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Bea Alonzo and Dominic Roque have broken up. Here’s a timeline of their relationship. | Marguerite de Leon | 6/2/2024 17:42 | Bea Alonzo's Instagram
MANILA, Philippines – Actress Bea Alonzo and actor-model Dominic Roque have called it quits, showbiz host Boy Abunda confirmed on Tuesday, February 6 in a GMA News report.
“Ako’y nalungkot ho talaga dahil madalas, ‘pag nagkikita kami ni Bea ay nagkakakwentuhan ho kami tungkol sa buhay, tungkol sa kanila, their marriage plans, etcetera. So, I was shocked,” Abunda said.
(I’m so sad over this because when I usually see Bea, we talk about her life with Dominic, their marriage plans, etcetera.)
“As we talk today, yes, hiwalay po si Dominic at tsaka si Bea (Dominic and Bea have separated),” he said, noting, however, that the couple may still work things out.
Alonzo and Roque have been together since 2021. Here is a timeline of their relationship.
Speculations about the pair’s relationship started in July 2020, after Roque posted a photo on Instagram along with the caption, “Tila ako’y nabighani (It seems I’ve been captivated).
The photo showed him and Alonzo with their faces covered, eating in a ramen restaurant in Tokyo, Japan.
A post shared by Dominic Roque (@dominicroque)
In an interview with Mega Magazine published in April 2021, Alonzo confirmed that she was indeed dating Roque but clarified they were not in an “exclusive relationship” yet.
“I decided that I’m not going to be a prisoner of my past. I’m open to falling in love again. I am very careful when it comes to falling so deep again and trusting anybody, but I would like to say that I am open to being happy whether it’s romantically or in that aspect, romance or work,” she said then.
In July 2021, the two further fueled romance speculations when they began posting photos of their trip together to the US on social media. During their West Coast trip, the two were spotted attending the baby shower of former actress Beth Tamayo, who is Roque’s aunt, on July 18. Roque also spent his birthday with Alonzo, which he shared in an Instagram story video.
A post shared by Dominic Roque (@dominicroque)
Roque also posted a series of photos of him and Alonzo sitting on a bench together at a Napa, California park.
“Lover,” he wrote.
A post shared by Dominic Roque (@dominicroque)
In an exclusive interview with 24 Oras released in August 2021, the actress opened up about her love life, saying that she was being cautious about sharing her new relationship with the public.
“It just came out naturally. Alam ko na prior to the posting, marami nang haka-haka ang mga tao-tao (I knew before I posted that there were already rumors going around).… It’s not like I was trying to hide it. I think I was just trying to be careful given my past experience. Siyempre gusto kong masiguro muna kung saan siya pupunta bago siya gawing official (I wanted to make sure where the relationship is heading first before I made it official),” Alonzo said.
The actress said she was thankful for the public’s reaction to her new romance. “A lot of people have been part of my journey and almost everyone in this country knows my story. I appreciate that they are happy for me,” Alonzo said.
“Naiintindihan nila kung saan ako nanggaling, kung saan ako ngayon at saan ko gusto pumunta (They understand where I’m coming from, where I am now and where I plan to be in the future). I’m very appreciative sa mga (of the) reactions.”
“I am happy na (that) everything’s so right, and everything is being celebrated,” she added.
Even if they’ve made their relationship Instagram-official, Alonzo said she’d still prefer to keep it low-key. “Even sa past relationships ko, hindi naman ako super open about it. I think treasured moments ng relationship ay ‘yung moments na hindi na-si-share sa social media. I want to keep it that way,” she said.
(Even in my previous relationships, I’m not super open about [them]. I think the most treasured moments of a relationship are those that aren’t shared on social media. I want to keep it that way.)
The two celebrated their first year together on January 28, 2022, with Alonzo getting more candid about their relationship on social media.
On Instagram, the actress posted a photo of her and Roque locked in an embrace and looking into each other’s eyes.
“It took so much patience from you, but here we are. And I have to say, it’s one of the best decisions I’ve ever made,” she said in the caption. “Happy anniversary, hun.”
A post shared by bea alonzo (@beaalonzo)
The two were ready to tie the knot after more than two years of dating.
The actress shared on in July 2023 black-and-white photos of the proposal that took place at the Las Casas Filipinas de Acuzar in Bataan.
Alonzo narrated that she was there for a shoot with celebrity fashion photographer Mark Nicdao, recalling that Nicdao asked her to turn around for one of his shots, only to see Roque kneeling before her with a ring in sight.
“I was there for a shoot, but little did I know that the next thing that would happen would change our lives forever,” she wrote. “When I turned around, I found Dom kneeling with a box in his hand.”
The actress continued that while she has done “so many proposal scenes in [her] entire career” in showbiz, it still hits different to experience it in real life. “Nothing beats the real thing,” she said.
“Everything went in slow motion. And I felt different emotions all at the same time – joy, excitement, love. I started bawling,” she added.
Alonzo said that she didn’t want that moment to end. “I want this real thing to happen forever. And right then and there, in front of the people we love, we decided on forever.”
Alonzo also released a vlog on the engagement a few weeks later.
In November 2023, the actress shared a vlog of her preparing for her Europe trip with now-fiancé Roque. Alonzo said that she would be there for around 20 days and would visit Milan, Lugano, Florence, Tuscany, and Madrid.
“It’s a really important trip for both Dom and I. Ito rin ‘yung unang beses na makakatira aka sa bahay ko sa Madrid,” she said.
(This is the first time that I’ll be able to live in my house in Madrid.)
She also shared another reason why this upcoming Europe trip is memorable for her: “Makukuha ko na ‘kung residency card ko (I’ll be getting my residency card). So I will be an official resident of Spain,” she said.
Aside from that, Alonzo also hinted that she’s also working on a special project during the trip which she described will “show a different facet of [her] as an entrepreneur.”
“It has always been my dream to own an apartment in Europe for my family. And finally, it happened,” she said. “After many years of hard work, and weighing things whether I should buy or not I have decided to just take a leap and do it.”
A week after Abunda revealed the couples’ split, Alonzo and Roque themselves confirmed the news in an Instagram post on Sunday, February 11.
“After much thought, consideration, and care, we have mutually decided to amicably end our engagement,” they wrote in the post. “It was not an easy decision. We wanted to have more time to carefully deliberate and pray about it, but there have been many speculations, questions, and insults.”
“Unfortunately, some even confirmed our break-up without our consent, and some created ridiculous stories that had no basis and were utterly false, so we felt the need to share this announcement with great sadness, for our peace of mind and our families,” they wrote in the post. – Rappler.com
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O Captain, my captain: Alyssa Valdez relishes reunion with fellow leader Bea de Leon | jisaga0269 | 11/2/2024 14:08 | TOGETHER AGAIN. Alyssa Valdez (left) and Bea de Leon (right) pose with Creamline and Choco Mucho players in the 2023 PVL Second All-Filipino Conference awarding ceremony
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MANILA, Philippines – Hard-nosed leaders are always appreciated in any team of any sport, and the already loaded Creamline Cool Smashers just got one more ahead of the 2024 PVL season.
Amid the wildest and most high-profile free agent scramble in league history, the record-setting seven-time PVL champions got even better by snagging former Choco Mucho stars Denden Lazaro-Revilla and Bea de Leon, who was then the Flying Titans captain.
Alyssa Valdez, current Creamline captain, couldn’t be happier that her team is once again surging with talent and leadership shortly after the departures of former MVPs Jia de Guzman and Celine Domingo.
“Honestly, I was very excited when they announced that Bea would be a part of the Creamline Cool Smashers,” Valdez said during a recent Allianz sponsorship event joined by both Rebisco sister teams.
“There are a lot of memories and a lot of firsts during our Ateneo days. It’s just so nice to do that again in a professional league with Creamline.”
Nearly a decade ago in UAAP Season 77, the stars aligned for Valdez, already a college senior, and a rookie De Leon, both leading Ateneo to a rare 16-0 season sweep on the way to a championship.
As Valdez went on to volleyball superstardom with Creamline after Season 78, De Leon stayed with the Blue Eagles and further honed her dominance at the nets.
The 5-foot-11 middle blocker then led Ateneo to one last championship under her watch in Season 81 in 2019, alongside her future Choco Mucho teammates Maddie Madayag, Kat Tolentino, and Deanna Wong.
Once with the Flying Titans, De Leon remained a force to be reckoned with, scoring kill blocks and attacks with an animated swagger that soon became a standard Choco Mucho momentum booster, whether or not they were winning games with their young group.
Valdez hopes that with Creamline, De Leon continues to be a confident on-court figure despite losing her rotation spot amid the Flying Titans’ breakthrough finals bid last All-Filipino Conference.
“One thing I miss about Bea is her energy as well. I think we all know that Creamline has been very ‘happy, happy,’ so I think it’s a good balance also seeing how Bea would react and celebrate every point, and we’ll also support her also in that way,” Valdez continued.
“Bea will be a great part to our team and we’re just really looking forward for her to shine and get her game back.” – Rappler.com
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On hero ball and wish lists: Lessons learned from Gilas past | Jasmine Payo | 11/2/2024 15:13 | FAN FAVORITE. Jordan Clarkson and Gilas Pilipinas acknowledge the crowd after a game in the 2023 FIBA World Cup,
FIBA
MANILA, Philippines – 2024 signaled a fresh start for the Gilas Pilipinas program. Although the coach and the players are not totally new, the program is, and it ushers in a new system, environment, and end objective.
In what is another reboot to Gilas Pilipinas, Tim Cone was appointed permanent national team head coach, and he subsequently named just 12 players who will form the core of the national team.
The idea is to keep the 12 together for the next four years, with the hope of qualifying and advancing deep in the 2027 FIBA World Cup.
Although Cone left a window for additions in case of injuries to the core, he also emphasized that for the most part, he will stick with the 12 in the tournaments that Gilas Pilipinas will be joining, beginning with the FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers this February.
There have been skepticism about the rationale in sticking to just 12 players and questions about why certain players were not included.
Names such as Rhenz Abando, Justine Baltazar, and Jordan Heading have been frequently mentioned. Other notable omissions are Thirdy Ravena, who has been on a tear in the Japan B. League, leading his club, the San-En NeoPhoenix, to the top of the standings, and Matthew Wright, hands down the best Filipino player in Japan the past two seasons.
Angelo Kouame has been a force for the UB Chartres Métropole in the French League Division 3 and should have been a worthy consideration for the lone naturalized player spot that has been allotted to the recently reinstated Justin Brownlee.
But it is hard to argue with the wisdom of a coach who is largely considered the best in the local shores and who has already proven he could also triumph in the international arena.
One can only hope that this latest iteration of Gilas Pilipinas will be run and supported by people who will have the patience, the thoroughness and the discipline to stick to the program and allow it to run its course as designed by Cone and his brain trust.
There were a number of circumstances in the previous versions of Gilas that should not plague Cone’s program for it to be successful.
Cone, being the astute and grizzled tactician that he is, may have probably already studied his Gilas history to know the things that worked and things that could have been done better.
An early positive sign for Tim Cone is that he seemed to have filled up his 12-man roster with the players on his wish list. This was rarely the case for previous Gilas programs.
Tab Baldwin had his hands tied behind his back when he was deputized in 2015 to helm the Gilas team that was vying to win the solitary Asian ticket to the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Baldwin was deprived of the opportunity to tap any of the players from the San Miguel teams.
Marc Pingris eventually joined the national team and once again took on the role of the defensive anchor of the team, the only one from the SMC bloc who chose country over club.
Credit goes to Baldwin who, despite the lack of materials, still steered Gilas to a runner-up finish in the 2015 FIBA Asia Championship, just a game short of earning an Olympic spot
The 2013 Gilas had its own share of limitations as Chot Reyes was only allowed to pick one player per PBA team based on the parameters set by the pro league for the national squad.
Since 2008, there have been close to 10 versions of Gilas Pilipinas that have been assembled. None of these teams stayed together for four years.
The longest a squad stayed together was Gilas 1.0, which was formed in 2008 under coach Rajko Toroman with the aim of qualifying for the London Olympics by winning the 2011 FIBA Asia Olympic qualifiers held in Wuhan, China.
But the team that was fielded in the qualifiers was not composed exclusively of those who were part of the Toroman pool.
PBA players Asi Taulava, Kelly Williams, Ranidel de Ocampo, and Jimmy Alapag were inserted months before the qualifiers, practically relegating to the sidelines the three-year preparation that was intended to make the players one cohesive unit.
Gilas 2.0 under Reyes ran from the time they won the SEABA and the Jones Cup in 2012 to the 2014 FIBA World Cup in Spain.
Baldwin’s Gilas 3.0 had an even shorter life span, lasting from 2015 to 2016.
Since then, there have been nine coaches who have been given the head coaching mantle of Gilas, with Reyes the longest tenured, handling the program two more times, from 2016-2018 and from 2022-2023.
Cone himself was appointed Gilas coach twice, the 2019 Southeast Asian Games and the 2023 Asian Games. Both instances, Gilas brought home the gold.
If Cone manages to maintain his program until 2027, he would become the longest-serving national team coach in the last 70-plus years.
The age-old dilemma of the Gilas program has been the PBA’s unwillingness to make a radical change in its calendar to allow the national team more time to prepare.
The PBA can mount press conferences all day long, mouth platitudes declaring its full commitment to the Gilas program and publicly declare plans to adjust league schedules to give the national team more time to prepare. At this point, everyone knows these are all lip service.
The Gilas team under coach Yeng Guiao was given just 10 full days of training to prepare for the 2019 FIBA World Cup.
That team lost its first two games by an average deficit of 52 points.
Cone recognizes the hand he has been dealt with.
“We are trying to minimize the amount of preparation that we need to get into each window,” Cone said. “We are going to prepare for only seven days for the first window [of the FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers], 10 days for the second, and five days for the third.”
Cone hopes that by not having a revolving-door policy in the national pool, the 12 players selected will eventually establish chemistry which will cover up for the short preparation time they will be given by the PBA.
In the closing minutes of the game between Gilas Pilipinas and the Dominican Republic during the opening playdate of the 2023 FIBA World Cup, the Dominicans scored on well-run plays while the Filipinos failed to convert from their isolations and forced attempts. The visitors escaped with a close 87-81 victory.
In Brownlee, Cone will have a clutch player who can take over a game but still play within the system.
The resident Ginebra import, in fact, has always been known for his willingness to blend with teammates. To describe him as perfect for the kind of national team Cone envisions would be stating the obvious. Brownlee has an Asian Games gold medal as proof of that.
In the past two editions of the FIBA World Cup, the Gilas teams played with an over-reliance on their go-to stars, Andray Blatche in 2019 and Jordan Clarkson in 2023.
It was similar to a boxer telegraphing his attack, and the Gilas squads wound up getting read like alphabet by opposing teams. Both squads operated within systems that were predictable and seemed out of touch with the dynamics and nuances of the international game.
Cone displayed both imagination and guile when he led the Philippines to its first Asian Games gold medal in 61 years, without totally veering away from his magic that has always worked in the PBA. He wins more than he talks and is not known to invite drama nor call attention to himself.
But Cone has not been tested in FIBA-level events and in competitions outside of the Asian region. Whether his formula for the new Gilas program will work will be known in the coming months. – Rappler.com
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Dropping the antics, Abueva turns into key player for Magnolia in PBA finals | delfin.dioquino editor | 10/2/2024 16:25 | DENIED. Calvin Abueva in action for the Magnolia Hotshots in the 2023-24 PBA Commissioner's Cup.
PBA Images
MANILA, Philippines – Calvin Abueva has kept his emotions in check since he figured in a pair of controversies in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup finals.
And his self-restraint has translated into an improved showing as Abueva played a key role in helping Magnolia tie the best-of-seven series against San Miguel at 2-2.
The mercurial forward turned in his finest performance of the finals, making his presence felt in the Hotshots’ 96-85 win on Friday, February 9, with a near double-double of 9 points and 11 rebounds to go with 3 assists and 2 steals.
“He has been focused and controlled. Even in this game, we all saw how he controlled himself,” said Magnolia big man Ian Sangalang, who has been Abueva’s teammate since college.
Abueva found himself in hot water when he mocked the visual impairment of Beermen head coach Jorge Gallent in the fourth quarter of Game 2 last February 4.
Gallent wears an ocular prosthesis after losing his right eye in a motorcycle accident in 1988.
But the controversy did not end there as finals drama spilled off the court, with Abueva getting embroiled in another incident as he figured in a shouting match with the wife of San Miguel big man Mo Tautuaa just moments after Game 2 ended.
The PBA slapped Abueva a P100,000 fine for insulting Gallent, with league commissioner Willie Marcial even warning “The Beast” of a repeat ban if he fails to change his ways.
Aiming to turn over a new leaf, Abueva showed an improved version of himself in the last two games as the Hotshots pulled level with the Beermen even after losing the first two games by 32 points combined.
Putting up just 4.5 points and 6.5 rebounds in Games 1 and 2, Abueva hiked his numbers to 7.5 points and 9 rebounds with 2 assists in Games 3 and 4, which saw Magnolia hold San Miguel to an average of 82.5 points.
Those were a far cry from the 106 points the Beermen normed in the first two games.
Abueva has also minimized his fouling as he committed just three fouls in each of the last two games after recording nine fouls in Games 1 and 2 combined.
“We all know that Calvin has a lot of antics, but for these finals, we need him to be controlled throughout the series,” said Sangalang.
Game 5 is on Sunday, February 11. – Rappler.com
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Why ‘Heartstopper’ is Gen Z’s defining publishing phenomenon | Marguerite de Leon | 11/2/2024 14:33 | When Volume 5 of Heartstopper, Alice Oseman’s graphic novel series (turned Netflix adaptation, turned cultural juggernaut) was published in December last year, the book was declared an instant number-one bestseller. In Australia alone, it sold 12,300 copies in its first week.
To every generation a publishing phenomenon is born – and for Generation Z, it’s Heartstopper, which Oseman started writing aged 22 (she’s still just 29).
The rise of Heartstopper reads like a history of the last 10 years in publishing tools and platforms. Oseman started self-publishing the comics on microblogging site Tumblr and webtoon platform Tapas in 2016, building up a loyal following and clocking millions of views.
Crowdfunding for the first print run met the funding goal within two hours. Hachette Children’s Group picked up world rights for the series, publishing Volume One in 2019.
To date, five graphic novels, two novellas, a yearbook, and a coloring book have been published. The graphic novels have also been adapted into a successful Netflix series, with scripts written by Oseman herself.
Heartstopper follows the sweet friends-to-lovers arc of Charlie and Nick, whom we first meet in Year 10 and Year 11. It depicts the giddying highs and dizzying lows of being young, queer, and in love.
Through Charlie, Nick, and other well-drawn characters, Alice Oseman beautifully portrays the inner workings of a healthy relationship, modeling open communication, help-seeking, allyship, and active consent. The books also touch on rarely discussed topics like male eating disorders.
Queer joy is defined by Oxfam as a positive feeling we get from encountering signs of progress in gender equality and gender diversity. In the Heartstopper series, the narrative engine runs on themes of love, identity, first times, self-discovery, friendship, and allyship.
When we meet Charlie in Volume 1, he’s been out at his school as gay for a while. He mentions past bullying and there are moments of homophobia, but largely Charlie is accepted at school. Charlie’s friend Elle has transitioned their gender and has been enrolled into the girls’ school across the road. There’s never any suggestion this has been met with resistance or nastiness.
Of course, not everything comes easily to Charlie and Nick. The shadow side of the themes of love, connection and community includes mental ill-health, body dysmorphia, trauma, family conflict, and bullying.
Nick’s brother, David, takes every opportunity to shame Nick for being gay, while Nick’s father is an absent parent. Meanwhile, trauma from Charlie’s past, including bullying and his toxic, closeted ex Ben’s coercive behavior, has had some heavy impacts.
Charlie confesses to Nick that he used to self-harm, and Nick observes some worrying behavior in Charlie in terms of food avoidance and anxiety. Nick talks to his mother who tells him, “Love can’t cure a mental illness,” and gives some practical advice: listen, talk, ask him what he needs, stand by him, but don’t try to take it on by yourself.
Nick encourages Charlie to seek help. After some reluctance, Charlie talks to his parents. He is diagnosed with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and anorexia and is admitted to a residential treatment program. As assistant professor of psychology Vivienne Lewis has noted, eating disorders in boys and men are underrepresented in media and little understood in the community, so Alice Oseman is breaking important ground here.
Comics have a tumultuous history, especially for children. In 1953, in his book Seduction of the Innocent, Frederic Wertham argued comics inhibit literacy, and called them “death on reading.” But the opposite seems to be true.
Comics and graphic novels are, for some kids at least, the gateway to a passion for books. For already engaged readers, it’s a way to diversify their reading and develop their visual literacy. English teacher Matt McCabe points out that while comics can be read and understood comparatively quickly, they can be “studied multiple times from different angles,” making them suited to readers of all abilities.
Reading comics calls on a heightened awareness of the senses to make sense of the unfolding world within. Some of the magic of comics occurs in the gutter: the space between panels. The comics medium is also known for its disjuncture of word and image. These “felt gaps” prompt the reader to harness their imagination and life experience.
Because comics can show and tell two things at once, they are particularly good at representing the way identities are formed in relation to society and culture. There’s a scene in Volume 1 where Nick turns to Google to ask, “Am I gay?” Google searches like these have become a rite of passage for young Gen Zs, who are much more likely than older generations to identify as queer.
An examination of Google trends from 2004 to 2023 highlights a steep rise in queries about sexuality, with such searches surging over 1,300%. Alice Oseman uses jagged panels and fragmentation to show Nick’s worldview exploding as he comes to terms with this new information about himself, in the fractured environment of a Google search response page.
By Heartstopper Volume 5, Nick is out to family and friends and Charlie is home and in therapy, but generally well. Charlie and Nick are in an established relationship, thinking about taking things to the next level.
They are surrounded by a supportive and diverse group of friends, including a trans girl, another gay boy who is not interested in coming out, Charlie’s asexual sister, and a lesbian couple, reflecting a spectrum of LGBTQ+ experiences many kids would encounter in their own social milieu.
There is a subplot of two male teachers falling in love. One of these teachers encourages Charlie to consider running for Head Boy. (We’ll have to read Volume 6 to find out if he’s successful!)
Heartstopper Volume 5 focuses a lot on Nick who, as a final-year student, needs to make a decision about university. Initially he assumes he’ll go to the closest one, to stay near Charlie. Two friends, also facing this decision, accompany Nick on a road trip to visit campuses elsewhere, and gently encourage him to explore other options.
Alice Oseman handles with delicacy the fact that as high-school sweethearts, their paths may take them in different directions – and that only through supporting each other to grow will they both thrive.
Another important plot point involves discussions about sexual readiness, with both boys talking to each other and their friends about recognizing when you might be ready for sex. The conversations demonstrate nuances of active consent and communication, and stand in stark contrast to Ben’s entitlement and aggression in Volume 1. A conversation in class shows not all young people are ready for sex –and that’s normalized too.
In Heartstopper, the representations of mental illness, trans identities, and queer love are destigmatizing and normalizing. Charlie’s queer and quirky friendship group reminds me of the young people who trail in and out of my house on a regular basis. (My oldest daughter ran the queer club at her school, my middle child is non-binary.)
The depiction of Charlie’s OCD and anorexia as a result of past trauma is carefully optimistic, showing a fairly linear pathway from help-seeking to effective treatment. Oseman acknowledges, through Nick, that isn’t always the case:
Staying in a hospital was a big risk. It probably isn’t helpful for everyone. But it was for him. He could actually focus on his mental health without worrying about school and what everyone thought.
Oseman uses the comic form to alleviate the intensity, avoiding details about self-harm and restrictive eating, and never showing anything graphic.
The message when it comes to mental health is that it takes a village to treat mental illness (siblings, parents, friends, clinicians, teachers).
Some readers, especially those of us who grew up in earlier decades, might feel sad or angry when they compare their school experiences to what’s shown in Heartstopper. Some who experienced the bullying but not the friendships in high school may struggle to believe kids can be this kind to each other.
For me, though, this is the queer joy of reading Heartstopper. In its focus on the love and community that surrounds Charlie and Nick, the Heartstopper graphic novels create a space for the reader, who becomes an intimate confidante – another member of Charlie and Nick’s tight-knit friendship group. – Rappler.com
Penni Russon is a Senior Lecturer, School of Communication, Monash University.
This piece was originally published in The Conversation.
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On hero ball and wish lists: Lessons learned from Gilas past | Jasmine Payo | 11/2/2024 15:13 | FAN FAVORITE. Jordan Clarkson and Gilas Pilipinas acknowledge the crowd after a game in the 2023 FIBA World Cup,
FIBA
MANILA, Philippines – 2024 signaled a fresh start for the Gilas Pilipinas program. Although the coach and the players are not totally new, the program is, and it ushers in a new system, environment, and end objective.
In what is another reboot to Gilas Pilipinas, Tim Cone was appointed permanent national team head coach, and he subsequently named just 12 players who will form the core of the national team.
The idea is to keep the 12 together for the next four years, with the hope of qualifying and advancing deep in the 2027 FIBA World Cup.
Although Cone left a window for additions in case of injuries to the core, he also emphasized that for the most part, he will stick with the 12 in the tournaments that Gilas Pilipinas will be joining, beginning with the FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers this February.
There have been skepticism about the rationale in sticking to just 12 players and questions about why certain players were not included.
Names such as Rhenz Abando, Justine Baltazar, and Jordan Heading have been frequently mentioned. Other notable omissions are Thirdy Ravena, who has been on a tear in the Japan B. League, leading his club, the San-En NeoPhoenix, to the top of the standings, and Matthew Wright, hands down the best Filipino player in Japan the past two seasons.
Angelo Kouame has been a force for the UB Chartres Métropole in the French League Division 3 and should have been a worthy consideration for the lone naturalized player spot that has been allotted to the recently reinstated Justin Brownlee.
But it is hard to argue with the wisdom of a coach who is largely considered the best in the local shores and who has already proven he could also triumph in the international arena.
One can only hope that this latest iteration of Gilas Pilipinas will be run and supported by people who will have the patience, the thoroughness and the discipline to stick to the program and allow it to run its course as designed by Cone and his brain trust.
There were a number of circumstances in the previous versions of Gilas that should not plague Cone’s program for it to be successful.
Cone, being the astute and grizzled tactician that he is, may have probably already studied his Gilas history to know the things that worked and things that could have been done better.
An early positive sign for Tim Cone is that he seemed to have filled up his 12-man roster with the players on his wish list. This was rarely the case for previous Gilas programs.
Tab Baldwin had his hands tied behind his back when he was deputized in 2015 to helm the Gilas team that was vying to win the solitary Asian ticket to the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Baldwin was deprived of the opportunity to tap any of the players from the San Miguel teams.
Marc Pingris eventually joined the national team and once again took on the role of the defensive anchor of the team, the only one from the SMC bloc who chose country over club.
Credit goes to Baldwin who, despite the lack of materials, still steered Gilas to a runner-up finish in the 2015 FIBA Asia Championship, just a game short of earning an Olympic spot
The 2013 Gilas had its own share of limitations as Chot Reyes was only allowed to pick one player per PBA team based on the parameters set by the pro league for the national squad.
Since 2008, there have been close to 10 versions of Gilas Pilipinas that have been assembled. None of these teams stayed together for four years.
The longest a squad stayed together was Gilas 1.0, which was formed in 2008 under coach Rajko Toroman with the aim of qualifying for the London Olympics by winning the 2011 FIBA Asia Olympic qualifiers held in Wuhan, China.
But the team that was fielded in the qualifiers was not composed exclusively of those who were part of the Toroman pool.
PBA players Asi Taulava, Kelly Williams, Ranidel de Ocampo, and Jimmy Alapag were inserted months before the qualifiers, practically relegating to the sidelines the three-year preparation that was intended to make the players one cohesive unit.
Gilas 2.0 under Reyes ran from the time they won the SEABA and the Jones Cup in 2012 to the 2014 FIBA World Cup in Spain.
Baldwin’s Gilas 3.0 had an even shorter life span, lasting from 2015 to 2016.
Since then, there have been nine coaches who have been given the head coaching mantle of Gilas, with Reyes the longest tenured, handling the program two more times, from 2016-2018 and from 2022-2023.
Cone himself was appointed Gilas coach twice, the 2019 Southeast Asian Games and the 2023 Asian Games. Both instances, Gilas brought home the gold.
If Cone manages to maintain his program until 2027, he would become the longest-serving national team coach in the last 70-plus years.
The age-old dilemma of the Gilas program has been the PBA’s unwillingness to make a radical change in its calendar to allow the national team more time to prepare.
The PBA can mount press conferences all day long, mouth platitudes declaring its full commitment to the Gilas program and publicly declare plans to adjust league schedules to give the national team more time to prepare. At this point, everyone knows these are all lip service.
The Gilas team under coach Yeng Guiao was given just 10 full days of training to prepare for the 2019 FIBA World Cup.
That team lost its first two games by an average deficit of 52 points.
Cone recognizes the hand he has been dealt with.
“We are trying to minimize the amount of preparation that we need to get into each window,” Cone said. “We are going to prepare for only seven days for the first window [of the FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers], 10 days for the second, and five days for the third.”
Cone hopes that by not having a revolving-door policy in the national pool, the 12 players selected will eventually establish chemistry which will cover up for the short preparation time they will be given by the PBA.
In the closing minutes of the game between Gilas Pilipinas and the Dominican Republic during the opening playdate of the 2023 FIBA World Cup, the Dominicans scored on well-run plays while the Filipinos failed to convert from their isolations and forced attempts. The visitors escaped with a close 87-81 victory.
In Brownlee, Cone will have a clutch player who can take over a game but still play within the system.
The resident Ginebra import, in fact, has always been known for his willingness to blend with teammates. To describe him as perfect for the kind of national team Cone envisions would be stating the obvious. Brownlee has an Asian Games gold medal as proof of that.
In the past two editions of the FIBA World Cup, the Gilas teams played with an over-reliance on their go-to stars, Andray Blatche in 2019 and Jordan Clarkson in 2023.
It was similar to a boxer telegraphing his attack, and the Gilas squads wound up getting read like alphabet by opposing teams. Both squads operated within systems that were predictable and seemed out of touch with the dynamics and nuances of the international game.
Cone displayed both imagination and guile when he led the Philippines to its first Asian Games gold medal in 61 years, without totally veering away from his magic that has always worked in the PBA. He wins more than he talks and is not known to invite drama nor call attention to himself.
But Cone has not been tested in FIBA-level events and in competitions outside of the Asian region. Whether his formula for the new Gilas program will work will be known in the coming months. – Rappler.com
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VTI refutes speculated overloading in Negros Occidental road mishap | Victor Barreiro Jr. | 11/2/2024 12:44 | ROAD MISHAP. Rescuers respond to and transport passengers of a bus that fell on its side in Kabankalan City on Friday, February 9, 2024.
Reymund Titong/Rappler
NEGROS OCCIDENTAL, Philippines – Vallacar Transit Incorporated’s (VTI) media and relations officer, Jade Marquez, on Saturday, February 10, refuted speculation that the road mishap in Sitio Bandihan, Barangay Salong, Kabankalan City, on February 9 was due to passenger overloading.
Marquez said the accident happened at around 9:40 am, after the bus pulled over in the middle of an uphill road so that a passenger could disembark the vehicle. A few minutes later, the driver lost control and the bus suddenly fell on its side, injuring the 35 passengers.
Marquez pointed out that the bus has a seating capacity of 39, and that only 35 passengers were aboard when the accident happened, according to bus tickets issued to the passengers.
The bus route was heading to the mountain village of Bantayan in Kabankalan from Bacolod City, the capital of Negros Occidental.
Marquez said the passengers only sustained minor injuries. They were brought to the nearest hospital in the southern Negros city following the accident.
Affected injured passengers had already been released from the hospital, and there were no reports of serious injuries, Marquez added.
She reassured the riding public that VTI bus units undergo routine inspections by their drivers before leaving their parking areas.
News of the road mishap swiftly flooded the social media posts of various local media outfits in the province, expressing concern for the safety of the riding public.
The concern stemmed from cases of vehicular and road accidents, including a tragic bus accident in Hamtic town in Antique province on December 5, 2023, when a Ceres bus plunged into a ravine, killing nearly twenty people. Officials said the vehicle’s brake system allegedly malfunctioned, causing the bus to fall into the ravine.
Marquez, however, said the Kabankalan incident was an isolated case, and were making sure safety remained the company’s priority.
Marquez added the driver will be placed under investigation by the company due to the possibility of human error.
VTI operates one of Asia’s largest bus fleets, with nearly 5,000 units owned by the Yanson Group. – Rappler.com
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GAME SCHEDULE: 2023-24 PBA Commissioner’s Cup finals | delfin.dioquino editor | 1/2/2024 15:28 | PBA Images
MANILA, Philippines – Magnolia and San Miguel are the top two seeds for a reason.
The Hotshots and the Beermen duke it out for the PBA Commissioner’s Cup crown as they renew their rivalry over four years since their last championship showdown.
Determined to avenge its losses to San Miguel in the 2018 and 2019 Philippine Cup finals, Magnolia gets a crack at ending a five-year title drought.
The Hotshots last won a championship in the 2018 Governors’ Cup before finding themselves on the losing end in their two previous finals appearances.
Meanwhile, San Miguel eyes a PBA record-extending 29th title and its second in four conferences after ruling the Philippine Cup last season.
Here is the schedule of the games:
GAME 1: San Miguel wins, 103-95
GAME 2: San Miguel wins, 109-85
GAME 3: Magnolia wins, 88-80
GAME 4: Magnolia wins, 96-85
GAME 5: San Miguel wins, 108-98
GAME 6: San Miguel wins, 104-102
– Rappler.com
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Justin Brownlee humbled to be hailed hero in PH return | delfin.dioquino editor | 10/2/2024 18:40 | POST UP. Justin Brownlee in action for Gilas Pilipinas against Bahrain in the 19th Asian Games.
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MANILA, Philippines – Months have passed, but Justin Brownlee still could not wrap his head around being hailed a national hero after leading Gilas Pilipinas to a historic Asian Games title.
Brownlee received a warm welcome at the Araneta Coliseum as he showed up in the PBA finals on Friday, February 9, for his first public appearance in the country since he failed a doping test and served a three-month suspension.
“It is just humbling. I never thought that someone would look at me as a hero. I just go out there and try my hardest,” Brownlee told reporters on Friday.
Brownlee reveled in the admiration of fans who thanked the Barangay Ginebra import for propelling the Philippines to its first Asian Games crown since 1962 in Hangzhou, China, last October.
“It feels good. Been waiting for this moment for the past few months. Happy to come back and be greeted with a lot of love,” he said.
Local sports officials had said that the banned substance found in Brownlee’s doping test may have been from a medication he took after surgery to remove bone spurs in his foot.
Brownlee, a naturalized Filipino for more than a year now, earned his place among the most revered figures in Philippine sports following his exploits in the Asian Games.
Putting the team on his back against host China in the semifinals, Brownlee erupted for 17 of his 33 points in the fourth quarter as the Philippines completed its comeback from a 20-point deficit to hack out a 77-76 win.
Brownlee then delivered an all-around effort of 20 points, 10 rebounds, and 5 assists in a 70-60 victory over Rondae Hollis-Jefferson and Jordan in the finale, helping end Gilas Pilipinas’ decades-long search for the elusive gold.
“Somebody calling you a hero definitely makes you feel like you accomplished something bigger than life almost,” said Brownlee.
Embraced by Filipinos as one of their own, Brownlee said he wants to return the favor by making them proud as he resumes his stints with the national team and Barangay Ginebra.
“There is nothing that makes me happier than seeing all the Filipinos happy – all the fans, teammates, coaches,” he said.
His suspension lifted, Brownlee will suit up for the Philippines in the opening window of the FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers against Hong Kong and Chinese Taipei on February 22 and 25, respectively. – Rappler.com
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How Chinese Religion clashed – and mixed – with Filipino Christianity | Paterno Esmaquel II | 10/2/2024 19:59 | CHINESE NEW YEAR. Filipino-Chinese families visit Seng Guan Temple along Narra Street, Manila, on the eve of Chinese New Year 2024 to remember deceased family members and hope for better days ahead.
Raffy de Guzman/Rappler
Editor’s Note: This is an updated version of a paper submitted by the author for the course “Christianity and Religious Diversity” in September 2019, as part of his masteral coursework at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Rappler is publishing this as part of its series of articles for the Chinese New Year.
MANILA, Philippines – Years after Jesuit priest Matteo Ricci arrived in China to spread Christianity, a similar desire to evangelize the Middle Kingdom was blooming in the Philippines.
It was the late 1500s, and the Philippines was a Spanish colony. The Bishop of Manila, Domingo Salazar, wrote to King Philip II of Spain on June 24, 1590.
The Bishop of Manila told the King that he went to the Philippines precisely because it was a jumpoff point to China. The Bishop of Manila wrote: “I have long wanted to attempt the conversion of China. I came to these islands primarily for that reason knowing that they were very near China and that many Chinese lived here.”
Chinese studies scholars Aristotle Dy and Teresita Ang-See narrated these events in “Syncretism as Religious Identity,” a chapter in the book After Migration and Religious Affiliation. According to Dy and Ang-See, Salazar also told King Philip II that some Chinese traders belonged to the Christian faith, “but most were ‘pagans.’” Based on contemporary research, these “pagans” were practitioners of Chinese Religion, a syncretic system of belief that includes Buddhism, Confucianism, and Daoism.
The Bishop of Manila eventually won the trust of these Chinese merchants through his goodwill, wrote Dy and Ang-See.
A daring suggestion, however, came from the Jesuit priest Alonso Sanchez, who had arrived in Manila at the same time as Salazar in the late 1500s.
Sanchez’s proposal: to send “an armed expedition from the Philippines to China with the object of compelling the Chinese government to permit the entry of missionaries into China, and of providing the missionaries with an armed escort to ensure their safety while preaching Christianity to the Chinese,” recounted the Jesuit historian Horacio de la Costa in his book, The Jesuits in the Philippines.
Sanchez’s proposal did not prosper, but still the Jesuits in the Philippines tended to the Chinese in Manila – to prepare for missions in China. Other religious orders had the same plan.
Thus began the encounter of Catholic Christianity and Chinese Religion in the Philippines. It was a meeting of two religious traditions that has been marked by goodwill, and also by disagreements due to incompatible religious practices. One of their points of disagreement was the Chinese practice of venerating ancestors, an issue also faced by Ricci in China.
Such difficulties between the two religious traditions have persisted through the centuries. To this day, Chinese Religion poses a challenge to Catholic authorities in predominantly Catholic Philippines, mirroring the obstacles faced by Ricci when he tried to evangelize China.
We see these dynamics at play in celebrations of the Chinese New Year in the Philippines, for example, when Filipino-Chinese families that profess the Catholic faith continue their age-old practices of visiting Buddhist temples to wish for a prosperous year and to venerate their departed ancestors.
Our Rappler team witnessed this in the evening of Friday, February 9, the eve of the Chinese New Year, at the iconic Seng Guan Temple in Manila. One of the people we interviewed was Marjorie Jacob, 44, a Catholic, but who visited Seng Guan on Friday to honor her deceased mother. Shey Jasmine Tan, a 19-year-old Catholic, explained that “you can practice your culture and your faith at the same time.”
Watch our video report at Seng Guan Temple below.
In Cebu, Rappler’s Visayas reporter John Sitchon wrote about how the Filipino-Chinese keep statues of the Buddha and the Santo Niño (Child Jesus) side by side in their home altars. Descendants of these Cebu clans as well as historians “believe that this tradition is a ‘marker of unity’ and compelling evidence of the melding of beliefs that emerged during the 16th century,” Sitchon explained in his Rappler feature on Saturday, February 10.
But what, in the first place, is Chinese Religion?
Chinese Religion is a term coined by scholars for the syncretic religious tradition espoused by any Chinese. Syncretism refers to “the simultaneous practice of elements from different religious traditions,” wrote Dy and Ang-See.
Chinese Religion, therefore, refers to “the complex of Chinese religious beliefs and practices,” including Chinese Buddhism, Confucianism, Daoism, and Chinese popular religion, according to anthropology professor Tan Chee-Beng. Ang-See and Dy – who is also a Jesuit priest – explained in their book chapter that “the syncretic way of thinking is a key characteristic of Chinese Religion.”
In the Philippines, Chinese Religion and Roman Catholicism had their first interactions decades after Spain colonized the country and imposed Christianity on the natives.
Spanish colonial rule lasted for 377 years, and the Catholic Church grew into a powerful force in the country. Today, nearly 8 out of 10 Filipinos belong to the Catholic Church, and the Philippines remains the biggest predominantly Catholic country in Asia.
As it was in the 16th century, practitioners of Chinese Religion remain a small minority. There are no official government statistics on adherents of Chinese Religion. The government’s 2020 census, however, notes that there are only 39,150 Buddhists in the Philippines, or around 0.03% of the Philippines’ population of 108.67 million.
For centuries, Chinese Religion in the Philippines has interacted with Catholic Christianity from a place of weakness in the face of a powerful church.
While thousands of Chinese converted to Catholicism during the Spanish colonial rule, however, the converts never completely left Chinese Religion. The Chinese, after all, were used to a syncretic system of belief. This syncretism was, and still is, a source of disagreements between Chinese Religion and Catholic Christianity in the Philippines.
The Chinese tradition of venerating ancestors was the biggest point of disagreement between the two religious traditions. In his book Building a Bridge, Dy writes that Catholicism, during the Spanish colonial rule in the Philippines, prohibited the veneration of ancestors. “This undoubtedly caused many Chinese to stay away from a religion that asked them to forsake their parents.”
As for the thousands of Chinese who converted to Catholicism, the caveat was that they continued to practice Chinese beliefs, especially in honoring the dead. In their book about Chinese burial grounds in Manila, Ang-See and Richard Chu note that according to studies, Spanish missionaries “often complained about the sincerity of Chinese converts” because they persisted in practicing non-Christian traditions.
Ang-See and Chu point out that the Catholic Church “was troubled by the observance of Buddhist or non-Christian rituals in the cemetery.” “Hence, the Catholic Church made valiant efforts to make sure that its converts were not ‘contaminated’ by the ‘infidels’ by keeping the two separate, not only in life but also in death.”
In fact, in 1877, the Governor General of the Philippines reminded a gobernadorcillo, or the town mayor, “that Christians and ‘heathens’ should be buried separately.”
Other points of disagreement between Chinese Religion and Catholic Christianity involve icons or rituals to honor Buddhist gods and goddesses, and Catholic saints. Many adherents of Chinese Religion display and worship icons from different religions side by side. They also use the styles of Chinese ritual to worship non-Chinese deities, and they identify Chinese deities with Catholic ones.
These points of disagreement between Chinese Religion and Catholic Christianity stem from theological and practical reasons.
First, Chinese religious beliefs and Catholic doctrines are incompatible in many areas. Adherents of Chinese Religion, for example, believe in reincarnation, while Catholics believe that each soul only has one chance to live on earth. Catholics worship only one God, but those who subscribe to Chinese Religion tend to worship many gods
Second, adherents of Chinese Religion believe it is more practical to subscribe to many gods in different faiths because it is “safer to believe than not to believe.” Ang-See and Dy write that Chinese Filipinos, business-minded as they are, seek to be practical.
They explain: “The practical Chinese mind seeks to unite rather than divide, to include rather than exclude. In religion, this means believing that all religions are good because they all teach people to be good and to do good. Doctrinal differences can be overlooked in favor of the similar ethical demands made by all religions. Therefore, there is nothing wrong with embracing more than one faith.”
Richard Chu, as cited by Juliet Lee Uytanlet in The Hybrid Tsinoys, believes that the Chinese in the Philippines turned to Roman Catholicism with “their cosmological understanding that there were many gods in this world.” This means that to be prosperous, the Chinese “need to appease the new ghosts or new gods by worshiping them, burning incense, giving them gifts, and establishing relationships.”
Uytanlet agrees with Chu “that the Chinese turning to Christianity was actually adding new gods instead of replacement of their former gods since their cosmological understanding is that there are many gods or spirits.” Therefore, in the eyes of Chinese converts to Christianity, “the Christian God then is the Supreme Being yet there are also many lesser gods.”
For Uytanlet, this helps explain “why Buddhism blended well with Daoism and eventually the Christian faith.”
The disagreements between Chinese Religion and Catholic Christianity in the Philippines mirrored the issues faced by Jesuit priest Matteo Ricci when he started evangelizing in China on August 7, 1582. Both Ricci and the Philippine missions grappled with the syncretism of the Chinese and their veneration of ancestors.
Certainly, Ricci and the Catholic missionaries in the Philippines lived in different contexts. Ricci entered China with Christianity as a foreign religion interacting with dominant Chinese beliefs – Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism. Ricci was part of the minority. On the other hand, the Catholic missionaries in 16th-century Philippines encountered adherents of Chinese religion at a time when the Spanish ruled the Philippines. The Catholics there had the power.
Different contexts, then, led to different approaches. Ricci and his fellow Jesuits accommodated Chinese culture, to the point of dressing like Buddhist monastics, according to The Cambridge Companion to the Jesuits. They also remained open to and tolerated Chinese values, such as venerating their ancestors.
In a university lecture, Tan Loe Joo explained that the Jesuits justified the elements of ancestor veneration – “incense burning, prostrating oneself, or offering food” – “as mere civic duty than religious observances.”
Tan explained that the mendicant priests – the Augustinians, Franciscans, and Dominicans – questioned the Jesuits’ policy toward the Chinese. This is because the mendicant orders “had a more culturally-limited Eurocentric view” of the extent to which Chinese Christians can participate in non-Christian rituals. Eventually, the Vatican intervened, decreeing against Chinese rites in November 1704. This became known as the Rites Controversy.
Like the mendicant priests in the Rites Controversy, the Spanish missionaries in the Philippines employed an approach different from Ricci’s. After all, not only were the Spanish missionaries part of the colonial power. These 16th-century clergymen also came from a Eurocentric context.
Another concept that influenced their worldview was extra Ecclesiam nulla salus (“outside the Church, there is no salvation”), an exclusivist doctrine that went as far back as the 3rd century, but would radically evolve after the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s. (The Second Vatican Council, also known as Vatican II, is a historic gathering of bishops to discuss ways by which the Catholic Church can return to its roots and reform itself in a modern world.)
Thus, to evangelize adherents of Chinese Religion, the Spanish missionaries in the Philippines did not pursue accommodation or tolerance as Ricci did. On the other hand, they employed a hardline approach, as they segregated Muslims and Christians, and even forced them to abandon their “pagan” practices.
From miles away, the Spanish missionaries also viewed Ricci with contempt.
In the Philippines, the Catholic priest Fray Juan Cobo learned of Ricci’s mission in China, “but he considered his efforts to be rather fruitless,” writes Ryan Dominic Crew in his journal article, Pacific Purgatory. Cobo referred to Ricci’s style of wearing the robes of Buddhist monastics and Confucian literati to attract the Chinese. Such a method, said the friar, was getting “considerable suspicion” in Manila. The Spanish missionaries also heard rumors that Ricci’s discreet method “had only won a scant number of converts in the Chinese elite.”
The Spanish missionaries, at times, did adapt their methodologies to local culture in the Philippines, but they believed it was important to do so “from a position of undisguised power.”
