, will he become permanent in his post? Sotto said it would be decided upon by Tulfo and the majority.

For now, the Senate president said Tulfo accepted the post: ‘He accepted. He said: ‘Just acting in the meantime, right?”

The search for the next blue ribbon panel head started after Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo Lacson resigned.

In a resignation letter, dated Oct. 7 and addressed to Sotto, Lacson explained how a number of their colleagues have expressed disappointment with the ‘direction’ of the blue ribbon committee hearings regarding the anomalous flood control projects.

‘Some senators publicly and secretly pursue the narrative that I am zeroing in on several of my colleagues while purportedly protecting those members of the Lower House perceived to be the principal actors in the budget anomalies related to the substandard and ghost flood control projects,’ said Lacson.

But according to him, nothing could be further from the truth.

‘This narrative is categorically false. These misrepresentations are being floated mostly by critics opposed to our efforts to get to the bottom of the flood control anomalies,’ he said. /apl

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Wednesday unveiled eight new Petroleum Service Contracts (PSCs) covering exploration areas in the Sulu Sea, Cagayan, Cebu, northwest Palawan, east Palawan and central Luzon.

PSCs are agreements between the government and the private sector that allow the latter to explore, develop and produce petroleum resources within designated areas.

In his speech, Marcos said the agreements would ensure a sufficient energy supply for the present and future generations.

‘Through these service contracts, our country will have a secure supply of energy – enough to meet our needs not only today but also for the future of our children and the generations to come,’ he said.

Valued at USD 200 million, or around P11.6 billion, these PSCs will pave the way for the exploration of offshore gas and oil reserves in Palawan and the Sulu Sea, as well as hydrogen exploration in central Luzon, among others.

‘Consequently, these efforts will capture the interest of more international partners to invest in our country and to join our quest to discover new indigenous resources,’ the president said.

‘We will continue to update and upgrade our processes to make them more responsive to the needs of our investors and our communities. In return, I encourage our investors to turn your investments into engines of progress,’ he added.

The Department of Energy, through its Philippine Conventional Energy Contracting Program, evaluated applications that were found legally, technically, and financially qualified to enter into PSCs for their areas.

Below is the list of the eight PSCs presented during the ceremony:

PSC Nos. 80 and 81 – awarded to a consortium composed of Triangle Energy (Global) Limited, Sunda Energy Plc, and Philippine-based firms PXP Energy Corp. and The Philodrill Corp. were aimed to revitalize petroleum exploration in the southern Sulu Sea

PSC No. 82 – located in the Cagayan basin and awarded to Triangle Energy (Global) Limited

PSC Nos. 83 and 84 – both for native hydrogen exploration in Central Luzon, were awarded to Koloma Inc., a company based in the United States

PSC No. 85 – located in Cebu was awarded to Gas 2 Grid Pte. Ltd.

PSC No. 86 – located in the northwest Palawan basin was awarded to a consortium of Filipino companies composed of The Philodrill Corp., Anglo Philippine Holdings Corp., PXP Energy Corp., and Forum Energy Philippines Corp.

PSC No. 87 – located in the east Palawan basin was was awarded to Ratio Petroleum Ltd. of Israel. /apl

Five women leaders in the Philippine corporate world landed on Fortune Magazine’s list of ‘100 Most Powerful Women Asia.’

They are recognized for being unfazed by global and regional volatility and instead leveraging these challenges to accelerate the growth of their businesses.

Mynt president and CEO, Martha Sazon, ranked highest among the women leaders at the 37th spot.

As chief of Mynt, Sazon oversees the operations of popular e-wallet platform GCash, which now has over 94 million Filipino users.

Last year, Japan’s MUFG Bank invested $393 million into GCash, raising the valuation of this fintech to $5 billion.

Now headed for its stock market debut, GCash is expected to raise as much as $1.5 billion from its initial public offering, making it the largest listing in the Philippines.

Sazon said her inclusion ‘reflects how GCash continues to make a difference in the lives of millions of Filipinos who count on our app every day.’

Property, banking leaders

Ayala Land Inc. (ALI) president and CEO Anna Ma. Margarita Bautista Dy ranked No. 69. The first woman to hold the top position at ALI, Dy heads the real estate giant’s pursuit of a massive P13-billion mall redevelopment project and portfolio expansion across the company’s business units.

Under Dy’s leadership, ALI also took over New World Hotel Makati as part of its $500-million plan to double its hotel room capacity to 8,000 by the end of the decade.

Land Bank of the Philippines president and CEO Lynette Ortiz is at 72nd place, recognized for leading the country’s largest government financial institution.

The seasoned banker has built a strong, three-decade career in the sector. Landbank, which has at least P3.44 trillion in assets and the country’s second-largest bank, is seen to offer competitive product offerings and stand ‘shoulder to shoulder with private banks’ with Ortiz at the helm.

At No. 92 on Fortune’s list is Megaworld Corp. president Lourdes Gutierrez-Alfonso, now leading the company’s plan to expand its township and office empire.

Despite a challenging environment for the real estate sector, Megaworld leveraged the strength of its townships, which have led to record-high profits for the developer.

Alfonso is now focusing on taking charge of Megaworld’s $6.1-billion expansion plan over the next five years.

Next-gen banker

Union Bank of the Philippines president and CEO Ana Maria Aboitiz Delgado is 94th.

Delgado, a fifth-generation member of the Aboitiz family, is currently driving the bank’s digital innovation and customer-centric growth.

‘This recognition reflects her visionary leadership, commitment to innovation and dedication to client-centric service-hallmarks of UnionBank’s aspiration to be the Philippines’ leading Next-Gen Bank,’ UnionBank said in a statement sent to the Inquirer.

‘Ana’s presence on this global list affirms her role in shaping the future of banking not only in the Philippines, but across the region for generations to come,’ it added.

According to Fortune, all the leaders on its list were scored based on the scale and performance of their business, innovation, influence, trajectory and impact.

DBS Group CEO Tan Su Shan topped the list, the first woman to lead the Singapore-based banking giant. INQ