BusinessMirror April 04, 2025

SC ends orals on PhilHealth fund transfer

By Joel R. San Juan @jrsanjuan1573

THE Supreme Court concluded on Thursday its five-day oral arguments on the petitions assailing the constitutionality of the transfer of the P89.9-billion unused funds of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) to the national treasury. At the end of the oral arguments held in Baguio City, Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo ordered the petitioners and the respondents in the three consolidated petitions to submit their respective memoranda within a non-extendible period of 30 days.

“Considering that the oral argument has been concluded we will require the parties to submit their respective memoranda, including the amici please, within 30 days from today, non-extendible,” the Chief Justice said. After this, the petitions are deemed submitted for resolution of the Court.

Gesmundo also directed the government chief counsel, Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra, and the lead counsel for the petitioners lawyer Neri Colmenares, to include in their memoranda the issue on whether President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. should be dropped as one of the respondents in the case.

Guevarra has filed a motion be-

fore the Court seeking that the President be dropped as respondent on the ground of presidential immunity from suit. Colmenares said the Court has the power to modify the doctrine, “if warranted.”

He noted that the 1973 Constitution expressly provided that the president is immune from suit but such provision has been dropped in the 1987 Constitution.

“Therefore, Your Honor, it’s a jurisprudential rather than a constitutional issue now, within the powers of this Court to modify if warranted. Second, the President is impleaded here for his personal acts, presidential certification of emergency. It wasn’t done by [Executive Secretary Lucas] Bersa-

min, it was done by the President,” Colmenares said.

“If we are going to vpid an act of a President, we might as well implead him,” he added.

Amici curiae: idle funds transfer not new

DURING the last two oral arguments, Associate Justice Ricardo Rosario asked former finance secretary and one of the amici curiae, Margarito Teves, if the transfer of unused funds of other agencies to the national treasury had been done in the past. Teves answered in the affirmative, noting the practice of reallocating idle government funds to

RISKS TO PHL GROWTH

THEDepartment

of Finance

(DOF) warned that US President Donald Trump’s decision to impose a 17-percent reciprocal tariff on Philippine exports could cause supply chain disruptions, accelerate inflation and raise interest rates.

in other Asian countries.

Finance Secretary Ralph G. Recto said in a statement after Trump announced the reciprocal tariffs that the Philippines will not be spared from the expected decline in international trade and potential slowdown in global growth. Despite this, Recto said the consumption-driven Philippine economy will be able to withstand the economic shocks caused by Washington’s tariff policy.

“The domestic demand-driven Philippine economy makes us relatively resilient against trade wars,” he said. Washington contended that the 17-percent reciprocal tariff slapped on the Philippines is “discounted” compared to the 34 percent effective rates, including the cost of nontariff barriers, supposedly imposed by Manila on American goods.

Pressure on forex

THESE reciprocal tariffs, former Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Deputy Governor Diwa Guinigundo told BusinessMirror, will put further pressure on the pesodollar exchange rate.

“Such higher imposition could likely result in higher prices of (certain) Philippine goods and in the process, elevated domestic inflation in the US,” said Guinigundo, who is also a country analyst for New York-based think tank GlobalSource Partners.

“We’re still doing the analysis,” BSP Governor Eli M. Remolona Jr. told BusinessMirror when asked how Washington’s decision would affect consumer prices and the peso. Sought for comment, Philippine Ambassador to Washington D.C. Jose Manuel Romualdez also said the government has yet to determine how the additional tariffs will affect the country’s economy.

“We are still studying the effects on our exports to the US together with (Investment and Economic Affairs Secretary Frederick) Go and Recto,” Romualdez told BusinessMirror

By Malou Talosig-Bartolome

NGELIQUE Songco, the park ranger who in 2013 had insisted that the United States pay for damage by its grounded ship on the Unesco world heritage site Tubbataha Reef in Palawan, has been cited as one of the International Women of Courage by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Songco was awarded for her decades of work in leading a team of marine park rangers who protect the 97,030-hectare Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park Protected Area. During the award ceremony on April 1, she was introduced

with her fond nickname “Mama Ranger,” drawing laughter for the crowd at the Department of State in Washington D.C. Angelique Songco from the Philippines, also known as Mama Ranger—(laughter)—leads a small team of rangers protecting the Tubbataha Reefs National Park from illegal fishing and poaching.

“Her work on maritime law enforcement includes a passion for rehabilitation and conservation. Under her leadership the reef has seen dramatic decreases in trespassers in that protected area. Angelique Songco—Mama Ranger,” Kat Fotovat, senior bureau official for the Secretary’s Office of

‘PHL should sell more farm goods to the US’

By Ada Pelonia and Samuel P. Medenilla

THE Philippines should consider selling more agricultural products to the United States as it will be relatively cheaper, the Department of Agriculture (DA) said Wednesday.

Despite the 17-percent tariff slapped on Philippine

tive, it’s positive for us because we’re lower than others in terms of tariff. But we need to look at it per commodity,” the DA chief told reporters in a press briefing on Thursday.

“Based on the tariff rate, we’re one of the lowest among our neighbors. So, it just means that we should push for more sales to the US of our products,” he added. However, the DA chief noted the 10-percent reciprocal tariff slapped on Ecuador, a banana exporter, “might be a concern.”

“But in the whole scheme of things, I believe...we can be competitive versus Ecuador,” he added.

Roehlano Briones, a senior research fellow at the Philippine Institute for Development

Global Women’s Issues, said during the awarding ceremony.