The experiences of the Spanish missionaries in the Philippines and Matteo Ricci in China demonstrate two models of Christianity encountering other faiths or cultures. In the Philippines under Spanish colonial rule, the Catholic missionaries imposed their faith on the Chinese. In China, as foreign missionaries, Ricci and his fellow Jesuits adapted to Chinese culture.
Today, the model of imposing one’s faith on another is considered a vestige of colonialism. In the Catholic Church, this is seen as part of the exclusivist, pre-Vatican II worldview embodied by the concept of extra Ecclesiam nulla salus. Forcing one’s faith on another culture, as the Spanish did in the Philippines, is considered negative in the contemporary world.
Even Pope Francis condemned proselytism, “by which he means coercive or aggressive missionary techniques.” On the Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul on January 25, 2015, Francis stated that for evangelization to be effective, “we need to stop being self-enclosed, exclusive, and bent on imposing a uniformity.” He added, “Our shared commitment to proclaiming the Gospel enables us to overcome proselytism and competition in all their forms.”
Francis, the first Jesuit pope, reflects the model used by Ricci and the Jesuits in China – to a certain extent. By adapting to the culture of the Buddhists and Confucianists in China, Ricci avoided, in the words of Francis, “being self-enclosed, exclusive, and bent on imposing a uniformity.”
To be sure, Ricci was a product of his own time, and it can be argued that his approach was still exclusivist, in contrast to the inclusive bent of the Catholic Church after Vatican II. Still, Ricci’s method was marked by more openness to a foreign culture, compared to the Spanish in the Philippines.
Ricci’s method is limited, however, by his understanding of Chinese culture.
Ricci made a mistake when he tried to pit Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism against each other. Arnold Rowbotham, in his journal article, “The Impact of Confucianism on Seventeenth Century Europe,” said Ricci exalted Confucianism “to the position of a noble philosophical system” while labeling Buddhism and Daoism as “heathen cults.” Ricci, in a way, employed a “divide and conquer” tactic so that Christianity can emerge victorious in the end.
Ricci’s method showed a lack of understanding of the syncretic nature of Chinese Religion, which is explained by modern scholars such as Dy and Ang-See. One cannot simply “divide” the elements of Chinese Religion, because the Chinese understand the cosmos in a syncretic way. Elements of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism can always mix one way or another. Ricci could have benefited from contemporary studies, but again he was a product of his own time.
In any case, the model of Matteo Ricci – to the extent that he knew best – showed the importance of respect. By adapting to Chinese culture rather than imposing, Ricci engaged in dialogue, unlike the Spanish missionaries in the Philippines.
In terms of number of converts, Ricci did not succeed like the Spanish missionaries in colonial Philippines. But Ricci succeeded in exemplifying a sensitive, inculturated way of engaging with other faiths.
Ricci teaches us that respect, which results in dialogue, is key to interreligious encounters in a pluralistic society. – Rappler.com
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Friends to foes: Maddie Madayag welcomes battling longtime teammate Bea de Leon | jisaga0269 | 10/2/2024 13:24 | SISTERS FOR LIFE. Choco Mucho middle blocker Bea de Leon (left) hugs teammate Maddie Madayag in the 2023 PVL Invitational Conference
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MANILA, Philippines – For the first time in nearly a decade, Choco Mucho star Maddie Madayag will not have middle blocker partner-in-crime Bea de Leon by her side on a volleyball court.
In one of many shocking moves made in a wild PVL off-season, the Flying Titans captain jumped ship to the team that knocked off Choco Mucho in its first franchise finals appearance, the dynastic Creamline Cool Smashers.
Madayag, though, savored the idea of going face-to-face with her great friend and longtime teammate once PVL hostilities begin with the 2024 All-Filipino Conference on February 20.
“I’ve been with Bea since my first year. We’ve really been together. But we’re happy that she found a new home with Creamline,” she said in Filipino. “We know that she will learn a lot more and she will grow more as a person.”
“It’s going to be different playing against her because my whole career – both of our careers – we’ve been together in one team, so there. Let’s just see what happens in the games,” Madayag added during an Allianz sponsorship event graced by both sister teams.
From UAAP Season 77 in 2015 until Season 81 in 2019, both Madayag and De Leon imposed their height and might at the nets and honed their skills together as Ateneo Blue Eagles, winning two championships in the process and a Finals MVP for De Leon in her final year.
The fearsome duo then jumped to the club scene together with the 2019 inception of Choco Mucho as the Rebisco company’s second volleyball team, and endured all the growing pains of a fledgling squad, including multiple failed attempts at earning an elusive PVL podium finish.
Madayag and De Leon’s joint career paths eventually drifted apart at the end of the 2023 Second All-Filipino Conference following a breakthrough silver-medal finish.
Now on opposite sides of the taraflex, the two standouts will continue bringing out their winning mentality with their respective teams – both still expected to contend for championships in the near future.
This time around, only one may reach the top at a time, and it remains to be seen who will get the last laugh over the other first. – Rappler.com
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Dropping the antics, Abueva turns into key player for Magnolia in PBA finals | delfin.dioquino editor | 10/2/2024 16:25 | DENIED. Calvin Abueva in action for the Magnolia Hotshots in the 2023-24 PBA Commissioner's Cup.
PBA Images
MANILA, Philippines – Calvin Abueva has kept his emotions in check since he figured in a pair of controversies in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup finals.
And his self-restraint has translated into an improved showing as Abueva played a key role in helping Magnolia tie the best-of-seven series against San Miguel at 2-2.
The mercurial forward turned in his finest performance of the finals, making his presence felt in the Hotshots’ 96-85 win on Friday, February 9, with a near double-double of 9 points and 11 rebounds to go with 3 assists and 2 steals.
“He has been focused and controlled. Even in this game, we all saw how he controlled himself,” said Magnolia big man Ian Sangalang, who has been Abueva’s teammate since college.
Abueva found himself in hot water when he mocked the visual impairment of Beermen head coach Jorge Gallent in the fourth quarter of Game 2 last February 4.
Gallent wears an ocular prosthesis after losing his right eye in a motorcycle accident in 1988.
But the controversy did not end there as finals drama spilled off the court, with Abueva getting embroiled in another incident as he figured in a shouting match with the wife of San Miguel big man Mo Tautuaa just moments after Game 2 ended.
The PBA slapped Abueva a P100,000 fine for insulting Gallent, with league commissioner Willie Marcial even warning “The Beast” of a repeat ban if he fails to change his ways.
Aiming to turn over a new leaf, Abueva showed an improved version of himself in the last two games as the Hotshots pulled level with the Beermen even after losing the first two games by 32 points combined.
Putting up just 4.5 points and 6.5 rebounds in Games 1 and 2, Abueva hiked his numbers to 7.5 points and 9 rebounds with 2 assists in Games 3 and 4, which saw Magnolia hold San Miguel to an average of 82.5 points.
Those were a far cry from the 106 points the Beermen normed in the first two games.
Abueva has also minimized his fouling as he committed just three fouls in each of the last two games after recording nine fouls in Games 1 and 2 combined.
“We all know that Calvin has a lot of antics, but for these finals, we need him to be controlled throughout the series,” said Sangalang.
Game 5 is on Sunday, February 11. – Rappler.com
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This Valentine’s season, beware of love scams too | Jairo Bolledo | 10/2/2024 20:15 | Illustration by Alejandro Edoria/Rappler
MANILA, Philippines – Please be careful with your hearts and pockets this Valentine’s season as Philippine authorities warned about alarming cases of love scams.
Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) chief Benhur Abalos said it’s not a “remote possibility” that scammers and syndicates would use the Valentine’s season to look for their victims. Love scam is a type of crime where “scammers typically create fake online profiles designed to lure target or victims” to extort money from them.
The said scheme is categorized by law enforcers under swindling or estafa, which makes up the biggest number of cybercrime cases recorded by the Philippine National Police (PNP). Below are the top 5 cybercrimes in the Philippines, based on the PNP’s latest data.
A separate PNP data, quoted by a Philippine News Agency (PNA) report, said 168 cases of love scams had been recorded in the past year.
Abalos said scammers study their victims’ interests and personalities, like their music taste or even sports interests. Among the common targets were those lovesick or people who had recently lost their loved ones, the interior chief added.
The DILG secretary said that once scammers gained their target’s trust, the scammers would start asking for money, gifts, or banking/credit card information as “proof of their love.” There were also instances where the syndicates would ask private photos from their victims, “which they will then use to blackmail the person into giving them money in exchange for not leaking the materials online,” Abalos added.
“And then, they’ve got…talagang sindikato. Imagine that love scam, nagna-number one ngayon ‘yan, pinapasok nila (sindikato). So, I guess ang importante rito is that everyone should be aware of all of these things,” Abalos said in a press briefing on February 6.
(And those behind these were really syndicates. Imagine that love scam, it’s now on top of our list of cybercrimes, and syndicates enter into these schemes. So, I guess what’s important is that everyone should be aware of all of these things.)
The PNP Anti-Cybercrime Group (PNP ACG) also considered love scams as a type of “advanced fee” scams. In love scams, common scenarios include a scammer requesting money from the target, usually to pay for airfare or transportation. The scammer would ask for additional money from the victim by citing “unexpected” difficulties, the PNP ACG explained.
“The closer the date appears to be getting to the victim, the more unexpected calamities appear,” the PNP ACG’s Bulletin No. 133 read.
Victims often lose substantial amounts of money, while the more unfortunate ones lose their lifesavings. Some targets were even convinced to send their valuable items like laptops and mobile phones, the PNP ACG added.
In 2023, authorities raided a Chinese-run offshore gaming company in Pasay City, where the workers were allegedly ordered to flirt with potential targets, making them fall in love before victimizing them for money.
To avoid falling victim to these schemes, follow the PNP ACG’s recommendations:
Abalos said the PNP will strengthen its anti-cybercrime efforts. Since the police’s anti-cybercrime groups were only at the regional level, he said they would train more police personnel down to the municipal and police station levels to increase the number of cops handling these kinds of crimes.
Abalos added that the Philippine Public Safety College (PPSC) is set to have a National Cybercrime Training Institute to provide more intensified training for law enforcers. The order creating the said institute would be signed within a month, the DILG chief said.
The PPSC is “the premier educational institution for the training, human resource development and continuing education of all personnel” of the PNP, Bureau of Fire Protection, and Bureau of Jail Management and Penology.
The PNA, quoting the PNP, reported that cybersecurity desks would be put up in police stations in the country, adding that some police personnel had already started undergoing cybercrime training. In Calabarzon, at least 52 cops had already completed their introduction to cybercrime training. – Rappler.com
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Banawe’s best! Touring Chinatown QC’s temples and restaurants | Steph Arnaldo | 10/2/2024 19:34 | CHINESE CULTURE. The rich Chinese culture in the Philippines is also present in Banawe in Quezon City.
Steph Arnaldo/ Rappler
MANILA, Philippines – Did you know that there’s also a Chinatown district in Banawe, Quezon City? Only aware of Binondo’s, I was pleasantly surprised to discover what QC’s Filipino-Chinese cultural hotspot was proud to offer tourists and QCitizens during the QC Chinatown Heritage Tour on Friday, February 9.
A local tourism initiative organized by the Quezon City local government just in time for Lunar New Year, the QC Chinatown Heritage Tour took us on a one-day itinerary of nine “hidden gem” tourist spots – five restaurants, two temples, a museum, and a landmark – all within one of the largest Chinatowns in the world, spread out across 591.8 hectares!
The day started off with a relatively “light” but satisfying Chinese brunch at Mandarin Sky – a staple, traditional Chinese restaurant in the area that served us noodles, different kinds of dim sum (siomai, beancurd roll, chicken feet), garlic beef tenderloin, and fried but tender squid in a light, sweet-savory sauce with red onions.
The cuisine is as traditional as you could expect from an institutional dining spot – lazy susan tables and festive red decor included.
Our first cultural stop was the beautiful temple of the Tzu Chi Foundation, a humanitarian, volunteer-driven nonprofit organization founded in Taiwan 58 years ago and established in the Philippines in November 1994 – almost 30 years ago. The name “tzu chi” translates to “compassion and relief,” which is what the foundation provides people in need through various charity, medicine, education, and environmental protection programs.
We took off our shoes before entering the spacious foyer, where a floor-to-ceiling portrait of Dharma master and Buddhist nun Cheng Yen greets guests.
On the right side is Tzu Chi’s bookstore, where cookbooks, educational books, snacks, tea, ceramics, and sustainable shirts, shoes, and bags made from recycled PET bottles are sold. All proceeds go directly to the funding of Tzu Chi’s programs.
We also visited the temple’s huge basement, where all of their masses and events are held. Aside from the circular sky roof and ceiling, we were given a demonstration of how Tzu Chi’s sustainable pews – made from recycled plastic in Taiwan – are modified for different uses. Anyone is welcome to visit!
Next, we dropped by the oldest temple in the district, the Sheng Lian Temple, which was built in the 1960s. It’s headed by feng shui expert, Father Wongsengtian, who was there for a while to say hello and give his blessings.
It’s a small and colorful temple, where offerings of fruits and produce are given at the altar, and prayers and intentions are offered via incense.
The Paifang Arches are the concrete symbol of the Filipino-Chinese friendship that was officiated in 2005. The city council approved the development of Banawe Street as a special economic growth area due to many Filipino-Chinese establishments growing around the area then.
These two landmark arches located at the north-south intersection of Banawe Avenue and Quezon Avenue were constructed to mark the establishment of the street as a new Chinatown and was donated by the QC Association of Filipino-Chinese Businessmen Inc.
We also paid a visit to the Wow Toy Museum, a literal hidden gem of Quezon City – I had no idea such a tourist spot existed. It’s a small but packed home that has six small rooms, each one filled with glass displays of over 10,000 toys and collectibles since the 1950s.
Owner and collector Jimmy Madarang takes pride in his family-owned collection of toy cars, pop culture collector’s items, trinkets, dioramas, dolls, and thousands more blasts from the pasts. Since there were so many shelves on display, we unfortunately didn’t have enough time to check everything out. It is an entertaining stop for kids and the kids-at-heart, though!
Hailed by Causeway’s owner as “the spot for all Tsinoy gatherings,” Causeway Restaurant is also considered a staple Cantonese restaurant for families in (and outside) the area craving for authentic Chinese comfort food.
Shoutout to the dim sum, shrimp sesame rolls, asado siopao, and crispy tofu, which was a crowd favorite! It may look unassumingly simple, but this vegetarian dish packs a lot of salty, umami flavor in its delicately crisp and light breading, which encases a block of soft tofu that just melts in your mouth.
Located on the second floor of Z Square, Cai Hok Seafood Restaurant is known for its fresh seafood selection (there are aquariums of live fish by the entrance) and dim sum selection.
There was pork asado, dim sum (again, but who’s complaining), siopao, and a favorite of the day: Ma Lai Go! It was my first time to see and try this yellow, fluffy sponge cake pastry, which is a staple street cart treat in Southern China and Hong Kong. It’s a steamed soft cake that tastes almost like sweet pancakes, with thin layers of sweet custard in the middle.
Well-known Chinese restaurant chain David’s Tea House was one of our last stops, and the affordable siomai didn’t disappoint as usual, paired with its signature chili garlic sauce and toyomansi combo.
They also have frozen dim sum and siopao you can bring home!
Did we save the best for last? Perhaps, because the last stop on our food itinerary was Maki Haus, a small, family-owned outlet that prides itself on being “D’ Original Maki Haus Noodles.”
Known for its traditional Hokkien cuisine, Maki Haus’ specialty is the maki mi, a hearty and savory Chinese soup dish with chewy noodles, a rich gelatinous broth, and soft chunks of pork tenderloin, garnished with spring onions. The restaurant has been around for almost 70 years, still serving the same family recipes since the 1950s throughout four generations already.
It was my first time to try maki mi, and it didn’t disappoint – it tasted even better mixed with a splash of black vinegar for some acidity.
We were also served freshly fried kikiam and shanghai rolls with sweet chili sauce, plus freshly cooked, soft, and perfectly chewy buchi in various flavors – ube, peanut, lotus, and sesame. It was a very filling merienda that was the best cap off to a day of cultural sights and lots of food! – Rappler.com
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Revelations, old hands: ‘Best 12’ banner Gilas Pilipinas 4-year roadmap | jisaga0269 | 4/2/2024 19:22 | FAMILIAR FACES. Kai Sotto (center) sings the national anthem along with Gilas Pilipinas team mainstays (from right) Jamie Malonzo, Scottie Thompson, and Calvin Oftana.
FIBA
MANILA, Philippines – Following a successful Asian Games campaign that punctuated a roller-coaster four-year basketball cycle, Gilas Pilipinas will look to stir that same magic through its officially appointed head coach Tim Cone and his crew of established local stars.
Hoping to put an end to turbulent buildups for major tournaments, the vision for this version of the national team is to stick through the four-year FIBA cycle, ending with the 2027 World Cup.
The 66-year-old Cone handpicked the team, consisting of PBA and Japan B. League stars, a collegiate superstar, and an aging yet reliable naturalized player. For him, the players he tapped are the best the country could offer.
“I’ve always firmly believed from back in 1998 when I coached the Centennial Team that you’ve got to go out and get the best players in the country to represent us,” said Cone.
“We all have different opinions on who the best players are, but we’re confident we picked the best players who will form the best team.”
Here are Gilas Pilipinas’ magic 12:
Justin Brownlee has made some of the biggest shots in recent local basketball lore.
However, his career came to a screeching halt after testing positive for a banned substance in the Asian Games in October 2023. In that tournament, his herculean performances lifted Gilas to its first continental title in 61 years.
Missing the subsequent PBA Commissioner’s Cup as he served a voluntary suspension, Brownlee returns to the national team as one of Cone’s most trusted soldiers.
Brownlee, with Cone calling the shots, has never lost in any title series, winning six PBA championships with crowd darling Barangay Ginebra. Per league records, he is tied for the most titles by an import in PBA history alongside Alaska legend Sean Chambers.
Brownlee has also led Gilas to the 2023 Southeast Asian Games crown, regaining the regional title the country lost in 2022 via shocker against Indonesia.
The 35-year-old star stepped aside for NBA star Jordan Clarkson’s inclusion in the World Cup team before Cone tapped him in the Asian Games less than a month later.
Playing in the Philippines since 2016, Brownlee became a naturalized Filipino in January 2023.
Another one of Cone’s players, the 30-year-old Scottie Thompson will look to provide stability in the point guard position for Gilas.
Cone picked Thompson in the 2015 PBA Draft, shaping him into one of the league’s best players.
Thompson was named the PBA MVP in 2022, before falling short of his back-to-back bid as he finished third in MVP voting last year, according to the final tally released by the league press corps.
Thompson struggled to find his groove in the World Cup, averaging only 1.8 points, 2.0 rebounds, and 2.2 assists in 12.5 minutes per game, according to the FIBA website.
The University of Perpetual Help product redeemed himself in the Asian Games, where he bumped up his numbers under the tutelage of Cone.
As the only natural point guard on the 12-man list, Thompson’s familiarity with Cone’s system should pay dividends as the FIBA cycle progresses.
Undoubtedly the greatest Filipino player of this generation, June Mar Fajardo will embark on, perhaps, his last ride with the national team.
Fajardo, who will be 37 years old by the time the 2027 World Cup unfolds, remains one of the most dominant players in the PBA.
Fajardo was named the PBA MVP once more in 2023, bagging his seventh plum in eight seasons. No one in history has ever won more than four.
The San Miguel superstar was pivotal in Gilas’ wins against Iran in the Asian Games quarterfinals, China in the semis, and Jordan in the finals.
Fajardo, the most experienced player in the bunch with three World Cup appearances, offers Cone an imposing presence inside through all of his 6-foot-10 frame.
Few players in the world can tower over Kai Sotto.
The 7-foot-3 titan has been a Filipino wunderkind for the longest time. After not hearing his name in the NBA Draft, Sotto took his talents to Australia’s NBL and Japan B. League, where he has been playing for the past two seasons.
Now, Sotto will return to the national squad with a chip on his shoulder following lackluster outings in the World Cup.
Sotto averaged 6 points and 4 rebounds in the World Cup as his minutes plummeted to just 14 per game.
The 21-year-old Sotto also saw action in the 2023 NBA Summer League where he played two games and tallied a combined 6 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 blocks, per league records. It was also there that Sotto sustained a back injury that almost ruled him out of the World Cup.
After fully recovering from the injury, Sotto has been averaging 7.6 points, 3.6 rebounds, and 1.3 blocks for the Yokohama B-Corsairs in the B. League, according to league records.
AJ Edu was a revelation in the World Cup.
The Toyama Grouses import averaged 8.2 points, 8.6 rebounds, and 1.2 blocks in five games with the national team. His rebounding was also the seventh-highest in the tournament, behind some of the world’s best players.
Edu’s brightest highlight came in his debut game, impressing with his defense on perennial NBA All-Star Karl Anthony Towns in the loss to the Dominican Republic.
But the injury bug continues to hound the 24-year-old as he tore his meniscus last November while playing for the Grouses in the Japan B. League.
His injury, however, did not stop Cone from tapping him on his 12-man roster, citing long-term vision. His recovery time was initially for at least three months, per reports.
In his 14 games for Toyama so far, Edu averaged 13 points and 8.8 rebounds.
Perhaps the face of the Gilas program will continue to represent the country for years to come.
Dwight Ramos has become a mainstay for Gilas Pilipinas since his arrival in the Philippines. In fact, he was the lone player to see action in all of the FIBA qualifier windows in the last cycle.
He shone bright in his first World Cup, notching 13.2 points, 5.6 rebounds, 2.4 assists, and 1.6 steals.
Ramos has been playing in Japan since 2021, jumping from Toyama to the Levanga Hokkaido last season.
As of writing, he is averaging a career-high 10.5 points per game, alongside 3.6 rebounds, and 1.2 assists per game.
After being a late call-up for the Asian Games, CJ Perez returns to the national team as one of its offensive spark plugs.
After a standout Asian Games run, Perez has since been neck-and-neck with Ginebra’s Christian Standhardinger for the Best Player of the Conference race in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup so far as his San Miguel Beermen compete in a best-of-7 finals series.
The Lyceum of the Philippines product has been a part of two World Cups.
Chris Newsome was cut from the World Cup team before impressing in the Asian Games where he was instrumental as a defensive ace in the gold medal game.
Newsome limited Jordan’s Rondae Hollis-Jefferson to just 24 points on 29 shots in the gold medal match, displaying his two-way chops for the Cone-mentored Gilas.
Now, the Meralco Bolts star will don the Gilas jersey once more to continue what he started at the tail end of last year.
After getting FIBA clearance to play as a local in 2022, Newsome only got to play in one window of the World Cup qualifiers before being one of the final cuts in the World Cup.
At 33 years old, Newsome remains one of the most athletic players in the country.
Calvin Oftana is entering his basketball prime. The 28-year-old averaged 21.8 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 1.2 assists in the last PBA Commissioners’ Cup for the TNT Tropang Giga.
First called up for Gilas in 2020, Oftana was one of the cuts in the World Cup, before winning gold in the Asian Games.
Oftana had since taken the lead role for the Tropang Giga in the PBA. He shot an impeccable 49% from the field, 41% from three, and 90% from the free throw line in the last conference.
With his leap into the pro league, Oftana should be primed for a bigger role in this iteration of the national team.
After missing the latter part of the World Cup and Gilas’ Asiad conquest, Jamie Malonzo is back with the national team.
Malonzo has been one of Cone’s most reliable weapons in Ginebra. Malonzo recorded 15.3 points and 5.3 rebounds in the past PBA Commissioner’s Cup, where he was a consistent starter for the team.
The former La Salle standout provides more than just numbers, as he was often designated to be the primary defender against imports for length, athleticism, and quickness.
Malonzo, however, sustained a knee injury in the Commissioner’s Cup semifinals but has since been relieved of any major scare after initial fears of any structural damage.
The 27-year-old is expected to recover in time for the first window of FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers.
Kevin Quiambao has been one of the fastest rising stars in local basketball.
Quiambao has recently led Strong Group Athletics to a bridesmaid finish in the 33rd Dubai International Basketball Tournament. He was the top scorer in the team headlined by NBA veteran Dwight Howard, Andray Blatche, and Andre Roberson, norming 18 points per game, per tournament data.
He was named to the All-Tournament team and even received offers to play as a naturalized player for the United Arab Emirates national team.
This came after his stellar UAAP Season 86 run, where he both received the season and finals MVPs after leading the De La Salle Green Archers to the championship.
The 22-year-old returns to the national team after brief stints in the 2022 FIBA Asia Cup and World Cup qualifier windows.
Fondly remembered for his UAAP performances with the University of the Philippines, Carl Tamayo had since brought his winning pedigree overseas.
Tamayo won the 2022-2023 Japan B. League championship with the Ryukyu Golden Kings in his first season as a pro before asking for his release the following season.
He normed 3.9 points, and 2.5 rebounds in 12.5 minutes over 23 games in his second year with the Golden Kings.
Tamayo impressed in his last East Asia Super League game versus the PBA’s Meralco Bolts, going off for 16 points on Philippine soil. Tamayo was also named in the B. League Asia All-Stars in Okinawa.
The former NU high school star made his Gilas debut in 2021 and had been a part of the national squad in numerous tournament windows and the 2022 FIBA Asia Cup. – Rappler.com
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20 years later, Sugarfree’s ‘Dramachine’ is still the soundtrack of young Pinoys’ lives | jreyes0314 | 10/2/2024 21:43 | MANILA, Philippines – Ebe Dancel keeps a wooden cross on him every time he sets foot on stage.
“This,” he immediately answered, taking it out of his jacket pocket when a member of the press asked him if he had any tried and tested pre-performance rituals.
Carrying it with him wherever he went was a way for him to ease whatever anxieties came his way. He even shared that when you see him standing quietly with his hand in his pocket before a show, it means that he is holding onto the cross – clearing his mind.
For a musician crossing the two-and-a-half-decade mark in the industry this year, it was comforting to see that, just like any other person, the Sugarfree frontman maintained a tight grasp on the things that would ground him throughout his career, and in his case, it was his faith.
As his performance drew nearer and nearer, it was already starting to look like he would put out a lively performance like always – and he did.
Ebe performed a total of 23 songs during the concert for the 20th anniversary of Sugarfree’s 2004 album Dramachine on February 3 at 123 Block in Mandaluyong City. Throughout the set, he was accompanied by Mitch Singson, Sugarfree’s drummer.
A post shared by Ebe Dancel (@ebedancel)
“More than being bandmates, I think we’ve managed to remain friends and keep in touch. So, when it’s time to rehearse and to perform, it’s still the same old feeling. That’s never going to go away. When you’re friends for life, that’s what it does,” Ebe said about Mitch.
Indeed, not much has changed, except for one thing.
There was a large crowd of concertgoers that night, many of them there to relive the soundtrack of their college days through Sugarfree’s music.
However, a sizable group of Gen Z attendees were also present, presumably for various reasons. They could have grown up listening to Sugarfree because of their parents or older siblings, or even discovered Dramachine and Sugarfree’s other music a decade after their release.
The entire audience, including the Gen Zs, knew every single lyric to the songs Ebe and Mitch performed, sometimes even singing louder than Ebe did.
“P’wede na ba ‘kong kumanta (Can I sing now)?“ Ebe quipped at one point, drawing laughs from the crowd when an audience member’s singing was picked up by the stage microphones.
After 20 years, the impact of Dramachine continues to grow, drawing in newer generations in the process to make for a timeless record. But Ebe actually doesn’t know why the album has struck such a chord with listeners, both new and old.
Ebe shared that Sugarfree had just really wanted to perform on stage and make music. The outpouring of love their music had gotten from Filipinos across different age groups seemed to have just come as a big bonus.
“We had ‘Hari ng Sablay,’ and then parang nag-avalanche na (it’s been like an avalanche since then). We had that album. We had ‘Makita Kang Muli.’ We had ‘Tulog Na.’ We had ‘Kwarto.’ We had ‘Prom,'” Ebe said.
“Maybe it’s because ‘yung nakikinig kasi noon sa akin, mga kaedad ko. Parang pareho kami ng pinagdadaanan (My listeners then were my age. We were going through the same things). I think they appreciated that it was written in a way na kaya rin nilang isulat (that they could also write),” he added, moments after weighing the possible reasons.
Years later, this sentiment still rings true. He had even shared that some younger performers would go up to him during gigs to enthusiastically tell him about how they listened to his music when they were in high school.
“Personally, I’ve been looking forward to the younger generation just taking over [the music scene]. I think, andun na (we’re there already). Ultimately, that’s a good thing. Kasi, kung matagal mo nang ginagawa ito, parang napakalaking pasalamat mo na ‘yung (Because if you’ve been doing this for a while, you’re thankful for the) next generations,” Ebe said.
But if there’s one thing Ebe learned after 25 years in the music industry, it’s the value of patience – which he attests does not come overnight, no matter how long you’ve been doing your craft.
“Along with that, patience teaches you humility. Siyempre (Of course), 20 years ago, I was so much younger. I made a lot of mistakes. So, ‘yung (the) value ng (of) patience, ng (of) hard work, I think, if you’re really into it, it comes with a certain sense of humility just to appreciate everything,” the 47-year-old musician said.
“Thank you” was probably the phrase of the night as Ebe would express his gratitude toward the audience throughout his entire set.
And from the familiar cheers of the audience to the nostalgia that quietly takes over as Ebe performs each song, it’s clear that Dramachine and Sugarfree’s music will continue to live on and cut across generations. – Rappler.com
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Charter change rift deepens between Senate, House | Kaycee | 10/2/2024 14:57 | SENATE AND HOUSE LEADERS. Senate President Migz Zubiri and Speaker Martin Romualdez listen to the second State of the Nation Address of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. at the Batasan Pambansa Monday, July 24, 2023.
Senate PRIB
MANILA, Philippines – There seems to be no let up in the word war between members of the Senate and the House that was sparked by disagreements on fresh efforts to pursue charter amendments.
Ako Bicol Representative Elizaldy Co on Thursday, February 8, called out Senator Joel Villanueva, citing his “not-so-spotless past” as he had been implicated in the Priority Development Assistance Fund scam.
This comes despite the senators’ call for a ceasefire, which even House Majority Leader Representative Manuel Jose “Mannix” Dalipe had reminded colleagues in the upper chamber on Monday.
The House of Representatives, particularly that of the majority, held two back-to-back press conferences this week to address concerns regarding charter change and the standoff between lawmakers from the two chambers.
Surigao del Norte 2nd District Representative Robert Ace Barbers said he is “willing” to facilitate a discussion between the two parties. (RELATED: Senators suggest dialogue to settle spat with House lawmakers)
“Kailangan naman talaga mapag-usapan ito dahil hindi naman lingid sa kaalaman ng mga senador at mga kongresista na isang ano ‘to, isang pamamaraan para ma-resolve na itong impasse na ito,” Barbers said on Wednesday, February 7.
(This needs to be talked about because it is not unknown to both senators and House members that it would be one way to resolve this impasse.)
There have been multiple efforts to amend the Constitution but all of them ended in the Senate. The current push is different, said political analyst and Ateneo de Manila University professor Arjan Aguirre, noting that proponents of charter change have now applied what they learned in past efforts.
“They now know that the procedural matter (manner of changing) and the substantial aspect (what to change) are two separate issues that need to be handled well or reconciled if one wants to advance in their agenda or plans on chacha,” Aguirre told Rappler on January 27.
House lawmakers, even House Speaker Martin Romualdez himself, said they would be pushing for charter change this year through a people’s initiative. The public petition, which has been clouded with allegations of bribery and misuse of public funds, began circulating in early January.
The rift between the two houses of Congress started when senators signed a manifesto rejecting the House’s new push for charter change, which proposes that both chambers vote jointly on proposed amendments. (READ: ‘Walang gamot sa kakapalan ng mukha’: Cha-Cha movement deepens feud vs Martin, Imee)
“While it seems simple, the goal is apparent to make it easier to revise the Constitution by eliminating the Senate from the equation,” Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri said in January 23.
This prompted a probe into the people’s initiative itself, with senators asking if it is a “politician’s initiative” under the guise of a public petition. House lawmakers did not take the investigation lightly as they viewed it as a way of denouncing the lower chamber.
“This is what happens when a supposedly democratic mechanism like the people’s initiative is tainted with elite politicking,” De La Salle University political science professor Anthony Lawrence Borja told Rappler on Wednesday.
On Monday, February 5, the House of Representatives passed yet another resolution expressing support for Romualdez. This time, the lower chamber sought to shield the institution and its leadership from what it called an “intense assault” from the Senate.
“While taking criticisms is part and parcel of a healthy and working democracy, the House takes exception to the recent statements and allegations made by the Senate that undermine the independence, reputation, and integrity of the House of Representatives and the leadership of the Speaker,” House Resolution 1562 read.
Senate Minority Leader Koko Pimentel expressed disappointment that the House resolution accused the Senate of violating inter-parliamentary courtesy and “undue interference in the performance of its legislative and constituent functions” as he said that their House colleagues were also doing the same thing.
But did the Senate actually break inter-parliamentary courtesy? University of the Philippines professor and political analyst Ela Atienza emphasized that the two chambers are “co-equal.”
“They are there precisely to check on each other,” Atienza told Rappler on Wednesday. “Besides, charter change and PI issues have far-reaching consequences for the country and can be a point of Senate discussion or inquiry,” she added.
For Bataan 1st District Representative Geraldine Roman, House members have the right to feel offended as the standoff between the two chambers could have been avoided.
“This rift would not have existed in the first place had we exercised some form or minimum amount of empathy…. What if we organize a congressional inquiry then we will target SP Migz Zubiri? But of course, we will never do that,” Roman said in a mix of English and Filipino on Tuesday, February 6.
During the Senate investigation, the lead convenor of the People’s Initiative for Modernization and Reform Action (PIRMA) said they received help from Romualdez to get the public petition going. While the Speaker had admitted to meeting with PIRMA coordinators, he said he did so only as a form of open dialogue. (RELATED: Davao witnesses link PBA party-list workers to ‘deceptive’ Cha-Cha initiative)
Congressmen also slammed senators who reportedly belittle them as the two chambers’ hierarchy became part of the argument. Roman recalled that some candidates for the Senate also reached out to district representatives and even those from political parties to rally votes for them.
“We celebrated your victories…. In fact, marami akong naririnig na mga kongresista, eto nga nangako sa ‘kin ng ganitong project, ng ganitong programa para sa aking constituents. Lahat ginagawa namin para makisama, tapos napapako naman ‘yung mga pangako. You tell us that we cannot feel intensely about things?
(In fact, I heard a lot of stories from other congressmen, telling me about a project promised to them, a program for their constituents. We did everything just so we could get along, but then you didn’t keep your promises. You tell us that we cannot feel intensely about things?)
TGP Representative Jose “Bong” Teves Jr. also reminded senators of the upcoming 2025 polls.
“Mag-e-eleksyon na naman,” Teves said. “Hindi ba kayo hihingi ng tulong?” (Election season is right around the corner. Won’t you ask for help?)
Senators began discussing Resolution of Both Houses No. 6 last week. Although the upper chamber first said they planned to finish discussions before Congress goes on break in March, senators now said they might finish deliberations by October.
By then, those seeking reelection would already be focused on their respective campaigns.
Aside from the possibility of the proposed provisions getting side-stepped, Borja said lawmakers might change their tune on charter change. “This can entail some to switch sides on the issue if they are bound to lose votes because of it, threatening the momentum of the Cha-Cha push itself,” he said. – Rappler.com
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PH boxers taking ‘good steps’ in qualifying for Paris Olympics | delfin.dioquino editor | 10/2/2024 22:28 | PUNCH. Nesthy Petecio (left) in action for the Philippines in the 2024 Boxam Elite Tournament.
Federacion Española de Boxeo Facebook page
MANILA, Philippines – Filipino boxers’ promising results in the Boxam Elite Tournament in Spain bode well in their bid to qualify for the Paris Olympics.
Nesthy Petecio, Rogen Ladon, Aira Villegas, and Hergie Bacyadan all emerged victorious as the Philippine boxing team completed a four-gold haul in the international tourney that drew boxers from 30 countries.
The Philippines finished tied with Italy and Uzbekistan for most gold medals in the event that ran from January 29 to February 4.
“We can’t get too high on the four gold medals because this is just a lead-up tournament,” said Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines (ABAP) secretary-general Marcus Jarwin Manalo.
“But at least we can see that we are taking good steps leading to the Olympic qualifiers.”
Petecio nailed a split 4-1 win over two-time world champion Huang Hsiao-wen of Chinese Taipei in the women’s -57kg final as she eyes a return trip to the Olympics after bagging silver in the Tokyo Games.
Also a former Olympian, Rogen Ladon clinched the men’s -51kg title after winning by default against Hungary’s Istvan Szaka.
Villegas ruled the women’s -50kg division with a 3-2 victory over Kazakhstan’s Kyzaibay Nazym, while Bacyadan earned a 5-0 shutout triumph over Kazakhstan’s Yerzhan Gulsaya to lord over the women’s -75kg category.
Meanwhile, Carlo Paalam (men’s -57kg), Mark Ashley Fajardo (men’s 63.5kg), Ronald Chavez Jr. (men’s 71kg), and Riza Pasuit (women’s -60kg) all suffered exits in the preliminaries.
Despite the mixed results, Manalo said his charges have shown improvement since the Asian Games, which served as a qualifier for the Olympics.
Only Eumir Marcial qualified for Paris among the 10 Filipino boxers, including Petecio, Villegas, Paalam, Fajardo, and Pasuit, who saw action in the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, last year.
“The boxers appear to be in better form now compared to the previous qualifiers,” said Manalo. “All that we’re doing now is building up for the Olympics.”
Nearly 100 spots are still up for grabs in Paris as boxers compete in a pair of world qualification tournaments in February-March in Busto Arsizio, Italy, and in May-June in Bangkok, Thailand.
Boxing has historically delivered the most Olympic medals for the Philippines with eight, three coming from Petecio (silver), Paalam (silver), and Marcial (bronze) in the Tokyo Games in 2021. – Rappler.com
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Brownlee recalls ‘stressful’ time after suspension put career on hold | delfin.dioquino editor | 9/2/2024 23:58 | STAR. Justin Brownlee appears as a spectator in the 2023-24 PBA Commissioner's Cup finals.
PBA Images
MANILA, Philippines – The months-long ordeal is over for Justin Brownlee.
But that challenging period proved to be a test of character for Brownlee as he worried about his future after failing a doping test following Gilas Pilipinas’ historic title romp in the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China last October.
“Mentally, it was very tough just not knowing whatever the outcome may be of the situation that was going on. Very stressful for sure,” Brownlee told reporters on Friday, February 9, as he gears up for his national team return.
“A lot of days and nights, thinking about it, feeling sorry for myself.”
Brownlee tested positive for Carboxy-THC, a prohibited substance by the World Anti-Doping Agency that is linked to cannabis use.
Local sports officials said it is possible that Brownlee may have taken medication that contained the banned substance as he recovered from surgery to remove bone spurs in his foot.
Although Brownlee and the Nationals got to keep their gold medal, his positive test prevented him from suiting up for his mother team Barangay Ginebra in the PBA.
The 2023-2024 Commissioner’s Cup marked the first time the Gin Kings played without Brownlee in an import conference since he started his career with Ginebra in the 2016 Governors’ Cup.
Brownlee saw action in 10 straight import conferences and powered the Gin Kings to six championships.
Tapping former Meralco import Tony Bishop to fill in for Brownlee, Ginebra still reached the semifinals, but it succumbed at the hands of mighty San Miguel as it got swept in a best-of-five series for the first time since 2013.
“It was very difficult. At the beginning, I felt like I let my team down. Definitely, at the beginning, it was tough. But I give a lot of credit to Tony Bishop, he came in and he played his hardest,” said Brownlee.
Knowing he will miss time away from the PBA, Brownlee opted to serve a provisional suspension that started on November 9.
That decision worked wonders for the three-time PBA Best Import as FIBA retroactively counted the time he sat out for his proposed three-month period of ineligibility.
His suspension finally ended on Friday, just in time for Brownlee to join the national team for the first window of the FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers later this February.
“At the end of the day… if you get knocked down or you get set back, you just got to try to stay positive and move forward,” said Brownlee.
Now that he is back, Brownlee is itching to suit up again, both for Gilas Pilipinas and the Gin Kings.
“Right now, I feel good. I feel rested. I feel healthy,” he said. – Rappler.com
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NASA conducts air pollution mission in Philippines, 3 other Asian countries | Joann Manabat - CMS | 10/2/2024 14:17 | FLYING LABORATORY. The DC-8 aircraft has arrived at the Asian Aerospace in Clark Freeport Zone on February 2 for the ASIAN-AQ mission led by NASA. This is the last mission for the DC-8 as it sets to retire in mid this year.
Joann Manabat/Rappler
CLARK FREEPORT, Philippines – The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is conducting an Asian mission on air pollution to study the air quality in four Asian countries, including the Philippines, in a “flying laboratory.”
The mission is dubbed as the “Airborne and Satellite Investigation of Asian Air Quality” (ASIA-AQ).
Together with Korea’s National Institute of Environmental Research (NIER), the Department of Environment and Natural Resources Philippines (DENR), the Philippine Space Agency, the Manila Observatory and other partners, the flying laboratory will collect detailed air quality data over multiple locations in Asia using aircraft, ground sites, and satellites to improve the understanding of local air quality issues.
NASA’s DC-8 aircraft, which carries a total of 26 scientific instruments, will fly across major parts of Luzon together with the Gulfstream 3 (G-3) aircraft to collect airborne sampling and understand the air quality in the country.
The ASIA-AQ mission will also conduct air analysis through a collaboration between local scientists, air quality agencies, and local governments.
Katherine Paredero, a researcher at the University of California Irvine, said the two-month mission includes South Korea, Thailand, and Malaysia.
Paredero said the mission will also have ground level measurements and satellite measurement to complete the data analysis for the local air quality in each country.
“This is going to take place in the next two months. Two weeks in the Philippines, two weeks in South Korea, two weeks in Thailand, and two weeks in Malaysia. For now, it’s just Asia. It’s a cohesive study that we are all going to compile together,” Paredero said.
The cities in Asia, where we are going to, are the megacities in Asia that are all suffering from pretty bad air quality, mostly very high levels of particulate matter,” said NASA platform scientist Jack Dibb.
Dibb said the collaborative mission is funded by NASA. They will coordinate with national government agencies and other local scientists and partners to determine factors affecting the local air, its issues, and help change policies as part of a mitigation process to improve the local air in the country.
“So in the end, it’s going to be the government of the Philippines that is going to take what we all learned together and change the policies to improve the air quality in the Philippines,” said Dibb. “And all work together to try to figure out which control measures, mitigations, will have the biggest benefit with the least cost.”
DENR Secretary Maria Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga said the investigation will help the government address factors and understand air pollution in the country as it also poses risks to human health. Loyzaga said the study will also help address the climate crisis as well as global warming.
Loyzaga said the ASIA-AQ mission will help the country in strengthening air quality regulations, implement emission control mitigations, and develop sustainable strategies to improve air quality in the country.
“We all want cleaner air. All over the world, governments are now working to prioritize the prevention of air pollution as an essential solution to one of the most pressing environmental problems of the world,” Loyzaga said during the mission briefing at the Hilton Hotel in Clark Freeport on February 8.
“The ASIA-AQ will help improve air quality monitoring, facilitating regional collaboration and data sharing, supporting policy development, and providing capacity-building opportunities,” she added.
A total of five engineers and air quality specialists from the DENR-Environmental Management Bureau will join NASA in the flying laboratory to learn and observe the scientific research to build their technical capacity and expertise.
“To complement the project, DENR will also be enhancing its air quality instrumentation network this year, made possible by the 2024 national budget and by partnerships with development partners,” Loyzaga said.
The ASIA-AQ mission has already conducted two flight research flights since it arrived last February 2. They are set to fly again over Luzon until February 15.
The ASIA-AQ project in the Philippines is under a joint understanding of the DENR and NASA. – Rappler.com
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PH boxers taking ‘good steps’ in qualifying for Paris Olympics | delfin.dioquino editor | 10/2/2024 22:28 | PUNCH. Nesthy Petecio (left) in action for the Philippines in the 2024 Boxam Elite Tournament.
Federacion Española de Boxeo Facebook page
MANILA, Philippines – Filipino boxers’ promising results in the Boxam Elite Tournament in Spain bode well in their bid to qualify for the Paris Olympics.
Nesthy Petecio, Rogen Ladon, Aira Villegas, and Hergie Bacyadan all emerged victorious as the Philippine boxing team completed a four-gold haul in the international tourney that drew boxers from 30 countries.
The Philippines finished tied with Italy and Uzbekistan for most gold medals in the event that ran from January 29 to February 4.
“We can’t get too high on the four gold medals because this is just a lead-up tournament,” said Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines (ABAP) secretary-general Marcus Jarwin Manalo.
“But at least we can see that we are taking good steps leading to the Olympic qualifiers.”
Petecio nailed a split 4-1 win over two-time world champion Huang Hsiao-wen of Chinese Taipei in the women’s -57kg final as she eyes a return trip to the Olympics after bagging silver in the Tokyo Games.
Also a former Olympian, Rogen Ladon clinched the men’s -51kg title after winning by default against Hungary’s Istvan Szaka.
Villegas ruled the women’s -50kg division with a 3-2 victory over Kazakhstan’s Kyzaibay Nazym, while Bacyadan earned a 5-0 shutout triumph over Kazakhstan’s Yerzhan Gulsaya to lord over the women’s -75kg category.
Meanwhile, Carlo Paalam (men’s -57kg), Mark Ashley Fajardo (men’s 63.5kg), Ronald Chavez Jr. (men’s 71kg), and Riza Pasuit (women’s -60kg) all suffered exits in the preliminaries.
Despite the mixed results, Manalo said his charges have shown improvement since the Asian Games, which served as a qualifier for the Olympics.
Only Eumir Marcial qualified for Paris among the 10 Filipino boxers, including Petecio, Villegas, Paalam, Fajardo, and Pasuit, who saw action in the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, last year.
“The boxers appear to be in better form now compared to the previous qualifiers,” said Manalo. “All that we’re doing now is building up for the Olympics.”
Nearly 100 spots are still up for grabs in Paris as boxers compete in a pair of world qualification tournaments in February-March in Busto Arsizio, Italy, and in May-June in Bangkok, Thailand.
Boxing has historically delivered the most Olympic medals for the Philippines with eight, three coming from Petecio (silver), Paalam (silver), and Marcial (bronze) in the Tokyo Games in 2021. – Rappler.com
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My family’s huan-á-pô: Filipino, Filipino-Chinese, and the lines drawn between | lkyu0285 | 10/2/2024 17:00 | Marian Hukom/Rappler
“Lí mài chù-ì,” my father told me as I moved to help with the dishes, “Ī chí-sī huan-á-pô.”
(Don’t mind her. She’s the maid after all.)
I was young, maybe eight years old, and I was fresh from learning in Sunday school that it was good to lend a helping hand. So help I did. After dinner, I had headed straight to the kitchen, only to be met with that reprimand. And my yaya – as I’d call her, to the disapproval of my Hokkien-speaking father – simply nodded.
“Ako na bahala diyan (I’ll take care of it),” she said, taking the dishes from me.
I remember how tired her eyes looked, creased from age and labor. I remember my father’s scornful tone, lined with declarations of this household’s power dynamic. I remember my own confusion.
But it wasn’t the first time I had heard these ideas. In catered dinner parties and around decorated dining tables, cousins, aunts, uncles would gossip about how terribly inept their huan-á kang-lâng – Filipino employee – was, and oh, have you heard how so-and-so had, God forbid, married a huan-á!
It wasn’t the last time I’d hear it either. After a law exam where my friends and I did well, I wondered aloud how we’d managed to do it. One of them threw a cursory glance over my classmates and said – as if its implication were obvious – “Huan-á.” The implication, of course, being that we were not. We were lán-nâng.
“Huan-á” (番仔), the Hokkien word that most Filipino-Chinese use to refer to Filipinos, actually translates to “foreigner.” The proper, clunkier word ought to be “hui-li̍p-pin-lâng” (菲律宾人) or “Philippine people,” but perhaps due to its brevity or perhaps something else, “huan-á” has gained mainstream use. Meanwhile, “lán-nâng” (咱人), which is what Filipino-Chinese use to refer to each other, literally translates to “our people.”
But words are never just words. When you condense an entire people – thoughts and hopes and dreams and all – into two syllables, you reduce them into what they are not. Over decades, the word “huan-á” has become loaded with a derogatory taste. We are our people, the words seemed to say, and they are not, branded instead as foreigners in their own land.
And the space between us widens.
At home, the same words are spoken, with the same lurking undertones. To them, my yaya is a huan-á-pô, as if to say she is foreign, and therefore, unknowably different. An ideal huan-á-pô is a docile, unambitious servant. Someone who knows their place. After all, it’s a cardinal sin for a huan-á-pô to be ké-gâu; a know-it-all, a pakialamera. Inanimate obedience is a virtue.
While my yaya lived with us, she was accepted and accommodated only insofar as she was useful around the house. The line of absolute hospitality was never crossed. The delicate tension of surrendering part of one’s home while also not offering too much to the Other always hung in the air.
Home, sweet home: that place which proxies as the racial battleground between lán-nâng and huan-á.
In some of my earliest memories, I would linger around the kitchen, watching as my yaya worked – deft hands knifing the scales off fish that would soon be lunch. I would ask her how she knew to pick the freshest catch, or the precise points to cut and clean out the belly. And she would tell me how, in a blend of Filipino and her native Ilocano.
It got to a point where, as a child, bits of Ilocano words would color my sentences – fascinating for me, dreadful for my parents, who understood nothing of what I said. My parents went so far as limiting my conversations with the househelp, fearing I’d pick up Filipino or Ilocano as my main language and “ta̍k-pái ēng huan-á-ōe” (always use Filipino.)
It was one of my relative’s great worries that one of us would become too “localized” and lose the ability to speak lán-nâng-ōe, Hokkien. And so universal is this fear among proud, old Filipino-Chinese families that they have a word for it: “huan-á gōng,” literally a stupid foreigner, or someone who has forgotten their language, their roots.
This aversion towards the Filipino language cut deep into me growing up. I had detested learning Filipino. I feared Filipino. For a time, I had even bought in the delusional superiority that seemed so obvious to many Filipino-Chinese. I, too, had begun to view my yaya as a mere huan-á-pô.
In retrospect, I feel terrible. I could have done more to resist this pervasive racism. I could have chosen to see the common humanity in my yaya’s eyes, the same that glimmered in my mother’s, my grandmother’s. I stood passively by, listening as my relatives would attribute her faults to a supposed intrinsic inferiority of her race.
Careless around chinaware? Huan-á. Unable to set aside savings? Huan-á. The worst offenses called for the worst slurs: “Puro utang na lang ang alam? Chhàu-huan!” they would say, pulling out a word that literally means “smelly foreigner” or “barbarian.”
What I now understand are mere mistakes or even effects of a disadvantaged socio-economic position, my relatives would once tell me were the natural failings of huan-á. Sometimes, I would argue that a person can only do so much to climb out the depths of poverty when deprived of the educational and economic privileges that they take for granted. But they simply shook their heads and shut me down with one word: Huan-á.
I’ve come a long way in unburdening myself of this prejudice. But the past weighs on me.
When Alex Tizon first shone a light on the story of Lola, who he called his family’s “slave” in modern America, most of the world – in its decidedly Western ethic – declared it all monstrously unjust. To some, the story was about just another kasambahay.
But whether or not something is normalized by society, what’s wrong is wrong. To quote Tizon, “I was ashamed of it all, including my complicity.” Yet, perhaps shame isn’t the appropriate emotion. In the closed world of lán-nâng, there was no shame to be had at ordering those below you. So perhaps the more appropriate emotion is frustration.
Entitlement is a poison that sadly runs deep in Filipino-Chinese circles. The dismissive way that they treat their huan-á-pô sometimes extends to a general resentment for huan-á. It pops up in other places. Just think of the walls they build around their own children to keep would-be suitors without the right family name at bay.
When I asked the older generation what motivates this sort of prejudice, they said that they’re merely “preserving” Filipino-Chinese culture by keeping Filipino influence out. Perhaps we might understand why heritage means everything to them if we consider the unique position of the Filipino-Chinese. Dispossessed of their homeland and culture, and voluntarily exiled in a country where they are a minority, they cling to their language and their small community as the only remnants of a lost cultural identity. My own grandfather, fleeing the spread of World War II in China, fled to the Philippines in the proverbial small boat with little more than a suitcase and the clothes on his back.
Stripped of any reminders of their home, they protect what they deem is the last repository of their culture that holds the community together: Hokkien. And in the process, they shut others out.
But for all these musings, I am no closer to understanding who my yaya is beyond the role that my culture seems to dictate. I can attempt to rebuild the facts. Her name is Corazon. She comes from Ilocos Norte. She has three daughters, the youngest of whom my parents would sometimes invite to the house in a display of generosity.
But the truth is, I don’t know her. Her identity was lost in the fear that who she was might “infect” who we were.
When I think back to that moment years ago, a young boy wanting to help his yaya, I wish I hadn’t been taught to see her as a huan-á-pô. No. I wish I’d been taught to see in those tired eyes the dignity of labor, of shared humanity, of what it means to be a Filipino. – Rappler.com
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Dropping the antics, Abueva turns into key player for Magnolia in PBA finals | delfin.dioquino editor | 10/2/2024 16:25 | DENIED. Calvin Abueva in action for the Magnolia Hotshots in the 2023-24 PBA Commissioner's Cup.
PBA Images
MANILA, Philippines – Calvin Abueva has kept his emotions in check since he figured in a pair of controversies in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup finals.
And his self-restraint has translated into an improved showing as Abueva played a key role in helping Magnolia tie the best-of-seven series against San Miguel at 2-2.
The mercurial forward turned in his finest performance of the finals, making his presence felt in the Hotshots’ 96-85 win on Friday, February 9, with a near double-double of 9 points and 11 rebounds to go with 3 assists and 2 steals.
“He has been focused and controlled. Even in this game, we all saw how he controlled himself,” said Magnolia big man Ian Sangalang, who has been Abueva’s teammate since college.
Abueva found himself in hot water when he mocked the visual impairment of Beermen head coach Jorge Gallent in the fourth quarter of Game 2 last February 4.
Gallent wears an ocular prosthesis after losing his right eye in a motorcycle accident in 1988.
But the controversy did not end there as finals drama spilled off the court, with Abueva getting embroiled in another incident as he figured in a shouting match with the wife of San Miguel big man Mo Tautuaa just moments after Game 2 ended.
The PBA slapped Abueva a P100,000 fine for insulting Gallent, with league commissioner Willie Marcial even warning “The Beast” of a repeat ban if he fails to change his ways.
Aiming to turn over a new leaf, Abueva showed an improved version of himself in the last two games as the Hotshots pulled level with the Beermen even after losing the first two games by 32 points combined.
Putting up just 4.5 points and 6.5 rebounds in Games 1 and 2, Abueva hiked his numbers to 7.5 points and 9 rebounds with 2 assists in Games 3 and 4, which saw Magnolia hold San Miguel to an average of 82.5 points.
Those were a far cry from the 106 points the Beermen normed in the first two games.
Abueva has also minimized his fouling as he committed just three fouls in each of the last two games after recording nine fouls in Games 1 and 2 combined.
“We all know that Calvin has a lot of antics, but for these finals, we need him to be controlled throughout the series,” said Sangalang.
Game 5 is on Sunday, February 11. – Rappler.com
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Non-regular employees to be entitled to service charge – DOLE | Michelle Abad | 5/2/2024 14:17 | Shutterstock
MANILA, Philippines – Non-regular employees will soon be entitled to receive the service charge paid by customers, according to new rules from the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).
Under Department Order (DO) No. 242, series of 2024, revising the implementing rules and regulations of Article 96 of the Philippine Labor Code, regular and non-regular workers will be able to collect service charge, or the amount added to customers’ bills for service rendered.
In the section defining covered employees, DOLE deleted the phrase “under the direct employ of covered establishments,” which was in the superseded old rules, DO No. 206, series of 2019.
All employees are now covered, except managerial employees. Managerial employees, or those who have power to implement and execute policies or handle workers’ employment, are still not entitled to service charge, like in the old rules.
Examples of workers who are not directly employed by establishments include contractual, non-regular, or agency workers.
The rules apply to all establishments that collect service charge. These include hotels, restaurants, and other similar establishments like lodging houses, nightclubs, cocktail lounges, massage clinics, gambling houses, and sports clubs. Private subsidiaries of the government are included as well.
The order requires that covered establishments distribute service charge “completely and equally, based on actual hours or days of work or service rendered, among the covered employees.”
Covered employees should be receiving service charge not less than once every two weeks, or twice a month, at intervals not exceeding 16 days.
Labor Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma signed the order on Thursday, February 1. The order takes effect 15 days after publication in at least two newspapers.
Labor group Federation of Free Workers (FFW) on Saturday, February 3, welcomed the new rules.
Some of the behind-the-scenes work that led to Laguesma’s approval of the rules included a resolution from the National Anti-Poverty Commission-Formal Labor and Migrant Workers Sectoral Council recommending the revision.
“This change is a critical step in recognizing and rewarding the efforts of those workers, though not directly hired by the principal employees, who contribute to the service experience of clients or customers,” said FFW.
FFW urged all service sector employers to comply with the new rules, and to collaborate with unions and their employees to ensure a smooth transition to the “more equitable system.” – Rappler.com
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Davao Region officials hopeful for rescue of more people from landslide rubble | Jairo Bolledo | 10/2/2024 18:45 | EVACUATION. The provincial government of Davao de Oro evacuates residents affected by the landslide in the province.
Davao de Oro provincial government's Facebook page
DAVAO ORIENTAL, Philippines – Davao Region officials remained hopeful that more people would be rescued from ground zero of a mining village in Masara, Davao de Oro, that was hit by the deadly February 6 landslide.
Davao de Oro Governor Dorothy Gonzaga said in a press conference on Saturday afternoon, February 10, that the successful rescue of a 3-year-old girl on Friday morning, February 9, made them “hopeful that there will be more lives to be saved.”
“The 3-year-old girl is now stable but we rushed her to the Davao Regional Medical Center (in nearby Tagum City) due to some inflammation in her legs,” Gonzaga said.
While the governor was speaking, an earthquake also hit on Saturday.
“Horrible! That is a strong earthquake and it [lasted] long!” she exclaimed.
Ednar Dayanghirang, regional director of the Office of the Civil Defense in the Davao Region, lifted up their situation to God: “We surrender to God if He wills it.”
In recent weeks, torrential rains battered Davao de Oro, triggering floods and landslides. On Tuesday, February 6, a landslide in the mining village of Masara buried homes, three buses, and a jeepney.
As of Saturday noon, 28 were declared dead, 77 were still missing, while 32 have been rescued, according to Maco town’s disaster risk reduction and management office.
The continued earthquakes and rains, however, stalled rescue operations in Masara and other parts of the Davao Region affected by the calamities.
Noel Duarte, director of the Department of the Interior and Local Government in Davao de Oro, told Rappler that their provincial government may soon shift from rescue operations to retrieval of dead bodies buried by the landslide.
“We will be meeting this afternoon with the governor, Dorothy Gonzaga, and we will decide whether to shift to retrieval operation. By shifting to retrieval operation, we will be using bulldozers and backhoes, which [are] really very harmful for those who are maybe alive, being trapped inside the rubble,” Duarte said.
Meanwhile, Gonzaga vowed to strictly enforce a no-build-zone policy in Masara. The provincial government has started looking for relocation sites for the displaced villagers.
In Masara alone, 55 houses were buried, including the barangay hall. The local government said the landslide spanned almost nine hectares and displaced 5,290 villagers, who are currently staying in various evacuation centers.
“I told the village chair of Masara in jest that he will lose his barangay as they will be relocated to other villages,” Duarte said.
Meanwhile, Beverly Mae Brebante, the geosciences division chief of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau in Davao, said that the Masara village was “outside the active mine site of Apex Mining, and falls on a fault line.” – Rappler.com
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Charter change rift deepens between Senate, House | Kaycee | 10/2/2024 14:57 | SENATE AND HOUSE LEADERS. Senate President Migz Zubiri and Speaker Martin Romualdez listen to the second State of the Nation Address of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. at the Batasan Pambansa Monday, July 24, 2023.
Senate PRIB
MANILA, Philippines – There seems to be no let up in the word war between members of the Senate and the House that was sparked by disagreements on fresh efforts to pursue charter amendments.
Ako Bicol Representative Elizaldy Co on Thursday, February 8, called out Senator Joel Villanueva, citing his “not-so-spotless past” as he had been implicated in the Priority Development Assistance Fund scam.
This comes despite the senators’ call for a ceasefire, which even House Majority Leader Representative Manuel Jose “Mannix” Dalipe had reminded colleagues in the upper chamber on Monday.
The House of Representatives, particularly that of the majority, held two back-to-back press conferences this week to address concerns regarding charter change and the standoff between lawmakers from the two chambers.
Surigao del Norte 2nd District Representative Robert Ace Barbers said he is “willing” to facilitate a discussion between the two parties. (RELATED: Senators suggest dialogue to settle spat with House lawmakers)
“Kailangan naman talaga mapag-usapan ito dahil hindi naman lingid sa kaalaman ng mga senador at mga kongresista na isang ano ‘to, isang pamamaraan para ma-resolve na itong impasse na ito,” Barbers said on Wednesday, February 7.
(This needs to be talked about because it is not unknown to both senators and House members that it would be one way to resolve this impasse.)
There have been multiple efforts to amend the Constitution but all of them ended in the Senate. The current push is different, said political analyst and Ateneo de Manila University professor Arjan Aguirre, noting that proponents of charter change have now applied what they learned in past efforts.
“They now know that the procedural matter (manner of changing) and the substantial aspect (what to change) are two separate issues that need to be handled well or reconciled if one wants to advance in their agenda or plans on chacha,” Aguirre told Rappler on January 27.
House lawmakers, even House Speaker Martin Romualdez himself, said they would be pushing for charter change this year through a people’s initiative. The public petition, which has been clouded with allegations of bribery and misuse of public funds, began circulating in early January.
The rift between the two houses of Congress started when senators signed a manifesto rejecting the House’s new push for charter change, which proposes that both chambers vote jointly on proposed amendments. (READ: ‘Walang gamot sa kakapalan ng mukha’: Cha-Cha movement deepens feud vs Martin, Imee)
“While it seems simple, the goal is apparent to make it easier to revise the Constitution by eliminating the Senate from the equation,” Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri said in January 23.
This prompted a probe into the people’s initiative itself, with senators asking if it is a “politician’s initiative” under the guise of a public petition. House lawmakers did not take the investigation lightly as they viewed it as a way of denouncing the lower chamber.
“This is what happens when a supposedly democratic mechanism like the people’s initiative is tainted with elite politicking,” De La Salle University political science professor Anthony Lawrence Borja told Rappler on Wednesday.
On Monday, February 5, the House of Representatives passed yet another resolution expressing support for Romualdez. This time, the lower chamber sought to shield the institution and its leadership from what it called an “intense assault” from the Senate.
“While taking criticisms is part and parcel of a healthy and working democracy, the House takes exception to the recent statements and allegations made by the Senate that undermine the independence, reputation, and integrity of the House of Representatives and the leadership of the Speaker,” House Resolution 1562 read.
Senate Minority Leader Koko Pimentel expressed disappointment that the House resolution accused the Senate of violating inter-parliamentary courtesy and “undue interference in the performance of its legislative and constituent functions” as he said that their House colleagues were also doing the same thing.
But did the Senate actually break inter-parliamentary courtesy? University of the Philippines professor and political analyst Ela Atienza emphasized that the two chambers are “co-equal.”
“They are there precisely to check on each other,” Atienza told Rappler on Wednesday. “Besides, charter change and PI issues have far-reaching consequences for the country and can be a point of Senate discussion or inquiry,” she added.
For Bataan 1st District Representative Geraldine Roman, House members have the right to feel offended as the standoff between the two chambers could have been avoided.
“This rift would not have existed in the first place had we exercised some form or minimum amount of empathy…. What if we organize a congressional inquiry then we will target SP Migz Zubiri? But of course, we will never do that,” Roman said in a mix of English and Filipino on Tuesday, February 6.
During the Senate investigation, the lead convenor of the People’s Initiative for Modernization and Reform Action (PIRMA) said they received help from Romualdez to get the public petition going. While the Speaker had admitted to meeting with PIRMA coordinators, he said he did so only as a form of open dialogue. (RELATED: Davao witnesses link PBA party-list workers to ‘deceptive’ Cha-Cha initiative)
Congressmen also slammed senators who reportedly belittle them as the two chambers’ hierarchy became part of the argument. Roman recalled that some candidates for the Senate also reached out to district representatives and even those from political parties to rally votes for them.
“We celebrated your victories…. In fact, marami akong naririnig na mga kongresista, eto nga nangako sa ‘kin ng ganitong project, ng ganitong programa para sa aking constituents. Lahat ginagawa namin para makisama, tapos napapako naman ‘yung mga pangako. You tell us that we cannot feel intensely about things?
(In fact, I heard a lot of stories from other congressmen, telling me about a project promised to them, a program for their constituents. We did everything just so we could get along, but then you didn’t keep your promises. You tell us that we cannot feel intensely about things?)
TGP Representative Jose “Bong” Teves Jr. also reminded senators of the upcoming 2025 polls.
“Mag-e-eleksyon na naman,” Teves said. “Hindi ba kayo hihingi ng tulong?” (Election season is right around the corner. Won’t you ask for help?)
Senators began discussing Resolution of Both Houses No. 6 last week. Although the upper chamber first said they planned to finish discussions before Congress goes on break in March, senators now said they might finish deliberations by October.
By then, those seeking reelection would already be focused on their respective campaigns.
Aside from the possibility of the proposed provisions getting side-stepped, Borja said lawmakers might change their tune on charter change. “This can entail some to switch sides on the issue if they are bound to lose votes because of it, threatening the momentum of the Cha-Cha push itself,” he said. – Rappler.com
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ABS-CBN Foundation ends 25-year stewardship of La Mesa Watershed | Iya Gozum | 9/2/2024 7:48 | SUNLIGHT. Rays from the sun are seen at the entrance of the La Mesa Ecopark in Quezon City in this photo taken in 2019.
La Mesa Ecopark
MANILA, Philippines – After almost 25 years of stewardship, the ABS-CBN Foundation Incorporated (AFI) will turn over management of La Mesa Nature Reserve and La Mesa Ecopark to the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS).
“AFI expresses our heartfelt gratitude to our employees, partners, donors, and supporters for their valuable contributions and support in restoring and sustaining the La Mesa Watershed for almost 25 years,” the foundation said on Thursday, February 8.
The nature reserve will be turned over to MWSS’ corporate office and concessionaires. La Mesa Ecopark, on the other hand, will be handed over to MWSS’ corporate office and the local government of Quezon City.
Because of the turnover, both the nature reserve and the ecopark will be closed to the public starting Monday, February 12.
The nature reserve offers several trails going around the reserve, covered by lush forest canopies. The trails are open to runners, hikers, and bikers.
The La Mesa Watershed, Ipo and Angat watersheds supply water to Metro Manila.
Meanwhile, affected staff will be receiving severance packages. The foundation said they “recognize the challenges our employees at La Mesa may face due to temporary closure.”
The change in management is in line with an interagency agreement among MWSS, Manila Water, and Maynilad on a sustainability roadmap that includes developing the Angat, Ipo, and La Mesa watersheds by 2047.
MWSS and the two concessionaires signed a memorandum of agreement last October 2023 for the Integrated Watershed Management Roadmap for Angat, Ipo, and La Mesa.
Manila Water and Maynilad will fund the programs that will rehabilitate the watersheds.
A post shared by Manila Water (@manilawaterph)
“You can rely on our commitment and our support to make sure that we will work with all the stakeholders to ensure a robust and well-protected vibrant watershed,” Manila Water president and CEO Jocot de Dios said during the October signing.
There are still no details as to when recreational and outdoor activities in the nature reserve and ecopark will continue.
Rappler has reached out to AFI and MWSS for more details but has yet to receive a response, as of writing.
In 1999, Bantay Kalikasan, the foundation’s program for the environment, started the Save the La Mesa Watershed campaign. This aimed to reforest 2,700 hectares of the watershed.
The late philanthropist and former environment secretary Gina Lopez, who started serving as AFI’s managing director in 1991, pioneered the rehabilitation of the watershed.
“I’d like to say that the vision for this park came because of the watershed,” Lopez said in an old footage from the foundation.
“We had 1,200 hectares denuded and now we have a thousand hectares planted. We want to finish… reforest all of La Mesa.”
In 2022, AFI reported the rehabilitation of a total of 267.5 hectares of forest covering 107,000 native trees, and 452 hectares of young saplings maintained the past three years.
Thousands of volunteers have participated in tree-planting activities in the watershed.
In the same year, the foundation recorded 118,152 visitors in the ecopark and 13,561 visitors in the nature reserve.
AFI, founded by the late ABS-CBN chief Eugenio “Geny” Lopez Jr., was established in 1989. Its other programs and campaigns include Bantay Bata 163, Kapit Bisig para sa Ilog Pasig, and Pantawid ng Pag-ibig. – Rappler.com
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Why Filipino students performed poorly in global learning assessments | Bonz Magsambol | 8/2/2024 12:30 | PHILIPPINE EDUCATION. File photo of students at Corazon Aquino Elementary School in Quezon City during the opening of classes in August 2023
Jire Carreon/Rappler
MANILA, Philippines – Before the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2022 rankings were released in December 2023, the Department of Education (DepEd) had already said it was not expecting “good results.”
It seemed to be the agency’s way of controlling the narrative and minimizing public backlash, if not lowering public expectations. After all, the DepEd had already faced a string of controversies in only two years of Vice President Sara Duterte’s leadership. Critics hit Duterte for what they called “misplaced priorities” in the department – from red-tagging to alleged misuse of hefty confidential funds.
“To be honest, we’re not expecting good results. So right now, we’re really focused in learning recovery. And that is why we requested that if there were realignments to be made, it should be realigned to the NLRP (National Learning Recovery Program),” DepEd Undersecretary Michael Poa said in November 2023.
Poa was right. The Philippines, once again, ended up among the countries that produced the lowest proficiency for 15-year-old students in reading, mathematics, and science, as indicated by the PISA rankings. The country ranked 77th out of 81 countries globally.
The country scored Level 1a to 1b on mathematics, reading, and science. This means that students had below minimum proficiency in all three subject areas.
At level 1a for reading, students can understand only the literal meaning of sentences or short passages. At level 1b for mathematics, they can perform only simple calculations. Lastly, at level 1a for science, they can recognize only simple scientific phenomena.
The latest PISA result begs the question: why do Filipino students continue to lag behind other countries in global education assessments?
At a Senate hearing on the 2022 PISA results on Wednesday, February 7, Senator Nancy Binay asked the DepEd if the questions in PISA were taught in schools in the country. “Paano maisasagot ng mga student ang questions kung hindi siya naituturo as part of the curriculum?” (How can the students answer the questions when these are not being taught as part of the curriculum?)
In response, educational psychologist and University of the Philippines professor Lizamarie Olegario said that the learning curriculum in the country is too much focused on mere “memorization” or the low ordering thinking skill, while PISA questions require analytical thinking.
“Hindi talaga siya natuturo sa classrooms natin. ‘Yung mga questions sa PISA ay practical real-life situations. Kasi dapat ‘yung tinuturo natin ay solving real-life problems, authentic learning dapat tayo,” she explained.
(They are really not being taught in our classrooms. The questions in PISA were practical real-life situations. Because what we should be teaching them are about solving real-life problems. We should teach them about authentic learning.)
Olegario said that teachers should veer away from telling students to just memorize math formulas and read fictional books. “In reading, students are so much exposed to fiction. In math, more on memorizing formulas. But in PISA, they need to analyze problems. In science, basically the experiments only ask them to follow steps. But in PISA, they have to imagine. They have to do experiments in their minds.”
Olegario also attributed the dismal performance of students to the failed implementation of the K to 12 program. “The K to 12 is not being implemented to the fullest. The task performance is still on the lower order of thinking skills [which] should be the application side or problem solving.”
Even before K to 12 was launched in 2012, many were already clamoring against the additional two years of basic education. Despite a classroom shortage, lack of textbooks, tables and chairs, the ambitious program was implemented. Policymakers and proponents of K to 12 marketed it to the public as a curriculum preparing “graduates for tertiary education, middle-level skills development, employment, and entrepreneurship.”
But former DepEd director for curriculum and development Joyce Andaya refuted Olegario’s claim. She said that “nowhere in the review did it come out that we focused on the lower level thinking skills.”
“In fact, in the review, there were very important findings. Number 1, there were overlapping. Number 2, there were misplaced competencies that should have been in grade 4 but perhaps in grade 7, and cognitive demands. There’s also high cognitive demands, meaning the curriculum has leaned towards high level than low thinking skills,” she said.
But what Andaya failed to point out was whether the teachers were teaching the way lessons should be taught. The DepEd is the biggest employer of teachers having some 900,000 teaching personnel across the country.
“From our initial discussions, we just found out that our learners and teachers are not familiar with the type of tests that are given by PISA,” Andaya said. She said that there’s need to strengthen “formative tests” in classrooms to match the PISA questions.
In an interview with Rappler on Wednesday, Philippine Business for Education’s Justine Raagas said that there were two major factors why Filipino students lagged behind other countries in PISA. These are lack of resources and the quality of teachers the country has.
Raagas said that the Philippines is allotting only 3% to 4% of its gross domestic product for its education budget while the global standard is 6%. “We perform poor, and we spend less,” she said.
For one, Raagas pointed out the perennial problem of classroom and textbook shortage. “We’re hounded by problems. We lack classrooms. Learners now still share textbooks.”
In 2023, the DepEd was able to build only 3,600 new classrooms. DepEd Assistant Secretary Francis Bringas said that Philippine public schools lacked some 159,000 classrooms before school opened in August 2023. At this rate, the government would be able to address the classroom shortage in 40 years, and by that time, more problems in the education sector would have come up.
Ironically, on the lack of textbooks, the DepEd left some P3 billion worth of learning materials sitting in warehouses from 2021 to 2023. A Rappler investigation revealed that the learning materials were held hostage by logistics firm Transpac due to non-payment of fees, among other things. The materials were later released after Rappler published its report in December 2023.
“Teachers are the biggest inputs to classroom learning. It’s important to have high quality teachers who are knowledgeable,” Raagas said, stressing the crucial role of teachers for some 28 million basic education students.
According to a World Bank study in 2016, the knowledge of teachers and the method they use to teach a subject were “important determinants of student learning outcomes in the Philippines.” The study showed that “knowledge of subject matter among elementary and high school teachers is low in most subjects.”
For instance, the World Bank study revealed that a mathematics teacher in high school was only able to answer 31% of the questions “completely correctly,” far from even half of the questions.
“Since the tests are closely aligned with the curriculum, the results suggest that teachers face significant challenges in teaching a considerable portion of the current K to 12 curriculum,” the study said.
How can students learn to analyze math equations if their teachers themselves are having a hard time answering them?
But Raagas said teachers shouldn’t be overburdened by the problems because they are overworked with administrative tasks rather than just teaching. “They need to be supported,” she said.
To address this, the DepEd recently released an order removing administrative tasks from teachers so they could focus on teaching. Raagas, however, said that if the DepEd would hire only 5,000 administrative staff every year, it would take years for the agency to solve the problem.
“We have to remember that we have over 47,000 schools…. Do the math, if only 5,000 year-on-year, it would take years to be completed. In the next years, we would still have overworked teachers,” Raagas said. (READ: Overworked teachers among causes of high learning poverty level in PH – experts)
For years, teachers have complained that paperwork piling up hinders them from preparing lessons.
What does the DepEd need now? Raagas said the agency needs a strong leader.
“We need a strong leadership that [will say,] ‘hey all these things need to be done.’ And the fact is that many of the reforms have to be done simultaneously,” she said.
Many critics disagreed with Duterte’s appointment as education chief. She is not an educator, and some people questioned her qualifications. But the Vice President said her experience as a mother and her background in local governance are enough. Will she take the rest of her term to learn the job? – Rappler.com
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I appreciate the candidness of Philippine Business for Education’s Justine Raagas, who stated that the agency (DepEd) needs a strong leader. However, using the adjective “strong” may be less appropriate compared to plainly stating that she lacks the experience and educational qualification to lead DepEd. It is said that VP Sara Duterte defended herself by declaring that “her experience as a mother and her background in local governance are enough.” Unfortunately, such experience and background are insufficient or appropriate for such a position. Why should an official maintain her position when not qualified or experienced? The highest responsibility belongs to President Marcos Jr. He should urgently act on this and not prolong the suffering of affected students, teachers, and parents.
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ICC case exposes Duterte’s desperation, Marcos’ indecisiveness | Jairo Bolledo | 9/2/2024 21:23 | Nico Villarete/ Rappler
MANILA, Philippines – The tense wait for the next move of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has exposed the desperate tactics of former president Rodrigo Duterte, the alleged subject of investigation, and the indecisiveness of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who cannot keep a definite tone on what his government’s policy is.
Marcos’ justice secretary, Jesus Crispin Remulla, said on Friday, February 9, that the “ICC holds no jurisdiction over the Philippines” – yet another toned down iteration of the government’s stance in the face of speculations coming from Duterte’s camp that a warrant of arrest against the former president is in the horizon. The strongest position that Marcos has taken was late 2023 when he said he was open to studying the return of the Philippines as a member of the ICC.
The drama between Marcos and Duterte reached a fever pitch end of January when both held simultaneous rallies where the former president accused his successor of being a drug addict. Marcos, who is usually not one to engage in nasty word wars, clapped back and said Duterte’s tirades may be the result of fentanyl use.
That’s when Duterte, through his former spokesperson Harry Roque, said that an arrest warrant is looming. This cannot be confirmed because “warrants of arrest may be issued confidentially (under seal) or publicly, depending on the circumstances,” according to the ICC’s Office of the Prosecutor, referring to general cases.
Duterte said he will resist arrest and will not hesitate to resort to violence. “Kapag puntahan nila ako, arestuhin nila ako dito, magkabarilan talaga ‘yan at uubusin ko ang mga putanginang ‘yan (If they come for me, if they arrest me here, there will be a shootout, I will finish all those sons of bitches),” said Duterte in an interview with his former presidential legal counsel Salvador Panelo over radio DZRJ on Thursday, February 8.
Duterte said in the same interview that he believes Marcos has nothing to do with the ICC moves, even as key witness and self-confessed Duterte hitman Arturo Lascañas resurfaced right after the Uniteam breakup in those rallies.
International law advocates insist that even if the Philippines is no longer a member of the ICC, it is still bound to cooperate with the court, which for them is enough framework for national authorities to enforce a potential warrant.
“That is the obligation under the Rome Statute, if you are a member and you withdraw, you still have an obligation to cooperate for those crimes that were committed while you were a member,” said retired Supreme Court senior justice Antonio Carpio.
Enforcement is a big problem in international law proceedings because the ICC has no police powers, and relies only on national authorities to enforce its orders. The Philippine National Police (PNP) under Marcos says it will not enforce any ICC arrest warrant.
“President Marcos is closely being watched. What will be his next decisive actions? He should not be perceived as weak by different stakeholders,” said political analyst Maria Ela Atienza.
But the absence of such decisive actions from Marcos, so far, opens the possibility of a local court showdown. That would give Marcos a reason to leave to the judiciary the question of how to deal with a warrant, just like how he left to the legislative branch last year the issuance of resolutions urging the government to cooperate with the ICC.
But “procedurally, a regional trial court cannot issue a local warrant of arrest in place of a warrant issued by the ICC,” said Ross Tugade, a lecturer of the University of the Philippines (UP) College of Law.
If anything, Duterte or the subject of the ICC warrant can challenge it before a local court, and “the domestic court will look into the propriety of the ICC warrant and determine if the rights of the respondent were respected,” said Menardo Guevarra, Marcos’ solicitor general and Duterte’s former justice secretary.
Duterte’s “brand of leadership and rhetoric” is evident in his drug-tagging of Marcos and his mouthpieces being behind speculations about what the ICC’s next move will be, said Atienza.
“He is apparently still influential, especially in Mindanao, and can use these attacks to try weakening the popularity and influence of the President and his administration. But he forgets that he is no longer immune to legal cases and that the ICC is actively investigating the war on drugs,” said Atienza.
For their consideration is also the fact that the ICC investigation is gaining traction among voters, as Filipinos have shown increasing trust and approval of the probe, according to a December 2023 SWS survey.
The victims of Duterte’s drug war, while supportive of an ICC investigation, have been made a little more anxious by these speculations, “worried that the more public the investigation is, the more dangerous it could be for the people in it,” said Kristina Conti, an ICC-accredited assistant counsel and lawyer for a group of victims.
“This drug-tagging affair between Marcos and Duterte is deeply insulting to communities. To the victims of the war on drugs, it yet again exposes the sham and shows the policy as it really was: a massacre of the poor. Kapag maliit kang tao, nakakamatay ‘yan, totoo man o hindi (If you’re an ordinary person, those accusations are deadly whether they are true or not),” said Conti.
The call of the human rights community remains the same: for Marcos to cooperate with the ICC and revamp the drug war policy that has still resulted in killings under his administration. More than 300 people were killed under the mantle of the campaign against drugs in 2023, according to the record-keeping of the Dahas project of the UP Third World Studies Center.
“If [Marcos] does not do any of these things, it will only mean that he’s using this issue as a political weapon against Duterte. Woe, then, to the thousands of victims of the ‘drug war’ that are still struggling to find justice and closure,” said Carlos Conde, Philippine researcher of Human Rights Watch. – Rappler.com
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More likely, President Marcos Jr. is “using this issue as a political weapon against Duterte.” It is hard to expect President Marcos Jr. to give greater priority to the victims of Duterte’s drug war. Woe, indeed, to those victims.
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Love for God or love for jowa? When Ash Wednesday falls on Valentine’s Day | Paterno Esmaquel II | 10/2/2024 11:30 | For Valentine’s dinner, we’re having… what, fasting?
It’s a test of will for Catholics on Wednesday, February 14, as the start of the season of Lent – Ash Wednesday – falls on Valentine’s Day this year.
For Catholics, Ash Wednesday is the start of Lent, a 40-day penitential period marked by prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. On this day, they have their foreheads marked with ashes to symbolize repentance from sin, and are required to abstain from meat (for those 14 years old onwards) and to take only one full meal (for those 18 to 59 years old) as a form of sacrifice.
Valentine’s Day, the feast of the third-century martyr Saint Valentine, patron saint of lovers, is a day when romantic partners give gifts and go on dates in a celebration of love.
So what goes first for Filipino Catholics on February 14 this year: love for God or love for jowa (a colloquial Filipino term for a romantic partner)? Or does February 14 this year simply mean, uhm, payday?
We posted informal Facebook polls as early as January 5, and here’s what we found:
Hands down, for our followers (as of Saturday, February 10), “love for God” wins.
Our poll is still up, by the way, and you can still vote! Click and share the link below:
But why, in the first place, does the day of ashes fall on the day of hearts this year?
Lent is a preparation for Holy Week, which commemorates Jesus’ passion and death, which in turn leads to Easter, the celebration of Jesus’ rising from the dead.
Easter is a movable feast, and it falls “on the first Sunday following the first full moon after the spring equinox,” according to Encyclopedia Brittanica. The phases of the moon, in other words, are used to calculate the date of Easter – and this BBC article tells us about computus, a complicated method to determine this date.
It all boils down to the fact that the observances preceding Easter – including Ash Wednesday – will have to change each year and adjust accordingly.
The last time Ash Wednesday coincided with Valentine’s Day was in 2018. Citing researchers, the Catholic publication The Tablet said that before the current century, this coincidence last happened in 1923, 1934, and 1945. Ash Wednesday will fall on Valentine’s Day again in 2029, said The Tablet, “but that’s it for this century.”
Well, that only matters if one observes Ash Wednesday or Valentine’s Day.
If not, there are other things to celebrate on February 14: It’s also the birthday of Filipino stars Kris Aquino and Heart Evangelista, and Korean singer Jaehyun.
And how can we forget: Happy 100th birthday, former senator Juan Ponce Enrile! – Rappler.com
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[Newspoint] The challenge of unsavory company | Mia Gonzalez | 10/2/2024 11:00 | Raffy de Guzman
Not since the battle of EDSA has civil society faced, as it faces today, a comparable challenge of having to enter into a tactical alliance with unsavory company.
It was in that battle, fought 38 years ago this month, that civil society had its shining moment, turning out in a critical mass to end, by street protest vigil, Ferdinand Marcos’ 14-year reign of torture, murder, and plunder. But, as part of the deal, it had to swallow Juan Ponce Enrile.
It was Enrile who, by faking an ambush on himself and blaming it on the communists, had given Marcos the pretext for his martial rule, only to turn against him in order to wrest power for himself. Found out before he could mount his coup, he had to go back for rescue to the nation he had betrayed, lighting the spark for EDSA.
Indeed, Enrile’s has been a long life of betrayals. Soon after he switched sides, his forces tried, seven times, to topple the democratic presidency of Marcos’ successor, Cory Aquino. If there still remains any confusion as to where Enrile’s heart belongs, as a matter of principle, as it were, it should be decidedly dispelled now. And what a perfect occasion for a summing-up – he is turning 100, and right on the day of hearts, the 14th!
Juan Ponce Enrile comes full circle from Marcos’ chief collaborator to legal counsel to Marcos’ son, the present president, filling the interim with service to three presidents of more or less the Marcos mold – Joseph Estrada, Gloria Arroyo, and Rodrigo Duterte.
Duterte, the last previous president, happens also to be the odious challenge today that Enrile was – a turncoat diving into the arms of the good guys for the moment’s convenience. This time the issue on which occurs such an abnormal intersection of positions is constitutional change. Duterte himself pushed for it during his term, and his motive could not have been any different from that of the others – to stay in power beyond his term in order to escape prosecution for his regime’s excesses.
Unable to pull off the trick, and with his daughter the vice president, his fallback hope, now in danger of her own chance at the next presidency being sabotaged by the same trick, he is beginning to sound rather desperate. He has called for the secession of Mindanao, one of the archipelago’s three main islands, whose premier city, Davao, serves as his dynastic base.
It’s another of his self-reversals. He did not support the secessionist campaign when it was active – and it had been hot for decades, in fact pushed along by force of arms – and neither did he have anything to say when his island’s Muslim-dominated region was granted autonomy. Reacting to his outdated espousal, top officials of the region say its citizens are quite content with the compromise – autonomy for the renunciation of secessionism.
Loud, impulsive, and vulgar, Duterte remains a challenge even only as an insistent voice, and with Senator Imee Marcos duetting with him, the challenge is doubled. Apparently excluded from the political plotting by her brother, the President, and their cousin Martin Romualdez, the Speaker, from whose very House the idea of constitutional change went out precooked, she is taking her chances with the Dutertes, who, until her family dropped them from the coalition, had been the other half of it. Favored further by the lack of a potent political opposition, she and Duterte have found a void for themselves to fill.
The spectacle is so insane it just as well suits the superficial orientation of most of the news media; thus an issue that bears on the democratic existence no less of the nation is misrepresented and confused in a noisy, self-centered quarrel among opportunists. Meantime, cause-driven personages and groups are left largely on their own to propagate their selfless position.
And they seem doing what they can across platforms available to them, sending out warnings against letting the contaminated hands of politicians touch the constitution. An initial blast in an online show of force put out a list, running to more than 50 text lines, of redoubtable individuals and groups, notably from the church, an eminent force at EDSA. Still, nothing beats a massive street deployment, and this historic EDSA month is just the perfect time for one.
But again, it can’t stop there; it can’t stop at all, not in the face of such shameless sense of opportunism as has developed among politicians. For the people to be able to exercise ultimate power at will and in every practical way, as intended in any democracy, civil society will have to organize itself into a constituency that constitutes a swing force and from which a critical mass of warm, fervid bodies may be deployed any time. The strategy has worked not only at EDSA, but elsewhere in the world.
For one thing, that should shut out such unsavory company as Enrile, Duterte, and Marcos. – Rappler.com
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Thanks to writer Vergel Santos for another inspiring article. His statement inspired me: “… civil society will have to organize itself into a constituency that constitutes a swing force and from which a critical mass of warm, fervid bodies may be deployed any time. The strategy has worked not only at EDSA, but elsewhere in the world.” The problem is how? And do you know if it will still work this time?
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Charter change rift deepens between Senate, House | Kaycee | 10/2/2024 14:57 | SENATE AND HOUSE LEADERS. Senate President Migz Zubiri and Speaker Martin Romualdez listen to the second State of the Nation Address of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. at the Batasan Pambansa Monday, July 24, 2023.
Senate PRIB
MANILA, Philippines – There seems to be no let up in the word war between members of the Senate and the House that was sparked by disagreements on fresh efforts to pursue charter amendments.
Ako Bicol Representative Elizaldy Co on Thursday, February 8, called out Senator Joel Villanueva, citing his “not-so-spotless past” as he had been implicated in the Priority Development Assistance Fund scam.
This comes despite the senators’ call for a ceasefire, which even House Majority Leader Representative Manuel Jose “Mannix” Dalipe had reminded colleagues in the upper chamber on Monday.
The House of Representatives, particularly that of the majority, held two back-to-back press conferences this week to address concerns regarding charter change and the standoff between lawmakers from the two chambers.
Surigao del Norte 2nd District Representative Robert Ace Barbers said he is “willing” to facilitate a discussion between the two parties. (RELATED: Senators suggest dialogue to settle spat with House lawmakers)
“Kailangan naman talaga mapag-usapan ito dahil hindi naman lingid sa kaalaman ng mga senador at mga kongresista na isang ano ‘to, isang pamamaraan para ma-resolve na itong impasse na ito,” Barbers said on Wednesday, February 7.
(This needs to be talked about because it is not unknown to both senators and House members that it would be one way to resolve this impasse.)
There have been multiple efforts to amend the Constitution but all of them ended in the Senate. The current push is different, said political analyst and Ateneo de Manila University professor Arjan Aguirre, noting that proponents of charter change have now applied what they learned in past efforts.
“They now know that the procedural matter (manner of changing) and the substantial aspect (what to change) are two separate issues that need to be handled well or reconciled if one wants to advance in their agenda or plans on chacha,” Aguirre told Rappler on January 27.
House lawmakers, even House Speaker Martin Romualdez himself, said they would be pushing for charter change this year through a people’s initiative. The public petition, which has been clouded with allegations of bribery and misuse of public funds, began circulating in early January.
The rift between the two houses of Congress started when senators signed a manifesto rejecting the House’s new push for charter change, which proposes that both chambers vote jointly on proposed amendments. (READ: ‘Walang gamot sa kakapalan ng mukha’: Cha-Cha movement deepens feud vs Martin, Imee)
“While it seems simple, the goal is apparent to make it easier to revise the Constitution by eliminating the Senate from the equation,” Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri said in January 23.
This prompted a probe into the people’s initiative itself, with senators asking if it is a “politician’s initiative” under the guise of a public petition. House lawmakers did not take the investigation lightly as they viewed it as a way of denouncing the lower chamber.
“This is what happens when a supposedly democratic mechanism like the people’s initiative is tainted with elite politicking,” De La Salle University political science professor Anthony Lawrence Borja told Rappler on Wednesday.
On Monday, February 5, the House of Representatives passed yet another resolution expressing support for Romualdez. This time, the lower chamber sought to shield the institution and its leadership from what it called an “intense assault” from the Senate.
“While taking criticisms is part and parcel of a healthy and working democracy, the House takes exception to the recent statements and allegations made by the Senate that undermine the independence, reputation, and integrity of the House of Representatives and the leadership of the Speaker,” House Resolution 1562 read.
Senate Minority Leader Koko Pimentel expressed disappointment that the House resolution accused the Senate of violating inter-parliamentary courtesy and “undue interference in the performance of its legislative and constituent functions” as he said that their House colleagues were also doing the same thing.
But did the Senate actually break inter-parliamentary courtesy? University of the Philippines professor and political analyst Ela Atienza emphasized that the two chambers are “co-equal.”
“They are there precisely to check on each other,” Atienza told Rappler on Wednesday. “Besides, charter change and PI issues have far-reaching consequences for the country and can be a point of Senate discussion or inquiry,” she added.
For Bataan 1st District Representative Geraldine Roman, House members have the right to feel offended as the standoff between the two chambers could have been avoided.
“This rift would not have existed in the first place had we exercised some form or minimum amount of empathy…. What if we organize a congressional inquiry then we will target SP Migz Zubiri? But of course, we will never do that,” Roman said in a mix of English and Filipino on Tuesday, February 6.
During the Senate investigation, the lead convenor of the People’s Initiative for Modernization and Reform Action (PIRMA) said they received help from Romualdez to get the public petition going. While the Speaker had admitted to meeting with PIRMA coordinators, he said he did so only as a form of open dialogue. (RELATED: Davao witnesses link PBA party-list workers to ‘deceptive’ Cha-Cha initiative)
Congressmen also slammed senators who reportedly belittle them as the two chambers’ hierarchy became part of the argument. Roman recalled that some candidates for the Senate also reached out to district representatives and even those from political parties to rally votes for them.
“We celebrated your victories…. In fact, marami akong naririnig na mga kongresista, eto nga nangako sa ‘kin ng ganitong project, ng ganitong programa para sa aking constituents. Lahat ginagawa namin para makisama, tapos napapako naman ‘yung mga pangako. You tell us that we cannot feel intensely about things?
(In fact, I heard a lot of stories from other congressmen, telling me about a project promised to them, a program for their constituents. We did everything just so we could get along, but then you didn’t keep your promises. You tell us that we cannot feel intensely about things?)
TGP Representative Jose “Bong” Teves Jr. also reminded senators of the upcoming 2025 polls.
“Mag-e-eleksyon na naman,” Teves said. “Hindi ba kayo hihingi ng tulong?” (Election season is right around the corner. Won’t you ask for help?)
Senators began discussing Resolution of Both Houses No. 6 last week. Although the upper chamber first said they planned to finish discussions before Congress goes on break in March, senators now said they might finish deliberations by October.
By then, those seeking reelection would already be focused on their respective campaigns.
Aside from the possibility of the proposed provisions getting side-stepped, Borja said lawmakers might change their tune on charter change. “This can entail some to switch sides on the issue if they are bound to lose votes because of it, threatening the momentum of the Cha-Cha push itself,” he said. – Rappler.com
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[Uncle Bob] Makati Cinema Square: Against all odds | Mia Gonzalez | 10/2/2024 10:00 | ICONIC MALL. The Makati Cinema Square.
Roberto Coloma
Makati Cinema Square (MCS) was a modern mixed-use development with a mid-rise condo on the fringes of Manila’s financial district when I first went there in the 1980s.
My wife worked as a creative director in an ad agency near MCS and we lived with our young son in a two-story apartment with a garage just 10 to 15 minutes away by car. Rent in middle-class Makati was still cheap back then.
Family-owned MCS had a department store and a clever blend of retail shops and F&B establishments. It had apparel and audio stalls (records, CDs and stereo gear) in the basement.
I bought my first hi-fi (high fidelity) stereo system (Dual turntable, Hitachi amplifier and I don’t remember which speakers) from MCS shops, eventually adding a CD player (a very new technology then) bought during a US trip along with giant-killer Boston Acoustics compact speakers.
In later years MCS became a center for pirated videos and software (“DVD, DVD sir”). Now the bored-looking cellphone shopgirls staring at their screens mumble “power bank, sir” as you walk past them.Japanese restaurants long ago set up shop across the street in a cluster called Little Tokyo, which extended to the low-rise Creekside building whose ground floor is now lined with wall-to-wall bars catering to Japanese men.
MCS is a different place now, a psychedelic warren of shops and stalls with no decipherable planning logic.
The escalators don’t work but the air conditioning is brisk.
Little Tokyo has dramatically expanded, drawing a steady stream of Japanese expatriates, women for hire and Pinoy foodies. You want good Japanese food? Go where the Japanese dine.
Gun and ammo shops now dominate the basement, with names like Final Option, Casa Armas, West Point Gun Club, Lock and Load and Tactical Precision Trading.
Shakey’s Pizza and Booksale, purveyor of cheap literature, are still thriving.
Just a few audio shops remain, making money off oldies like me and young vinyl converts, some of them in school uniform.
Massage parlors operate openly at ground level, teasing customers with garish lighting and names like Grit Spa (that sounds painful).
I invested P90 ($1.60) in a bottle of extra-strong Red Horse beer for the right to occupy a table in a strategic section of a videoke bar called Globe.
In the dimly lit bar, chubby peroxide blondes in cutoff denim shorts flirted with comb-over senior citizens who sang ’60s hits with tremendous reassurance. When the host (probably the boss) sang, his minions burst into applause.
It’s a sad place.
But hey, they have a very clean toilet, which is hard currency in low-rent malls.
After sundown, Japanese expats descend upon MCS in vans and cars, emerging later in varied levels of inebriation, local girls in hand as they head for drunken sex, if they can manage to get it up.
But against all odds, MCS has a lot to offer.
My old vinyl dealer, Bob de Leon at Bebop Records, in the basement, is still going strong. Emer’s upstairs still serves slurpable lomi noodles.
Aida’s Chicken, which serves Bacolod food, still has a vintage stereo and artworks left behind by its late owner Toto Tarrosa, a multi-talented collector who was a fixture in Manila’s bohemian circles.
There’s an uber cool walk-up bar called Fat Cat next to the KFC.
Fat Cat is a jazz joint that seems to be favored by gangs of attractive young women, for some reason. I’m not complaining.
The servers are cheerful and the analogue (vinyl) setup is authentic, particularly the chest-high Klipsch speakers in the corners.
They serve interesting cocktails as well as neat shots of single malt whisky, including Japanese brands Yamazaki, Hibiki, Yakushu, Chita and Nikka, plus the usual Scottish suspects.
My close friend Edsel Tolentino, a creative guru and guitarist who used to work in the area, took me to a restaurant called Isaribi. Great sashimi and tempura, competent staff and a steady stream of Japanese customers. I went there alone for the same fix over the weekend.
Server Chloe, 41, has worked in the restaurant for seven years. Her husband Jun works in Dubai at the same kind of job and has not visited the Philippines since the COVID epidemic.
Chloe earns the minimum wage of P610 pesos ($11) a day and has four days off a month. They have two boys aged 23 and eight.
Elder son Justin is a graduate of marine services, hoping to serve food in cruise ships, and that’s how the cycle of Overseas Filipino Workers goes on. Justin will support his family in the future after his parents retire.
MCS reminds me of Shibuya (without the crazy crossing) and Roppongi in Tokyo, Patpong in Bangkok, and Itaewon in Seoul.
With the surrounding blocks already gentrified, one can only hope MCS survives as a middle- and lower-class haven for funky, cheap, and quirky goods and services. – Rappler.com
Roberto Coloma, better known as Bobby, retired in 2022 after 40 years as a foreign correspondent. He started his career as editor-in-chief of the Philippine Collegian, the student newspaper of the University of the Philippines.
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Deepfakes: How to empower youth to fight the threat of misinformation and disinformation | Angelo Gonzales | 10/2/2024 11:00 | The World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report 2024 has issued a stark warning: misinformation and disinformation, primarily driven by deepfakes, are ranked as the most severe global short-term risks the world faces in the next two years.
In October 2023, the Innovation council of Québec shared the same realization after months of consultations with experts and the public.
This digital deception, which leverages artificial intelligence and, more recently generative AI, to create hyper-realistic fabrications, extends beyond being a technological marvel; it poses a profound societal threat.
In response to the gap in effectively combating deepfakes with technology and legislation alone, a research project led by my team and I sheds light on a vital solution: human intervention through education.
Despite ongoing development of deepfake detection tools, these technological solutions are racing to catch up with the rapidly advancing capabilities of deepfake algorithms.
Legal systems and governments are struggling to keep pace with this swift advancement of digital deception.
There is an urgent need for education to adopt a more serious, aggressive and strategic approach in equipping youth to combat this imminent threat.
The potential for political polarization is particularly alarming.
Nearly three billion people are expected to vote in countries including Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Pakistan, the United Kingdom and the United States within the next two years.
Disinformation campaigns threaten to undermine the legitimacy of newly elected governments.
Deepfakes of prominent figures like Palestinian American supermodel Bella Hadid and others have been manipulated to falsify their political statements, exemplifying the technology’s capacity to sway public opinion and skew political narratives.
A deepfake of Greta Thunberg advocating for “vegan grenades” highlights the nefarious use of this technology.
Meta’s unveiling of an AI assistant featuring celebrities’ likenesses raises concerns about misuse and spreading disinformation.
Deepfake videos are also, unsurprisingly, being leveraged to commit financial fraud.
There’s been an uptick in deepfake scam videos (ex below) overlaying new words with old video footage from Ripple’s events (@YouTube are you asleep at the wheel again?!). Reminder: don't trust, verify (all approved messaging will only come from official Ripple accounts). pic.twitter.com/e30ZhOk6DW
The popular YouTuber MrBeast was impersonated in a deepfake scam on TikTok, falsely promising an iPhone 15 giveaway that led to financial deceit.
These incidents highlight vulnerability to sophisticated AI-driven frauds and scams targeting people of all ages.
Deepfake pornography represents a grave concern for young people and adults alike, where individuals’ faces are non-consensually superimposed onto explicit content. Sexually explicit deepfake images of Taylor Swift spread on social media before platforms took them down. One was viewed over 45 million times.
Meta’s policy now mandates political advertisers to disclose any AI manipulation in ads, a move mirrored by Google.
Neil Zhang, a PhD student at the University of Rochester, is developing detection tools for audio deepfakes, including advanced algorithms and watermarking techniques.
The US has introduced several acts: the Deepfakes Accountability Act of 2023, the No AI FRAUD Act safeguarding identities against AI misuse and the Preventing Deepfakes of Intimate Images Act targeting non-consensual pornographic deepfakes.
In Canada, legislators have proposed Bill C-27 and the Artificial Intelligence and Data Act (AIDA) which emphasize AI transparency and data privacy.
The United Kingdom adopted its Online Safety Bill. The EU recently announced a provisional deal surrounding its AI Act; the EU’s AI Liability Directive addresses broader online safety and AI regulation issues.
The Indian government announced plans to draft regulations targeting deepfakes.
These measures reflect growing global commitments to curbing the pernicious effects of deepfakes. However, these efforts are insufficient to contain, let alone stop, the proliferation of deepfake dissemination.
Research I have conducted with colleagues, funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) and Canadian Heritage, unveils how empowering youth with digital agency can be a force against the rising tide of disinformation fueled by deepfake and artificial intelligence technologies.
Our study focused on how youth perceive the impact of deepfakes on critical issues and their own process of constructing knowledge in digital contexts. We explored their capacity and willingness to effectively counterbalance disinformation.
The study brought together Canadian university students, aged 18 to 24, for a series of hands-on workshops, in-depth individual interviews and focus group discussions.
Participants created deepfakes, gaining a firsthand understanding of easy access to and use of this technology and its potential for misuse. This experiential learning proved invaluable in demystifying how easily deepfakes are generated.
Participants initially perceived deepfakes as an uncontrollable and inevitable part of the digital landscape.
Through engagement and discussion, they went from being passive deepfake bystanders to developing a deeper realization of their grave threat. Critically, they also developed a sense of responsibility in preventing and mitigating deepfakes’ spread, and a readiness to counter deepfakes.
Students shared recommendations for concrete actions, including urging educational systems to empower youth and help them recognize their actions can make a difference. This includes:
Based on our research and the participants’ recommendations, we propose a multifaceted strategy to counter the proliferation of deepfakes.
Deepfake education needs to be integrated into educational curricula, along with nurturing critical thinking and digital agency in our youth. Youth need to be encouraged in active, yet safe, well-informed and strategic, participation in the fight against malicious deepfakes in digital spaces.
We emphasize the importance of hands-on collaborative learning experiences. We also advocate for an interdisciplinary educational approach that marries technology, psychology, media studies and ethics to fully grasp the implications of deepfakes.
Our research underscores a crucial realization: The human element, particularly the role of education, is indispensable in the fight against deepfakes. We cannot rely solely on technology and legal fixes.
By equipping younger generations, but also every single member of our society, with the skills to critically analyze and challenge disinformation, we are nurturing a digitally literate society resilient enough to withstand the manipulative power of deepfakes.
To do so, we must equip people to understand they have roles and agency in safeguarding the integrity of our digital world. – Rappler.com
This article originally appeared on The Conversation.
Nadia Naffi, Assistant Professor, Educational Technology, Chair in Educational Leadership in the Innovative Pedagogical Practices in Digital Contexts – National Bank, Université Laval
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Magnitude 5.9 earthquake strikes Agusan del Sur | Mia Gonzalez | 10/2/2024 11:56 | Phivolcs
MANILA, Philippines – A magnitude 5.9 earthquake struck Esperanza town in Agusan del Sur before noon on Saturday, February 10, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) said in an advisory.
The earthquake, which was tectonic in origin, struck at a depth of 27 kilometers.
Phivolcs said damage and aftershocks are expected.
Intensity II – City of Kidapawan, CotabatoIntensity I – Arakan and Kabacan, Cotabato
Intensity IV – City of Cagayan de OroIntensity II – City of Kidapawan, and Banisilan, Cotabato
– Rappler.com
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[Uncle Bob] Visiting Manila? How to spend your Lunar New Year 2024 in the PH capital | Marguerite de Leon | 3/1/2024 17:10 | RED. Scenes of the celebration of the Chinese New Year at Binondo Manila.
Alecs Ongcal/Rappler
MANILA, Philippines – Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia are my three favorite countries after my own.
Two weeks ago, I was in a busy, festive mall in Manila and I thought, why not create a guide to an easy lunar new year holiday in Manila for friends in these countries, with a heavy emphasis on food, shopping, and culture? Food is a priority of course lah.
I brought some Singaporeans to Cebu years ago and we had a blast.
The Manila agenda below should be good for a four-night stay including a weekend.
I saw that the Conrad Hotel near Manila Bay is plugged directly into the Mall of Asia (MOA) and the world’s largest IKEA store. So I recommend the Conrad.
Arrange for the hotel to have their car pick you up at the airport upon arrival.
At IKEA, the restaurant is crazy huge. You can have the usual Swedish meatballs as well as Filipino dishes like sisig.
It’s nice to walk around the world’s largest IKEA store because of its wide corridors and friendly staff. Compare prices with those in your country.
It has a direct link to MOA, one of the largest malls in Asia, where you have all the major international brands like Nike, Uniqlo, Under Armour, Crocs, Muji, etc. but also a lot of local Filipino clothing, leather goods, and other shops.
Bench is the local fast-fashion brand. It’s like Uniqlo. I like their socks, handkerchiefs, underwear, and casual clothing. There’s something for everyone at Bench – short for the founder’s name Ben Chan.
Philippine souvenirs are sold in MOA at a shop called Kultura. You don’t have to go anywhere else.
Manila has one of the most beautiful sunsets in the world. Walk from the Conrad or MOA at 4 pm to the seaside. The sun sets early in Manila, around 5:30 pm, so you have to be at the seaside promenade during the magic hour before sunset.
Very Instagrammable. You will be surrounded by happy Filipino families. There are a lot of food and beverage options along the shore. Very child-friendly ambience.
Yes, the favorite topic of Singaporeans, Malaysians, and Indonesians. MOA has a staggering array of food options. They have a large food hall as well as individual restaurants.
Filipino cuisine is a blend of Spanish, Chinese, American, Malay/Indo, and regional Filipino cooking.
Korean food is huge in Manila because of the large Korean community (students, businessmen etc).
My food suggestions in the MOA area:
AbeCafe RemediosDin Tai Fung (we call it DTF) Mary Grace – Great breads and desserts, try ensaymada and cheese rolls with coffee Locavore in Conrad Halal – Of course I won’t forget my Muslim friends
There’s one point I should point out for Malaysians, the weird Filipino habit of bringing dogs to the mall. Tiny ones are pushed in prams like babies but there are big ones too, fully leashed but still annoying to me.
Dampa (take a hotel car) – Dampa is a fresh seafood market near Conrad where you pick what you want to eat and tell the staff how you want it cooked. They will give you options and suggestions. You will dine in a clean aircon restaurant next to the market. But make sure they tell you what the cooking charges are up front before closing the deal. Like Newton Hawker Centre lah, you might get overcharged.
For pork eaters, go to Rico’s lechon in MOA. Whole roast pig with crispy skin and tender meat sliced for you. It’s the national dish.
Wet wipesTissue paper in packetsPhilippine pesos in 50, 100, and 200 bills
Men should experience a haircut with a mustache-beard trim at Bruno’s Barbers in MOA. Costs P700 (SGD 17), and it’s of course cheaper for a haircut alone. Show the barber a picture of yourself with the haircut you want him to create. Leave a P100 (SGD 2.40, $1.80) tip. This tip is okay for most occasions except luxury dining.
Manila has a 12% Value Added Tax, like GST, and service charges at restaurants. Be kind and tip well if service is good, as it usually is.
The Manila Hotel – Book the buffet lunch on a weekday. I did a lot of feasting here under the guise of business meetings. Filipino, Italian, Japanese, and Arabic options are what I recall. After lunch, sit in the massive lobby and just watch people. It is 111 years old and dwarfs the Raffles Hotel.
Binondo – Ask your hotel to book you a car and guided tour of Binondo, the world’s oldest Chinatown. You will have a blast.
Sofitel buffet dinner – The Spiral dinner buffet is regarded by many as the best in Manila. Close to Conrad. A cool breeze from Manila Bay will keep you comfortable as you dine.
Grab works well in Manila. If you are adventurous, try motorcycle taxis like Joyride or Angkas (founded by a Singaporean woman married to a Pinoy). They supply helmets.
Finally, leave for the airport four hours before your flight just in case there’s heavy traffic, rain, or long queues in immigration, etc. You will probably arrive early but T3 is great, T2 is not good due to few F&B options, and T1 is the oldest and underwent a makeover in recent years.
Buy the local Don Papa rum at Duty Free. It’s great with Coke on the rocks (Cuba Libre)
I hope you enjoy my wonderful hometown. – Rappler.com
Roberto Coloma, better known as Bobby, retired in 2022 after 40 years as a foreign correspondent. He started his career as editor-in-chief of the Philippine Collegian, the student newspaper of the University of the Philippines.
#ShareAsia highlights the best and most sought-after experiences in the Asia-Pacific region. It’s a content and resource hub for tourists and locals alike seeking new, exciting experiences in the region.
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No-surrender Magnolia ties up PBA finals with another defensive gem | delfin.dioquino editor | 9/2/2024 22:25 | SLAM. Tyler Bey in action for the Magnolia Hotshots in the 2023-24 PBA Commissioner's Cup.
PBA Images
MANILA, Philippines – Many expected the PBA Commissioner’s Cup finals to be over by now.
Instead, Magnolia knotted the best-of-seven affair at 2-2 after another defensive masterclass against San Miguel that resulted in an emphatic 96-85 win at the Araneta Coliseum on Friday, February 9.
Tyler Bey turned in his best game of the finals as the Hotshots limited the Beermen to under 90 points for the second straight game and contained Bennie Boatwright to his lowest scoring output of the conference.
On a rare occasion Boatwright got outgunned offensively, Bey finished with 26 points, 12 rebounds, 6 steals, and 3 assists to help Magnolia draw level – a scenario that seemed improbable after how the first two games played out.
There were talks of a potential sweep, with San Miguel winning the first two games by 32 points combined as they averaged 106 points.
But the Hotshots managed to flip the script on the back of their acclaimed defense, limiting the Beermen to 82.5 points in the last two games.
“That is one of our factors, our resiliency,” said Magnolia head coach Chito Victolero. “Right now, we just need to dig deep, we just need to grind. This is not over. We like our chances.”
Mark Barroca delivered anew for the Hotshots with 14 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists, and 2 blocks, while Paul Lee also netted 14 points, including that dagger three-pointer with two minutes left that practically sealed the deal.
With the shot clock winding down, Lee fired a triple over two defenders from way beyond the arc to give Magnolia a 94-83 lead.
Ian Sangalang submitted his highest scoring game of the finals with 13 points on top of 2 blocks, while Jio Jalalon added 10 points and 5 rebounds for the Hotshots.
Boatwright put up a conference-low 16 points and coughed up 6 turnovers, although he still recorded 14 rebounds in the losing effort.
June Mar Fajardo paced San Miguel with 18 points, 13 rebounds, and 2 steals in just 25 minutes of action as he dealt with calf issues.
Magnolia 96 – Bey 26, Barroca 14, Lee 14, Sangalang 13, Jalalon 10, Abueva 9, Dionisio 6, Dela Rosa 2, Laput 2, Escoto 0, Tratter 0
San Miguel 85 – Fajardo 18, Perez 17, Boatwright 16, Trollano 12, Cruz 11, Lassiter 9, Teng 2, Tautuaa 0, Ross 0
Quarters: 27-19, 49-45, 72-73, 96-85.
– Rappler.com
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‘Toxic positivity’ is out: Welcome to the new world of indulgent pettiness | Marguerite de Leon | 5/2/2024 14:52 | Call them pet peeves, call them petty grievances, one thing is certain – complaining about everyday irritations feels cathartic. It’s also the premise of American comedy podcast I’ve Had It.
Hosts Jennifer Welch and Angie “Pumps” Sullivan state, tongue in cheek, that their goal is to compartmentalize complaining and be nicer in their day-to-day life. Their complaints range from pedestrian (cordless vacuums, people who clap when a plane lands, long Instagram captions) to political (the state of the education system). Eyebrow-raising complaints include, simply, “pregnant people.”
Since launching in late 2022, I’ve Had It has topped Apple’s podcast charts, become viral on both TikTok and X several times, and has led the hosts to guest-star on programs such as The Today Show. This podcast’s popularity across platforms signals a cultural shift from “toxic positivity” to indulgent pettiness – but a shift away from positivity into fully embracing complaints is not without risk.
As community-minded creatures who want deeply to belong we often mirror others, including on social media, where we adopt phrasing, tone, and expressions of emotion.
In the past few years, social media has had a focus on hyper-positivity (think cheery emojis and motivational quotes plastered over sunsets). Some put this “good vibes only” trend down to the pandemic and a desire to avoid painful feelings when ruminating on difficult realities.
However, attempting to convey constant happiness is not only difficult but impossible. Research suggests prescriptive positivity can make us react poorly to unfavorable emotions and is a “goal that backfires” when people view themselves as a failure for feeling unhappy, struggle to handle their feelings, or actively avoid processing them.
But now toxic positivity has been named and shamed, people are searching for more emotionally nuanced media.
The I’ve Had It hosts are in a new wave of content creators we can consider “emotional influencers,” in this case contributing to a new media landscape where complaining is not only embraced but encouraged.
By putting our “retaliation” against negative experiences into words, we experience pleasurable emotions. Complaining can feel cathartic, reduce stress, and (like gossiping) help us feel closer to others.
This community aspect of complaining suits podcasting, which fosters intimacy through sharing deeply personal stories “directly into our ear” and “chosen just for you.”
Listening to hosts who feel like our friends, who are friends themselves, having a chat and sharing laughter can make us feel socially fulfilled in a similar way to a video chat or virtual message with a real-life friend.
In I’ve Had It, the hosts and their guests share personal complaints and unfiltered stories in a curated approach for bond-forming. We know, for example, that Jennifer’s husband Josh (a regular guest) has struggled with addiction and that Jennifer has “had it” with family week at his rehab center. We also know Pumps once tried to relieve constipation with a teaspoon.
Executive producer Kiley has become a regular feature, laughing at the hosts’ antics and acting as an audience surrogate. Fans are involved in the show via voice messages, reviews, and as guests themselves.
These elements combine to provide a sense there is potential to become “real life” friends with Jennifer and Pumps: the promotional tagline for their live shows is “make your parasocial friendship real.”
While complaining brings people together, it can also push us apart through ostracization or rejection. Although the goal of I’ve Had It is to compartmentalize pettiness, this may be easier for the hosts than the listeners.
Jennifer and Pumps are two undeniably affluent, well-connected women who have leveraged their privilege to build a platform about complaining. They also amp-up their on-air personas, with Jennifer admitting, “I’m not as cold-hearted as I play on the podcast.”
Just like prescriptive positivity can become “toxic” when it comes at the expense of other emotions, an overemphasis on grievances can breed negativity, or lead to passive-aggressive and indirect communication styles.
Indulging in excessive pettiness can also make us less likeable, alienate our loved ones, and worsen our mental health.
Some commenters are critical of Jennifer and Pumps’ promotion of negativity. The hosts see this as fodder. They read critical reviews, double-down on complaints, and laugh together, cleverly disarming the criticism.
Jennifer and Pumps are even more eager to mock those who take issue with their political views. In response to a reviewer accusation that they’re “both a couple of leftist idiots” the pair laugh. Jennifer states, “I could not agree more […] I say thank you, we are leftist, we are idiots.”
Ultimately, I’ve Had It concedes there is a kind of “idiocy” to pettiness, but there is joy and charm too.
Research suggests happy people can be complainers, as long as they have a good grasp of mindfulness and know when to stop.
If you, admittedly like me, enjoy a good bout of complaining now and again, but want to keep your emotions balanced and your relationships intact, there are a few things the experts recommend. It is important to differentiate when you need to enact “expressive complaining” to blow off steam or when you should complain “instrumentally” with a goal in mind. Talk about how something makes you feel, so others can empathize with you. And ask your loved ones’ permission to complain before revving up a rant.
What about those who aren’t keen on complaining at all? Well, as far as the hosts and fans of I’ve Had It are concerned, you need not tune in. And, if you do decide to leave a comment decrying their pettiness, be warned it will make for some great content in the next episode. – The Conversation|Rappler.com
Marina Deller is a Casual Academic, Flinders University.
This piece was originally published in The Conversation.
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‘Saan tayo mali?’: Marcos’ ex-staffers turn to vlogging after Malacañang exit | Dwight de Leon | 7/2/2024 9:00 | VLOGGING. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s former Malacañang communications undersecretaries Marlon Purificacion, Pam Pedroche, and Ina Reformina look back at their time in the Palace in a YouTube video uploaded on February 5, 2024.
Youtube/Third Floor Studio : Your Happy Network!
YouTube has become the new platform for some former Malacañang communications officials who were let go only a number of months into the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
A couple of videos uploaded on the recently launched Third Floor Studio : Your Happy Network! channel show the former staffers talk about their experience in the Palace, as well as their impressions of their former boss and the people who surround him.
Their testimonials were not exactly rainbows and butterflies.
The owners of the YouTube channel are former Presidential Communications Office undersecretaries Pamela Pedroche and Ina Reformina.
Prior to their Malacañang stint, Pedroche had been part of Marcos’ 2022 election campaign, while Reformina had been a longtime ABS-CBN reporter.
The two were among the handful of people who went jobless after a shakeup in the PCO in early 2023. In Reformina’s words, “we were asked to tender our courtesy resignation.”
“Nasaktan ako. Bakit? Iyong binigay mo, iyong akala mo hindi mo kayang gawin, pinagtrabahuhan mo… later on, in just a snap, sila ang nag-decide na hindi sila deserving,” Pedroche said, holding back tears in a vlog uploaded on January 17.
(I was in pain. Why? Because what you thought you cannot do, but you worked hard for… then later on, in just a snap, they decided these people are not deserving of the position.)
“I felt disappointed because 24 years ako doon sa former employer ko, straight ‘yun (I spent 24 straight years with my former employer ABS-CBN), then here comes public service, [but] it was short-lived,” Reformina added, while insisting she recovered quickly because she understood the uncertainty that came with the job.
In another video uploaded on February 5, Pedroche said there was a time she couldn’t help but ask herself why she was unceremoniously kicked out of the Malacañang.
“Hindi mo maiwasan na may tanong ka. Anyare, saan tayo mali, saan tayo kulang, sa’n tayo hindi tumugma, saan tayo namali ang tono para mawala tayo sa equation?” Pedroche added.
(What happened? What did we do wrong? Where did we come up short? What instance were we out of line that we were eventually taken out of the equation?)
In the second video, the two women were joined by their PCO batchmate Marlon Purificacion, an undersecretary who also spent less than a year in Malacañang.
The three – critical at times – gave their opinions of the President and the First Family. Purificacion and Pedroche said Ilocos Norte 1st District Representative Sandro Marcos – the President’s son – needs to study more.
The two also offered advice to First Lady Liza Araneta Marcos.
“Ang daming legacy ni First Lady Imelda Marcos. Iyon na lang gayahin ‘nyo… Alam naman niya na pinag-uusapan sa lahat na isa siya sa pinagbibintangan kaya nagkaka-hetot-hetot ang Marcos admin, dahil sa pangingialam niya,” Purificacion said.
(The former first lady Imelda Marcos has many legacies you can replicate. [Liza] knows the hearsay for sure, that she’s responsible for the missteps of the Marcos administration, because of her interventions.)
“She’s a lost person. She has the desire, the ambition, the willingness and frustration to support or deliver or do something great for the country. Pero kulang ng taong may puso (There’s not enough sincere people) surrounding her to execute the dream. When I left the PCO, I sent the message through another official, saying ‘Please tell the First Lady I am not mad because my heart is bigger than my pains,'” Pedroche added.
Purificacion and Reformina also said they found Marcos’ efforts as president wanting.
“Parang gusto kong maniwala sa sinabi ni president Digong na weak leader, under the saya. Nasa kanya kung paano niya ‘yun papatunayan (I am tempted to believe in what former president Rodrigo Duterte said that Marcos is a weak leader, and submissive to his wife. It’s up to him to prove us wrong),” Purificacion said.
“Kahit ‘yung mga kritiko nagsasabi, mayroon pang time, mayroon pang pagkakataon para ibigay sa taumbayan iyong gusto nila. Gusto ko na mag-succeed ang presidente (Even critics are saying that the President still has time to give the public what they want. I want the President to succeed),” Reformina added.
Reshuffling and reorganization in Malacañang are not uncommon, but are often kept hush-hush. Just this week, rumors circulated online that an internal memo asking for updated documents from presidential appointees who got in before February 2023 is meant to weed out remaining Duterte appointees in the Palace.
The PCO, however, said that the Presidential Management Staff memo is directed at all appointees, including Marcos’, as part of a performance review.
It’s important to take note that Reformina, Pedroche, and Purificacion are closely associated with Vic Rodriguez, Marcos’ campaign spokesperson and then executive secretary, although that second stint lasted only two months.
It was a messy departure. Rodriguez first resigned as executive secretary to supposedly devote more time to his family, but then claimed he would still be Marcos’ chief of staff. He later just “completely exited” the administration, and was subsequently expelled from Marcos’ political party due to alleged incompetence.
A few weeks later, lawyer and vlogger Trixie Cruz Angeles – another ally of Rodriguez – tendered her resignation, citing medical reasons.
On January 28 this year, Rodriguez flew to Davao City to attend an event where opponents of the charter change initiative under the Marcos administration banded together.
There, he took a swipe at the multi-million-peso “Bagong Pilipinas” rally being held simultaneously in Manila, saying that it was not like the crowd he was addressing in Davao where the attendees were not paid to attend.
In their vlog, the three former Malacañang communications officials were all praises for the Dutertes, and their boss Rodriguez.
“He’s just getting started,” Reformina said. “May potential maging senador or congressman (He has the potential to become a senator or a congressman),” Purificacion added.
Until then, they wait. – Rappler.com
(Some quotes were shortened for brevity.)
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Hope wanes on Day 3: Davao de Oro landslide list of missing exceeds 100 | Herbie G | 9/2/2024 11:56 | DISASTER. The landslide in Masara, Maco in Davao de Oro, as seen during an aerial inspection on February 7, 2024.
Office of the Presidential Adviser for Eastern Mindanao
DAVAO, Philippines – Rescue operations have shifted to search and retrieval work as hopes of finding more survivors faded three days after a landslide ravaged a mining village in Maco town, Davao de Oro.
The number of people missing and feared buried in the mud, boulders, and rocks in Masara village on Tuesday, February 6, has surged from 49 to 110 as more families reached out to authorities to ask for help.
The death toll has also risen to 11 as search and retrieval workers unearthed more bodies on Thursday, February 8. The number of injured people who were rescued at the site of the landslide remained at 31.
The Maco town government also saw more people fleeing their homes from landslide-prone communities. The number of evacuees rose from 758 to 1,116 families as of Thursday afternoon.
“It’s been over two days now, and we have come to terms with the possibility that they may have been buried in the pile of boulders and mud, deprived of oxygen,” Edward Macapili, spokesperson for Davao de Oro’s disaster risk reduction management office, told Rappler on Friday morning, February 9.
He said the operations at the Masara landslide area have shifted to search and retrieval of bodies.
Macapili said more families have come forward to report their missing relatives.
Most of those feared buried in the landslide are workers of Apex Mining Corporation, who were preparing to head home on board three 60-seat buses and a 30-person capacity jeepney.
In a statement released on Thursday, Apex Mining said the company was still trying to locate 45 workers. As of Wednesday, February 7, the firm has been able to account for its 62 workers who survived the tragedy.
The company also claimed that the site of the landslide “is outside the mine operations area” of the firm, and that the area merely served as a terminal for vehicles dispatched for its workers.
“Apex Mining is on limited operations because it is focusing on fully supporting the rescue operations by the provincial government,” part of the statement read. – Rappler.com
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Is there something fishy behind the San Miguel consortium poised to get NAIA? | lkyu0285 | 9/2/2024 16:32 | Raffy De Guzman/Rappler
After snapping up the rights to Bulacan Airport, San Miguel seems poised to secure an even bigger prize, with the consortium that it leads now posting the highest bid amount for the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).
Ramon Ang’s conglomerate already seems ready to celebrate, sending out a press release mere hours after bidders for the project bared their proposals. In it, San Miguel announced its “readiness to take on the modernization of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.”
The Department of Transportation (DOTr) doesn’t officially pick a winning bidder until February 14. But if past statements by the transportation secretary are any indication, it seems the government will pick the bidder that offers the best revenue share. And San Miguel’s consortium bet big: offering 82.16% of its gross revenue to the government. The next highest bidder offered just 33.30%.
With his victory looming, Ang even praised the DOTr for “facilitating a transparent and equitable bidding process.” But is everything really all as it seems?
Let’s start with San Miguel’s consortium partners. Here are the roles that each member of the SMC-SAP and Company Consortium plays, along with their ownership stake based on the documents shown during a DOTr livestream:
San Miguel and Incheon International Airport Corporation, operator of South Korea’s main international airport, are well-known names. But who are behind the two other obscure companies?
Online searches return nothing about RMM Asian Logistics or RLW Aviation Development besides mentions of them in reports on the NAIA bidding. San Miguel also made no mention of them either in its press release, focusing instead on its “strategic collaboration” with the South Korean operator.
A document leaked to Rappler suggested that RMM Asian Logistics and RLW Aviation Development were merely being used by San Miguel to skirt ownership limits for NAIA.
“There is information that RMM Asian Logistics and RLW Aviation Development were incorporated on the same day, has no clear financial capacity and use the same corporate address,” the leaked document read. “While not prohibited, these may be indicators that the two companies are merely nominees to circumvent the [Greater Capital Region] airport limitation in the [instructions to bidders] which is capped at 33%.”
And if you dig deeper into these two companies, you’ll find something fishy.
Both companies were indeed incorporated at the same time. Records from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) showed the period dates of both their articles of incorporation and by-laws being December 15, 2023, while the period dates of both their general information sheets were December 19, 2023. Here are screenshots from the SEC’s website:
RMM Asian Logistics and RLW Aviation Development both have their offices in Taipan Place based on documents shown in the DOTr’s livestream. And both companies also have a meager paid-up capital of P6.25 million. Why are such small companies bidding for a multi-billion project?
RMM Asian Logistics is wholly owned by Raymond Miller Moreno, a Filipino. This could be the same Raymond Moreno who served as the former president and chairman of the defunct Liberty Telecoms Holdings. Incidentally, San Miguel was also heavily invested in that company, with Ramon Ang concurrently sitting as Liberty Telecoms chairman and SMC president at one point.
That Raymond Moreno also pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy, filing a false statement, and tax evasion brought up by the US government in 1987. Moreno received millions of dollars in kickbacks from US-funded deals, which were aimed at modernizing the communication system of the Philippine armed forces.
Meanwhile, a certain Robert Lee Wong, also a Filipino, owns 100% of the conglomerate member RLW Aviation Development. There is little information online about Wong.
Incheon International Airport Corporation, San Miguel’s other partner, isn’t scot-free either. Although the state-owned company operates one of the world’s best and biggest airports, it’s also had its share of controversies – from labor issues to large-scale tax evasion. The airport operator was also fined by South Korea’s antitrust agency for unfair business practices when dealing with its construction contractors and restaurant operators.
Note too that before any winning bidder is announced, the government must first settle a dispute filed by a bidder against another bidder. Transportation Undersecretary TJ Batan said that the Pre-Qualification Bids and Awards Committee will investigate and sort out the dispute before the February 14 awarding. The DOTr has not named names, but could the dispute involve San Miguel?
Rappler earlier reported how ownership limits complicated San Miguel’s path to NAIA.
Originally, bidding guidelines stated that a company that already operates an airport in Clark, Bulacan, or Cavite cannot be the sole private concessionaire of NAIA. The only way they could bid for the project is to be part of a consortium in which their ownership stake is capped at 20%.
An aviation official told Rappler that these limits were in place to preserve competition and prevent big businesses from owning multiple airports. But if you ask Ramon Ang, having both the Bulacan Airport and NAIA under his belt will allow “potential synergies” and “enhance operational efficiencies, reduce costs, and optimize flight schedules.”
“Our vision is to create an integrated airport network that not only improves the travel experience but also supports sustainable economic growth and elevates the Philippines as a prime hub for tourism, business, and investment in the region,” Ang said in a statement emailed after his group emerged as the frontrunner in the bid.
Things weren’t always so certain for the tycoon. During the pre-bidding conference for the NAIA project – and long before San Miguel got ahead of the pack – Rappler overheard San Miguel’s delegation complaining about the ownership limits. Is the government using ownership limits, they wondered, to exclude them and “favor” certain bidders?
Later, we learned that San Miguel wrote a letter to the government about it. That led to the ownership cap being bumped up to 33%, paving the way for the conglomerate to form SMC-SAP and Company and join the bid.
But if the two other consortium members really are just acting as nominees, then it would seem that even a third is not enough. San Miguel wants a bigger slice of the pie. – Rappler.com
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Thanks to Rappler and journalist Lance Spencer Yu. The bidding process does not seem to be at all “transparent and equitable.” Is the saying “birds of the same feather flock together” applicable in this incident? (Note: Meaning – corporations of the same kind connive together and, similarly with corporations and governments of the same character, too.) In the end, what might be found is not something “fishy” but rather “sharky.”
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General Santos animal welfare group harnesses social media for support | Herbie G | 9/2/2024 16:41 | ANIMAL WELFARE. Established in April 2018, the first one in the city, A Heart for Paws GenSan is dedicated to rescuing stray cats and dogs. courtesy of A Heart for Paws GenSan
courtesy of A Heart for Paws GenSan
GENERAL SANTOS, Philippines – Founded in 2018 as the first non-governmental organization dedicated to animal welfare in General Santos City, A Heart for Paws GenSan is struggling to continue its work to take care of stray animals.
The group lists 162 rescued cats and dogs under its wing, utilizing shelter and foster care. Currently, 98 animals are being cared for in its shelter in Calatao in the village of Tambler, while the remaining are now living in the homes of those who adopted them.
The influx of rescued stray animals, however, has led to the group’s financial difficulties. To keep all their furry friends fed and healthy, they’re turning to social media for help with food and veterinary expenses.
Dr. Josefina Mariano, chair of the A Heart for Paws GenSan, said sourcing of funds is really the part where they struggle the most.
“We really try our best na mapakain sila, maalagaan, mapunta sa veterinarian using public donations. Nagpo-post kami sa Facebook na wala na silang makain ngayon o ipapagamot namin ang rescued pets kasi doon kami hirap na hirap eh,” Mariano said.
(We really try our best to feed, care for, and treat them to a veterinarian using public donations. Through Facebook, we share their stories and urgent needs, like empty food bowls or veterinary treatments, because that’s where we’re really struggling)
While donations help, they still face a shortage of food and veterinary care resources.
“May mga time na 50 kilos na bigas halos tatlong araw lang yan eh. Wala pang ulam wala pang dog food, wala pang vet bill. So ang ginagawa namin kapag walang-wala o hindi kasya yung binibigay from donations, naglalabas kami ng sariling pera namin,” she said.
(There are times when 50 kilograms of rice lasts only about three days. There’s no viand, no dog food, no vet bill yet. When donations fall short, we use our own money.)
The NGO is also taking care of a Belgian Malinois dog dubbed General Santos City’s “hero dog.” Then a four-month-old puppy, Princess, alerted its owners to a fire, credited for saving a sleeping five-year-old child on April 20, 2023, through persistent barking.
Princess suffered third-degree burns during the rescue, prompting her owner to entrust her care to A Heart for Paws GenSan for her recovery.
“Kami ‘yong nag-alaga sa asong ‘yon kasi nalapnos yung balat niya. Walang pera yung may-ari so inilapit sa amin. Nag-post kami sa Facebook tapos naka-raise kami ng pera para sa kanyang recovery and skin grafting,” Mariano said.
(We took care of that dog because its skin was burnt. Unable to afford her care, her owner turned to us. Through Facebook, we rallied the community to support Princess’s recovery and skin graft surgery.)
Elaine Jane Laquiste, 30, who has been a volunteer rescuer of the organization since September 2018, said they also face threats from irresponsible pet owners during animal rescues.
“Ang finances, lisod jud kay minsan makapagawas na jud og own money. Naay mga time na life and death situation. Naay time na gina-threat nami sa mga pet owners nga gina-ask kung taga asa mi ug wala daw mi labot unsaon nila ila iro,” Lasquite said.
(The financial strain weighs heavily and sometimes we have to shell out our own money. There are times when it’s a matter of life and death; pet owners threaten us, asking where we’re from and questioning our right to intervene in their animals’ care.)
Despite the difficulties, a deep sense of fulfillment washes over them whenever they successfully rescue and care for a stray animal.
“Isa ang fulfillment na once maka-rescue mi og stray dogs and cats. As in real time ang situation, iba ang feeling na matabangan nimo siya,” she added.
(It’s fulfilling when we rescue stray dogs and cats. The feeling is different when you’re able to help them.)
Despite its financial struggles, A Heart for Paws GenSan is currently building another rescue shelter, adding to its existing facility in Calatao with payables amounting to P301,486. – Rappler.com
Brian Jay Baybayan is a campus journalist from the Mindanao State University-General Santos City. Editor-in-chief of The Papyrus, he is also an Aries Rufo Journalism fellow of Rappler for 2023-2024.
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Manila court orders cancellation of Arnie Teves’ passport | Jairo Bolledo | 9/2/2024 17:27 | MAN OF THE HOUR. Then-congressman Arnie Teves presides over a plenary session as House deputy speaker in March 2021.
House Press and Public Affairs Bureau
MANILA, Philippines – A Manila court ordered the immediate cancellation of the passport of expelled congressman Arnolfo “Arnie” Teves Jr., the Department of Justice (DOJ) confirmed on Friday, February 9.
The DOJ said it received an order from Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 51, issued Thursday, February 8, canceling Teves’ passport. The former lawmaker, considered a fugitive, is believed to be out of the country.
Teves, who was Negros Oriental 3rd District representative, is the alleged mastermind behind the assassination of Negros Oriental Governor Roel Degamo in March 2023.
There are two standing warrants against Teves: one for murder, frustrated murder, and attempted murder charges in relation to the death of Degamo and others who were killed in the attack on the governor, and another one over his alleged involvement in the killings that took place in his home province in 2019.
Quoting the order, the DOJ said the Manila court justified the cancellation of Teves’ passport by citing the severity of charges against him, including his designation as a terrorist by the Anti-Terrorism Council (ATC).
The DOJ added that the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) was already directed to cancel Teves’ passport, while the National Bureau of Investigation was ordered to facilitate Teves’ return to the Philippines.
“This is a clear message that our society demands accountability, and we shall leave no stone unturned to bring alleged perpetrators to book. Our resolve to create a just and fair Philippine society for all is stronger than ever,” Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin “Boying” Remulla said in a statement.
Months after Degamo’s slay, on August 26, 2023, the DOJ announced that charges had already been filed against the former lawmaker.
After Teves was implicated in the assassination, he failed to physically show up during session days at the House of Representatives.
As early as May 2023, the DFA said Teves sought asylum in Timor Leste, but was denied. The ATC ordered Teves’ designation as a terrorist even before the warrants were issued against him.
In a historic first, the legislative’s lower chamber voted to expel Teves as Negros Oriental lawmaker last August. – Rappler.com
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Philippines says joint exercises held with US in South China Sea | Chito de la Vega | 9/2/2024 19:53 | File Photo. SOUTH CHINA SEA. Sailors aboard Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS John Finn (DDG 113) conduct flight deck operations with a MH-60R Helicopter assigned to the 'WARLORDS' of Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron (HSM-51) in the South China Sea, January 26, 2024.
Commander, Task Force 71/Destroyer Squadron 15
MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines and the United States conducted joint maritime exercises in the South China Sea on Friday, February 9, the Philippine military said, the latest round of drills underlining ongoing expansion of their defense ties.
Security engagements between the treaty allies have soared in the past year, at a time of tension in the South China Sea, where the Philippines and China have traded blame over a spate of run-ins over territory.
It was the third time the Philippines and former colonial ruler the United States have held joint exercises in the South China Sea since November last year, moves that have frustrated Beijing, which objects to what it sees as US interference in its backyard.
“It demonstrates our commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific, and foster close cooperation towards further enhancing our maritime capabilities,” Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief General Romeo Brawner said in a statement.
China claims sovereignty over almost the entire South China Sea, a conduit for more than $3 trillion of commercial shipping annually, including parts of the exclusive economic zones of the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei.
It has policed those claims with a vast coast guard fleet that the Philippines has accused of hostile intentions and actions that are against international law. China says it is protecting its territory. – Rappler.com
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Tawi-Tawi wells produce only trickles as province sees worsening El Niño effects | Herbie G | 9/2/2024 15:21 | WAITING. A girl waits for a well to produce more water in a rural village in Bongao, Tawi-Tawi, a province which is starting to see the worsening effects of the El Nino phenomenon.
Ferdinandh Cabrera/Rappler
TAWI-TAWI, Philippines – Unlike other parts of Mindanao, rain has been scarce, and the wells in a rural village in Bongao town, Tawi-Tawi, have been slowly drying up since January.
Near one of the wells in Lumbus village of Mandulan, young boys queued with their empty containers, patiently waiting for their turn to fill them up with water. However, unlike before, the well now produces only a trickle.
“It takes a lot of time waiting. This really happens when there’s no rain,” said teenager Adzramin Sadid.
“We have to walk far to find drinking water in the next forested area,” Indah, a villager, told Rappler.
Al-Gibran Amilasan, chief of Bongao’s Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office, said the local government was bracing for a drought and preparing for the worst scenario due to the El Niño phenomenon that has been affecting the country since mid-2023.
“We have started to conduct risk assessments and are looking for more water sources just in case the worst happens,” Amilasan said.
The problem is not exclusive to Tawi-Tawi or the Bangsamoro region where it falls under. In Bukidnon, a province in Northern Mindanao, deep wells and communal faucets were also drying up as a result of El Niño, prompting the implementation of water rationing measures.
The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) has warned about the worst period of the El Niño during this year’s dry season.
PAGASA said the trend will likely peak in April, potentially leading to drought in 56 areas across the country. Mindanao, including the BARMM, is expected to experience mostly dry spells.
The weather phenomenon involves the unusual warming of the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean. Under normal conditions, trade winds transport warm water from east to west. However, during El Niño events, these winds weaken, causing warm water to shift eastward. This can result in increased storms and flooding in the Americas.
In Southeast Asia, colder ocean temperatures decrease the formation of low-pressure systems, leading to reduced rainfall and drier conditions.
The situation in Tawi-Tawi will be among the concerns looked into by the agriculture ministry of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) as it anticipates drier days ahead.
The El Niño is expected to cause dry spells, impacting water supply, farming, and food security in the country.
In its January 30 bulletin, the Department of Agriculture (DA) reported damages exceeding P109 million and affecting 2,602 farmers nationwide.
Since the onset of the El Niño phenomenon in 2023, the Bangsamoro regional government has yet to take clear and significant steps to cushion the impact of the El Niño in Tawi-Tawi and elsewhere in the region.
Mohammad Yacob, the BARMM minister for agriculture, fisheries, and agrarian reform, said a regional task force on the El Niño has yet to be established to gather crucial data, which would then serve as the foundation for the regional government’s response.
Yacob told Rappler on Thursday, February 8, “Once we obtain the data, we can then allocate the appropriate budget and implement necessary measures.”
Despite this, the BARMM has received backing from the European Union Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid to bolster community resilience. The support involves capacity-building, policy development, integration of early warning systems, and anticipatory actions.
A consortium, comprising international and national organizations, academic institutions, and the private sector, is spearheading the initiative and aims to reinforce resilience in the BARMM through an early warning system and multi-risk landscape approach. The objective is to foster anticipatory actions, including community-based disaster preparedness and pre-disaster cash assistance, before disasters strike.
Officials said the proactive approach would enable hazard-prone communities and local governments to better withstand the impacts of disasters, including El Niño.
Oxfam Pilipinas, a group helping to fight poverty in the country, has also collaborated with BARMM’s Rapid Emergency Action On Disaster Incidence, and the Pre-Disaster Risks Assessment Group to establish anticipatory action triggers and early action protocols for tropical cyclones, flooding, and El Niño events.
Meanwhile, the Office of the Vice President in BARMM launched a tree planting initiative in Lumbus in Tawi-Tawi under its “PagbaBAGo: A Million Learners and Trees” campaign, promoting environmental sustainability.
The initiative, led by OVP-BARMM head Zuhairah “Pong” Abas, emphasized the connection between tree planting, health, and continuous charity for future generations. The campaign integrates education and environmental stewardship to address climate change challenges.
The collaboration involved various stakeholders, resulting in the planting of 3,000 mangrove propagules in the village on February 2. – Rappler.com
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Close call: Johnathan Williams tops Tyler Bey in tight Best Import race | delfin.dioquino editor | 9/2/2024 19:40 | BATTLE. Tyler Bey of the Magnolia Hotshots (left) and Johnathan Williams of the Phoenix Fuel Masters in action in the 2023-24 PBA Commissioner's Cup.
PBA Images
MANILA, Philippines – Phoenix ticked another milestone off the list following a conference to remember.
Johnathan Williams earned the Best Import honors in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup on Friday, February 9, after powering the Fuel Masters to their first semifinal appearance in an import conference.
Williams became the first Phoenix import to win the award as he bested Magnolia counterpart Tyler Bey following a nip-and-tuck race that could have gone either way.
An all-around workhorse, Williams averaged 24.5 points, 16.4 rebounds, 5.2 assists, and 1.6 blocks in 17 games through the semifinals, helping the Fuel Masters survive a pair of do-or-die games in the playoffs before they bowed out.
Dragged to a sudden death quarterfinal by No. 5 seed Meralco, fourth seed Phoenix punched its semifinal ticket as the former NBA player posted 21 points and 16 rebounds in the knockout match.
The Fuel Masters once again faced elimination when the Hotshots nailed a 2-0 lead in their best-of-five semifinals, but Williams delivered anew with 19 points, 15 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 blocks in Game 3 to keep his side alive.
Although Phoenix eventually got the boot the following game, its campaign marked a stark improvement for the franchise after being 0-9 in do-or-die games prior to the conference.
Bey missed out on the award even after steering Magnolia to the top spot at the end of the elimination round on the way to the finals as he averaged 26.9 points, 13.9 rebounds, 2.3 steals, 2.2 assists, and 1.3 blocks in 16 games.
Also a former NBA player like Williams, Bey fell short of becoming the first player from the Purefoods franchise to win Best Import since Marqus Blakely achieved the feat for the San Mig Coffee Mixers in the 2013 Governors’ Cup.
With Bey in tow, the Hotshots won 13 of their 16 games through the semifinals.
Meanwhile, San Miguel reinforcement Bennie Boatwright could have easily won as he posted monster numbers and turned the Beermen into a wrecking machine, but his late entry doomed his chances for the award.
Boatwright topped the statistical battle among imports with averages of 35.6 points, 12 rebounds, 3.4 assists, and 1 block, helping San Miguel win all of its games en route to the championship round since he replaced Ivan Aska.
However, Boatwright played just seven matches through the semifinals – less than half of the games Williams and Bey saw action in. – Rappler.com
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Brownlee recalls ‘stressful’ time after suspension put career on hold | delfin.dioquino editor | 9/2/2024 23:58 | STAR. Justin Brownlee appears as a spectator in the 2023-24 PBA Commissioner's Cup finals.
PBA Images
MANILA, Philippines – The months-long ordeal is over for Justin Brownlee.
But that challenging period proved to be a test of character for Brownlee as he worried about his future after failing a doping test following Gilas Pilipinas’ historic title romp in the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China last October.
“Mentally, it was very tough just not knowing whatever the outcome may be of the situation that was going on. Very stressful for sure,” Brownlee told reporters on Friday, February 9, as he gears up for his national team return.
“A lot of days and nights, thinking about it, feeling sorry for myself.”
Brownlee tested positive for Carboxy-THC, a prohibited substance by the World Anti-Doping Agency that is linked to cannabis use.
Local sports officials said it is possible that Brownlee may have taken medication that contained the banned substance as he recovered from surgery to remove bone spurs in his foot.
Although Brownlee and the Nationals got to keep their gold medal, his positive test prevented him from suiting up for his mother team Barangay Ginebra in the PBA.
The 2023-2024 Commissioner’s Cup marked the first time the Gin Kings played without Brownlee in an import conference since he started his career with Ginebra in the 2016 Governors’ Cup.
Brownlee saw action in 10 straight import conferences and powered the Gin Kings to six championships.
Tapping former Meralco import Tony Bishop to fill in for Brownlee, Ginebra still reached the semifinals, but it succumbed at the hands of mighty San Miguel as it got swept in a best-of-five series for the first time since 2013.
“It was very difficult. At the beginning, I felt like I let my team down. Definitely, at the beginning, it was tough. But I give a lot of credit to Tony Bishop, he came in and he played his hardest,” said Brownlee.
Knowing he will miss time away from the PBA, Brownlee opted to serve a provisional suspension that started on November 9.
That decision worked wonders for the three-time PBA Best Import as FIBA retroactively counted the time he sat out for his proposed three-month period of ineligibility.
His suspension finally ended on Friday, just in time for Brownlee to join the national team for the first window of the FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers later this February.
“At the end of the day… if you get knocked down or you get set back, you just got to try to stay positive and move forward,” said Brownlee.
Now that he is back, Brownlee is itching to suit up again, both for Gilas Pilipinas and the Gin Kings.
“Right now, I feel good. I feel rested. I feel healthy,” he said. – Rappler.com
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Facing climate challenges and rising costs, Palawan’s rice farmers turn to labor | Herbie G | 6/2/2024 19:30 | SHIFT. Several farmers in Roxas town, Palawan, are opting to become farm laborers for higher pay.
courtesy of Palawan Daily News
PALAWAN, Philippines – Facing rising costs of farm inputs and climate change threats like dwindling irrigation water, some rice farmers in Roxas town, Palawan, are opting to work as farm laborers for better pay.
Rudy Dangan and his wife Diana, small rice farmers in Barangay Minara, Roxas, used to cultivate less than two hectares of leased rice fields.
But the current demand for farm laborers in ricefields in Roxas town convinced Rudy and Diane to prioritize working in their neighbors’ rice fields, allowing them to earn a steady income. The couple, with two children, made this decision to ensure financial stability.
They said the soaring prices of fertilizer, pesticides, and labor expenses pushed them to stop their rice production. Instead, they now spend their days as farm laborers in nearby rice farms, where they receive more income.
From 7 am to 4 pm, Rudy and Diana harvest palay (unmilled rice), and from 4 pm to 6 pm, they use threshers to process the harvested rice.
At day’s end, the farm owner compensates them with two sacks of palay, which, when sold to local buyers at P600 per sack, earns them P1,200.
Their harvested rice field, less than two hectares, is irrigated. They also receive rice bran, locally known as darak, from the owner, selling it to buyers at P10 to P15 per kilo.
Rudy said their combined daily incomes of P1,200 to P1,500 surpasses the P400 daily wage he earned as a carpenter, while Diana tended their rice farm.
Managing even a small rice field, according to Diana, is financially taxing due to fertilizer and pesticide expenses. Unable to afford these inputs and maintenance costs, they decided to halt rice production temporarily and turn to labor work.
Previously, Rudy said he toiled in construction projects to buy farm inputs. However, their expenses exceeded their income from selling harvested palay, leaving them with minimal profit.
Now, as farm laborers, they find their earnings surpassing their previous income, providing them with much-needed financial relief.
“Minsan mas mataas pa ang ginastos kaysa sa kinita mo. Hindi na ganun kadali kung nagpapalayan ka,” she said.
(Sometimes your expenses are much higher than what you earn. It’s not easy to manage your rice field.)
Diana’s younger brother, Daryll Vicera, said he steps in as a farm laborer when there’s a shortage of workers although he is not always available because he also helps their mother in a nearby village.
“Kahit anong buwan, may nag-ha-harvest dito kasi irrigated yung palayan. Madalas kinukulang ng mga nag-tratrabaho kaya maganda na maka-extra rin,” he said.
(Regardless of the month, harvesting occurs year-round due to the irrigation of the rice fields. Often, there’s a shortage of farm laborers, which is why it’s good for me to work as a laborer here.)
Daryll, a solo parent with one child, said that if the demand for farm laborers in rice fields were seasonal, it would not be as attractive for people to work there.
The rice farmers said another thing that discourages them from maintaining their rice fields is the increasing effects of climate change and the looming threat of drought due to the El Nino phenomenon, which could devastate 17 provinces in the country this year.
Responding to the challenges, Amy Caabay-Revillas and her sister, Letty, said they have opted to diversify their income sources in Antonino, Roxas town.
They said they plan to raise livestock such as goats, ducks, pigs, and chickens alongside their respective rice fields. The strategy, they said, aims to supplement their income as rice farming becomes increasingly costly. – Rappler.com
Gerardo C. Reyes Jr is a community journalist at Palawan Daily News and is an Aries Rufo journalism fellow of Rappler for 2023-2024.
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Meralco aims for victorious EASL finale as last Filipino team standing | jisaga0269 | 6/2/2024 19:46 | GUNNER. Alvin Pasaol tows Meralco to victory with his hot shooting.
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MANILA, Philippines – The Meralco Bolts are gunning for a dignified finish to their first East Asia Super League (EASL) season as they head to Korea for one last battle against the Final Four-bound Seoul SK Knights on Wednesday, February 7, 6 pm (Manila time).
Already out of playoff contention, the last PBA team standing will look to its bench mob to possibly force an upset on the road, while the Korean Basketball League (KBL) representatives will likely do the same to protect their top stars ahead of the highly anticipated Final Four staged in Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu.
This can bode well for Filipino hoops fans as they will likely see an extended run from former University of the Philippines star Juan Gomez de Liaño, who has only played in two of Seoul’s five EASL assignments despite being free of injuries.
Fittingly, the UAAP Mythical Five member last played a four-minute cameo against none other than Meralco last December 27 back home at the PhilSports Arena, where his Knights eked out an 81-80 escape over the feisty Bolts.
Heading to Seoul home soil at the Jamsil Student’s Gymnasium this time, Meralco will field an entirely fresh lineup led by its new imports, 6-foot-7 Shonn Miller and 6-foot-9 Alioune Tew, who replaced gunner Zach Lofton and bruiser Prince Ibeh.
Also likely seeing more playing time on Wednesday night are intriguing Bolts role players like former University of the East super scorer Alvin Pasaol and Gomez de Liaño’s college teammate Diego Dario.
Rookies Shean Jackson and Brandon Bates are also names to watch for the road team.
Coming off a quarterfinals exit in the ongoing PBA Commissioner’s Cup, the Bolts are now gearing up for the upcoming Philippine Cup with their competent local cast, bannered by Chris Newsome, Bong Quinto, Chris Banchero, and Cliff Hodge, among other core players. – Rappler.com
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Gov’t ramps up rice production, imports in El Niño year | Iya Gozum | 6/2/2024 13:15 | PALAY. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Agriculture chief Francisco Tiu Laurel visit a farm in Candaba, Pampanga, on February 3, 2024.
Department of Agriculture
MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine government continues to ramp up efforts in rice industry development amid an El Niño year and four years before its target to reach rice self-sufficiency by 2028.
“Ang totoo po niyan, confident po akong magsasabi sa inyo na ‘yung production area ng NIA [National Irrigation Administration] ngayong El Niño ay tataas pa po ang production namin ng palay,” said irrigation chief Eduardo Guillen in a radio interview on Sunday, February 4.
(The truth there is, I can confidently tell you that NIA’s production area this El Niño will see higher production of palay.)
Guillen attributed this optimism to the preparations the government has been making so far.
In the same interview, the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) chief said the target of 97.4% rice self-sufficiency is achievable. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said last year this would be enough to feed all Filipinos.
El Niño is expected to bring droughts and dry spells that will affect water supply, agriculture, and food security. (READ: Is the Philippines prepared for El Niño?)
Based on assessments from regional offices, the Department of Agriculture (DA) estimated in its latest bulletin released January 30 that damage and losses have amounted to P109.44 million, with 2,602 farmers are affected.
“Most of the damage and losses incurred on rice are at reproductive stages,” the bulletin read.
On top of concerns among Filipinos during an El Niño would be food supply, especially rice.
Recently, several agencies, led by the DA, welcomed February with efforts to revitalize the rice industry.
For 2024, the government has set aside P31 billion for the National Rice Program.
On February 3, the President, together with DA chief Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr., visited farmers and cooperatives in Candaba, Pampanga to distribute more than P20 million worth of farm inputs.
The goal of the visit was “to sustain the push for agricultural modernization and increased food production in the face of El Niño,” according to a statement released by the DA. Laurel said they have been working overtime to realize this.
The DA chief has also mentioned installing solar irrigation systems in select areas, in a previous Malacañang briefing. This is to ensure water supply for farmers during dry spells.
In their visit to Candaba, Marcos said the government plans to install these systems “to an additional 180,000 hectares of rice land which should translate to 1.2 million metric tons (MMT) of palay.”
A day before, the DA inked a memorandum of understanding with the NIA and the Department of Trade and Industry to develop the Integrated Rice Supply Chain Development Program.
The program will develop an online market platform that brings together buyers and sellers in the rice industry. It aims to make the supply chain more efficient and increase income of rice farmers.
Palay may be what comes to mind when one thinks of a Filipino farmer, and rice is the staple food in all Filipino households, but the country remains unable to produce enough rice for its own population.
The Philippines is projected to retain its spot as world’s top rice importer, according to the latest forecast by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).
The USDA said the Philippines is set to take in a record 3.8 million tons of rice. The Philippines is followed by China, Indonesia, the European Union, and Iraq.
While the government seems to be doubling down on efforts to develop its rice industry, it is also making sure rice supply from exporters is steady. Last year, the Philippines secured the highest allocation of non-basmati white rice from India following India’s export ban.
In his visit to Hanoi, Vietnam, just a week ago, Marcos finalized an agreement on rice trade.
As of December last year, the Philippines’ rice inventory was at 1.9 million metric tons, a 25.2 percent decrease from the previous year’s 2.53 MMT.
However, it’s still a long road to rice self-sufficiency, even with the additional 1.2 MMT of palay if the government expands solar irrigation systems, according to a leader of a farmers’ organization.
“To reach self-sufficiency, we will have to produce an additional 3.5 million tons of palay per year,” Raul Montemayor, national manager of the Federation of Free Farmers Cooperatives, told Rappler.
“This will require around 850,000 hectares in addition to the 4.8 million hectares that are currently harvested in a year.”
Doing this would also need massive funding from the government, not just piecemeal distribution of farm inputs and equipment.
Montemayor said support should be sustained as self-sufficiency is a “a moving target” because of growth in demand and population.
He added that self-sufficiency is not the only issue that must be addressed; there’s also the problem of local rice being more expensive than imported rice.
Just because there’s enough rice to feed the population doesn’t mean cheaper imports will not enter the country anymore, Montemayor said. Farmers can still find themselves at a disadvantage.
“Domestic palay prices will drop to achieve parity with imported rice, and this could discourage farmers from sustaining their production,” he added.
At the core of these moves to to improve food production and ensure supply should be small-scale farmers.
Majority of the Philippines’ rice production still comes from small producers, Lionel Dabbadie of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, told Rappler.
“These small holders must be empowered to ensure they receive a fair price for their work and products,” said Dabbadie.
Dabbadie said the El Niño event in 2018-2019 impacted 247,610 farmers. This El Niño year could set them back further.
“Recovery for small-scale food producers often spans years, with many sinking deeper into debt and a cycle of poverty due to diminished productivity, which can have impact on the long-term,” he said.
Agriculture experts have also urged the government to make Philippine agriculture attractive to the business community, the sector which has the resources to modernize the industry. – Rappler.com
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Sultan battles Japanese foe in undercard of Ancajas-Inoue world crown fight | delfin.dioquino editor | 5/2/2024 20:36 | POWER. Jonas Sultan unleashes a hit against Frank Gonzalez.
ZAMBOANGA VALIENTES
MANILA, Philippines – Jonas Sultan resumes his twice-stalled quest for ring glory when he tangles with Japanese prospect Riko Masuda in the undercard of the Jerwin Ancajas-Takuma Inoue title fight on February 24 at the Ryogoku Kokugikan Gym in Tokyo.
After failing in world title cracks against Ancajas in 2018 and Briton Paul Butler in 2022, Sultan is bidding for an impressive victory over Masuda that is likely to earn him another shot at a world title eliminator.
Although Masuda lost his last bout against compatriot Seiya Tsutsumi, the 26-year-old lefty is deemed dangerous as he has knocked out his first three opponents.
Sultan, aware of Masuda’s punching power, is training hard in Los Angeles under coach Marvin Somodio as the bantamweight eight-rounder could be a make-or-break fight for the 32-year-old pride of Tampilisan, Zamboanga del Norte.
In his lone bout in 2023, Sultan beat American Frank Gonzalez by a lopsided unanimous decision and raised his record to 19-6 with 11 knockouts.
“He (Sultan) is already in very good shape,” said Junie Navarro, Sultan’s benefactor and manager. “He’s out to prove that he deserves another [title] chance.”
While in the United States, Sultan is being taken care of by MP (Manny Pacquiao) Promotions president Sean Gibbons and his son, Brendan, who’s listed as Sultan’s promoter.
According to Navarro, Sultan will be arriving in Japan on February 17 to acclimatize to the environment and wrap up his preparations for the Masuda encounter.
Ancajas, now a close friend of Sultan, will be aiming for the World Boxing Association bantamweight belt of Takuma, younger brother of the heralded Naoya Inoue, in the headliner of the card originally slated November 15 but was pushed back after the champion suffered a rib injury in training.
With a 34-3-2 card laced with 23 knockouts, Ancajas – the former International Boxing Federation super flyweight king – is expected to give Inoue (18-1, 4 knockouts) a tough challenge. – Rappler.com
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Senators suggest dialogue to settle spat with House lawmakers | Bonz Magsambol | 6/2/2024 8:00 | CHA-CHA HEARING. The Senate on Monday, February 5, starts its hearing on the propose amendments to certain economic provisions of the 1987 Constitution.
Angie de Silva/Rappler
MANILA, Philippines – Senators were disturbed that a House of Representatives resolution expressing “unwavering solidarity and support” for Speaker Martin Romualdez labelled as an “intense assault” the Senate’s opposition to charter change through people’s initiative.
Among those who showed his disdain was Senator Jinggoy Estrada. In his manifestation at the Senate regular session on Monday, February 5, Estrada said: “What I cannot understand is the phrase ‘intense assault’ coming from the Senate. I’ve been a defender of this institution, for more than a decade and I love this institution. But what I cannot accept is that the title of the resolution is ‘intense assault….’ as far as I know, as far as I can remember, if my memory serves me right, there was no direct assault coming from the Senate towards any member of the House of Representatives.”
Estrada was referring to House Resolution 1562, which said in its long-winded title that it not only supported the Speaker, but was also “upholding the integrity and honor of the House of Representatives in the face of the intense assault of the Senate.” The resolution collected 286 signatories as of writing. Lawmakers from the Makabayan bloc abstained from voting, pointing out that the country has more pressing matters to deal with than charter change.
Senate Minority Leader Koko Pimentel was also annoyed by the House resolution. “Nakakalungkot that the House, our co-equal body here (It’s sad that the House, our co-equal body here), accused us of practices which they are doing in the very same accusatory document. Ano ba talaga ang gusto nila? (What do they really want?)” he rhetorically asked.
“The two houses must have dialogue,” Pimentel said. “Ano ba talaga ang gusto nila? Kasi document kapag binasa mo it betrays something eh (What do they want? When you read their document, it betrays something). They want something but they were not able to state it properly or directly.”
Estrada also floated the same suggestion. “Unsolicited advice, para hindi na lumaki ang away ng Senado at Congress… If I may suggest, ‘yung leadership ng Senate at House ay mag usap-usap na. Ano ba talaga gusto ‘nyo mangyare para matapos na ang lahat?“
(Unsolicited advice, so that the rift between the Senate and the Congress will not escalate, if I may suggest, the leadership of both the Senate and House should talk. What do you really want for this to end?)
He also said that the ongoing word war between the two chambers might affect the Philippine economy. “Kasi kapag tumagal ang away ng House of Representatives at Senado ay baka bumagsak ekonomiya natin matakot na ang investors natin.”
(Because if this word war between the House of Representatives and the Senate persists, it might affect our economy. Investors will shy away from us.)
Senate President Migz Zubiri said that he was amenable to a dialogue to end the bickering between the two chambers.
“Bukas naman ang tanggapan namin para makipagusap kay Speaker (Our office is open to talk with the Speaker). For the good of the country, we will do that,” Zubiri said.
The House resolution also took note of last week’s Senate probe into the people’s initiative, seeing it as a move “specifically directed at discrediting” both their institution and its leadership. Romualdez and his cousin Senator Imee Marcos got into a verbal spat last week, following the Senate where Marcos appeared to respond to Romualdez’s calling out senators’ criticisms of the people’s initiative.
During the Senate investigation, the chief of the People’s Initiative for Reform Modernization and Action (PIRMA) named Romualdez as the person who “helped” the Ramos-era charter change group in the signature drive. PIRMA told senators that they were able to get the required 3% in congressional districts with the help of congressmen.
The Senate called for an inquiry into people’s initiative to amend the charter amid allegations of bribery. – Rappler.com
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UE coach: Red Warriors did best to keep Rey Remogat | delfin.dioquino editor | 5/2/2024 19:43 | STAR GUARD. Rey Remogat in action for the UE Red Warriors in the UAAP Season 86 men's basketball tournament.
UAAP
MANILA, Philippines – Coach Jack Santiago said University of the East did all it could to retain star playmaker Rey Remogat, the UAAP Season 86 men’s basketball MVP runner-up who transferred to the UP Fighting Maroons in January following two seasons with the Red Warriors.
Santiago claimed UE exerted multiple efforts to appease Remogat’s concerns, but said the school will now “move on” towards the next era of Red Warriors basketball.
“I just want to say that we did everything. For all of his concerns, it’s not like the school or management didn’t do anything. We did everything for him to be happy upon his requests,” Santiago told Rappler.
Santiago, who’s about to enter his fourth season coaching the UE men’s basketball team, didn’t specify what Remogat’s requests were and opted not to comment on whether it had something to do with financial reasons.
Santiago also expressed disappointment that Remogat still opted to leave UE when it was understood – at least from his perspective – that the star player would stay following the conclusion of UAAP Season 86, and also because the ace guard confirmed his desire to remain a Red Warrior in an interview with CNN Philippines.
“We did our best to keep Noy,” Santiago said. “What happened, happened. We just need to move on.”
But Santiago is hopeful that the UAAP board of directors will make moves to limit the recent trend of student-athletes transferring universities in order to level the playing field.
Remogat is the third major standout Santiago has lost following the departure of Gani Stevens and Kyle Paranada, who transferred to UP and UST, respectively, in 2023.
“I hope the UAAP does something with what’s been happening. This is staining the league. It’s not good for the other schools, especially a school like ours that doesn’t have the same capacity as other schools,” Santiago said.
“Hopefully UE, along with other schools, don’t become farm teams. Hopefully the UAAP board can put a stop to this. This is for the benefit of the league. I hope this doesn’t destroy the UAAP.”
Santiago said he empathizes with disappointed fans of the UE community who feel their players were “poached,” but hopes they can find solace in the fact that the school used the best of its abilities to bring Remogat back for Season 87 and beyond.
“The management did our part to help Noy, but at the end of the day, we don’t know what the player’s decision will be,” said Santiago, who’s still confident in his team’s ability to compete in 2024 despite Remogat’s exit.
“Definitely, Noy’s departure is huge. Everyone knows what he’s capable of. But that’s why I told the players they need to step up and for them to do what Remogat did. We have a lot of recruits and I’m not worried for this coming season. We have a lot of new players that will arrive who are going to be eligible to play. Hopefully they improve right away. Our plan this year is to make the Final Four.”
The Red Warriors are looking to end a Final Four drought that dates back to 2009, the last time they also made the UAAP finals.
UE is expected to welcome back Gjerard Wilson, whose first go as a Red Warrior in 2023 was cut short by a shoulder labrum tear. It will be his final season of eligibility in Season 87. In addition to the returning Jack Cruz-Dumont, Santiago also expects the debut of Hunter Cruz-Dumont, who’s currently recovering from a foot injury.
The Red Warriors are also banking on the improvement of foreign student-athlete Precious Momowei – the leader of the Season 86 Rookie of the Year race before his suspension – and John Abate, the son of former PBA All-Star John Arigo who redshirted in 2023.
Santiago also expects still unannounced recruits to join the Red Warriors in the coming months, joining a core that includes the likes of Devin Fikes, Keian Spandonis, MJ Langit, and Ethan Galang.
The Red Warriors finished with 5-9 and 4-10 records under Santiago’s tutelage the last two seasons. He signed a two-year contract extension with management in January 2023. – Rappler.com
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Staying sharp at 36, lethal Lassiter moves to No. 5 in PBA 3-point list | delfin.dioquino editor | 5/2/2024 21:27 | SHARPSHOOTER. Marcio Lassiter in action for the San Miguel Beermen in the 2023-24 PBA Commissioner's Cup.
PBA Images
MANILA, Philippines – Marcio Lassiter further cemented his status as one of the greatest shooters to ever grace the PBA.
Lassiter moved to No. 5 in the all-time three-pointers list after helping San Miguel coast to an emphatic 109-85 win over Magnolia for a 2-0 lead in the Commissioner’s Cup finals on Sunday, February 4.
Knocking down three treys and finishing with 11 points, the 36-year-old gunner hiked his tally to 1,173 three-pointers as he surpassed PBA legend Ronnie Magsanoc, who ended his career with 1,171 triples, for a spot in the top five.
“Truly blessed. This is definitely an honor,” said Lassiter. “I would not be here without my teammates, my coaches – past and present. This is something that the team helped me get to.”
Although already the second-oldest player in the team after 38-year-old Chris Ross, Lassiter has remained just as lethal from beyond the arc.
In 15 games this conference, Lassiter is averaging a league-leading 48.6% from three-point land.
He has been particularly deadly in the playoffs, making 16 of his 29 three-point attempts (55%) in the quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals combined as the Beermen ride on a franchise-record-tying 11-game winning streak.
“Every day is a constant battle to keep on getting better and better,” said Lassiter.
“I’m just blessed to not be as injured and able to play majority of the games for our team. Just sticking to my strengths. The team needs me to stretch the floor out.”
After eclipsing Magsanoc, Lassiter can also leapfrog two-time MVP James Yap, who is fourth in the list with 1,189 triples.
Barangay Ginebra veteran LA Tenorio is not too far ahead as well at No. 3 with 1,211 three-pointers, while retired legends Jimmy Alapag (1,250) and Allan Caidic (1,242) own the No. 1 and 2 spots, respectively.
“I’m always honored if I can be on the same breath as those guys. Just go to continue to keep working hard, never be satisfied,” said Lassiter. – Rappler.com
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Fiery Abueva coughs up P100,000 fine for disability jab on SMB’s Gallent, evades Game 3 ban | jisaga0269 | 6/2/2024 16:25 | AT IT AGAIN. Magnolia forward Calvin Abueva attempts a floater past San Miguel center Mo Tautuaa in Game 2 of the 2023 PBA Commissioner's Cup finals
PBA Images
MANILA, Philippines – Magnolia star Calvin Abueva is up to his old antics again, and the league is not giving the controversial veteran much leeway this time around.
On Tuesday, February 6, one day before Game 3 of the 2023 PBA Commissioner’s Cup finals, league chief Willie Marcial handed down a hefty P100,000 fine on the mercurial forward for mocking San Miguel head coach Jorge Gallent’s visual impairment – a taunt squarely caught on camera late in Game 2.
In a league release, it stated that under house rules, “any person who offends the dignity of any person on account of ‘physical disability’ shall be subject to a fine not lower than P100,000.”
Per a Spin.ph report, Gallent lost his right eye in a motorcycle accident back in 1988 and has been using an artificial one ever since, making Abueva’s eye-related taunt at the 9:52 mark of the fourth quarter unquestionably directed at the new San Miguel chief mentor.
Abueva, however, was spared of a crucial Game 3 suspension, even after he and his wife were also involved in a viral spat with Mo Tautuaa and his spouse right after San Miguel’s 109-85 Game 2 blowout.
PBA | JUST IN:The PBA has fined Magnolia star Calvin Abueva P100,000 for mocking San Miguel coach Jorge Gallent's visual impairment.The controversial forward gets off with a warning, meanwhile, on his off-court spat with SMB center Mo Tautuaa and his wife. No suspensions. pic.twitter.com/pR0SsIylg8
Both Abueva and Tautuaa were summoned to the PBA office on Tuesday to iron things out, and both parties eventually came to an amicable settlement. The former’s slight on Gallent, however, was not swept under the rug.
“Abueva apologized to the PBA and to Tautuaa and his wife. They talked and they made up,” said Marcial, who noted that repeat offenses will be met with harsher penalties.
This marks Abueva’s first major offense since returning to the PBA from a 16-month ban due to a string of offenses with a similarly vicious nature, including clotheslining former TNT import Terrence Jones and getting involved in domestic abuse allegations.
Going under another public microscope for further offenses, Abueva returns to action in a pivotal Game 3 for reeling Magnolia on Wednesday, February 7, 7:30 pm, at the Araneta Coliseum.
Tautuaa likewise returns to the San Miguel bench to help the Beermen mount a commanding 3-0 finals lead. – Rappler.com
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Malay town unveils Boracay’s newest tourism come-on: hair braiding | Herbie G | 6/2/2024 15:25 | HAIR ART. A woman from Boracay demonstrates her hair braiding skills during the 31st Travel Expo held at the SMX Convention Center from February 2-4.
Malay Tourism Office
AKLAN, Philippines – In a move to weave together culture and commerce in Boracay, the town government of Malay has unveiled an unexpected tourism come-on: hair braiding.
Local officials said they were optimistic that Boracay’s hair braiders would become the latest attraction and draw travelers to the sun-kissed shores of the world-famous tourist destination.
Felix Delos Santos, Malay town’s tourism officer, told Rappler on Monday, February 5, that hair braiding debuted as a highlight at the 31st Travel Expo held at the SMX Convention Center in Pasay City over the weekend. The travel exposition stands as one of the nation’s premier platforms for travel promotions.
The age-old art involves weaving colorful strands together using methods like plaiting, lacing, and interlacing. It doesn’t just make hair look good; it also helps keep its natural moisture, which is especially helpful in Boracay, which is known for its beaches.
Boracay boasts of 225 registered and active hair braiders, indicating significant tourist demand for this service.
During the exposition, the Malay Tourism Office also showcased sandcastle making in Boracay and the Mega Paraw, now an attraction on the mainland in Malay, Aklan province.
Delos Santos said the hair braiders are following local government-approved rates for braiding, ranging from P200 to P1,000 based on the tourists’ preferred styles.
The timing of the hair braiding presentation coincided with another significant event. On Friday, February 2, the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) in Western Visayas announced the inaugural flight of Loong Airlines at the Kalibo International Airport (KIA).
Loong Airlines will operate flights to and from Kalibo three times a week, specifically on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays.
Peter Tay, liaison officer of the Chinese Embassy, said on Monday, February 5, that the airline’s maiden flight originated from Hangzhou, China.
“I anticipate more flights from China to KIA in the near future,” Tay said.
In 2017, Chinese tourists registered as the largest group of foreign visitors to Boracay, followed closely by South Koreans. – Rappler.com
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[OPINION] Rescuing the education system from the pits | Marguerite de Leon | 6/2/2024 12:02 | Raffy de Guzman/Rappler
Rescuing the education system from the pit into which it has plummeted will doubtless require enabling legislation for curricular reforms, organizational changes, and fresh funds. EDCOM II analysis suggests, however, that the effectiveness of these measures will depend on addressing the persisting problem of misaligned assumptions, objectives, and expectations documented in its report.
The most obvious cases show inconsistency in compliance with the laws or the failure of offices within the same organization to coordinate efforts towards shared objectives. Misalignment occurs at multiple levels of the same institution, but also across independent agencies, among service providers and clients, and between private and public sectors. While it will take more time to distill the essence of the examples in the EDCOM II report, the dots it provides already connect to current concerns.
DepEd, for instance, hopes to get the support of the World Bank to determine “the basis and proper approach for a pay increase” for teachers that would include provisions for higher take-home pay, expanded health coverage, a calamity fund, as well as overload and overtime pay.
A sound suggestion, though hopefully, as recommended, not at the cost of taxpayers. EDCOM II had noted that DepEd’s estimated entry-level hiring cost for statisticians exceeded industry market rates, the kind of miscalculations external vetting would help avoid.
The study should include an analysis of the education market and the comparative performance of service providers. Already, DepEd teachers receive higher pay than their counterparts in the private sector. Is the public getting the expected benefits against actual expenditures, the proverbial bang for their buck? Does DepEd need a monthly entry-level rate of P50,000, the figure floated in media and almost double the current rate, to get effective teachers?
The value of financial incentives to motivate job performance is well-known. But pay increases, especially when distributed across the board to existing personnel, immediately result in a more expensive, not necessarily more effective, staff. If some parochial schools, generally already in distress, provide equal if not better-quality instruction, would it not make sense to transfer to them children out of overburdened public schools, which can then work on improving quality?
Responding to an EDCOM II related concern, DepEd wants to focus on education effectiveness by relieving teachers of non-teaching assignments, such as managing school events or facilities, providing periodic reports to higher authorities, and conducting census or assessment tests. The burden of such obligations and their compensation do not match the prescriptions mandated by the 1966 Magna Carta for Public School Teachers, as EDCOM I already noted in 1994. Additional “ancillary and administrative” duties routinely violate the rules limiting daily teacher working assignment to eight hours, six in the classroom and two for supporting activities.
DepEd’s proposed solution would involve hiring additional people for temporary appointments outside the regular plantilla and paid from the Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses (MOOE) budget. The approach is permitted but problematic. DepEd has identified some 50 extra-curricular obligations imposed on teachers, perhaps not even including all of the activities organized by local government units. Whatever relief the staff will get is likely to be as temporary as the source of funding, a suspicion skeptics within the department have already expressed.
Neither will the measure relieve for long the pressure on DepEd’s budget, the bulk of which supports personnel services. A 2016 World Bank study concluded that “existing levels of school MOOE do not cover the full operating costs of public elementary and high schools.” EDCOM II expects the thrust towards online education to raise the cost of utility bills, already consuming 30-70% of MOOE, leaving little for other learning needs.
The recourse to non-tenured, contractual help for recurring extra-curricular duties funded by MOOE cannot serve as a long-term solution. It is likely instead to feed the natural appetite of bureaucracies to grow. The new recruits become a ready-made lobby group, enlisting populist politicians and paid lawyers to argue that they fulfill necessary services, which entitle them to permanent appointments. As long as the status of regular employees remain secure, they risk little resistance from the established bureaucracy, which gains with growing numbers greater political influence.
Growth can be functional and healthy. But the logic of EDCOM II’s analysis would caution against presuming that the laudable goal of focusing teachers on effective classroom instruction require the expansion of the bureaucracy. A prior step would determine which extra-curricular tasks contribute to DepEd’s mission. Which of the reports filed by teachers are actually read and acted upon and produce meaningful results?
Assessment tests not directly focused on classroom instruction are critical to the collection of comprehensive data for analysis and for maintaining system quality. These often fail because they are poorly planned, inadequately supported, and badly implemented, leading to dubious results made even less useful by delayed completion. Ironically, the sources contributing to failure stem not from lack but from excess of assessment activities of which EDCOM II has enumerated over 30.
A more serious EDCOM II concern, moreover, is the mismatch between the assessment tests conducted and what has emerged as the main problem undermining DepEd’s mission. Evaluation has focused on system assessment, measuring broader educational effectiveness such as might emerge from the comparative performance of organizational units, rather than on tracking the progress of the children in attaining learning competencies. A more deliberate shift to making classroom assessment the priority would also provide a more meaningful evaluation of teaching effectiveness.
The EDCOM II report offers a valuable map for education reform. It deserves diligent study and careful application. – Rappler.com
Edilberto de Jesus is a senior research fellow at the Ateneo School of Government.
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The closing statement of writer Edilberto de Jesus is highly noted: “The EDCOM II report offers a valuable map for education reform. It deserves diligent study and careful application.” But do we expect a Vice-President working also as DepEd Secretary without experience and the necessary educational qualifications to do the “diligent study and careful application” as required? In addition, she is more focused on spying on Communists in DepEd and the often denied rift between the Marcos-Romualdez and Duterte political dynasties. Anyway, the decision to appoint her to such a position came from President Marcos Jr. himself.
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[New School] Tama na kayo | Marguerite de Leon | 6/2/2024 18:58 | Marian Hukom/Rappler
Oo na, tama na kayo na sinuportahan at binoto niyo si Leni Robredo at ang kaniyang koalisyon noong nakaraang eleksyon. Tama na kayo na ginawa niyo ang lahat para mapigilan ang pagkakaluklok ni Bongbong Marcos bilang pangulo dahil magkakaroon ng kaguluhan sa sistemang politikal natin.
Sa pagpasok ng taong ito, bumungad sa ating lahat ang hidwaan sa pagitan nina Bongbong pati ang kaniyang mga kakampi sa politika at dating pangulong Duterte, pati rin ang kaniyang pamilya at mga alipores. Dahilan ito ng pagkakasulong ng charter change at ang umano’y kagustuhan ni Bongbong na payagan ang imbestigasyon ng ICC kay Duterte at ipakulong ang dating pangulo dahil sa kaniyang war on drugs.
Sa madaling salita, ang UniTeam na binuo noong eleksyon ay malinaw na nagwatak na dahil din sa politika. At para sa mga taong tulad mo na pinigilan ang pagkakataong ito sa pagboto kay Leni noong 2022, tama kayo kasi hindi si Bongbong ‘yung pinili niyo.
Pero alam niyo, ‘yung kinakahol niyong pagkatama eh nung 2022 pa. Halos dalawang taon na ang nakalipas, nakakulong pa rin kayo sa naratibong tama ‘yung ginawa niyo noong nakaraang eleksyon. Oo, sabihin na nating tama ‘yung pinili niyong kandidato; pero hindi na tama na patuloy niyong ipinagkakalandakang si Leni ‘yung pinili niyo at sinabihan niyo ‘yung ibang botante na huwag iboto si Bongbong.
Kasi sa simula’t sapul naman, hindi na patas ‘yung proseso ng eleksyon sapagkat kayang-kayang manipulahin ng mga politiko ‘yung mga botante para sila ‘yung iboto. Aminin man natin o hindi, ganyan ang ginawa ni Bongbong para manalo noong 2022 – gumawa siya ng naratibo na nagpabango sa pangalan niya na tatatak at mahirap alisin sa isip ng mga botante.
Sige, sabihin niyo nang kinausap niyo ‘yung mga kilala niyong sinuportahan si Bongbong at kinumbinsing huwag siyang iboto. Pero hindi nga agad patas sa lahat ‘yung eleksyon noong una pa lang; kaya kahit anong kahol niyo riyan, kailangan niyong tanggapin ‘yung katotohanang wala dapat sa mga botante ang sisi na si Bongbong ang nanalo at dapat ay nasa kaniya. Kasi sa simula pa lang, dinaan na ni Bongbong sa maruming taktika ang pagkapanalo sa eleksyon.
Kaya tumigil na kayo kakakahol sa ibang botante na tama nga kayo na huwag nilang iboto si Bongbong at tama kayong si Leni ‘yung pinili niyo.
Oo na, tama na kayo, pero wala naman tayong mapapala diyan sa huli. Kasi ano naman kung tama kayo? Congrats, ganon? Slow claps? Bigyan kayo ng certificate of recognition?
Sobrang baba lang kasi ng pag-iisip niyo na nakakulong pa rin kayo sa pagkatama niyo nung eleksyon. Nakakapangit din ‘yan ng tingin para sa ibang botante kasi nagmumukha kayong mayabang at mapang-insulto; baka hindi pa nila iboto ‘yung hinahangad natin dahil sa ugali niyo. Tsaka isa pa, mas mabuti pang ituon niyo ‘yung pansin niyo sa mga bagay na makabuluhan imbes na kumahol kayo nang kumahol.
Hindi niyo man lang ba naisip na malapit na ang susunod na eleksyon sa 2025? Mas mabuti pang ‘yung sigla niyong kumahol ngayon sa pagiging tama noong 2022 eh ilaan niyo para samantalahin ang sitwasyong watak ang mga nasa posisyon at kumbinsihin ang mga botante na iboto ang oposisyon.
Sa halip na pairalin niyo ‘yung pagiging makasarili niyo sa pagkahol na tama kayo, unti-unti ninyong ipakilala ang oposisyon sa madla. Unti-unti ninyong ipagpatuloy ang pagkilos tungo sa tapat at matinong pamamahala. Unti-unti ninyong buksan ang mata ng publiko sa katotohanang binabalot ang bansa natin ng problemang politikal na pinangungunahan ng mga makapangyarihan.
Kung tunay kang tumindig para sa tama noong 2022, hindi mo ito ipagyayabang at ibabalandra kung kani-kanino sa ano mang pagkakataon. Bagkus, ang pagtindig mo para sa tama noong 2022 ay dadalhin mo habang ang hinahangad mong bansang mapunta sa tama ay nananatiling nasa mali. Kung tumindig ka para sa tama noong 2022, patuloy at patuloy kang titindig para maitama ang mali.
Pero kung tumindig ka para sa tama noong 2022 at inilahad mo ito para lang patunayang tama ka nga, wala ka na sa tama. Napunta ka na sa mali. Dahil walang sino pa mang tunay na kumikilos para sa tama ang ipinapamukha sa iba na tama kayo at mali sila. Sa madaling salita, huwad ka na.
Oo, tama nga kayo noong 2022. Pero noong 2022 pa ‘yon. Kung hindi natin naitama rati, marami pa tayong pagkakataon para itama ito sa susunod. At dapat maitama natin ito sa mga susunod na taon.
Minsan, hindi mahalaga ang pagiging tama. Minsan, ang mahalaga ay ‘yung may ginagawa ka para maitama ‘yung baluktot na sistemang politikal ng bansa. Dahil sa dulo ng kwentong ito, iisa lang naman ang hangad nating mga Pilipino – ang magkaroon ng matinong gobyerno. – Rappler.com
Si Joshua Brian Buenviaje, 18, ay Grade 12 student ng Rizal National Science High School at miyembro ng kanilang paaralang pampahayagan.
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Bea Alonzo and Dominic Roque have broken up. Here’s a timeline of their relationship. | Marguerite de Leon | 6/2/2024 17:42 | Bea Alonzo's Instagram
MANILA, Philippines – Actress Bea Alonzo and actor-model Dominic Roque have called it quits, showbiz host Boy Abunda confirmed on Tuesday, February 6 in a GMA News report.
“Ako’y nalungkot ho talaga dahil madalas, ‘pag nagkikita kami ni Bea ay nagkakakwentuhan ho kami tungkol sa buhay, tungkol sa kanila, their marriage plans, etcetera. So, I was shocked,” Abunda said.
(I’m so sad over this because when I usually see Bea, we talk about her life with Dominic, their marriage plans, etcetera.)
“As we talk today, yes, hiwalay po si Dominic at tsaka si Bea (Dominic and Bea have separated),” he said, noting, however, that the couple may still work things out.
Alonzo and Roque have been together since 2021. Here is a timeline of their relationship.
Speculations about the pair’s relationship started in July 2020, after Roque posted a photo on Instagram along with the caption, “Tila ako’y nabighani (It seems I’ve been captivated).
The photo showed him and Alonzo with their faces covered, eating in a ramen restaurant in Tokyo, Japan.
A post shared by Dominic Roque (@dominicroque)
In an interview with Mega Magazine published in April 2021, Alonzo confirmed that she was indeed dating Roque but clarified they were not in an “exclusive relationship” yet.
“I decided that I’m not going to be a prisoner of my past. I’m open to falling in love again. I am very careful when it comes to falling so deep again and trusting anybody, but I would like to say that I am open to being happy whether it’s romantically or in that aspect, romance or work,” she said then.
In July 2021, the two further fueled romance speculations when they began posting photos of their trip together to the US on social media. During their West Coast trip, the two were spotted attending the baby shower of former actress Beth Tamayo, who is Roque’s aunt, on July 18. Roque also spent his birthday with Alonzo, which he shared in an Instagram story video.
A post shared by Dominic Roque (@dominicroque)
Roque also posted a series of photos of him and Alonzo sitting on a bench together at a Napa, California park.
“Lover,” he wrote.
A post shared by Dominic Roque (@dominicroque)
In an exclusive interview with 24 Oras released in August 2021, the actress opened up about her love life, saying that she was being cautious about sharing her new relationship with the public.
“It just came out naturally. Alam ko na prior to the posting, marami nang haka-haka ang mga tao-tao (I knew before I posted that there were already rumors going around).… It’s not like I was trying to hide it. I think I was just trying to be careful given my past experience. Siyempre gusto kong masiguro muna kung saan siya pupunta bago siya gawing official (I wanted to make sure where the relationship is heading first before I made it official),” Alonzo said.
The actress said she was thankful for the public’s reaction to her new romance. “A lot of people have been part of my journey and almost everyone in this country knows my story. I appreciate that they are happy for me,” Alonzo said.
“Naiintindihan nila kung saan ako nanggaling, kung saan ako ngayon at saan ko gusto pumunta (They understand where I’m coming from, where I am now and where I plan to be in the future). I’m very appreciative sa mga (of the) reactions.”
“I am happy na (that) everything’s so right, and everything is being celebrated,” she added.
Even if they’ve made their relationship Instagram-official, Alonzo said she’d still prefer to keep it low-key. “Even sa past relationships ko, hindi naman ako super open about it. I think treasured moments ng relationship ay ‘yung moments na hindi na-si-share sa social media. I want to keep it that way,” she said.
(Even in my previous relationships, I’m not super open about [them]. I think the most treasured moments of a relationship are those that aren’t shared on social media. I want to keep it that way.)
The two celebrated their first year together on January 28, 2022, with Alonzo getting more candid about their relationship on social media.
On Instagram, the actress posted a photo of her and Roque locked in an embrace and looking into each other’s eyes.
“It took so much patience from you, but here we are. And I have to say, it’s one of the best decisions I’ve ever made,” she said in the caption. “Happy anniversary, hun.”
A post shared by bea alonzo (@beaalonzo)
The two were ready to tie the knot after more than two years of dating.
The actress shared on in July 2023 black-and-white photos of the proposal that took place at the Las Casas Filipinas de Acuzar in Bataan.
Alonzo narrated that she was there for a shoot with celebrity fashion photographer Mark Nicdao, recalling that Nicdao asked her to turn around for one of his shots, only to see Roque kneeling before her with a ring in sight.
“I was there for a shoot, but little did I know that the next thing that would happen would change our lives forever,” she wrote. “When I turned around, I found Dom kneeling with a box in his hand.”
The actress continued that while she has done “so many proposal scenes in [her] entire career” in showbiz, it still hits different to experience it in real life. “Nothing beats the real thing,” she said.
“Everything went in slow motion. And I felt different emotions all at the same time – joy, excitement, love. I started bawling,” she added.
Alonzo said that she didn’t want that moment to end. “I want this real thing to happen forever. And right then and there, in front of the people we love, we decided on forever.”
Alonzo also released a vlog on the engagement a few weeks later.
In November 2023, the actress shared a vlog of her preparing for her Europe trip with now-fiancé Roque. Alonzo said that she would be there for around 20 days and would visit Milan, Lugano, Florence, Tuscany, and Madrid.
“It’s a really important trip for both Dom and I. Ito rin ‘yung unang beses na makakatira aka sa bahay ko sa Madrid,” she said.
(This is the first time that I’ll be able to live in my house in Madrid.)
She also shared another reason why this upcoming Europe trip is memorable for her: “Makukuha ko na ‘kung residency card ko (I’ll be getting my residency card). So I will be an official resident of Spain,” she said.
Aside from that, Alonzo also hinted that she’s also working on a special project during the trip which she described will “show a different facet of [her] as an entrepreneur.”
“It has always been my dream to own an apartment in Europe for my family. And finally, it happened,” she said. “After many years of hard work, and weighing things whether I should buy or not I have decided to just take a leap and do it.”
A week after Abunda revealed the couples’ split, Alonzo and Roque themselves confirmed the news in an Instagram post on Sunday, February 11.
“After much thought, consideration, and care, we have mutually decided to amicably end our engagement,” they wrote in the post. “It was not an easy decision. We wanted to have more time to carefully deliberate and pray about it, but there have been many speculations, questions, and insults.”
“Unfortunately, some even confirmed our break-up without our consent, and some created ridiculous stories that had no basis and were utterly false, so we felt the need to share this announcement with great sadness, for our peace of mind and our families,” they wrote in the post. – Rappler.com
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HIGHLIGHTS: San Miguel vs Magnolia – PBA Commissioner’s Cup Finals Game 3 | jisaga0269 | 7/2/2024 19:00 | MANILA, Philippines – Magnolia locked down San Miguel with a gritty 88-80 win in Game 3 of the 2023 PBA Commissioner’s Cup finals, snapping the Beermen’s franchise-best-tying 11-game winning streak on Wednesday, February 7, at the Araneta Coliseum.
Mark Barroca, one of the Hotshots’ most consistent players of the conference and the finals, kept up his stellar play with a team-high 20 points on 10-of-21 shooting, plus 6 assists, 4 rebounds, and 2 steals.
Paul Lee backstopped with 12 points off the bench – his first double-digit scoring game of these finals – while import Tyler Bey, reserve Aris Dionisio, and big man Ian Sangalang scored 11 apiece.
San Miguel super reinforcement Bennie Boatwright dropped game-highs of 27 points and 13 rebounds, but labored all night long with a 10-of-28 clip to go with 8 turnovers.
Best Player of the Conference candidate CJ Perez added 16 points, while Jeron Teng recorded his first double-digit scoring game for the Beermen with 10.
STREAK BUSTED! JUST IN. Magnolia trims its deficit in the PBA Commissioner's Cup finals to 1-2 and snaps San Miguel's 11-game winning streak with a gritty 88-80 win in Game 3. #PBAFinals GAME 3 HIGHLIGHTS: https://t.co/CueEGMpxWP pic.twitter.com/Sb0cEzei7O
PBA | END OF 3RD: Magnolia hangs on to a 63-58 lead with a quarter left to play.Another loss will put the Hotshots on the verge of a sweep. #PBAFinals
PBA | HALFTIME: Magnolia enters the break with a slim 42-39 lead.Mark Barroca with 10 points for the Hotshots, while Bennie Boatwright and CJ Perez also have 10 points each for San Miguel. This marks the first time in the finals that Magnolia leads at halftime.#PBAFinals
PBA | 1ST QUARTER:What a quarter for Magnolia as it leads 24-15 behind the efforts of Mark Barroca, Paul Lee, and Tyler Bey.Barroca leads all scorers with 8 points, while Lee and Bey have 5 points apiece.#PBAFinals
SAN MIGUEL: Chris Ross, CJ Perez, Marcio Lassiter, Bennie Boatwright, June Mar Fajardo
MAGNOLIA: Jio Jalalon, Mark Barroca, Tyler Bey, Rome dela Rosa, Ian Sangalang
PBA | WATCH:"Baka i-ban ulit kita."PBA commissioner Willie Marcial issues a stern warning to controversial star Calvin Abueva that a repeat ban or suspension is coming if he continues his off-court antics.Abueva went through a 16-month ban from 2019 to 2021.#PBAFinals pic.twitter.com/SeuxpHu7FQ
What was shaping up to be a rather one-sided PBA Commissioner’s Cup finals just got a whole lot more color.
Following a convincing 109-85 finals Game 2 rout last Sunday, February 4, mighty San Miguel is entering Game 3 on Wednesday, February 7, with red-hot momentum to go up 3-0 in the best-of-seven series against Magnolia.
As if they needed more motivation, the Beermen are likely even more stoked to hand down a fresh beatdown after controversial Hotshots star Calvin Abueva figured in another string of extracurricular tussles with San Miguel head coach Jorge Gallent and reserve big man Mo Tautuaa and his family.
Although now P100,000 poorer after getting fined for mocking Gallent’s visual impairment, Abueva is saved from a crucial Game 3 suspension, while Tautuaa likewise gets nothing but a warning after answering league summons.
Back to basketball matters, the Hotshots are now looking for a much-needed explosion from star guard Paul Lee, who has been held to single-digit scoring in both finals games so far, while the likes of import Tyler Bey and star locals Abueva, Mark Barroca, and Jio Jalalon continue to hold down the fort.
San Miguel, meanwhile, will look to set a new franchise-high of 12 straight wins under the unrelenting firepower of Best Import frontrunner Bennie Boatwright, seven-time MVP June Mar Fajardo, Best Player of the Conference candidate CJ Perez, and a battalion of more stars right behind them.
Game tip-off is at 7:30 pm at the Araneta Coliseum. – Rappler.com
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Meralco aims for victorious EASL finale as last Filipino team standing | jisaga0269 | 6/2/2024 19:46 | GUNNER. Alvin Pasaol tows Meralco to victory with his hot shooting.
PBA Images
MANILA, Philippines – The Meralco Bolts are gunning for a dignified finish to their first East Asia Super League (EASL) season as they head to Korea for one last battle against the Final Four-bound Seoul SK Knights on Wednesday, February 7, 6 pm (Manila time).
Already out of playoff contention, the last PBA team standing will look to its bench mob to possibly force an upset on the road, while the Korean Basketball League (KBL) representatives will likely do the same to protect their top stars ahead of the highly anticipated Final Four staged in Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu.
This can bode well for Filipino hoops fans as they will likely see an extended run from former University of the Philippines star Juan Gomez de Liaño, who has only played in two of Seoul’s five EASL assignments despite being free of injuries.
Fittingly, the UAAP Mythical Five member last played a four-minute cameo against none other than Meralco last December 27 back home at the PhilSports Arena, where his Knights eked out an 81-80 escape over the feisty Bolts.
Heading to Seoul home soil at the Jamsil Student’s Gymnasium this time, Meralco will field an entirely fresh lineup led by its new imports, 6-foot-7 Shonn Miller and 6-foot-9 Alioune Tew, who replaced gunner Zach Lofton and bruiser Prince Ibeh.
Also likely seeing more playing time on Wednesday night are intriguing Bolts role players like former University of the East super scorer Alvin Pasaol and Gomez de Liaño’s college teammate Diego Dario.
Rookies Shean Jackson and Brandon Bates are also names to watch for the road team.
Coming off a quarterfinals exit in the ongoing PBA Commissioner’s Cup, the Bolts are now gearing up for the upcoming Philippine Cup with their competent local cast, bannered by Chris Newsome, Bong Quinto, Chris Banchero, and Cliff Hodge, among other core players. – Rappler.com
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[The Slingshot] The prayer rally that wasn’t about prayer | Marguerite de Leon | 6/2/2024 16:19 | David Castuciano/Rappler
It was a prayer rally that had more expletives and profanities than prayers. At least three angry and bullying thugs were speakers, all coming from one family, plus one has-been and also-ran former human rights lawyer who probably has to moonlight now for something else.
There is only one way to understand that Duterte family rally in Davao City last January 28: Rodrigo Duterte’s ever-greatest fear, the one that sends him the coldest shivers, is the International Criminal Court.
Duterte had long planned how to evade the ICC.
In the 2022 national elections, it was necessary for him to have a president who will not deliver him to the ICC. That was the principal reason why he had aspired for his daughter to run. When that did not materialize because daughter partnered as vice president instead with Bongbong Marcos, Duterte thought Marcos Jr. would be a president who will never turn him over to The Hague.
After all, he had thought that the Marcoses owed him one big favor – burying the skeletal remains of the dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr. at the Libingan ng mga Bayani. The key to understanding Duterte is always – and always – his love of himself. Remember this is a man afflicted with ANPD – Antisocial Narcissistic Personality Disorder.
Throw away all his rhetoric for love of country, no matter how many times he kisses the flag. The man is a master showman even better than the late German Moreno. And he knows many would die for his false rhetoric and his lying dramas.
The other plan was the quid pro quo; the division of spoils after the BBM-Sara tandem had won. And that was to put in his faithful lieutenants in the Marcos cabinet – Vic Rodriguez, Menardo Guevarra, Jose Calida, and even the boobooing tourism secretary who was Sara’s campaign communications secretary, Cristina Codilla Frasco. His secretary of the interior and local governments (and chief of staff of the armed forces) Eduardo Año was retained as BBM’s national security adviser.
The Commission on Appointments bypassed Calida. Guevarra was ineffective as solicitor general – he lost his appeal in the ICC, was ignored and immobilized when the ICC investigators entered the country. Rodriguez was, of course, kicked out after Malacañang discovered he had conspired with Bong Go to fill as many appointees with Duterte loyalists as possible. Malacañang had better watch out on Año.
The marijuana smoker Baste Duterte articulated so well the stinging rebuke and thwarted expectations of his father – “Akong amahan ang nagpalubong sa imong amahan” (It was my father who had your father buried at the Libingan) – addressing it to Marcos Jr. And that is where the Duterte pain has hit the most. They were asking for their return of favor and it wasn’t reciprocated.
That was the reason for the Davao City prayer rally that had no prayer but the gyrating sexy dancers of Willie Revillame who now wants to run for senator (the more reason we should reject the Dutertes).
Duterte needed a psychological show of support that could overwhelm his giant fear of the ICC. Only obeisant and echo chamber Davao City could easily organize one. After all, its scared barangay leaders were on their take. In Davao City, even barangay leaders benefit from the money rewards of extrajudicial killings sponsored by city hall. Arturo Lascañas’s revelations had intimated that.
When that didn’t work, Duterte the father went on a midnight press conference calling for Mindanao’s secession from the rest of the country. Did he mean just ivory tower Davao City? There is no clamor from the rest of Mindanao. Members of the Bangsamoro Transitional Authority immediately rejected him. “We can’t support such a move. It is us, the Moro people and the non-Muslim indigenous tribes who are the original owners of what is now Mindanao.” Aray! That was a punch in the belly to the Cebu and Southern Leyte migrant Dutertes.
When that didn’t work, Sara Duterte’s followers attempted a rally at Liwasang Bonifacio last February 3. How many came? About 30; well let’s say 50. The disinformative off-the-air media SMNI News (which still maintains an X account) tried to make breaking news out of it, only to be rebuffed by X readers. “30 lang ang pumunta dyan, mas marami pa ang pumupunta sa kasal o binyag!” “Mas marami pa bisita ko nong bday ko.”
(Only 30 came, more people come for weddings and baptisms; I had more guests for my birthday.)
The sum and substance is this – the Dutertes are exhausting all means to evade ICC accountability. The Duterte family with the upset expectations is now a dangerous family. They could stage any of the following probable scenarios to escape ICC imprisonment and prosecution.
First, Rodrigo and Sara Duterte will put up a big fight that can be bloody. He has in his arsenal 358 firearms that he manipulated for midnight permits before he bowed out of the presidency. Arresting them will probably entail a combined battalion of police and army manpower. They can fight it out.
Second, escape. Baste Duterte repeated the joke of escaping to Indonesia. That could have been a decoy. It is more likely Red China, their love for which is greater than their love for the Philippines. The national government should keep vigil on the Davao City airport and all other airports in the vicinity.
The third possibility is something that Duterte in fact alluded to in his rally speech. He said, “I ask the military establishment to observe what is happening.” Of course he tried to be polite, but Duterte does not have the talent of cryptic language. It was actually a hope that the military will stage a coup d’etat to remove Marcos Jr. from Malacañang and then install Sara as the rightful successor.
The fourth possibility is something they are not exactly incapable of doing. In fact, it can be the easiest and quickest of all. And that is to assassinate Bongbong Marcos. Presto, Sara Duterte will be president by succession and that will be the end of their ICC woes. Liza Araneta Marcos will then go home to Ilocos Norte a despised widow. There will be one big durian fiesta in weird Davao City. And the city’s pliant media will just report it like it was reading A, B, Cs. Of course, SMNI will then go back on air. However, that will magnify the Dutertes as principal suspects because no one politician now has the interest to eliminate Marcos Jr. by fatal means. Yet, who will investigate them if the president becomes Sara Duterte? The point is, the Dutertes have a cabal of assassins that can do any dirty job. Vengeance is theirs.
These are terrible scenarios. National government misses out on one essential that could cripple the Dutertes – freeze all bank assets of everyone in the Duterte family. That is what powered their distorted supremacy all these years. We start again from the bank accounts that former senator Antonio Trillanes had bared in the Senate.
Where are those bank accounts now? A source who is tracking them says they have since stashed these in Red China (Xiamen and Hongkong) and Singapore.
Remember what happened to Overall Deputy Ombudsman Melchor Carandang who said in 2017 that the bank accounts Trillanes exposed had matched with the records of the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC)? That ombudsman was kicked out of office in 2019. The reason? Malacañang said Carandang breached confidentiality.
That means Carandang was telling the truth. The Dutertes have all the money to protect themselves from the clutches of the law. With the power they amassed after more than 20 years in office and several billions of public money in their hands, kid gloves is not the way to corral them. – Rappler.com
Antonio J. Montalván II is a social anthropologist who advocates that keeping quiet when things go wrong is the mentality of a slave, not a good citizen.
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Indeed, I agree with writer Antonio Montalvan II: “… kid gloves are not the way to corral them (the Duterte’s).” And I believe President Marcos Jr. is following his wife’s advice – that the right way to treat this competing political dynasty is through an “iron fist in a velvet glove.”
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[Vantage Point] When sugar turns sour: End users agonize from high prices | D.R Castuciano | 6/2/2024 14:00 | Local bakers are again facing a recurring dilemma: should they increase the prices of their bread products or substantially cut their production?
Rodolfo Santos of Cuenca, Batangas, finds the latter option more palatable. Increasing the price of bread could only result to poor sales. With the price of sugar hitting the roof in recent months, scores of bakers are struggling to keep their noses above water as they suffer from higher costs of fuel and flour.
But for many other small neighborhood bakers, the streaking uptick in the price of sugar was the final nail on the coffin. Many of them are closing shop for good.
Compared to the previous year’s level, global sugar production in the 2023-2024 season will likely suffer a 2% decline, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. This translates to a loss of about 3.5 million metric tons (3.8 million US tons), said FAO global commodities market researcher Fabio Palmeri. With sugar being used increasingly for biofuels like ethanol, global reserves of sugar are at their lowest since 2009.
Partly to blame as well for the increase in sugar prices is El Niño, a singularity in nature that alters global weather patterns. It spawns severe weather conditions ranging from drought to flooding.
Sugar is now trading at its highest prices since 2011 because of diminishing global supplies, triggered by absurd dry weather in India and Thailand, the world’s second and third-largest exporters, respectively. This is just the latest hit for developing nations, the Philippines included, which are already coping with shortages in staples like rice which have added to food inflation.
Government records show that local food inflation averaged 8% for the full year 2023, higher than the 6.1% recorded in 2022. Top contributors to food inflation in 2023 were rice (0.7 ppt); vegetables, tubers, plantains, cooking bananas, and pulses (0.5 percent); and fish and other seafood (0.4 ppt). In October 2023, sugar, confectionery, and desserts had an inflation rate of 4.2%, up from 10.0% in September 2023
For the 2022-2023 crop year, the Philippines was able to procure 1.94 million metric tons, while the supply of refined sugar and molasses only amounted to around 1.4 million metric tons and one million metric tons, respectively.
There has also been a noted shortage in the supply of sugar in the domestic market due to poor harvest for the 2021-2022 crop year, leading to the price increase of the commodity amidst suspicions of hoarding and smuggling committed by unscrupulous traders.
During the 2022-2023 crop year, refined sugar in the Philippines was being sold at P105, a substantial increase from the prevailing retail price in the 2020-2021 crop year, which was about P54.5 per kilo.
Recall that the United Sugar Producers Federation (Unifed) President Manuel Lamata, insisted then that unspecified traders are engaged in “manipulation and hoarding.” He even claimed that “there is no shortage at all.”
Alleged as a key cause of the Philippine sugar crisis was state-sponsored sugar smuggling. On February 21, 2023, Senator Risa Hontiveros filed Senate Resolution No. 497 and alleged before the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee that Sugar Order No. 6 of the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) permitted the smuggling of 440,000 metric tons of sugar by and in favor of only three importers under terms that are contrary to law.
The average wholesale price of refined sugar remained relatively stable between 2018 and 2021, ranging from P2,100 to P2,500 per 50-kilo bag. SRA records show that in February 2023, the average wholesale price of refined sugar surged to P4,559.55 per 50-kilo bag. This was a marked increase compared to the same month in the previous year, where the price stood at an average of P2,981.25. Even so, the peak domestic price in 2023 exceeded the global market rates.
in May 2023, sugar being sold in local groceries reached a high of P136 per kilo. The same price uptick awaits bakeries, small eateries, and household consumers, due to poor regulation and a looming bad-crop year. Filipino consumers need to brace themselves first for high prices and then a sugar slump because domestic raw sugar production is predicted to hit a record 24-year low.
The Philippines is not likely to meet its sugar harvest goal or he current crop year. A statement released by SRA Administrator Pablo Luis S. Azcona said that harvest is anticipated to fall short of the initial target of 1.85 million metric tons, set prior to the commencement of the milling season.
While other sugar-producing countries have also trimmed their production estimates, the challenge for the Philippine sugar industry is compounded by weak regulation and virtual monopolies. Small-scale sugar farmers continue to grapple with financial challenges, thanks to another year of bad harvest and weak market regulation.
It should also be noted that weather disturbances directly impact on Philippine sugar production. Because of El Nino, there are fewer areas in the country where sugarcane is planted.
At the backdrop of a global price hike and a landscape dominated by monopolies, sugar prices in the Philippines remain inflated and much higher than the global average. Profits from domestic sugar production, however, are failing to trickle down to Filipino small-scale farmers. This imbalance leaves farmers, their families, and consumers bearing the brunt of soaring retail prices.
With the nation contending with escalating food inflation rates, urgent calls for sustainable, long-term solutions echo across the sector.
For some industry players, the SRA is the “problem” and not the “solution.”
On September 21, 2022, Manila 6th District Representative Benny Abante Jr. filed House Bill No. 5081 which seeks to abolish the agency. The bill explains that the SRA “has not helped find any solution” to the looming food crisis triggered by a “problematic sugar industry,” with the problem being exacerbated the “incompetence and corruption that is prevalent in the SRA.”
As a matter of fact, Republic Act (R.A) 8178 or the Agricultural Tariffication Act of 1996 has already done away with quantitative restrictions on the importation of all agricultural products, except rice.
Unfortunately, the law is still to be implemented. The SRA continues to put a clamp on sugar importation, while at the same time enforcing various regulations on the domestic sugar industry, including restrictions on the inter-island shipping of sugar and the mandatory sharing arrangement between sugar mills and sugarcane planters.
If these issues continue to remain unresolved, domestic sugarcane production will remain low and the country’s sugar industry will remain stagnant.
In a previous column, I laid out the premise that the Philippine sugar industry will remain besieged by these problems unless the government exercises political will to zero in on solving structural problems afflicting the industry for so long.
Select agricultural sectors are protected by tariffs. If the tariff is in place, then there is no need for quotas, as the tariff carries the burden to protect the sector. Imports should be open to all and any importing business entities.
Under the ASEAN Free Trade Agreement, quotas must be abandoned once a commodity has had a tariff applied.
If the government determines that quotas are essential, then these should be auctioned off in a up-front, on-line auction to ensure transparency and generate a revenue for the government. It should be noted, however, that the retention of quotas is highly undesirable and may be illegal as per the ASEAN agreement.
The revenues from collected tariffs should be directed to well-designed industry adjustment schemes, with the clear intention of reaching a tariff of 0% in ten years. Otherwise, how can the Philippines ever become an agricultural powerhouse exporting food if the production industries are protected by tariffs?
The SRA’s heavy-handed regulatory implementation has been a failed experiment. Domestic sugar prices continue to soar higher than import-parity pricing, and taint a completely uncompetitive industry with the scent of state-sponsored corruption.
The Agricultural Tarrification Act of 1996 (or Republic Act No. 8178) eliminated quantitative restrictions on the importation of agricultural products (except rice, which was tariffed much later in 2018) and replaced them with more transparent import tariffs. It’s time that R.A. 8178 is respected and not mutilated which was what happened to the sugar industry with Executive Order No. 18, and reinforced under the Sugar Industry Development Act (SIDA) of 2015 (R.A. 10659), which created domestic and international trading restrictions implemented by the SRA.
Maintaining the SRA to ensure sugar delivery to fill the preferential US sugar quota allocation has been rendered irrelevant because the Philippines no longer has surplus sugar available for export. The government should now give priority to the Filipino stakeholders of the Philippine sugar industry. – Rappler.com
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Writer Val Villanueva stated: ” … the Philippine sugar industry will remain besieged by these problems unless the government exercises political will to zero in on solving structural problems afflicting the industry for so long.” This is the challenge to DA Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. Perhaps these structural problems will persist because President Marcos Jr.’s political will is focused on something else.
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LTO chief Vigor Mendoza II ordered to comment on corruption allegations | lkyu0285 | 6/2/2024 20:16 | HEAD. LTO chief Vigor Mendoza stands at a podium.
Land Transportation Office Facebook Page
MANILA, Philippines – Land Transportation Office (LTO) chief Vigor Mendoza II, already the fourth head of the LTO under the Marcos administration, must now answer “serious accusations” of corruption hurled against him.
Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista has ordered Mendoza to “immediately submit his explanation and comments” on allegations raised against him in open letters by the Coalition for Good Governance and several transportation groups.
“The allegations about LTO Asec. Vigor Mendoza – (i) betrayal of public trust, (ii) grave abuse of authority, (iii) loss of trust and confidence, (iv) acts prejudicial to the public, (v) reputational risk against the Philippine government and (vi) corruption, among others – are all serious accusations that demand in-depth investigations and equally serious affirmative action,” Bautista said in a statement on Tuesday, February 6.
The transportation secretary said that the LTO chief’s comment on the allegations will be used “for our proper disposition and appropriate recommendation to the President, if necessary.”
An open letter signed by several groups – including the Federated Land Transport Organization of the Philippines (FELTOP) – urged President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to remove Mendoza for failing to fully transition to the agency’s new IT system, the Land Transportation Management System (LTMS). The groups alleged that this led to motorists continuing to pay the P169 computer for transactions done through LTO’s previous IT system.
Another open letter by the Coalition for Good Governance also called for the President to remove Mendoza. It mentioned the two cases filed by FELTOP against Mendoza through the Office of the Ombudsman, as well as the issue of the computer fees.
Both open letters came out as paid advertisements in national newspapers.
The LTO chief was quick to deny the allegations.
“All the allegations that were raised in the paid advertisements are false and are plain and simple desperate effort to mislead and misinform the public for whatever reasons or personal agenda that they have,” Mendoza said in a separate statement issued just an hour after Bautista’s statement came out.
According to Mendoza, 97% of all vehicle transactions are now processed through the LTMS, adding that “the LTO is now 100% in driver’s license transactions.”
A source from the LTO confirmed to Rappler that the agency still hasn’t migrated some processes from the LTO’s old IT system provided by Stradcom to the LTMS provided by Dermalog. Mendoza also authorized LTO district and extension offices to continue using Stradcom’s system, whose use comes with the controversial P169 computer fee per transaction.
Issues have long plagued the P3.14-billion LTMS project, which was first awarded to Dermalog and its local partners in 2018. The Commission on Audit has repeatedly flagged it for the sluggish implementation, recommending that the LTO “utilize and closely monitor the [LTMS], and ensure the completion of all the necessary functions/processes of the seven core applications based on its timeline to avoid any further delays, and the additional computer IT fees being paid by the general public in using the old IT system.”
The LTO as a whole has also faced turbulent times. Since the Marcos administration began in 2022, four different officials have already sat at the head of the agency. The high turnover and messy transitions has already contributed to the driver’s license shortage that the agency now grapples with.
With Mendoza now being probed, could the LTO soon see a fifth new leader? – Rappler.com
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[New School] When barangays lose their purpose | Marguerite de Leon | 6/2/2024 14:13 | Alyssa Arizabal/Rappler
On the eve of the 2023 barangay elections held last November, my mom wondered: “Ano’ng barangay ba tayo?”
“Molino three,” I said, initially reading out the barangay number in English. “Barangay Molino tres.”
She paused for a few seconds, wondering which parts of upper Bacoor City exactly comprised the barangay we kept writing in forms, before concluding: “Importante pala ’yan, ang laki ng sakop.”
I was always taught in high school Social Studies (Araling Panlipunan) classes that “the barangay is the smallest unit of government.”
In many places around the Philippines, this still rings true.
A barangay is usually a neighborhood with a distinct identity. The barangay captain, who heads the local government unit (LGU) of the same name as the neighborhood, is a local known to many families, and a barangay by itself in one’s address can thus easily identify your lifestyle, livelihood, and socioeconomic class. Said barangays are communities first, local government districts later.
The concept of a local government unit below the municipal level is certainly not unique to the Philippines, and like elsewhere in the world, it can be reused for a different purpose: barangays that serve as statistically or politically convenient government districts first, and communities later.
In old historic cities, such as Manila, Caloocan, and Pasay, a barangay is a small, tight-knit community consisting of a city block or two. This explains the three-digit numerical barangays often featured in noontime shows like Eat Bulaga, and the popular catchphrase “Isama ang buong barangay!” which would not be possible in my part of the metro.
Can you tell me what Barangay 666 in Manila contains? What about Brgy. 420, or Brgy. 123? Those are all real and existing barangays, per Philippine Statistics Authority data.
Further down south, cities like Parañaque, Las Piñas, and Bacoor developed the other way around. Rather than having the meticulous city-wide grid plan and four-digit house numbers Manila had, our cities developed as agricultural and greenfield lands converted into real estate developments, all exiting out into farm-to-market roads converted into city arteries.
With each residential subdivision comes a developer’s urge to slap their brand name for easier marketing, and subsequently a desire to maintain each subdivision’s environment so they can be used as a reference for future buyers of other projects with the same brand.
In these “sub-urban” places, homeowner’s associations (HOAs) are the perfect way to consolidate control in a given area. While government agencies building housing projects usually turn over all roads and utilities to a barangay — either the existing one, or an expressly created LGU for that community — to avoid maintenance costs, said costs can easily be eclipsed with the higher profit margins private developers can charge.
In an older neighborhood, or a government resettlement project, who is expected to maintain the basketball court? The barangay. What about the roads? The barangay fixes the potholes. The streetlights? Barangays are supposed to install them. Night patrol? The barangay tanods will handle it.
All these amenities and services are expected not of barangays, but of HOAs, by subdivision residents. After all, these oft-unaccountable private companies are usually the physically closest government-like organization in the area, and it is their name and logo that is marked onto every gate, every streetlight, and every phase’s basketball court.
So what then, of the barangay the area is under jurisdiction of? At the end of the day, every inch of land in the Greater Manila Area is under some group of barangay politicians who may or may not live walking distance from your home.
No one around me even knows how to pronounce the name of my home barangay properly.
Is the Roman numeral in “Molino Ⅲ” supposed to be read in English, or in Spanish? It depends who you ask.
The official pronunciation, used by politicians in the area as well as local branches of nationwide businesses, uses the Spanish number, “tres.” Along Molino Road, there is a “Molino Tres Proper” branch of the delivery courier LBC. During the BSKE campaign, we were also treated to jingles from loudspeakers of a candidate saying: “ibalik ang sigla at saya sa Barangay Molino Tres!”
But language evolves, and everyone in my subdivision, and every classmate I’ve ever had who lives here, uses English numbers (e.g. “Molino three” and “Molino four”) when asked verbally about their address.
So, it seems the media has adopted the same pronunciation, I remembered from the last time my area went into the news. Gardenia Valley, one of the many townhouse projects built by GSIS for its members in my district, reached national news when its HOA started charging toll fees on vehicles entering its main road, even jeepneys plying a decades-old route going from Molino to Las Piñas.
How did GMA’s 24 Oras report on the area? “Biro ng isang netizen sa GSIS Road sa bahagi ng Gardenia Valley Subdivision, Molino three…”
I needed a certificate of indigency to apply for an internally-funded scholarship at my university. To get from home to my barangay hall, I needed to get on a 20-minute tricycle ride, and another 10-minute jeepney ride, before getting to their complex.
It certainly was not walking distance, and was far from what I would imagine from “the smallest local government unit.”
There is a Barangay Extension Office along my subdivision’s main road, but aside from being unreliable and incomplete in services offered, it still fails the spirit of the barangay’s mandate of having an LGU close to you.
It may seem that the easiest answer to issues of inaccessibility and lack of identity is to chop up the barangay into several parts.
The counterpoint to this could be efficiency. After all, if HOAs already exist and are already mandated to serve their communities, wouldn’t proposed smaller barangays end up as duplicates with split resources?
A split may not also consider the identities of the areas affected. Neighboring Imus City suffered the same problems as Bacoor; farmland was converted into subdivisions that turned rural parts of the town such as Anabu I and II, and Malagasang I and II, into massively populated “superbarangays.”
Today, residents of upper Imus joke about their barangays acting as alphabet soup, with Anabu I chopped into seven alphabetically arranged ones from northwest to southeast: Anabu I-A, Anabu I-B, Anabu I-C, and so on until I-G.
I still believe in the concept of barangays acting as communities first, government districts later. Will Greater Manila Area towns consume suburbia into efficient LGUs, or will they let themselves be consumed by suburbia? – Rappler.com
Luis Imperial studies BS Computer Science at De La Salle University–Dasmariñas. A native of Bacoor, Cavite, he also serves in various student organizations in the university, including the campus radio station 95.9 Green FM, where he is Junior Director for News & Public Affairs.
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Malacañang allots P4M for shirts, jackets to mark OP anniversary | Dwight de Leon | 6/2/2024 13:00 | Graphics from David Castuciano/Rappler; Photos from Shutterstock
The Office of the President (OP) will celebrate its 127th founding anniversary this year, and Malacañang wants to mark the occasion by giving away customized apparel.
Based on available bidding documents, Malacañang has set aside P4.4 million for the project.
The Office of the President allotted a maximum budget of P3,326,660 for the purchase of 2,000 pieces of reversible corporate jackets, and another P1,100,340 for the procurement of 2,000 pieces of anniversary shirts with embroidery.
The notices were first made available in December 2023, and the opening of bids is set on Wednesday, February 7.
Under the country’s procurement processes, companies that tender the lowest calculated bid are the ones that secure the project, which means Malacañang may still be able to purchase the apparel at a price lower than its budget ceiling of P4.4 million.
This is not the first time Malacañang is holding a public bidding for customized apparel to mark the OP’s founding anniversary.
Under the Duterte administration, the OP – marking its 122nd year back in 2019 – also approved a budget of P1.2 million for hoodie jackets.
The latest public bidding for customized apparel comes after the Presidential Communications Office (PCO) held a multi-million-peso concert to launch the Marcos administration’s “Bagong Pilipinas” (literally translated as “New Philippines”) slogan.
Bidding documents showed Malacañang spent at least P16.4 million for the single-day concert.
During that event, Marcos promised that wasteful expenditures in government will not be allowed under his presidency. – Rappler.com
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I am sure President Marcos Jr. or any of his supporters will justify this expense as not being wasteful. With 4,000 pieces of customized shirts and jackets marked Office of the President, these are “walking propaganda” and, at the same time, a printed version of “name dropping” or rather “office name dropping.” I bet ordinary government employees and lowly government officials will be awed by people who visit their offices wearing these corporate jackets and anniversary shirts. It can also facilitate corruption as a signal that the wearer is close to President Marcos Jr.
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[OPINION] Rescuing the education system from the pits | Marguerite de Leon | 6/2/2024 12:02 | Raffy de Guzman/Rappler
Rescuing the education system from the pit into which it has plummeted will doubtless require enabling legislation for curricular reforms, organizational changes, and fresh funds. EDCOM II analysis suggests, however, that the effectiveness of these measures will depend on addressing the persisting problem of misaligned assumptions, objectives, and expectations documented in its report.
The most obvious cases show inconsistency in compliance with the laws or the failure of offices within the same organization to coordinate efforts towards shared objectives. Misalignment occurs at multiple levels of the same institution, but also across independent agencies, among service providers and clients, and between private and public sectors. While it will take more time to distill the essence of the examples in the EDCOM II report, the dots it provides already connect to current concerns.
DepEd, for instance, hopes to get the support of the World Bank to determine “the basis and proper approach for a pay increase” for teachers that would include provisions for higher take-home pay, expanded health coverage, a calamity fund, as well as overload and overtime pay.
A sound suggestion, though hopefully, as recommended, not at the cost of taxpayers. EDCOM II had noted that DepEd’s estimated entry-level hiring cost for statisticians exceeded industry market rates, the kind of miscalculations external vetting would help avoid.
The study should include an analysis of the education market and the comparative performance of service providers. Already, DepEd teachers receive higher pay than their counterparts in the private sector. Is the public getting the expected benefits against actual expenditures, the proverbial bang for their buck? Does DepEd need a monthly entry-level rate of P50,000, the figure floated in media and almost double the current rate, to get effective teachers?
The value of financial incentives to motivate job performance is well-known. But pay increases, especially when distributed across the board to existing personnel, immediately result in a more expensive, not necessarily more effective, staff. If some parochial schools, generally already in distress, provide equal if not better-quality instruction, would it not make sense to transfer to them children out of overburdened public schools, which can then work on improving quality?
Responding to an EDCOM II related concern, DepEd wants to focus on education effectiveness by relieving teachers of non-teaching assignments, such as managing school events or facilities, providing periodic reports to higher authorities, and conducting census or assessment tests. The burden of such obligations and their compensation do not match the prescriptions mandated by the 1966 Magna Carta for Public School Teachers, as EDCOM I already noted in 1994. Additional “ancillary and administrative” duties routinely violate the rules limiting daily teacher working assignment to eight hours, six in the classroom and two for supporting activities.
DepEd’s proposed solution would involve hiring additional people for temporary appointments outside the regular plantilla and paid from the Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses (MOOE) budget. The approach is permitted but problematic. DepEd has identified some 50 extra-curricular obligations imposed on teachers, perhaps not even including all of the activities organized by local government units. Whatever relief the staff will get is likely to be as temporary as the source of funding, a suspicion skeptics within the department have already expressed.
Neither will the measure relieve for long the pressure on DepEd’s budget, the bulk of which supports personnel services. A 2016 World Bank study concluded that “existing levels of school MOOE do not cover the full operating costs of public elementary and high schools.” EDCOM II expects the thrust towards online education to raise the cost of utility bills, already consuming 30-70% of MOOE, leaving little for other learning needs.
The recourse to non-tenured, contractual help for recurring extra-curricular duties funded by MOOE cannot serve as a long-term solution. It is likely instead to feed the natural appetite of bureaucracies to grow. The new recruits become a ready-made lobby group, enlisting populist politicians and paid lawyers to argue that they fulfill necessary services, which entitle them to permanent appointments. As long as the status of regular employees remain secure, they risk little resistance from the established bureaucracy, which gains with growing numbers greater political influence.
Growth can be functional and healthy. But the logic of EDCOM II’s analysis would caution against presuming that the laudable goal of focusing teachers on effective classroom instruction require the expansion of the bureaucracy. A prior step would determine which extra-curricular tasks contribute to DepEd’s mission. Which of the reports filed by teachers are actually read and acted upon and produce meaningful results?
Assessment tests not directly focused on classroom instruction are critical to the collection of comprehensive data for analysis and for maintaining system quality. These often fail because they are poorly planned, inadequately supported, and badly implemented, leading to dubious results made even less useful by delayed completion. Ironically, the sources contributing to failure stem not from lack but from excess of assessment activities of which EDCOM II has enumerated over 30.
A more serious EDCOM II concern, moreover, is the mismatch between the assessment tests conducted and what has emerged as the main problem undermining DepEd’s mission. Evaluation has focused on system assessment, measuring broader educational effectiveness such as might emerge from the comparative performance of organizational units, rather than on tracking the progress of the children in attaining learning competencies. A more deliberate shift to making classroom assessment the priority would also provide a more meaningful evaluation of teaching effectiveness.
The EDCOM II report offers a valuable map for education reform. It deserves diligent study and careful application. – Rappler.com
Edilberto de Jesus is a senior research fellow at the Ateneo School of Government.
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The closing statement of writer Edilberto de Jesus is highly noted: “The EDCOM II report offers a valuable map for education reform. It deserves diligent study and careful application.” But do we expect a Vice-President working also as DepEd Secretary without experience and the necessary educational qualifications to do the “diligent study and careful application” as required? In addition, she is more focused on spying on Communists in DepEd and the often denied rift between the Marcos-Romualdez and Duterte political dynasties. Anyway, the decision to appoint her to such a position came from President Marcos Jr. himself.
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After CNN PH closure, Manny Pangilinan’s TV5 launches RPTV on Channel 9 | gdecastro0289 | 1/2/2024 11:54 | PARTNERSHIP. Manny Pangilinan's TV5 launches RPTV on February 1, 2024 following the closure of CNN Philippines the day prior.
TV5 press release
MANILA, Philippines – Filipino tycoon Manny V. Pangilinan’s TV5 has entered into a partnership with broadcast firm Nine Media Corporation following the closure of CNN Philippines (CNN PH), which used to air on RPN’s free tv Channel 9.
In a press statement, TV5, owned by Pangilinan’s MediaQuest Holdings, announced that it had launched RPTV, the “newest free-to-air channel offering sports, news and entertainment.”
“February 1 marks another historic milestone in Philippine broadcasting as TV5 launches RPTV,” the television channel said.
“The birth of RPTV is aligned with our commitment to elevate the standards of entertainment, sports and public service broadcasting in the Philippines,” said TV5 president and CEO Guido Zaballero.
Under the deal, TV5 is a content provider to Nine Media through the latter’s airtime agreement with RPN, which uses Channel 9 on analog television.
RPTV will now be the new “free-to-air Home of the PBA.” It will air all PBA games live, including its 3×3 league, D-League, as well as “key sports offerings such as the PVL [Premier Volleyball League] and games of Gilas Pilipinas.”
Based on the RPTV’s schedule obtained by Rappler, it will air PBA games, replays or live, from 4 pm to 10 pm, Mondays to Fridays, and from 3:30 pm to 10 pm, Saturdays and Sundays.
RPTV will also air the noon show, EAT…Bulaga, the news and public service morning show of Ted Failon and DJ Chacha, and Senator Raffy Tulfo’s afternoon show, Wanted Sa Radyo.
Here’s RPTV program schedule as of Thursday:
Monday to Friday:
Saturday
Sunday
On analog tv, RPTV is available on Channel 9 in Manila, Cebu, and Davao; Channel 5 in Zamboanga, Channel 12 in Baguio, and Channel 8 in Bacolod.
On pay tv, it is carried by Cignal TV, SatLite, GSat, and 300 cable satellite providers nationwide. It also streams live via Cignal Play’s OTT app. Depending on the area, RPTV may be available on digital set-top boxes Channel 19 and Channel 18.3.
Nine Media, the company behind CNN PH, used to pay RPN, a former government-controlled TV network, at least P8 million monthly in airtime fees. Since opening in 2015, CNN PH had never been able to turn a profit. Its losses had ballooned since opening in 2015, including P107 million in 2022, leading to its closure on Wednesday. CNN Philippines’ website and social media presence were also no longer available on Thursday.
RPTV appears to be Pangilinan’s accommodation of the PBA, after TV5 dropped last year the airing of live PBA games to put more focus on news and entertainment, especially after comedians Tito Sotto, Vic Sotto, and Joey de Leon moved EAT…Bulaga to the Kapatid network starting July 1. The trio had a bitter dispute with TAPE Incorporated’s owner, former congressman and ex-convict Romeo Jalosjos, on how to run Eat Bulaga!
Pangilinan is the Philippines’ biggest sports patron, especially to the Philippine national team, Gilas Pilipinas. He has three teams in the PBA – Meralco Bolts, TNT Tropang Giga, and NLEX Road Warriors.
PBA games used to be carried live on TV5, but it got in the way of ABS-CBN’s popular teleseryes shown on TV5, which affected the Kapatid channel’s prime time ratings.
Since PBA games generally rate well only when Barangay Ginebra plays, it was not bringing in enough advertisting revenues to TV5, which then thought it best to just give it up and look for other free tv platforms for PBA games. TV5 used to be focused on sports and news under former Gilas Pilipinas coach Chot Reyes, but this programming ended up as a big flop and forced the network to shift back to entertainment and news.
In October 2023, TV5 entered into a deal with evangelist Brother Eddie Villanueva’s Zoe Network wherein the latter would air PBA games live on its A2Z channel starting in November 2023 for the PBA Commissioner’s Cup.
Last December 22, TV5 also entered into a deal with Nine Media on airing the PBA Commissioner’s Cup Season 48 and E.A.T.…Bulaga on CNN Philippines’ weekend programmng starting January 6, 2024. This has now been expanded with the launch of RPTV.
RPTV could improve the PBA live games’ and E.A.T.…Bulaga’s ratings, but perhaps only minimally due to RPN Channel 9’s limited reach. Since EAT…Bulaga moved from GMA-7 to TV5 last July, it’s ratings edge over TAPE’s now-renamed noon show on GMA-7, Tahanang Pinakamasaya, and ABS-CBN’s It’s Showtime has not been significant enough to advertisers.
RPTV also signifies the growing content of MVP’s MediaQuest Holdings, which allows TV5 to experiment with programming on free tv. On Thursday, RPTV aired a rerun of BuKo Channel’s gag news show BalitaOneNan starring comedians Alex Calleja as “Seph ‘Patola’ Balimbing,” Jervi Li as “Kaladkaren Dadilat,” Wally Bayola as “Migs ‘Reaksyon Man’ Mamaril” prior to EAT.…Bulaga.
This pre-programming tack may be able to help improve E.A.T…Bulaga’s ratings. BuKo Channel is Cignal TV and APT Entertainment’s comedy channel.
Whether the launch of RPTV will improve TV5’s and Nine Media’s bottomlines remains to be seen given that advertisers continue to put more money on digital platforms than on television. MediaQuest has been trying to make TV5 a profitable venture since acquiring it for P5 billion from ABC Development Corporation in 2009.
Television viewership has plateaued in recent years, even declined, especially after ABS-CBN lost its broadcast franchise in 2020. GMA Network’s GMA-7, with its stronger reach on analog as well as digital tv, now dominates the broadcast industry followed by Pangilinan’s TV5. ABS-CBN, meanwhile, has become a content provider to various platforms, including A2Z, GMA Network, and TV5.
Aside from TV5, Pangilinan’s MediaQuest Holdings’ media interests includes Cignal, Philippine Star, BusinessWorld, Radyo5, One Sports, Sari-Sari Channel, National Broadcasting Corporation, Unitel Straightshooters, and Epik Studios. – Rappler.com
(Editor’s note: Earlier versions of this story reported that the agreement on RPTV was between TV5 and RPN. A MediaQuest/TV5 press release sent to Rappler on February 6 said the agreement is between MediaQuest/TV5 and Nine Media through the latter’s airtime agreement with RPN.)
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Lyceum big Shawn Umali transfers to St. Benilde | delfin.dioquino editor | 5/2/2024 22:49 | BIG MAN. Shawn Umali in action for the Lyceum Pirates in the NCAA Season 99 men's basketball tournament.
NCAA
MANILA, Philippines – The St. Benilde Blazers acquired transferee Shawn Umali, who was leaving Lyceum after three years with the Pirates.
The forward-center emerged as a force in NCAA Season 99, averaging 11 points, 6.1 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 1.6 blocks, and 1 steal through the elimination round and helped the Pirates reach the Final Four as the second seed.
Lyceum, though, lost to eventual champion San Beda despite toting a twice-to-beat advantage.
Umali, who will be eligible to play two more seasons starting NCAA Season 101 in 2025, will try to fill the void in the paint left by former NCAA Most Valuable Player Will Gozum.
The Blazers also lost gunner Migs Oczon, who took his act to the Korean Basketball League.
“Shawn has been one of the best bigs in the NCAA. I know a lot of schools were calling him and very aggressive in recruiting him, but I am glad he chose our school,” College of Saint Benilde head coach Charles Tiu said in a message on Monday, February 5.
“I guess the big factor was wanting the La Salle education.”
The 6-foot-3 Umali was wooed by Emilio Aguinaldo College, his high school alma mater Letran, San Beda, and several UAAP schools, according to a team source.
Umali bid farewell to Lyceum last February 3.
“From the moment I entered LPU, I have been welcomed with open arms and genuine warmth. The support and encouragement from each one of you have made my journey here a memorable one,” Umali wrote on Instagram.
“Being a Pirate has taught me the value of teamwork, perseverance, and resilience. As I reflect on my time at LPU, I am very much grateful for the opportunities, memories, and friendships that have enriched my playing career and my life.” – Rappler.com
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FACT CHECK: Unregistered eye drug does not cure cataracts, macular degeneration | Ailla Dela Cruz | 6/2/2024 10:46 | Claim: The product Double Care Eye Brain claims to cure cataracts and macular degeneration, among other eye illnesses.
Why we fact-checked this: The claim was made in a Facebook video dated January 30, which has 168 shares, 898 comments, and 1,800 reactions as of writing.While not included in the video itself, photos of Filipino cardiologist and online health personality Dr. Willie Ong were used in the post’s comment section and on the Double Care Eye Brain website to imply Ong’s endorsement of the product.
The facts: Double Care Eye Brain does not cure cataracts or macular degeneration. There is no cure for macular degeneration, and surgery is the only way to remove cataracts, according to medical professionals.
Macular degeneration is an age-related eye condition in which a part of the retina called the macula is damaged, affecting central vision. There is no cure, but starting treatments early can “slow the progression of the disease and make symptoms less severe,” according to the Cleveland Clinic. Treatments for macular degeneration include nutritional supplements, medications, photodynamic therapy, and laser therapy.
Meanwhile, only surgery can fully remove cataracts, or the clouding of the lens in the eye, and restore clear vision, according to the Cleveland Clinic, Johns Hopkins University, and the US National Eye Institute (NEI). While surgery is the only effective treatment when loss of eyesight gets in the way of everyday activities, the NEI also said that new glasses or contact lenses, as well as home treatments like using brighter lights, wearing anti-glare sunglasses, and using magnifying lenses, can help manage cataract symptoms in its early stages.
Not FDA registered: Double Care Eye Brain is not on the list of approved food and drug products of the Philippine Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
The misleading post also includes a photo of a supposed certificate from the US FDA. The product, however, is not on the list of US FDA-approved drugs. The certificate also bears dubious details: the lack of an owner operator number, a list of “devices” that are unrelated to eye diseases, and an expiration date of December 31, 2020. The fake document is similar to an error-laden certificate previously used to promote a supposed cure for kidney diseases.
Not advertised by Ong: Rappler has debunked posts that deceptively use the name, photos, and videos of Ong to promote supposed health products. In an email to Rappler, Ong denied endorsing these products and said that the only product he and his wife Lisa endorse is Birch Tree Advance, a nutritional milk for seniors.
Previous false claims: Rappler has fact-checked similar claims about products using Ong in false endorsements:
– Ailla Dela Cruz/Rappler.com
Keep us aware of suspicious Facebook pages, groups, accounts, websites, articles, or photos in your network by contacting us at [email protected]. You may also report dubious claims to #FactsFirstPH tipline by messaging Rappler on Facebook or Newsbreak via Twitter direct message. You may also report through our Viber fact check chatbot. Let us battle disinformation one Fact Check at a time.
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Senators suggest dialogue to settle spat with House lawmakers | Bonz Magsambol | 6/2/2024 8:00 | CHA-CHA HEARING. The Senate on Monday, February 5, starts its hearing on the propose amendments to certain economic provisions of the 1987 Constitution.
Angie de Silva/Rappler
MANILA, Philippines – Senators were disturbed that a House of Representatives resolution expressing “unwavering solidarity and support” for Speaker Martin Romualdez labelled as an “intense assault” the Senate’s opposition to charter change through people’s initiative.
Among those who showed his disdain was Senator Jinggoy Estrada. In his manifestation at the Senate regular session on Monday, February 5, Estrada said: “What I cannot understand is the phrase ‘intense assault’ coming from the Senate. I’ve been a defender of this institution, for more than a decade and I love this institution. But what I cannot accept is that the title of the resolution is ‘intense assault….’ as far as I know, as far as I can remember, if my memory serves me right, there was no direct assault coming from the Senate towards any member of the House of Representatives.”
Estrada was referring to House Resolution 1562, which said in its long-winded title that it not only supported the Speaker, but was also “upholding the integrity and honor of the House of Representatives in the face of the intense assault of the Senate.” The resolution collected 286 signatories as of writing. Lawmakers from the Makabayan bloc abstained from voting, pointing out that the country has more pressing matters to deal with than charter change.
Senate Minority Leader Koko Pimentel was also annoyed by the House resolution. “Nakakalungkot that the House, our co-equal body here (It’s sad that the House, our co-equal body here), accused us of practices which they are doing in the very same accusatory document. Ano ba talaga ang gusto nila? (What do they really want?)” he rhetorically asked.
“The two houses must have dialogue,” Pimentel said. “Ano ba talaga ang gusto nila? Kasi document kapag binasa mo it betrays something eh (What do they want? When you read their document, it betrays something). They want something but they were not able to state it properly or directly.”
Estrada also floated the same suggestion. “Unsolicited advice, para hindi na lumaki ang away ng Senado at Congress… If I may suggest, ‘yung leadership ng Senate at House ay mag usap-usap na. Ano ba talaga gusto ‘nyo mangyare para matapos na ang lahat?“
(Unsolicited advice, so that the rift between the Senate and the Congress will not escalate, if I may suggest, the leadership of both the Senate and House should talk. What do you really want for this to end?)
He also said that the ongoing word war between the two chambers might affect the Philippine economy. “Kasi kapag tumagal ang away ng House of Representatives at Senado ay baka bumagsak ekonomiya natin matakot na ang investors natin.”
(Because if this word war between the House of Representatives and the Senate persists, it might affect our economy. Investors will shy away from us.)
Senate President Migz Zubiri said that he was amenable to a dialogue to end the bickering between the two chambers.
“Bukas naman ang tanggapan namin para makipagusap kay Speaker (Our office is open to talk with the Speaker). For the good of the country, we will do that,” Zubiri said.
The House resolution also took note of last week’s Senate probe into the people’s initiative, seeing it as a move “specifically directed at discrediting” both their institution and its leadership. Romualdez and his cousin Senator Imee Marcos got into a verbal spat last week, following the Senate where Marcos appeared to respond to Romualdez’s calling out senators’ criticisms of the people’s initiative.
During the Senate investigation, the chief of the People’s Initiative for Reform Modernization and Action (PIRMA) named Romualdez as the person who “helped” the Ramos-era charter change group in the signature drive. PIRMA told senators that they were able to get the required 3% in congressional districts with the help of congressmen.
The Senate called for an inquiry into people’s initiative to amend the charter amid allegations of bribery. – Rappler.com
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Angeles mayor orders inspection of water sources as stomach flu cases surge | Joann Manabat - CMS | 6/2/2024 10:15 | INSPECTION. The Angeles City Sanitary Division starts a city-wide water source inspection on Monday, February 5.
Angeles City Information Office
PAMPANGA, Philippines – Angeles Mayor Carmelo Lazatin Jr. ordered a city-wide inspection of water sources after local health officials warned of a sudden rise in gastroenteritis cases in the city.
At least 75 people in Angeles were documented to have fallen ill due to gastroenteritis in just a week’s time, 62% of which were recorded over the weekend.
Alarmed, Lazatin issued Memorandum Circular No. 370-2024, directing the City Health Office (CHO), City General Services Office, and the Business Permit and Licensing Division to organize teams to carry out a city-wide inspection of water sources.
The inspections would include public and private schools, hospitals, canteens, cafeterias, and even city hall.
Lazatin also ordered microbiological and chemical tests on all water suppliers and water refilling stations in the city, and for the CHO to collaborate with the Department of Health (DOH) to proactively prevent an outbreak.
The local government has recorded 75 people, including children, who suffered from gastroenteritis from January 29 to February 5.
Among those who fell ill, 25 were documented at the city government-run Rafael Lazatin Memorial Medical Center (RLMMC), 28 from different private hospitals, and 22 from the rural and barangay health centers since January 29, according to City Information Office head Arnel San Pedro.
San Pedro said those who contracted the virus complained of diarrhea, stomach cramps, nausea or vomiting, and sometimes fever.
Dr. Froilan Canlas, RLMMC officer-in-charge, said the cases surged in just a week’s time, and 47 of the 75 cases were documented over the weekend or from February 3 to 5.
Some patients came from nearby towns such as Porac, and the cities of Mabalacat and San Fernando, he said.
“There was a sudden but slight alarm. However, there is no clustering – meaning, they came from different areas. There is no pattern but there is an unusual increase in the number,” Canlas told Rappler on Monday.
Canlas, however, said only a few people had to be admitted to hospitals.
“Normally, those who are suffering from LBM (loose bowel movement), and vomiting, are children who lack hydration,” he added.
Viral gastroenteritis can be contracted through contact with an infected person or by consuming contaminated food or water. Most affected are infants, older adults, and people with compromised immune systems. Extra precaution on personal hygiene and sanitation is advised, said Canlas.
Meanwhile, Lazatin called on the public to be vigilant and ensure the cleanliness of their water and food sources. – Rappler.com
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Inflation eases, but rice-loving Filipinos still feeling price pressures | Ralf Rivas | 6/2/2024 9:15 | RICE. Dealers display varieties of rice at the Trabajo Market in Sampaloc, Manila, on August 10, 2023.
Rappler
MANILA, Philippines – Prices of goods accelerated at a slower pace for the fourth straight month in January, as food prices continued to stabilize.
But in a rice-loving country like the Philippines, this downtrend is not easily felt as global prices of the staple coupled with weather concerns have pushed up domestic prices.
The Philippine Statistics Authority on Tuesday, February 6, reported that the inflation rate in January eased further to 2.8%, which is well within the government’s target range of 2% to 4%.
The latest figure is lower than the 3.9% posted in December 2023, and the 8.7% recorded in January 2023.
National Statistician Dennis Mapa said in a briefing on Tuesday that the slowdown was driven by food and non-alcoholic beverages (from 5.4% in December 2023 to 3.5% in January 2024); housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels (from 1.5% to 0.7%); and transport (from 0.4% to -0.3%).
While the overall trend shows inflation is tapering off, it’s a different story for rice.
Rice inflation surged to 22.6% in January 2024 from 19.6% in December 2023. This is a 14-year high since the 22.9% recorded in March 2009.
Mapa explained that global rice prices were significantly high in January, compared to the first two quarters of 2023.
Regular milled rice, which is supposed to be the cheapest variety, averaged at P49.65 per kilo, a 25.4% increase from the P39.60 last year.
The average price of well-milled rice saw a 25% jump to P54.91 per kilo from last year’s P43.92.
Meanwhile, the average price of special rice went up by 18.9% to P63.90 per kilo from P53.76.
National Economic and Development Authority Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said the government is closely monitoring rice prices and will provide appropriate policy recommendations to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to ensure stable and affordable prices of commodities.
Balisacan added that they are addressing the impact of El Niño by allowing imports of certain commodities to stabilize supply.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas earlier projected that lower prices of vegetables and sugar would contribute to downward price pressures. But it had said that higher prices of rice, meat, fruits, and fish, along with increased petroleum prices as well as electricity and water rates, could drive up inflation.
On Tuesday, gasoline and diesel prices went up for the fifth straight week. Gasoline increased by P0.75 per liter and diesel by P1.50 per liter. – Rappler.com
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Staying sharp at 36, lethal Lassiter moves to No. 5 in PBA 3-point list | delfin.dioquino editor | 5/2/2024 21:27 | SHARPSHOOTER. Marcio Lassiter in action for the San Miguel Beermen in the 2023-24 PBA Commissioner's Cup.
PBA Images
MANILA, Philippines – Marcio Lassiter further cemented his status as one of the greatest shooters to ever grace the PBA.
Lassiter moved to No. 5 in the all-time three-pointers list after helping San Miguel coast to an emphatic 109-85 win over Magnolia for a 2-0 lead in the Commissioner’s Cup finals on Sunday, February 4.
Knocking down three treys and finishing with 11 points, the 36-year-old gunner hiked his tally to 1,173 three-pointers as he surpassed PBA legend Ronnie Magsanoc, who ended his career with 1,171 triples, for a spot in the top five.
“Truly blessed. This is definitely an honor,” said Lassiter. “I would not be here without my teammates, my coaches – past and present. This is something that the team helped me get to.”
Although already the second-oldest player in the team after 38-year-old Chris Ross, Lassiter has remained just as lethal from beyond the arc.
In 15 games this conference, Lassiter is averaging a league-leading 48.6% from three-point land.
He has been particularly deadly in the playoffs, making 16 of his 29 three-point attempts (55%) in the quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals combined as the Beermen ride on a franchise-record-tying 11-game winning streak.
“Every day is a constant battle to keep on getting better and better,” said Lassiter.
“I’m just blessed to not be as injured and able to play majority of the games for our team. Just sticking to my strengths. The team needs me to stretch the floor out.”
After eclipsing Magsanoc, Lassiter can also leapfrog two-time MVP James Yap, who is fourth in the list with 1,189 triples.
Barangay Ginebra veteran LA Tenorio is not too far ahead as well at No. 3 with 1,211 three-pointers, while retired legends Jimmy Alapag (1,250) and Allan Caidic (1,242) own the No. 1 and 2 spots, respectively.
“I’m always honored if I can be on the same breath as those guys. Just go to continue to keep working hard, never be satisfied,” said Lassiter. – Rappler.com
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Inflation eases, but rice-loving Filipinos still feeling price pressures | Ralf Rivas | 6/2/2024 9:15 | RICE. Dealers display varieties of rice at the Trabajo Market in Sampaloc, Manila, on August 10, 2023.
Rappler
MANILA, Philippines – Prices of goods accelerated at a slower pace for the fourth straight month in January, as food prices continued to stabilize.
But in a rice-loving country like the Philippines, this downtrend is not easily felt as global prices of the staple coupled with weather concerns have pushed up domestic prices.
The Philippine Statistics Authority on Tuesday, February 6, reported that the inflation rate in January eased further to 2.8%, which is well within the government’s target range of 2% to 4%.
The latest figure is lower than the 3.9% posted in December 2023, and the 8.7% recorded in January 2023.
National Statistician Dennis Mapa said in a briefing on Tuesday that the slowdown was driven by food and non-alcoholic beverages (from 5.4% in December 2023 to 3.5% in January 2024); housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels (from 1.5% to 0.7%); and transport (from 0.4% to -0.3%).
While the overall trend shows inflation is tapering off, it’s a different story for rice.
Rice inflation surged to 22.6% in January 2024 from 19.6% in December 2023. This is a 14-year high since the 22.9% recorded in March 2009.
Mapa explained that global rice prices were significantly high in January, compared to the first two quarters of 2023.
Regular milled rice, which is supposed to be the cheapest variety, averaged at P49.65 per kilo, a 25.4% increase from the P39.60 last year.
The average price of well-milled rice saw a 25% jump to P54.91 per kilo from last year’s P43.92.
Meanwhile, the average price of special rice went up by 18.9% to P63.90 per kilo from P53.76.
National Economic and Development Authority Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said the government is closely monitoring rice prices and will provide appropriate policy recommendations to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to ensure stable and affordable prices of commodities.
Balisacan added that they are addressing the impact of El Niño by allowing imports of certain commodities to stabilize supply.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas earlier projected that lower prices of vegetables and sugar would contribute to downward price pressures. But it had said that higher prices of rice, meat, fruits, and fish, along with increased petroleum prices as well as electricity and water rates, could drive up inflation.
On Tuesday, gasoline and diesel prices went up for the fifth straight week. Gasoline increased by P0.75 per liter and diesel by P1.50 per liter. – Rappler.com
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Sultan battles Japanese foe in undercard of Ancajas-Inoue world crown fight | delfin.dioquino editor | 5/2/2024 20:36 | POWER. Jonas Sultan unleashes a hit against Frank Gonzalez.
ZAMBOANGA VALIENTES
MANILA, Philippines – Jonas Sultan resumes his twice-stalled quest for ring glory when he tangles with Japanese prospect Riko Masuda in the undercard of the Jerwin Ancajas-Takuma Inoue title fight on February 24 at the Ryogoku Kokugikan Gym in Tokyo.
After failing in world title cracks against Ancajas in 2018 and Briton Paul Butler in 2022, Sultan is bidding for an impressive victory over Masuda that is likely to earn him another shot at a world title eliminator.
Although Masuda lost his last bout against compatriot Seiya Tsutsumi, the 26-year-old lefty is deemed dangerous as he has knocked out his first three opponents.
Sultan, aware of Masuda’s punching power, is training hard in Los Angeles under coach Marvin Somodio as the bantamweight eight-rounder could be a make-or-break fight for the 32-year-old pride of Tampilisan, Zamboanga del Norte.
In his lone bout in 2023, Sultan beat American Frank Gonzalez by a lopsided unanimous decision and raised his record to 19-6 with 11 knockouts.
“He (Sultan) is already in very good shape,” said Junie Navarro, Sultan’s benefactor and manager. “He’s out to prove that he deserves another [title] chance.”
While in the United States, Sultan is being taken care of by MP (Manny Pacquiao) Promotions president Sean Gibbons and his son, Brendan, who’s listed as Sultan’s promoter.
According to Navarro, Sultan will be arriving in Japan on February 17 to acclimatize to the environment and wrap up his preparations for the Masuda encounter.
Ancajas, now a close friend of Sultan, will be aiming for the World Boxing Association bantamweight belt of Takuma, younger brother of the heralded Naoya Inoue, in the headliner of the card originally slated November 15 but was pushed back after the champion suffered a rib injury in training.
With a 34-3-2 card laced with 23 knockouts, Ancajas – the former International Boxing Federation super flyweight king – is expected to give Inoue (18-1, 4 knockouts) a tough challenge. – Rappler.com
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FACT CHECK: Fake CNN interview of influencer Doc Alvin used in ‘joint pain cure’ ad | Lorenz Pasion | 5/2/2024 14:00 | Claim: Medical content creator Dr. Alvin Francisco, also known as Doc Alvin on social media, endorses MaxiFlex, a product that claims to treat joint problems.
Why we fact-checked this: The claim was sent to Rappler through email for fact-checking. The claim is based on an article supposedly published on the CNN Philippines website on February 2, showing an alleged interview of Francisco conducted by television host Boy Abunda.
The article is titled: “BREAKING NEWS! Professor Alvin Francisco discovered a solution to permanently eliminate joint and back pain in just two weeks!”
Francisco is a radiology resident known for making health-related videos online. As of writing, he has 4 million followers on Facebook, 2.1 million on TikTok, 895,000 on YouTube, and 199,000 on Instagram.
The facts: Francisco had earlier debunked the supposed article in a post on his official Facebook page on October 3, 2023, saying: “Babala: fake news ito. Wala nga akong lunas sa kirot na iniwan ng jowa, sa kirot ng arthritis pa kaya.” (Beware: this is fake news. I have no cure for the pain left by a partner, let alone the pain of arthritis.)
Fake website: The article in question was not published on CNN Philippines’ official website but on healthnation-asia.com. The page merely shows the logo of CNN Philippines to mimic the news site.
Additionally, the authors mentioned in the article are journalists for CNN International. Radina Gigova is a multimedia journalist based in Atlanta, Georgia, while Amarachi Orie is a freelance journalist who writes for CNN International.
Shutdown of CNN Philippines: The fake article, dated February 5, 2024, could not have been published on the CNN Philippines website as the news organization’s website and social media presence were erased following its closure on January 31.
On January 29, CNN Philippines said it would discontinue operations following “significant financial losses sustained over the past years, despite rigorous efforts to adapt and innovate in a rapidly evolving and challenging media landscape.” Since operations began in 2015, the company has accumulated losses exceeding P5 billion. (READ: CNN Philippines and its financial troubles)
Unregistered with FDA: The Food and Drug Administration does not list MaxiFlex among its registered drug or cosmetic products.
Fact-checked: Rappler debunked a similar false claim in December 2023. The misleading post advertised a different unregistered product and used the same website, script, and photographs of Francisco.
Previous fact-checks: Rappler has fact-checked various health-related claims touting the treatment and prevention of ailments like diabetes, hypertension, and cancer. These misleading posts typically include the names or photographs of celebrities and medical professionals:
– Chinie Ann Jocel R. Mendoza/Rappler.comChinie Ann Jocel R. Mendoza is a graduate of Rappler’s fact-checking mentorship program. This fact check was reviewed by a member of Rappler’s research team and a senior editor. Learn more about Rappler’s fact-checking mentorship program here.
Keep us aware of suspicious Facebook pages, groups, accounts, websites, articles, or photos in your network by contacting us at [email protected]. Let us battle disinformation one Fact Check at a time.
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PBA to summon Abueva, Tautuaa to get clearer picture of post-game altercation | delfin.dioquino editor | 5/2/2024 18:48 | SHOT. Magnolia's Calvin Abueva and San Miguel's Mo Tautuaa in action in the 2023-24 PBA Commissioner's Cup.
PBA Images
MANILA, Philippines – The PBA wants to uncover the truth about what really transpired in the post-game spat involving Calvin Abueva, Mo Tautuaa, and their wives on Sunday, February 4, that marred the Commissioner’s Cup finals.
PBA commissioner Willie Marcial on Monday, February 5, said the league will review videos and talk to witnesses who were there when Abueva and Tautuaa’s wife Aida figured in a shouting match at a hallway near the exit of the Mall of Asia Arena.
Marcial added he will also summon Abueva and Tautuaa.
“We’ll look at the videos and talk to people who witnessed the incident,” said Marcial in Filipino. “I’ll meet with my technical group and I need to talk to the two players.”
The altercation happened just moments after San Miguel coasted to a 109-85 win over Magnolia for a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.
Aida said she took offense when she saw Abueva smirk and laugh at her, sparking the argument that saw their respective spouses also get involved.
The heated situation seemed to have been defused when Abueva appeared to have exited the venue, but he returned with his wife Sam to confront the Tautuaas.
Abueva even challenged Tautuaa to a fistfight before cooler heads prevailed.
Game 3 is on Wednesday, February 7, at the Araneta Coliseum. – Rappler.com
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FACT CHECK: Landslides, floods in Davao Region not due to storm | Ailla Dela Cruz | 5/2/2024 15:30 | Claim: A tropical cyclone caused flooding and landslides in the Davao Region in the past week, according to a weather report on Monday, February 5.
Why we fact-checked this: The video containing the claim was posted by a verified YouTube channel named “Weather Update ng Bansa” on February 5. The video has 7,233 views and 269 likes as of writing.
The thumbnail and title of the video bore the claim: “Matinding unos sa Davao Region dulot ng bagyo. Weather news today | February 5, 2024.” (Calamity in the Davao Region caused by a storm. Weather news today | February 5, 2024.)
The facts: Heavy rain due to the trough or extension of a now-dissipated low pressure area (LPA) caused landslides and floods in the Davao Region, according to the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA).
PAGASA monitored the LPA outside the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR) from January 28 to February 2. Its trough brought heavy rain to parts of Mindanao.
According to the February 5 situation report of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC), over 812,000 individuals were affected by the landslides and widespread flooding. At least 16 people died, while 11 were injured and 3 reported missing.
The NDRRMC recorded a total of 222 flooded areas and 42 rain-induced landslides in the Davao Region, Caraga, and the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
Storm-free, so far: No tropical cyclone has formed within or entered PAR so far in 2024. Contrary to the claim in the misleading video, neither a tropical cyclone nor an LPA was being monitored inside or outside PAR as of February 5. Only the easterlies – or warm winds from the Pacific Ocean – and the northeast monsoon or amihan were causing isolated rain.
Outdated report: The misleading video used spliced and edited audio from an outdated PAGASA weather report posted on February 4. This report, however, made no mention of a tropical cyclone or LPA being monitored outside PAR as the earlier LPA dissipated on February 3.
Previous fact checks: Rappler has debunked posts from YouTube channels claiming to report weather updates:
Official news: For official weather updates, refer to PAGASA’s official website, X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, and YouTube accounts. Get updates too via Rappler’s Philippine weather page. – Ailla dela Cruz/Rappler.com
Keep us aware of suspicious Facebook pages, groups, accounts, websites, articles, or photos in your network by contacting us at [email protected]. You may also report dubious claims to #FactsFirstPH tipline by messaging Rappler on Facebook or Newsbreak via Twitter direct message. You may also report through our Viber fact check chatbot. Let us battle disinformation one Fact Check at a time.
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FACT CHECK: GCash ‘advisory’ on removal from app stores is fake | Lorenz Pasion | 5/2/2024 16:32 | Claim: Users of financial services app GCash are advised to cash out their remaining balance before the app is removed from all app stores by February 10.
Why we fact-checked this: The claim was made in a TikTok video by user Zhul14, which has 248,200 followers and 3.9 million likes as of writing. The video, which has since been deleted, gained 75,400 likes, 6,395 comments, 12,700 saves, and 48,500 shares.
The video claimed that the announcement came from the “co-CEO” of GCash. Several Facebook accounts also reposted the same claim, with one such post garnering 147 reactions, 355 comments, and 1,900 shares as of writing. The timing of these posts coincided with the company’s announcement on February 1 that the app was temporarily unavailable for download on the Google Play Store.
The facts: GCash issued an advisory on its official Facebook page on January 31 debunking the claim and assured users that their funds were secure. GCash said its services continue to be accessible and warned the public against false information circulating on social media.
On February 1, the company acknowledged that the GCash app was temporarily unavailable on Google Play Store and said it was “closely working with Google” to update its features. Later that day, GCash said the app was back on the Google Play Store.
To avoid security risks, GCash advised users to download the application only from official sources such as Google Play Store, Apple App Store, and Huawei App Gallery.
Official news: For official updates, visit GCash’s accounts on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), and Instagram. – Chinie Ann Jocel R. Mendoza/Rappler.comChinie Ann Jocel R. Mendoza is a graduate of Rappler’s fact-checking mentorship program. This fact check was reviewed by a member of Rappler’s research team and a senior editor. Learn more about Rappler’s fact-checking mentorship program here.
Keep us aware of suspicious Facebook pages, groups, accounts, websites, articles, or photos in your network by contacting us at [email protected]. Let us battle disinformation one Fact Check at a time.
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Annulment buzz involving Albee Benitez, wife causes ripples in Bacolod | Herbie G | 5/2/2024 18:42 | PRESS BRIEFING: Bacolod City Mayor Albee Benitez conducts a press briefing on January 8, 2024.
Albee Benitez's Facebook page
Bacolod Mayor Alfredo Abelardo “Albee” Benitez found himself entangled in an annulment speculation which is currently causing a stir in the city and in Negros Occidental.
Benitez had previously been the subject of talk regarding his alleged romantic involvement with showbiz celebrities, cited as the root cause of the ongoing controversy in Bacolod.
The controversy could hurt Benitez politically given that he leads a conservative and Catholic-majority city that values religion-based family values.
Mayor Benitez was earlier quoted in an entertainment portal as saying, “We have not been a couple for several years. In fact, we have gotten dissolution in court several years back.”
But responding to the speculations, his wife Dominique “Nikki” Lopez-Benitez said, “We’ve been living under one roof for 31 years.”
The report quickly spread across Bacolod City and Negros Occidental, prompting Nikki to express shock about her husband being romantically linked to actresses.
“The quotes attributed to him (Mayor Benitez) in the media, suggesting romantic links with several actresses, came as a surprise. We have been living under one roof for 31 years, maintaining our family’s unity through all of life’s challenges,” read part of her statement on Sunday, February 4.
Nikki added, “My commitment to handling personal matters with dignity and respect remains unchanged. I am especially focused on shielding our children from pain or anguish brought about by this matter. In light of the recent articles and distressing contents, I wish to clarify that there have been no discussions between my husband and I regarding separation or annulment.”
Their eldest son, Victorias City Mayor Javier Miguel “Javi” Benitez, however, added fuel to the fire with his cryptic post on his Facebook page about the controversy.
Javi, who sits as president of the Association of Chief Executives (ACE) in Negros Occidental, wrote, “We’re as shocked as everyone because this wasn’t spoken about in private, but mom I want you to know that I thank you and love you for all that you have done for our family. We know how much you have sacrificed for me and Bettina. I am eternally grateful.”
Javi’s post was seen by many as a show of sympathy for his mother.
Nikki has played an important role in supporting her husband’s efforts in providing aid to needy residents through her non-profit foundation, Nikki Cares. She has been leading medical and dental outreaches, and the distribution of relief goods in Bacolod during calamities, even when her husband was abroad.
The Bacolod mayor, the titular head of the local political group Love Negros, which has 15 mayors as members, has kept mum about the speculations as of posting time.
A billionaire who was once among the richest congressmen in the country, Mayor Benitez rose to the city’s top post in 2022 with the promise of bringing about change through moral governance. – Rappler.com
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Revelations, old hands: ‘Best 12’ banner Gilas Pilipinas 4-year roadmap | jisaga0269 | 4/2/2024 19:22 | FAMILIAR FACES. Kai Sotto (center) sings the national anthem along with Gilas Pilipinas team mainstays (from right) Jamie Malonzo, Scottie Thompson, and Calvin Oftana.
FIBA
MANILA, Philippines – Following a successful Asian Games campaign that punctuated a roller-coaster four-year basketball cycle, Gilas Pilipinas will look to stir that same magic through its officially appointed head coach Tim Cone and his crew of established local stars.
Hoping to put an end to turbulent buildups for major tournaments, the vision for this version of the national team is to stick through the four-year FIBA cycle, ending with the 2027 World Cup.
The 66-year-old Cone handpicked the team, consisting of PBA and Japan B. League stars, a collegiate superstar, and an aging yet reliable naturalized player. For him, the players he tapped are the best the country could offer.
“I’ve always firmly believed from back in 1998 when I coached the Centennial Team that you’ve got to go out and get the best players in the country to represent us,” said Cone.
“We all have different opinions on who the best players are, but we’re confident we picked the best players who will form the best team.”
Here are Gilas Pilipinas’ magic 12:
Justin Brownlee has made some of the biggest shots in recent local basketball lore.
However, his career came to a screeching halt after testing positive for a banned substance in the Asian Games in October 2023. In that tournament, his herculean performances lifted Gilas to its first continental title in 61 years.
Missing the subsequent PBA Commissioner’s Cup as he served a voluntary suspension, Brownlee returns to the national team as one of Cone’s most trusted soldiers.
Brownlee, with Cone calling the shots, has never lost in any title series, winning six PBA championships with crowd darling Barangay Ginebra. Per league records, he is tied for the most titles by an import in PBA history alongside Alaska legend Sean Chambers.
Brownlee has also led Gilas to the 2023 Southeast Asian Games crown, regaining the regional title the country lost in 2022 via shocker against Indonesia.
The 35-year-old star stepped aside for NBA star Jordan Clarkson’s inclusion in the World Cup team before Cone tapped him in the Asian Games less than a month later.
Playing in the Philippines since 2016, Brownlee became a naturalized Filipino in January 2023.
Another one of Cone’s players, the 30-year-old Scottie Thompson will look to provide stability in the point guard position for Gilas.
Cone picked Thompson in the 2015 PBA Draft, shaping him into one of the league’s best players.
Thompson was named the PBA MVP in 2022, before falling short of his back-to-back bid as he finished third in MVP voting last year, according to the final tally released by the league press corps.
Thompson struggled to find his groove in the World Cup, averaging only 1.8 points, 2.0 rebounds, and 2.2 assists in 12.5 minutes per game, according to the FIBA website.
The University of Perpetual Help product redeemed himself in the Asian Games, where he bumped up his numbers under the tutelage of Cone.
As the only natural point guard on the 12-man list, Thompson’s familiarity with Cone’s system should pay dividends as the FIBA cycle progresses.
Undoubtedly the greatest Filipino player of this generation, June Mar Fajardo will embark on, perhaps, his last ride with the national team.
Fajardo, who will be 37 years old by the time the 2027 World Cup unfolds, remains one of the most dominant players in the PBA.
Fajardo was named the PBA MVP once more in 2023, bagging his seventh plum in eight seasons. No one in history has ever won more than four.
The San Miguel superstar was pivotal in Gilas’ wins against Iran in the Asian Games quarterfinals, China in the semis, and Jordan in the finals.
Fajardo, the most experienced player in the bunch with three World Cup appearances, offers Cone an imposing presence inside through all of his 6-foot-10 frame.
Few players in the world can tower over Kai Sotto.
The 7-foot-3 titan has been a Filipino wunderkind for the longest time. After not hearing his name in the NBA Draft, Sotto took his talents to Australia’s NBL and Japan B. League, where he has been playing for the past two seasons.
Now, Sotto will return to the national squad with a chip on his shoulder following lackluster outings in the World Cup.
Sotto averaged 6 points and 4 rebounds in the World Cup as his minutes plummeted to just 14 per game.
The 21-year-old Sotto also saw action in the 2023 NBA Summer League where he played two games and tallied a combined 6 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 blocks, per league records. It was also there that Sotto sustained a back injury that almost ruled him out of the World Cup.
After fully recovering from the injury, Sotto has been averaging 7.6 points, 3.6 rebounds, and 1.3 blocks for the Yokohama B-Corsairs in the B. League, according to league records.
AJ Edu was a revelation in the World Cup.
The Toyama Grouses import averaged 8.2 points, 8.6 rebounds, and 1.2 blocks in five games with the national team. His rebounding was also the seventh-highest in the tournament, behind some of the world’s best players.
Edu’s brightest highlight came in his debut game, impressing with his defense on perennial NBA All-Star Karl Anthony Towns in the loss to the Dominican Republic.
But the injury bug continues to hound the 24-year-old as he tore his meniscus last November while playing for the Grouses in the Japan B. League.
His injury, however, did not stop Cone from tapping him on his 12-man roster, citing long-term vision. His recovery time was initially for at least three months, per reports.
In his 14 games for Toyama so far, Edu averaged 13 points and 8.8 rebounds.
Perhaps the face of the Gilas program will continue to represent the country for years to come.
Dwight Ramos has become a mainstay for Gilas Pilipinas since his arrival in the Philippines. In fact, he was the lone player to see action in all of the FIBA qualifier windows in the last cycle.
He shone bright in his first World Cup, notching 13.2 points, 5.6 rebounds, 2.4 assists, and 1.6 steals.
Ramos has been playing in Japan since 2021, jumping from Toyama to the Levanga Hokkaido last season.
As of writing, he is averaging a career-high 10.5 points per game, alongside 3.6 rebounds, and 1.2 assists per game.
After being a late call-up for the Asian Games, CJ Perez returns to the national team as one of its offensive spark plugs.
After a standout Asian Games run, Perez has since been neck-and-neck with Ginebra’s Christian Standhardinger for the Best Player of the Conference race in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup so far as his San Miguel Beermen compete in a best-of-7 finals series.
The Lyceum of the Philippines product has been a part of two World Cups.
Chris Newsome was cut from the World Cup team before impressing in the Asian Games where he was instrumental as a defensive ace in the gold medal game.
Newsome limited Jordan’s Rondae Hollis-Jefferson to just 24 points on 29 shots in the gold medal match, displaying his two-way chops for the Cone-mentored Gilas.
Now, the Meralco Bolts star will don the Gilas jersey once more to continue what he started at the tail end of last year.
After getting FIBA clearance to play as a local in 2022, Newsome only got to play in one window of the World Cup qualifiers before being one of the final cuts in the World Cup.
At 33 years old, Newsome remains one of the most athletic players in the country.
Calvin Oftana is entering his basketball prime. The 28-year-old averaged 21.8 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 1.2 assists in the last PBA Commissioners’ Cup for the TNT Tropang Giga.
First called up for Gilas in 2020, Oftana was one of the cuts in the World Cup, before winning gold in the Asian Games.
Oftana had since taken the lead role for the Tropang Giga in the PBA. He shot an impeccable 49% from the field, 41% from three, and 90% from the free throw line in the last conference.
With his leap into the pro league, Oftana should be primed for a bigger role in this iteration of the national team.
After missing the latter part of the World Cup and Gilas’ Asiad conquest, Jamie Malonzo is back with the national team.
Malonzo has been one of Cone’s most reliable weapons in Ginebra. Malonzo recorded 15.3 points and 5.3 rebounds in the past PBA Commissioner’s Cup, where he was a consistent starter for the team.
The former La Salle standout provides more than just numbers, as he was often designated to be the primary defender against imports for length, athleticism, and quickness.
Malonzo, however, sustained a knee injury in the Commissioner’s Cup semifinals but has since been relieved of any major scare after initial fears of any structural damage.
The 27-year-old is expected to recover in time for the first window of FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers.
Kevin Quiambao has been one of the fastest rising stars in local basketball.
Quiambao has recently led Strong Group Athletics to a bridesmaid finish in the 33rd Dubai International Basketball Tournament. He was the top scorer in the team headlined by NBA veteran Dwight Howard, Andray Blatche, and Andre Roberson, norming 18 points per game, per tournament data.
He was named to the All-Tournament team and even received offers to play as a naturalized player for the United Arab Emirates national team.
This came after his stellar UAAP Season 86 run, where he both received the season and finals MVPs after leading the De La Salle Green Archers to the championship.
The 22-year-old returns to the national team after brief stints in the 2022 FIBA Asia Cup and World Cup qualifier windows.
Fondly remembered for his UAAP performances with the University of the Philippines, Carl Tamayo had since brought his winning pedigree overseas.
Tamayo won the 2022-2023 Japan B. League championship with the Ryukyu Golden Kings in his first season as a pro before asking for his release the following season.
He normed 3.9 points, and 2.5 rebounds in 12.5 minutes over 23 games in his second year with the Golden Kings.
Tamayo impressed in his last East Asia Super League game versus the PBA’s Meralco Bolts, going off for 16 points on Philippine soil. Tamayo was also named in the B. League Asia All-Stars in Okinawa.
The former NU high school star made his Gilas debut in 2021 and had been a part of the national squad in numerous tournament windows and the 2022 FIBA Asia Cup. – Rappler.com
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[OPINION] Duterte’s populist rants: Will they work this time? | Glenda Gloria | 5/2/2024 10:26 | David Castuciano/Rappler
In political and military warfare, whoever occupies the high ground enjoys an advantage over his enemies. While former president Rodrigo Duterte may have fired the first shot in a bold declaration of war on President Marcos Jr., he does not enjoy the advantage of terrain. He does not own the high ground.
If this were 2015, Duterte’s profanity-laced attacks against the incumbent president would have earned him outsider credibility, a swaggering anti-elite from Davao who can bring real change.
He promised just that, and more. But the promises were not kept. After a six-year reign, Duterte’s rhetoric is tired and tiresome. The fighting mood borders on caricature, animating only his most rabid believers. The message and the messenger may no longer resonate with the public.
Duterte’s opposition to the President does not emanate from a place of sincerity or deeply-held convictions, with fealty to China perhaps the only exception. It is fueled by conceit and self-preservation. Duterte feels ignored. He has been humiliated. His daughter is being pilloried by a disloyal House. His son the congressman’s pork has been cut. And he does not want to go to jail.
He invokes once again the people’s welfare and frames the current situation through the lens of “us versus them” to gain public sympathy. Duterte’s frayed populist coat is again on display.
During his term, communists, drug lords, and the political opposition were the enemies of the people who needed to be crushed. This time, the enemy is the Marcos administration and the President himself.
Duterte threatens a restoration, with all the malevolence that a return to power implies. But the people do not want a return to the past. They have elected a president in 2022 that, despite his family’s tainted past, represents the opposite of Duterte in many ways. They want to look ahead, not backwards.
Even the critics of President Marcos Jr. concede, some reluctantly, that the advent of a new administration brought a sense of relief, a liberating air. It is a fresh space that Duterte is not comfortable with, yet he exploits it, polluting it in the process, for personal ends.
But when Duterte accuses government of corruption and failing to improve the lives of the people, he is indicting not only past administrations but his own. Blame cannot be laid on the feet of an administration that has been in office for less than two years. On the contrary, Duterte’s six-year tenure is now ripe for reckoning, and his legacy a target of rightful review. It is a reckoning that administration operators seem willing to oblige.
Duterte and his family style themselves as defenders of the Constitution. But as president, Duterte aggressively pushed not only amendments, but a revision of the Constitution; not a makeover, but a complete overhaul of democratic institutions.
He presented federalism as a cure all for chronic poverty, even when his economic managers advised caution. The undertaking, however, masked an intent to extend his grip on power. According to reports, there were draft resolutions in the House that sought to abolish Congress and constitutional commissions, and grant Duterte law-making powers during the transitory period.
If it were not for the pandemic, Duterte, with a pliant Congress, would have engineered the biggest political heist in history.
All the fundamental principles and freedoms enshrined in the Constitution – checks and balances, freedom of expression, civil liberties, the presumption of innocence – came under intense assault during the Duterte administration. And these assaults were carried out either with the implicit approval or direct involvement – the hearings against then-senator Leila de Lima, the anti-terror law, and the revocation of the ABS CBN franchise – of a captive House under the servile leadership of now Senator Alan Peter Cayetano.
The Duterte period was a period when politicians who styled themselves in the past as moralist crusaders served as enablers of intolerance and incivility.
The pandemic also exposed a regime of poor governance, of inefficiency, ineptitude, and lack of compassion. The Duterte-era bureaucracy, infused with clueless appointees, mirrored their principal patron’s management style of quick fixes, with no room for informed decision-making. Favors were dispensed even at the height of the pandemic lockdown, including generous servings of pork barrel such as the P51 billion reportedly given to the former president’s congressman son at a time when government declared it had no money to dispense more ayuda to the poorest of the poor.
To the surprise of many, President Marcos Jr. responded directly to Duterte’s allegation about his supposed drug addiction. It breaks an unwritten rule that the President does not respond directly to critics since his words carry the weight and the dignity of the office. Taking on critics should be the job of underlings.
If Duterte thought he could bully the President, he thought wrong. The President has pushed back and it could signal a take-no-prisoners counter assault. For all his swagger, Duterte got a reality check: it is the President who wields the big stick. – Rappler.com
The author is a former journalist and spokesman for former vice president Jejomar Binay. He is a government and political communications consultant.
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Let us see how far former President Digong will go with his “populist rants.” War has been declared (“… former president Rodrigo Duterte may have fired the first shot in a bold declaration of war on President Marcos Jr.), and let us eagerly watch the ending of this story. It is the most interesting Philippine Political War, which started last year and may end after years and decades.
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Lyceum big Shawn Umali transfers to St. Benilde | delfin.dioquino editor | 5/2/2024 22:49 | BIG MAN. Shawn Umali in action for the Lyceum Pirates in the NCAA Season 99 men's basketball tournament.
NCAA
MANILA, Philippines – The St. Benilde Blazers acquired transferee Shawn Umali, who was leaving Lyceum after three years with the Pirates.
The forward-center emerged as a force in NCAA Season 99, averaging 11 points, 6.1 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 1.6 blocks, and 1 steal through the elimination round and helped the Pirates reach the Final Four as the second seed.
Lyceum, though, lost to eventual champion San Beda despite toting a twice-to-beat advantage.
Umali, who will be eligible to play two more seasons starting NCAA Season 101 in 2025, will try to fill the void in the paint left by former NCAA Most Valuable Player Will Gozum.
The Blazers also lost gunner Migs Oczon, who took his act to the Korean Basketball League.
“Shawn has been one of the best bigs in the NCAA. I know a lot of schools were calling him and very aggressive in recruiting him, but I am glad he chose our school,” College of Saint Benilde head coach Charles Tiu said in a message on Monday, February 5.
“I guess the big factor was wanting the La Salle education.”
The 6-foot-3 Umali was wooed by Emilio Aguinaldo College, his high school alma mater Letran, San Beda, and several UAAP schools, according to a team source.
Umali bid farewell to Lyceum last February 3.
“From the moment I entered LPU, I have been welcomed with open arms and genuine warmth. The support and encouragement from each one of you have made my journey here a memorable one,” Umali wrote on Instagram.
“Being a Pirate has taught me the value of teamwork, perseverance, and resilience. As I reflect on my time at LPU, I am very much grateful for the opportunities, memories, and friendships that have enriched my playing career and my life.” – Rappler.com
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PBA to summon Abueva, Tautuaa to get clearer picture of post-game altercation | delfin.dioquino editor | 5/2/2024 18:48 | SHOT. Magnolia's Calvin Abueva and San Miguel's Mo Tautuaa in action in the 2023-24 PBA Commissioner's Cup.
PBA Images
MANILA, Philippines – The PBA wants to uncover the truth about what really transpired in the post-game spat involving Calvin Abueva, Mo Tautuaa, and their wives on Sunday, February 4, that marred the Commissioner’s Cup finals.
PBA commissioner Willie Marcial on Monday, February 5, said the league will review videos and talk to witnesses who were there when Abueva and Tautuaa’s wife Aida figured in a shouting match at a hallway near the exit of the Mall of Asia Arena.
Marcial added he will also summon Abueva and Tautuaa.
“We’ll look at the videos and talk to people who witnessed the incident,” said Marcial in Filipino. “I’ll meet with my technical group and I need to talk to the two players.”
The altercation happened just moments after San Miguel coasted to a 109-85 win over Magnolia for a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.
Aida said she took offense when she saw Abueva smirk and laugh at her, sparking the argument that saw their respective spouses also get involved.
The heated situation seemed to have been defused when Abueva appeared to have exited the venue, but he returned with his wife Sam to confront the Tautuaas.
Abueva even challenged Tautuaa to a fistfight before cooler heads prevailed.
Game 3 is on Wednesday, February 7, at the Araneta Coliseum. – Rappler.com
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UE coach: Red Warriors did best to keep Rey Remogat | delfin.dioquino editor | 5/2/2024 19:43 | STAR GUARD. Rey Remogat in action for the UE Red Warriors in the UAAP Season 86 men's basketball tournament.
UAAP
MANILA, Philippines – Coach Jack Santiago said University of the East did all it could to retain star playmaker Rey Remogat, the UAAP Season 86 men’s basketball MVP runner-up who transferred to the UP Fighting Maroons in January following two seasons with the Red Warriors.
Santiago claimed UE exerted multiple efforts to appease Remogat’s concerns, but said the school will now “move on” towards the next era of Red Warriors basketball.
“I just want to say that we did everything. For all of his concerns, it’s not like the school or management didn’t do anything. We did everything for him to be happy upon his requests,” Santiago told Rappler.
Santiago, who’s about to enter his fourth season coaching the UE men’s basketball team, didn’t specify what Remogat’s requests were and opted not to comment on whether it had something to do with financial reasons.
Santiago also expressed disappointment that Remogat still opted to leave UE when it was understood – at least from his perspective – that the star player would stay following the conclusion of UAAP Season 86, and also because the ace guard confirmed his desire to remain a Red Warrior in an interview with CNN Philippines.
“We did our best to keep Noy,” Santiago said. “What happened, happened. We just need to move on.”
But Santiago is hopeful that the UAAP board of directors will make moves to limit the recent trend of student-athletes transferring universities in order to level the playing field.
Remogat is the third major standout Santiago has lost following the departure of Gani Stevens and Kyle Paranada, who transferred to UP and UST, respectively, in 2023.
“I hope the UAAP does something with what’s been happening. This is staining the league. It’s not good for the other schools, especially a school like ours that doesn’t have the same capacity as other schools,” Santiago said.
“Hopefully UE, along with other schools, don’t become farm teams. Hopefully the UAAP board can put a stop to this. This is for the benefit of the league. I hope this doesn’t destroy the UAAP.”
Santiago said he empathizes with disappointed fans of the UE community who feel their players were “poached,” but hopes they can find solace in the fact that the school used the best of its abilities to bring Remogat back for Season 87 and beyond.
“The management did our part to help Noy, but at the end of the day, we don’t know what the player’s decision will be,” said Santiago, who’s still confident in his team’s ability to compete in 2024 despite Remogat’s exit.
“Definitely, Noy’s departure is huge. Everyone knows what he’s capable of. But that’s why I told the players they need to step up and for them to do what Remogat did. We have a lot of recruits and I’m not worried for this coming season. We have a lot of new players that will arrive who are going to be eligible to play. Hopefully they improve right away. Our plan this year is to make the Final Four.”
The Red Warriors are looking to end a Final Four drought that dates back to 2009, the last time they also made the UAAP finals.
UE is expected to welcome back Gjerard Wilson, whose first go as a Red Warrior in 2023 was cut short by a shoulder labrum tear. It will be his final season of eligibility in Season 87. In addition to the returning Jack Cruz-Dumont, Santiago also expects the debut of Hunter Cruz-Dumont, who’s currently recovering from a foot injury.
The Red Warriors are also banking on the improvement of foreign student-athlete Precious Momowei – the leader of the Season 86 Rookie of the Year race before his suspension – and John Abate, the son of former PBA All-Star John Arigo who redshirted in 2023.
Santiago also expects still unannounced recruits to join the Red Warriors in the coming months, joining a core that includes the likes of Devin Fikes, Keian Spandonis, MJ Langit, and Ethan Galang.
The Red Warriors finished with 5-9 and 4-10 records under Santiago’s tutelage the last two seasons. He signed a two-year contract extension with management in January 2023. – Rappler.com
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The chilling truth: Why you’re actually more prone to the flu when it’s cold | Saab Lariosa | 5/2/2024 17:33 | It’s natural for us to remember that we’re more likely to get sick when it’s cold, but have you ever wondered why exactly the cold weather seems to invite the flu?
Per the Department of Health, Influenza-like illness (ILI) cases have seen an uptick of up to 45% last October this year compared to 2022, so it’s more important than ever to be on guard against our everyday sniffles that might already be serious flu symptoms.
To make sure you’re ready for the cool season, here are a few things to remember to avoid catching the flu and ILI when it gets cold.
It’s first best to remember that the cold temperature doesn’t cause the flu, but it does help certain viruses to thrive. It’s the cold weather itself that provides an ideal environment for viruses to linger.
More than 200 different viruses can cause the common cold, but the most common virus survives best when it’s dry and cold. Meanwhile, Influenza viruses in particular are also known to be more stable in cold conditions.
As the temperature drops, so can our bodies’ immunity against the flu and ILIs.
Influenza viruses usually attack the upper respiratory tract – particularly the nose, throat, and upper airways. A study published in The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology found that exposure to the cold inhibits our nasal immune response to virus particles, thus making us more susceptible to catching respiratory viral diseases.
Even if the cold weather just makes you want to rest and lie down, remember to strengthen your immune system by staying hydrated, exercising regularly, getting enough sleep, and practicing good hygiene habits.
Now that it’s clear that the cold season can bring about more sickness and symptoms than usual, you might ask yourself…
Distinguishing between the common cold, allergies, and the flu can be a challenge since they share similar symptoms. But a good rule of thumb to remember is that if you already have two or more of the symptoms listed in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s flu symptoms list, it might already be the flu. Here’s a rundown:
The flu and other ILIs can also manifest differently with each person, so it’s best to prevent it as soon as possible with the medicine that can relieve symptoms in a single capsule: Phenylephrine HCI Chlorphenamine Maleate Paracetamol (BIOFLU).
In case you didn’t know, Phenylephrine HCI Chlorphenamine Maleate Paracetamol (BIOFLU) has three key components that offer multi-symptom relief:
During this cold season, it pays to not just be informed, but well-prepared. Clinically formulated to help relieve flu symptoms like colds, fever, headache, sore throat, and cough from post-nasal drip in one go, Phenylephrine HCI Chlorphenamine Maleate Paracetamol (BIOFLU) is here to help you get back on your feet for the rest of the year.
Phenylephrine HCI Chlorphenamine Maleate Paracetamol (BIOFLU) is available at all leading drugstores, convenience stores, and supermarkets, and authorized online resellers nationwide.
If symptoms persist, consult your doctor. – Rappler.com
ASC U0111P012424B
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Butuan evacuates riverbanks residents due to rising floodwaters | Chito de la Vega | 5/2/2024 19:02 | FLOOD. Residents wade through flooded road in Barangay Mahogany in Butuan City on Sunday, February 4.
Erwin M. Mascarinas
BUTUAN, Philippines – Authorities in Butuan City ordered a forced evacuation on Saturday evening, February 3, as the Agusan River reached Water Level Flood Alert 3 or Red Warning, triggered by the rising floodwaters from upstream along Davao de Oro and Agusan del Sur.
The City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (CDRRMO) initially declared a forced evacuation on Saturday, 9 pm, when the rising Agusan River water level was measured at 2.6 meters.
According to the Butuan City Public Information Office, 13 barangays were under forced evacuation, namely Baobaoan, Mandamo, San Vicente, Baan Riverside, Golden Ribbon, Pangabugan, Mahogany, Maon, Buhangin, Agusan Pequeño, Aupagan, Obrero, and Bading.
The information office said the floodwaters affected approximately 947 families, totaling around 4,047 individuals as of Sunday. The displaced residents are now sheltered at city’s the 19 evacuation centers.
Authorities maintained Flood Alert Level 3, for continued forced evacuation until 11 pm, Sunday, as water level increased to 2.9 meters.
“As the water level continuously rises due to the volume of water from the southern part of Mindanao and Butuan City as the catch basin, the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Department strongly imposed forced evacuation on all the barangays situated along the river banks and continuously monitors the status of their area of responsibility,” CDRRMO said in its post.
According to the latest advisory from the Agusan River Basin Flood Forecasting & Warning Center of Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA), rising water levels were still observed at midstream Agusan River along Talacogon, San Luis, Esperanza in Agusan del Sur, and downstream Agusan River along Las Nieves, Agusan del Norte, and Butuan City.
“Flooding is occurring at the midstream and downstream areas of the basin, particularly along riverside areas, and will also likely persist for a few days due to the volume of water discharge from the upstream,” the advisory said.
Noemi Acero, 24, a resident of Baan Riverside, said that the last time they experienced prolonged flooding was in 2014 when Tropical Depression Agaton flooded their area for several days.
“The water began rising last Friday, but it didn’t concern us initially as we thought it would subside by the next day, especially since it wasn’t raining. We’re used to flooding every January-February, but this time it’s different – the water has been rising for four days straight now,” Acero said.
Liza Mazo, Office of Civil Defense Caraga Regional Director, called on the residents to evacuate when advised to do so and not be complacent.
“It is really important to heed the advisories from the local government. If they say evacuate, evacuate immediately while everyone can still do so. We have our local government that responds to help and assist in the evacuation process,” Mazo said. – Rappler.com
Ivy Marie Mangadlao is a community journalist writing for Mindanews and an Aries Rufo Journalism fellow for 2023-2024.
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Why 1987 Constitution framer Hilario Davide Jr. opposes charter change | Bonz Magsambol | 5/2/2024 16:45 | NO VALID REASON. Former Supreme Court chief justice Hilario Davide Jr. says there's no valid reason to amend the Constitution.
Angie de Silva/Rappler
MANILA, Philippines – Former chief justice Hilario Davide Jr. said that amending the economic provisions of the Constitution would create “serious and disturbing problems and consequences.”
Davide, who was a member of the 1986 Constitutional Commission, was the guest resource person on Monday, February 5, at the Senate inquiry into Resolution of Both Houses No. 6 (RBH6) “proposing amendments to certain economic provisions of the 1987 Constitution.”
“I repeat, our problems are not due to the restrictive economic provisions of the constitution. They cannot be solved by removing its restrictive economic provisions, and completely leaving to Congress the future under the clause ‘unless otherwise provided by law,'” Davide said.
RBH6 was filed at the Senate in January to amend economic provisions of the charter which would focus on opening up to foreign investors the ownership of educational institutions, advertising, and public utilities, and by inserting the phrase “unless otherwise provided by law.”
The Constitution limits foreign ownership in industries, 60% Filipino-40% foreign as a general rule, and absolutely no foreign ownership in mass media.
But Davide argued that there are no “valid serious and compelling reasons” to amend the the charter.
“What our country and our people need today are not amendments to or revision of the Constitution but the full implementation of its principles and state policies,” he said.
Several laws and regulations have been passed in recent years that already opened up the Philippine economy to the world without having to amend the Constitution. (READ: How Philippine economy opened up to the world without charter change)
One recent example is the enactment of Republic Act (RA) 11659 or the Public Service Act in March 2022, which distinguishes the difference between a public service and a public utility. Under this law, public utility no longer includes telecommunication, shipping, airline, railway, toll road, and transport network vehicle industries. Because of the PSA, these industries are no longer subjected to the 40% constitutional limit on foreign ownership. Simply put, foreigners can now fully own corporations in these industries.
RBH6 also proposed the same clauses to the provisions on basic educational institutions and the advertising industry, so that there will be an an opportunity to enact laws to lift or ease the cap on the 60-40% foreign restriction on the former, and the 70-30% on the latter.
Davide said that opening the country’s educational institutions to foreigners would make schools vulnerable to foreign control, adding that this would undermine the “noble patriotic and nationalistic virtues.”
Article 14, Section 3 of the Constitution states that “all educational institutions shall include the study of the Constitution as part of the curricula.”
“Can we expect foreigners at the helm or control of the educational system to seriously and healthily obey this state policy on education?” Davide rhetorically asked.
“If, at all, there is a need to amend the constitution, it must be based on the most compelling grounds or reasons,” the retired chief justice said.
Davide said that proposed economic revisions pertaining to agriculture, land ownership and lease are not the culprits or the causes of our massive social economic, political, moral and ethical problems and debacles.
“These were all caused by the failures to fully implement or enforce the constitution, by poor governance and accountability, and open violations of the public trust character of the public office enshrined in Section 1 of Article 11 of the Constitution which provides ‘public office is a public trust,'” he said.
House members have always been eager to amend the charter. All previous attempts fizzled out as their Senate counterparts were not too keen on amending the Constitution, especially through a constituent assembly. – Rappler.com
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Philippines wards off cyber attacks from China-based hackers | Victor Barreiro Jr. | 5/2/2024 15:52 | MANILA, Philippines – Hackers operating in China attempted to break into websites and email systems of the Philippines’ president and government agencies, including one promoting maritime security, but failed, an information and communications ministry official said on Monday, February 5.
The mailboxes of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), the website of National Coast Watch, and the personal website of Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. were among the targets of the unsuccessful hacking operations in January, DICT spokesperson Renato Paraiso told DWPM radio.
“We are not attributing this to any state. But using the internet protocol addresses, we pinpointed it to China,” Paraiso said, adding the hackers were traced to be using the services of Chinese state-owned Unicom.
“We are appealing to the Chinese government to help us prevent further attacks.”
Unicom and China’s embassy in Manila did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The thwarted cyber attacks came at a time of heightened tensions with China, largely over disputed territory in the South China Sea.
The Philippines is currently working on a five-year cybersecurity strategy to beef up its cyber defences to combat attacks and digital crimes. Its military last year announced it would create a cyber command. – Rappler.com
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After ‘intense assault’ from Senate, House stands up for Romualdez | Kaycee | 5/2/2024 19:11 | IN SESSION. In this file photo, the appropriations committee starts 2024 budget deliberations during plenary at the House of Representatives on September 19, 2023.
Rappler
MANILA, Philippines – In the face of yet another “attack,” members of the House of Representatives banded together to show “unwavering solidarity and support” for Speaker Martin Romualdez and the chamber.
House Resolution 1562, which also upholds the institution’s integrity, was filed and adopted on Monday, February 5. While it has garnered 286 signatories as of writing, lawmakers from the Makabayan bloc abstained from voting, pointing out that the country has more pressing matters to deal with than charter change.
The resolution comes after what congressmen viewed as an “intense assault” from their counterparts in the Senate amid discussions of the people’s initiative for charter amendments.
“The confrontational tactics used by the Senate are detrimental to the spirit of cooperative governance and the public’s confidence in [the] parliamentary process,” House Resolution 1562 read.
The public petition has been marred by allegations of bribery and even misuse of public funds, with the upper chamber pointing fingers at members of the House of Representatives – even the House Speaker himself – as being the orchestrators.
The House of Representatives adopts HR1562, expressing "unwavering solidarity and support" for House Speaker Martin Romualdez, and upholds the House of Representatives' "integrity and honor," on Monday, February 5. pic.twitter.com/5mBYWSFV8W
“The unfounded allegations hounded by some members of the Senate of some issues surrounding the people’s initiative are [a] direct violation of interparliamentary courtesy and undermine the independence and integrity of the House of Representatives,” said House Deputy Speaker Aurelio “Dong” Gonzales, who also represents the 3rd District of Pampanga.
The resolution also took note of last week’s Senate probe into the people’s initiative, seeing it as a move “specifically directed at discrediting” both the institution and its leadership. Romualdez and his cousin Senator Imee Marcos got into an indirect verbal spat last week, following the probe after Marcos indirectly responded to Romualdez’s calling out senators’ criticisms of the people’s initiative.
During the Senate investigation, the chief of the People’s Initiative for Reform Modernization and Action (PIRMA) named Romualdez as the person who “helped” the Ramos-era charter change group in the signature drive. PIRMA told senators that they were able to get the required 3% in congressional districts with the help of congressmen.
Romualdez, while admitting to having met with and hosting PIRMA representatives at his townhouse, said the meeting was done in the spirit of open dialogue and trying to understand the initiative itself.
He also denied any participation of lawmakers in collecting signatures for the petition. (RELATED: Davao witnesses link PBA party-list workers to ‘deceptive’ Cha-Cha initiative)
TGP Partylist representative Jose “Bong” Teves Jr., who also sits as deputy majority leader, reminded senators on Monday that lawmakers from both houses of Congress are equals. But in the same breath, he also reminded senators that it is congressmen who help them win a seat in the upper chamber.
“Gusto ko din po paalalahanan ang ating mga kaibigang senador na kayo ay lumalapit din sa mga district at partylist congressmen para humingi ng tulong tuwing kayo ay tumatakbo bilang senador,” Teves said in his manifesto.
(I also just want to remind our senator friends that they also reach out to district and partylist congressmen to ask for help whenever they run for senator.)
The squabble between both houses of Congress started when senators released a manifesto to the public rejecting the House of Representatives’ push for charter change. It is always the lower chamber that is more enthusiastic about amending the Constitution, with hundreds of proposals for charter change filed through the years.
Despite being against the fresh push, the Senate has already conducted the first hearing for Resolution of Both Houses No. 6 that proposes to further open up some sectors of the country’s economy to foreign investors. – Rappler.com
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That statement of TGP Partylist representative Jose “Bong” Teves Jr. reminded senators that it is congressmen who help them win seats in the upper chamber. It is an appeal to their “utang na loob.” In other words, it means that Senators should agree with the move of the HOR because without the latter – they would not have become senators themselves. Even if this is true, senators should not give in to a demand that will only destroy themselves, too. This is the limit of “utang na loob.” Beyond that limit lies the domain of Uncontrolled Political Greed.
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‘Toxic positivity’ is out: Welcome to the new world of indulgent pettiness | Marguerite de Leon | 5/2/2024 14:52 | Call them pet peeves, call them petty grievances, one thing is certain – complaining about everyday irritations feels cathartic. It’s also the premise of American comedy podcast I’ve Had It.
Hosts Jennifer Welch and Angie “Pumps” Sullivan state, tongue in cheek, that their goal is to compartmentalize complaining and be nicer in their day-to-day life. Their complaints range from pedestrian (cordless vacuums, people who clap when a plane lands, long Instagram captions) to political (the state of the education system). Eyebrow-raising complaints include, simply, “pregnant people.”
Since launching in late 2022, I’ve Had It has topped Apple’s podcast charts, become viral on both TikTok and X several times, and has led the hosts to guest-star on programs such as The Today Show. This podcast’s popularity across platforms signals a cultural shift from “toxic positivity” to indulgent pettiness – but a shift away from positivity into fully embracing complaints is not without risk.
As community-minded creatures who want deeply to belong we often mirror others, including on social media, where we adopt phrasing, tone, and expressions of emotion.
In the past few years, social media has had a focus on hyper-positivity (think cheery emojis and motivational quotes plastered over sunsets). Some put this “good vibes only” trend down to the pandemic and a desire to avoid painful feelings when ruminating on difficult realities.
However, attempting to convey constant happiness is not only difficult but impossible. Research suggests prescriptive positivity can make us react poorly to unfavorable emotions and is a “goal that backfires” when people view themselves as a failure for feeling unhappy, struggle to handle their feelings, or actively avoid processing them.
But now toxic positivity has been named and shamed, people are searching for more emotionally nuanced media.
The I’ve Had It hosts are in a new wave of content creators we can consider “emotional influencers,” in this case contributing to a new media landscape where complaining is not only embraced but encouraged.
By putting our “retaliation” against negative experiences into words, we experience pleasurable emotions. Complaining can feel cathartic, reduce stress, and (like gossiping) help us feel closer to others.
This community aspect of complaining suits podcasting, which fosters intimacy through sharing deeply personal stories “directly into our ear” and “chosen just for you.”
Listening to hosts who feel like our friends, who are friends themselves, having a chat and sharing laughter can make us feel socially fulfilled in a similar way to a video chat or virtual message with a real-life friend.
In I’ve Had It, the hosts and their guests share personal complaints and unfiltered stories in a curated approach for bond-forming. We know, for example, that Jennifer’s husband Josh (a regular guest) has struggled with addiction and that Jennifer has “had it” with family week at his rehab center. We also know Pumps once tried to relieve constipation with a teaspoon.
Executive producer Kiley has become a regular feature, laughing at the hosts’ antics and acting as an audience surrogate. Fans are involved in the show via voice messages, reviews, and as guests themselves.
These elements combine to provide a sense there is potential to become “real life” friends with Jennifer and Pumps: the promotional tagline for their live shows is “make your parasocial friendship real.”
While complaining brings people together, it can also push us apart through ostracization or rejection. Although the goal of I’ve Had It is to compartmentalize pettiness, this may be easier for the hosts than the listeners.
Jennifer and Pumps are two undeniably affluent, well-connected women who have leveraged their privilege to build a platform about complaining. They also amp-up their on-air personas, with Jennifer admitting, “I’m not as cold-hearted as I play on the podcast.”
Just like prescriptive positivity can become “toxic” when it comes at the expense of other emotions, an overemphasis on grievances can breed negativity, or lead to passive-aggressive and indirect communication styles.
Indulging in excessive pettiness can also make us less likeable, alienate our loved ones, and worsen our mental health.
Some commenters are critical of Jennifer and Pumps’ promotion of negativity. The hosts see this as fodder. They read critical reviews, double-down on complaints, and laugh together, cleverly disarming the criticism.
Jennifer and Pumps are even more eager to mock those who take issue with their political views. In response to a reviewer accusation that they’re “both a couple of leftist idiots” the pair laugh. Jennifer states, “I could not agree more […] I say thank you, we are leftist, we are idiots.”
Ultimately, I’ve Had It concedes there is a kind of “idiocy” to pettiness, but there is joy and charm too.
Research suggests happy people can be complainers, as long as they have a good grasp of mindfulness and know when to stop.
If you, admittedly like me, enjoy a good bout of complaining now and again, but want to keep your emotions balanced and your relationships intact, there are a few things the experts recommend. It is important to differentiate when you need to enact “expressive complaining” to blow off steam or when you should complain “instrumentally” with a goal in mind. Talk about how something makes you feel, so others can empathize with you. And ask your loved ones’ permission to complain before revving up a rant.
What about those who aren’t keen on complaining at all? Well, as far as the hosts and fans of I’ve Had It are concerned, you need not tune in. And, if you do decide to leave a comment decrying their pettiness, be warned it will make for some great content in the next episode. – The Conversation|Rappler.com
Marina Deller is a Casual Academic, Flinders University.
This piece was originally published in The Conversation.
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Mindanao leaders, local executives thumb down Duterte’s independence call | Herbie G | 5/2/2024 16:11 | DISCOURSE. Former president Rodrigo Duterte addreses the crowd during the 'Prayer Rally' against charter change, along San Pedro Street in Davao City on January 28, 2024.
Screenshot from Rody Duterte Fac
CAGAYAN DE ORO, Philippines – Officials from Mindanao cold-shouldered former President Rodrigo Duterte’s call to revive a movement for Mindanao independence even as organized governors and mayors conveyed their dismay over the squabbling between the Marcoses and the Dutertes, warning of its potential to fragment the nation.
“It won’t prosper. Don’t Mindanaonons feel that they are Filipinos?” said Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III of Duterte’s announcement of a revived movement for Mindanao independence on Friday, February 2.
Pimentel, who hails from Cagayan de Oro, served as the first Senate president during the Duterte administration. He later lost the top Senate post and clashed with the former president’s supporters who snatched the leadership of the then-administration Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) from him. The party was founded by his father, the late Cagayan de Oro mayor and senator Aquilino “Nene” Pimentel Jr.
On January 30, Duterte told a news conference in Davao that he had asked former House Speaker and Davao del Norte Representative Pantaleon Alvarez to lead the movement because he was among the first to circulate papers “about the desirability of Mindanao seceding from the Republic of the Philippines.”
Earlier that same day, Alvarez told Cagayan de Oro-based broadcaster Magnum Radio that his group drew inspiration from the late Reuben Canoy, who was among the first to advocate Mindanao independence.
Canoy, a former Cagayan de Oro mayor, had subsequently mellowed down on his advocacy and became a member of Duterte’s 25-member Consultative Committee (ConCom) that drafted proposed changes to the 1987 Constitution. However, Duterte did not act on the committee’s recommendations.
Duterte’s announcement came just two days after he lambasted his successor’s administration, including First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos and Speaker Martin Romualdez, for allegedly being behind the so-called people’s initiative to amend the Constitution. He said it was meant to perpetuate the Marcos family in power.
Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) Chief Minister Ahod “Al Haj Murad” Ebrahim told reporters in Cotabato City that he saw Duterte’s move to revive calls for Mindanao independence as the former president’s way of flexing his “political” muscle.
“I think it’s more political…. [He’s] trying to use it for his political [agenda],” Ebrahim said.
But Ebrahim also cautioned against the so-called people’s initiative to amend the 1987 Constitution even as he raised questions about the timing of the campaign.
He said, “It can be used for political [purposes].”
Ebrahim is the chairman of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), a former rebel group that had fought for greater autonomy for a predominantly Muslim region in Mindanao. It abandoned its call for the region’s independence and later agreed on a political settlement with the government in 2012, a move which led to the creation of the BARMM.
The League of Provinces of the Philippines (LPP), an organization composed of governors, rejected renewed calls for Mindanao independence.
In a February 2 statement entitled, “We are all Filipinos,” LPP members, particularly governors from Mindanao, said they do not support Duterte’s call for Mindanao to secede.
The LPP, incidentally, is headed by South Cotabato Governor Reynaldo Tamayo Jr., a Mindanao-based provincial chief executive.
“While the proposal promotes self-determination by its people to chart their future, it is myopic and parochial in [a] world that is becoming open and borderless. It destroys the integrity of the territory of the nation… It promotes the division of a nation seeking to be united in diversity and distinctions. It is motivated by politics rather than a genuine regard for autonomy and decentralization,” read part of the LPP statement.
The organization said it also “rejects attempts to split the nation into small states and governments that only hinder national progress and development.”
It added, “At this juncture, or any time in the future, we need a nation that is united and undivided…. We may be different, but we are all Filipinos.”
The LPP released the statement on Friday, which marked the 37th anniversary of the ratification of the 1987 Constitution.
On the same day, a coalition of local chief executives advocating good governance also expressed concern over what it saw as escalating political divisions that threatened to fragment the nation.
The group, Mayors for Good Governance (M4GG), said it noted that public discussions surrounding constitutional matters have taken a turn, and contributed to squabbling between two political factions, obviously referring to the bickering groups of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Duterte.
The mayors’ group said the intense political discord only added to the problems that the country faces such as the high prices of goods, insufficient workers’ wages, and rampant corruption.
It appealed to the warring groups, “Sa ating mga kapwa lingkod-bayan: unahin natin ang kapakanan ng mamamayang Pilipino at huwag na tayo dumagdag sa mga problema nila.”
(To our fellow public servants: let us prioritize the welfare of the Filipino people and refrain from adding to their problems.)
The M4GG represents 159 local chief executives and is led by Baguio Mayor Benjamin Magalong, Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte, Pasig Mayor Vico Sotto, Dumaguete Mayor Felipe Remollo, Marikina Mayor Marcy Teodoro, Isabela City Mayor Sitti Hataman, and Mayor Rommel Arnado of Kauswagan, Lanao del Norte.
Meanwhile, the chairman of the House committee on constitutional amendments, Cagayan de Oro 2nd District Representative Rufus Rodriguez, cautioned against the revived call for Mindanao independence.
“President Duterte’s proposal for Mindanao independence has to be reviewed carefully. We have to know the reasons why [there is a call for] independence now and the procedure to get there. This idea of secession is stoking the fire against the administration of President Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr., who is just one and a half years in office. We should give a chance to the new President to implement programs for Mindanao,” Rodriguez told Rappler on Friday.
Rodriguez said any movement for Mindanao’s independence will not gain traction if the government gives the country’s second-largest island a bigger budget for its development.
He said seven of the 10 poorest provinces in the country are in Mindanao, which was given only 16% of the 2024 national budget.
“Mindanao produces 22% of the national wealth. Why only 16%?” said Rodriguez, adding that inequality was “the reason behind why the idea of secession is being entertained.”
Rodriguez, however, told Rappler that Mindanao did not receive a bigger share of the national budget during the six-year Duterte administration.
“Not so much also during President Digong’s (Duterte’s) time,” Rodriguez said. – Rappler.com
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FACT CHECK: Landslides, floods in Davao Region not due to storm | Ailla Dela Cruz | 5/2/2024 15:30 | Claim: A tropical cyclone caused flooding and landslides in the Davao Region in the past week, according to a weather report on Monday, February 5.
Why we fact-checked this: The video containing the claim was posted by a verified YouTube channel named “Weather Update ng Bansa” on February 5. The video has 7,233 views and 269 likes as of writing.
The thumbnail and title of the video bore the claim: “Matinding unos sa Davao Region dulot ng bagyo. Weather news today | February 5, 2024.” (Calamity in the Davao Region caused by a storm. Weather news today | February 5, 2024.)
The facts: Heavy rain due to the trough or extension of a now-dissipated low pressure area (LPA) caused landslides and floods in the Davao Region, according to the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA).
PAGASA monitored the LPA outside the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR) from January 28 to February 2. Its trough brought heavy rain to parts of Mindanao.
According to the February 5 situation report of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC), over 812,000 individuals were affected by the landslides and widespread flooding. At least 16 people died, while 11 were injured and 3 reported missing.
The NDRRMC recorded a total of 222 flooded areas and 42 rain-induced landslides in the Davao Region, Caraga, and the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
Storm-free, so far: No tropical cyclone has formed within or entered PAR so far in 2024. Contrary to the claim in the misleading video, neither a tropical cyclone nor an LPA was being monitored inside or outside PAR as of February 5. Only the easterlies – or warm winds from the Pacific Ocean – and the northeast monsoon or amihan were causing isolated rain.
Outdated report: The misleading video used spliced and edited audio from an outdated PAGASA weather report posted on February 4. This report, however, made no mention of a tropical cyclone or LPA being monitored outside PAR as the earlier LPA dissipated on February 3.
Previous fact checks: Rappler has debunked posts from YouTube channels claiming to report weather updates:
Official news: For official weather updates, refer to PAGASA’s official website, X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, and YouTube accounts. Get updates too via Rappler’s Philippine weather page. – Ailla dela Cruz/Rappler.com
Keep us aware of suspicious Facebook pages, groups, accounts, websites, articles, or photos in your network by contacting us at [email protected]. You may also report dubious claims to #FactsFirstPH tipline by messaging Rappler on Facebook or Newsbreak via Twitter direct message. You may also report through our Viber fact check chatbot. Let us battle disinformation one Fact Check at a time.
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GAME SCHEDULE: 2023-24 PBA Commissioner’s Cup finals | delfin.dioquino editor | 1/2/2024 15:28 | PBA Images
MANILA, Philippines – Magnolia and San Miguel are the top two seeds for a reason.
The Hotshots and the Beermen duke it out for the PBA Commissioner’s Cup crown as they renew their rivalry over four years since their last championship showdown.
Determined to avenge its losses to San Miguel in the 2018 and 2019 Philippine Cup finals, Magnolia gets a crack at ending a five-year title drought.
The Hotshots last won a championship in the 2018 Governors’ Cup before finding themselves on the losing end in their two previous finals appearances.
Meanwhile, San Miguel eyes a PBA record-extending 29th title and its second in four conferences after ruling the Philippine Cup last season.
Here is the schedule of the games:
GAME 1: San Miguel wins, 103-95
GAME 2: San Miguel wins, 109-85
GAME 3: Magnolia wins, 88-80
GAME 4: Magnolia wins, 96-85
GAME 5: San Miguel wins, 108-98
GAME 6: San Miguel wins, 104-102
– Rappler.com
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[OPINION] Duterte’s populist rants: Will they work this time? | Glenda Gloria | 5/2/2024 10:26 | David Castuciano/Rappler
In political and military warfare, whoever occupies the high ground enjoys an advantage over his enemies. While former president Rodrigo Duterte may have fired the first shot in a bold declaration of war on President Marcos Jr., he does not enjoy the advantage of terrain. He does not own the high ground.
If this were 2015, Duterte’s profanity-laced attacks against the incumbent president would have earned him outsider credibility, a swaggering anti-elite from Davao who can bring real change.
He promised just that, and more. But the promises were not kept. After a six-year reign, Duterte’s rhetoric is tired and tiresome. The fighting mood borders on caricature, animating only his most rabid believers. The message and the messenger may no longer resonate with the public.
Duterte’s opposition to the President does not emanate from a place of sincerity or deeply-held convictions, with fealty to China perhaps the only exception. It is fueled by conceit and self-preservation. Duterte feels ignored. He has been humiliated. His daughter is being pilloried by a disloyal House. His son the congressman’s pork has been cut. And he does not want to go to jail.
He invokes once again the people’s welfare and frames the current situation through the lens of “us versus them” to gain public sympathy. Duterte’s frayed populist coat is again on display.
During his term, communists, drug lords, and the political opposition were the enemies of the people who needed to be crushed. This time, the enemy is the Marcos administration and the President himself.
Duterte threatens a restoration, with all the malevolence that a return to power implies. But the people do not want a return to the past. They have elected a president in 2022 that, despite his family’s tainted past, represents the opposite of Duterte in many ways. They want to look ahead, not backwards.
Even the critics of President Marcos Jr. concede, some reluctantly, that the advent of a new administration brought a sense of relief, a liberating air. It is a fresh space that Duterte is not comfortable with, yet he exploits it, polluting it in the process, for personal ends.
But when Duterte accuses government of corruption and failing to improve the lives of the people, he is indicting not only past administrations but his own. Blame cannot be laid on the feet of an administration that has been in office for less than two years. On the contrary, Duterte’s six-year tenure is now ripe for reckoning, and his legacy a target of rightful review. It is a reckoning that administration operators seem willing to oblige.
Duterte and his family style themselves as defenders of the Constitution. But as president, Duterte aggressively pushed not only amendments, but a revision of the Constitution; not a makeover, but a complete overhaul of democratic institutions.
He presented federalism as a cure all for chronic poverty, even when his economic managers advised caution. The undertaking, however, masked an intent to extend his grip on power. According to reports, there were draft resolutions in the House that sought to abolish Congress and constitutional commissions, and grant Duterte law-making powers during the transitory period.
If it were not for the pandemic, Duterte, with a pliant Congress, would have engineered the biggest political heist in history.
All the fundamental principles and freedoms enshrined in the Constitution – checks and balances, freedom of expression, civil liberties, the presumption of innocence – came under intense assault during the Duterte administration. And these assaults were carried out either with the implicit approval or direct involvement – the hearings against then-senator Leila de Lima, the anti-terror law, and the revocation of the ABS CBN franchise – of a captive House under the servile leadership of now Senator Alan Peter Cayetano.
The Duterte period was a period when politicians who styled themselves in the past as moralist crusaders served as enablers of intolerance and incivility.
The pandemic also exposed a regime of poor governance, of inefficiency, ineptitude, and lack of compassion. The Duterte-era bureaucracy, infused with clueless appointees, mirrored their principal patron’s management style of quick fixes, with no room for informed decision-making. Favors were dispensed even at the height of the pandemic lockdown, including generous servings of pork barrel such as the P51 billion reportedly given to the former president’s congressman son at a time when government declared it had no money to dispense more ayuda to the poorest of the poor.
To the surprise of many, President Marcos Jr. responded directly to Duterte’s allegation about his supposed drug addiction. It breaks an unwritten rule that the President does not respond directly to critics since his words carry the weight and the dignity of the office. Taking on critics should be the job of underlings.
If Duterte thought he could bully the President, he thought wrong. The President has pushed back and it could signal a take-no-prisoners counter assault. For all his swagger, Duterte got a reality check: it is the President who wields the big stick. – Rappler.com
The author is a former journalist and spokesman for former vice president Jejomar Binay. He is a government and political communications consultant.
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Let us see how far former President Digong will go with his “populist rants.” War has been declared (“… former president Rodrigo Duterte may have fired the first shot in a bold declaration of war on President Marcos Jr.), and let us eagerly watch the ending of this story. It is the most interesting Philippine Political War, which started last year and may end after years and decades.
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Non-regular employees to be entitled to service charge – DOLE | Michelle Abad | 5/2/2024 14:17 | Shutterstock
MANILA, Philippines – Non-regular employees will soon be entitled to receive the service charge paid by customers, according to new rules from the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).
Under Department Order (DO) No. 242, series of 2024, revising the implementing rules and regulations of Article 96 of the Philippine Labor Code, regular and non-regular workers will be able to collect service charge, or the amount added to customers’ bills for service rendered.
In the section defining covered employees, DOLE deleted the phrase “under the direct employ of covered establishments,” which was in the superseded old rules, DO No. 206, series of 2019.
All employees are now covered, except managerial employees. Managerial employees, or those who have power to implement and execute policies or handle workers’ employment, are still not entitled to service charge, like in the old rules.
Examples of workers who are not directly employed by establishments include contractual, non-regular, or agency workers.
The rules apply to all establishments that collect service charge. These include hotels, restaurants, and other similar establishments like lodging houses, nightclubs, cocktail lounges, massage clinics, gambling houses, and sports clubs. Private subsidiaries of the government are included as well.
The order requires that covered establishments distribute service charge “completely and equally, based on actual hours or days of work or service rendered, among the covered employees.”
Covered employees should be receiving service charge not less than once every two weeks, or twice a month, at intervals not exceeding 16 days.
Labor Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma signed the order on Thursday, February 1. The order takes effect 15 days after publication in at least two newspapers.
Labor group Federation of Free Workers (FFW) on Saturday, February 3, welcomed the new rules.
Some of the behind-the-scenes work that led to Laguesma’s approval of the rules included a resolution from the National Anti-Poverty Commission-Formal Labor and Migrant Workers Sectoral Council recommending the revision.
“This change is a critical step in recognizing and rewarding the efforts of those workers, though not directly hired by the principal employees, who contribute to the service experience of clients or customers,” said FFW.
FFW urged all service sector employers to comply with the new rules, and to collaborate with unions and their employees to ensure a smooth transition to the “more equitable system.” – Rappler.com
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House on ‘heightened alert’ after congressmen receive bomb threats, says secretary-general | Kaycee | 5/2/2024 13:37 | HEIGHTENED SECURITY. K9 personnel inspect vehicles entering the premises of the House of Representatives as ecurity measures were tightened due to a bomb threat, on February 5, 2024.
Rappler
MANILA, Philippines – Security at the Batasang Pambansa Complex is on “heightened alert” after “some members” of the House of Representatives allegedly received bomb threats.
Speaking to reporters on Monday, February 5, House Secretary-General Reginald Velasco said they are implementing security measures applied whenever there’s a presidential State of the Nation Address (SONA) due to the ongoing threat.
Velasco did not name House members who supposedly received messages regarding an alleged bombing planned against the institution, but he said House Speaker Martin Romualdez was not among those threatened.
While this is part of “the hazard of [the] job,” as Velasco put it, the chamber started being more strict with the entry of unknown vehicles on Monday.
A memo addressed to House members, their staff, and employees of the lower chamber would be issued regarding rules for outsiders who will be entering the complex, and stricter measures for motorcycles.
“It may affect their work, for instance – we will not allow motorcycles to be parked in front of any buildings and there will be roving security men 24/7 around the premises,” Velasco said, explaining that they had monitored motorcycles “going around.”
This means that for deliveries, representatives of the offices would have to pick up the items at a designated area.
“There won’t be additional protection, it’s just very strict on those entering the premises,” Velasco said. – Rappler.com
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Is this not a “bomb me” plot similar to then-Defense Secretary Enrile’s “ambush me” scheme, a prelude to then-President Marcos Sr.’s declaration of Martial Law? If the People’s Initiative fails, will this be its alternative?
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Revelations, old hands: ‘Best 12’ banner Gilas Pilipinas 4-year roadmap | jisaga0269 | 4/2/2024 19:22 | FAMILIAR FACES. Kai Sotto (center) sings the national anthem along with Gilas Pilipinas team mainstays (from right) Jamie Malonzo, Scottie Thompson, and Calvin Oftana.
FIBA
MANILA, Philippines – Following a successful Asian Games campaign that punctuated a roller-coaster four-year basketball cycle, Gilas Pilipinas will look to stir that same magic through its officially appointed head coach Tim Cone and his crew of established local stars.
Hoping to put an end to turbulent buildups for major tournaments, the vision for this version of the national team is to stick through the four-year FIBA cycle, ending with the 2027 World Cup.
The 66-year-old Cone handpicked the team, consisting of PBA and Japan B. League stars, a collegiate superstar, and an aging yet reliable naturalized player. For him, the players he tapped are the best the country could offer.
“I’ve always firmly believed from back in 1998 when I coached the Centennial Team that you’ve got to go out and get the best players in the country to represent us,” said Cone.
“We all have different opinions on who the best players are, but we’re confident we picked the best players who will form the best team.”
Here are Gilas Pilipinas’ magic 12:
Justin Brownlee has made some of the biggest shots in recent local basketball lore.
However, his career came to a screeching halt after testing positive for a banned substance in the Asian Games in October 2023. In that tournament, his herculean performances lifted Gilas to its first continental title in 61 years.
Missing the subsequent PBA Commissioner’s Cup as he served a voluntary suspension, Brownlee returns to the national team as one of Cone’s most trusted soldiers.
Brownlee, with Cone calling the shots, has never lost in any title series, winning six PBA championships with crowd darling Barangay Ginebra. Per league records, he is tied for the most titles by an import in PBA history alongside Alaska legend Sean Chambers.
Brownlee has also led Gilas to the 2023 Southeast Asian Games crown, regaining the regional title the country lost in 2022 via shocker against Indonesia.
The 35-year-old star stepped aside for NBA star Jordan Clarkson’s inclusion in the World Cup team before Cone tapped him in the Asian Games less than a month later.
Playing in the Philippines since 2016, Brownlee became a naturalized Filipino in January 2023.
Another one of Cone’s players, the 30-year-old Scottie Thompson will look to provide stability in the point guard position for Gilas.
Cone picked Thompson in the 2015 PBA Draft, shaping him into one of the league’s best players.
Thompson was named the PBA MVP in 2022, before falling short of his back-to-back bid as he finished third in MVP voting last year, according to the final tally released by the league press corps.
Thompson struggled to find his groove in the World Cup, averaging only 1.8 points, 2.0 rebounds, and 2.2 assists in 12.5 minutes per game, according to the FIBA website.
The University of Perpetual Help product redeemed himself in the Asian Games, where he bumped up his numbers under the tutelage of Cone.
As the only natural point guard on the 12-man list, Thompson’s familiarity with Cone’s system should pay dividends as the FIBA cycle progresses.
Undoubtedly the greatest Filipino player of this generation, June Mar Fajardo will embark on, perhaps, his last ride with the national team.
Fajardo, who will be 37 years old by the time the 2027 World Cup unfolds, remains one of the most dominant players in the PBA.
Fajardo was named the PBA MVP once more in 2023, bagging his seventh plum in eight seasons. No one in history has ever won more than four.
The San Miguel superstar was pivotal in Gilas’ wins against Iran in the Asian Games quarterfinals, China in the semis, and Jordan in the finals.
Fajardo, the most experienced player in the bunch with three World Cup appearances, offers Cone an imposing presence inside through all of his 6-foot-10 frame.
Few players in the world can tower over Kai Sotto.
The 7-foot-3 titan has been a Filipino wunderkind for the longest time. After not hearing his name in the NBA Draft, Sotto took his talents to Australia’s NBL and Japan B. League, where he has been playing for the past two seasons.
Now, Sotto will return to the national squad with a chip on his shoulder following lackluster outings in the World Cup.
Sotto averaged 6 points and 4 rebounds in the World Cup as his minutes plummeted to just 14 per game.
The 21-year-old Sotto also saw action in the 2023 NBA Summer League where he played two games and tallied a combined 6 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 blocks, per league records. It was also there that Sotto sustained a back injury that almost ruled him out of the World Cup.
After fully recovering from the injury, Sotto has been averaging 7.6 points, 3.6 rebounds, and 1.3 blocks for the Yokohama B-Corsairs in the B. League, according to league records.
AJ Edu was a revelation in the World Cup.
The Toyama Grouses import averaged 8.2 points, 8.6 rebounds, and 1.2 blocks in five games with the national team. His rebounding was also the seventh-highest in the tournament, behind some of the world’s best players.
Edu’s brightest highlight came in his debut game, impressing with his defense on perennial NBA All-Star Karl Anthony Towns in the loss to the Dominican Republic.
But the injury bug continues to hound the 24-year-old as he tore his meniscus last November while playing for the Grouses in the Japan B. League.
His injury, however, did not stop Cone from tapping him on his 12-man roster, citing long-term vision. His recovery time was initially for at least three months, per reports.
In his 14 games for Toyama so far, Edu averaged 13 points and 8.8 rebounds.
Perhaps the face of the Gilas program will continue to represent the country for years to come.
Dwight Ramos has become a mainstay for Gilas Pilipinas since his arrival in the Philippines. In fact, he was the lone player to see action in all of the FIBA qualifier windows in the last cycle.
He shone bright in his first World Cup, notching 13.2 points, 5.6 rebounds, 2.4 assists, and 1.6 steals.
Ramos has been playing in Japan since 2021, jumping from Toyama to the Levanga Hokkaido last season.
As of writing, he is averaging a career-high 10.5 points per game, alongside 3.6 rebounds, and 1.2 assists per game.
After being a late call-up for the Asian Games, CJ Perez returns to the national team as one of its offensive spark plugs.
After a standout Asian Games run, Perez has since been neck-and-neck with Ginebra’s Christian Standhardinger for the Best Player of the Conference race in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup so far as his San Miguel Beermen compete in a best-of-7 finals series.
The Lyceum of the Philippines product has been a part of two World Cups.
Chris Newsome was cut from the World Cup team before impressing in the Asian Games where he was instrumental as a defensive ace in the gold medal game.
Newsome limited Jordan’s Rondae Hollis-Jefferson to just 24 points on 29 shots in the gold medal match, displaying his two-way chops for the Cone-mentored Gilas.
Now, the Meralco Bolts star will don the Gilas jersey once more to continue what he started at the tail end of last year.
After getting FIBA clearance to play as a local in 2022, Newsome only got to play in one window of the World Cup qualifiers before being one of the final cuts in the World Cup.
At 33 years old, Newsome remains one of the most athletic players in the country.
Calvin Oftana is entering his basketball prime. The 28-year-old averaged 21.8 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 1.2 assists in the last PBA Commissioners’ Cup for the TNT Tropang Giga.
First called up for Gilas in 2020, Oftana was one of the cuts in the World Cup, before winning gold in the Asian Games.
Oftana had since taken the lead role for the Tropang Giga in the PBA. He shot an impeccable 49% from the field, 41% from three, and 90% from the free throw line in the last conference.
With his leap into the pro league, Oftana should be primed for a bigger role in this iteration of the national team.
After missing the latter part of the World Cup and Gilas’ Asiad conquest, Jamie Malonzo is back with the national team.
Malonzo has been one of Cone’s most reliable weapons in Ginebra. Malonzo recorded 15.3 points and 5.3 rebounds in the past PBA Commissioner’s Cup, where he was a consistent starter for the team.
The former La Salle standout provides more than just numbers, as he was often designated to be the primary defender against imports for length, athleticism, and quickness.
Malonzo, however, sustained a knee injury in the Commissioner’s Cup semifinals but has since been relieved of any major scare after initial fears of any structural damage.
The 27-year-old is expected to recover in time for the first window of FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers.
Kevin Quiambao has been one of the fastest rising stars in local basketball.
Quiambao has recently led Strong Group Athletics to a bridesmaid finish in the 33rd Dubai International Basketball Tournament. He was the top scorer in the team headlined by NBA veteran Dwight Howard, Andray Blatche, and Andre Roberson, norming 18 points per game, per tournament data.
He was named to the All-Tournament team and even received offers to play as a naturalized player for the United Arab Emirates national team.
This came after his stellar UAAP Season 86 run, where he both received the season and finals MVPs after leading the De La Salle Green Archers to the championship.
The 22-year-old returns to the national team after brief stints in the 2022 FIBA Asia Cup and World Cup qualifier windows.
Fondly remembered for his UAAP performances with the University of the Philippines, Carl Tamayo had since brought his winning pedigree overseas.
Tamayo won the 2022-2023 Japan B. League championship with the Ryukyu Golden Kings in his first season as a pro before asking for his release the following season.
He normed 3.9 points, and 2.5 rebounds in 12.5 minutes over 23 games in his second year with the Golden Kings.
Tamayo impressed in his last East Asia Super League game versus the PBA’s Meralco Bolts, going off for 16 points on Philippine soil. Tamayo was also named in the B. League Asia All-Stars in Okinawa.
The former NU high school star made his Gilas debut in 2021 and had been a part of the national squad in numerous tournament windows and the 2022 FIBA Asia Cup. – Rappler.com
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Abuevas, Tautuaas figure in verbal altercation after Game 2 of PBA finals | delfin.dioquino editor | 4/2/2024 23:55 | THE BEAST. Calvin Abueva in action for the Magnolia Hotshots in the 2023-24 PBA Commissioner's' Cup.
PBA Images
MANILA, Philippines – Emotions ran high after Game 2 of the PBA Commissioner’s Cup finals on Sunday, February 4, as Magnolia forward Calvin Abueva figured in a verbal altercation with the wife of San Miguel big man Mo Tautuaa.
Abueva and Aida Tautuaa got involved in a shouting match as they crossed paths at a hallway near the exit of the Mall of Asia Arena after the Beermen coasted to a 109-85 win for a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven affair.
The commotion seemed to have been defused when Abueva appeared to have left the venue, but he returned with his wife Sam to confront the Tautuaas.
Cooler heads prevailed as security personnel and members of both teams stepped in, but not without Abueva challenging Tautuaa to a fistfight.
Calvin Abueva and his wife Sam are escorted away after the Magnolia star figured in a shouting match with the wife of San Miguel big man Mo Tautuaa. Tautuaa's wife, Aida, claimed Abueva smirked at her, which sparked their altercation. #PBAFinals pic.twitter.com/cmM3BsotZj
In a series of posts on X, Aida claimed Abueva smirked and laughed at her direction while she was waiting for her husband, sparking the heated exchange.
“I had to walk past him to go to the restroom. He smirked at me, nodded his head up and down, and said, ‘Yeaaa’ laughing. I said, ‘WTF is wrong with you?’ and kept walking. He walked after me and literally got in my face,” Aida wrote.
Aida further called Abueva “unhinged” and “not mentally stable” on her Instagram posts.
But Abueva refuted the allegations, saying it was Aida who started it all.
“She walked here, I was waiting for my children, and then she said, ‘What the f*ck are you smiling for?’ Who are you to make me smile? Who is she? I’m with my children and she was acting that way,” said Abueva in Filipino.
Abueva struggled in Game 2 with just 3 points on 1-of-7 shooting as the Hotshots lost consecutive games for first time this conference.
“The Beast” got subbed out with 10 minutes left and never returned after an unsportsmanlike foul – incidentally – on Tautuaa.
On his way to the bench, Abueva then incurred a technical foul after a verbal exchange with San Miguel head coach Jorge Gallent.
Game 3 is on Wednesday, February 7, at the Araneta Coliseum. – Rappler.com
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