“She has managed the park since 2001, working with rangers to protect the reefs from illegal fishing, poaching and unsustainable tourism practices,” the US Embassy said in a statement.

US State Secretary Marco Rubio and US First Lady Melania Trump then presented the award to Songco. Aside from Songco, seven other women heroes were feted during the IWOC Award Ceremony.

· Henriette Da (Burkina Faso)

· Amit Soussana (Israel) · Major Velena Iga (Papua New Guinea)

By Reine Juvierre S. Alberto, Andrea E. San Juan and Malou Talosig-Bartolome

U.S. Secretary Marco Rubio (right), with First Lady Melania Trump (left), honor Angelique Songco, of Philippines (middle), at the International Women of Courage Award at the Department of State in Washington, D.C., April 1, 2025. US STATE DEPARTMENT

by 19.8 percent to P146.7 billion from P183 billion in December 2023.

The DBM said the decline was due to base effects of high capital disbursements in 2023 and ongoing processing and release of cash allocations to settle state agencies’ completed and ongoing capital outlay projects during the latter part of 2024. Payments for some of these items are expected to spill over in January 2025, it added.

DBM data further showed the national government’s disbursements reached P5.925 trillion in 2024. This grew by 11 percent from the P5.336 trillion in 2023. Despite the increase in maintenance and other operating expenses, interest payments, infrastructure and other capital outlays, transfers to LGUs and personnel services expenditures, lower subsidy releases and net lending assistance to government corporations tempered the spending growth. Still, when compared to the P5.754 trillion program, full-year disbursements were higher by 3 percent or P171.1 billion, due to higher infrastructure spending.

This 2025, disbursements are targeted to reach P6.182 trillion, equivalent to 21.5 percent of GDP.

The DBM said government spending will remain a major growth driver this year, with total infrastructure disbursements seen at 5.4 percent of GDP, in line with the medium-term target of between 5 to 6 percent.

The national budget for 2025 is set at P6.326 trillion, 9.7 percent higher than the P5.768 trillion allocated in 2024. Reine Juvierre S. Alberto

BSP mops up P1.7-T excess liquidity as of end-January

By Reine Juvierre S. Alberto @reine_alberto

THEBangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has siphoned off P1.7 trillion in excess liquidity through its monetary operations as of end-January 2025, its latest data showed.

In its Monetary Policy Report, the BSP said, “The BSP continued to effectively manage system liquidity.”

As such, the bulk of the liquidity was mopped up by term instruments amounting to P1.147 trillion or 67.5 percent.

These instruments comprised the BSP securities facility (BSP SF) and term deposit facilities (TDF), which remained the primary tools for liquidity absorption. The BSP also absorbed liquidity from

PHL should sell more farm…

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Studies (Pids), said certain Philippine farm goods will take a hit from Washington’s new policy.

“The effect is quite bad, but (it will be) limited to about 17 percent of agricultural exports,” Briones told the BusinessMirror.

“(The farm goods that will be affected are) coconut products, banana, canned

tuna, and seaweed.”

Last Thursday (Philippine time), Trump announced his administration will be imposing “discounted” reciprocal tariffs, which will affect 180 countries, as part of his bid to bring spur the growth of the US manufacturing sector.

banks through its overnight (ON) reverse repurchase (RRP) facility, consisting of 21.2 percent, or P360 billion, of the total placements. Meanwhile, the remaining P192 billion or 11.3 percent of the liquidity was taken in by the central bank’s overnight deposit facility (ODF).

“These monetary operations have been instrumental in maintaining the operational target rate, the ON RRP rate, in close alignment with the target RRP rate,” the BSP said.

“This alignment is crucial for the effective transmission of monetary policy decisions to market interest rates and, ultimately, to the broader economy,” it added.

He imposed a 10-percent baseline tax on imports from all countries and territories. A higher tariff rate was imposed for countries and territories, which supposedly slap higher duties on American goods.

Among the countries and territories, which received the reciprocal tariffs of over 40 percent are Lesotho (50 percent), Cambodia (49 percent), Laos, (48 percent), Madagascar (47 percent), Vietnam (46 percent), Myanmar (44 percent), Sri Lanka (44 percent), Syria (41 percent), and Falkland Islands (41 percent).

‘Close ally’

THE 17 percent imposed on the Philippines is the second lowest in Southeast Asia, next to the 10 percent handed out to Singapore.

Castro attributed the lower additional tariffs imposed on the Philippines to its strong military alliance with the US.

Last Friday, US Defense Secretary Pete

The ON RRP rate, at 5.76 percent in January 2025, closely tracked the decline in the target RRP rate at 5.75 percent.

Meanwhile, the ODF and overnight lending facility (OLF) rate settled to 5.25 percent and 6.25 percent, respectively.

Interest rates on TDFs and BSP bills declined following the policy rate reductions through the end of 2024.

The 7-day TDF rate declined to 5.780 percent in January 2025, while the 14-day TDF yielded 5.814 percent.

Rates of the 28-day and 56day BSP bills also went down to 5.757 percent and 5.814 percent, respectively.

Hegseth visited the country to affirm Washington’s ironclad commitment to provide military support to the Philippines.

“So, the imposition of 17 percent may have also been studied by the US government and administration, so we will accept it,” she said.

While she admitted the higher tariff will result in additional costs for Philippine exporters, the Presidential Communications Office (PCO) undersecretary said it can also have positive benefits, such as bringing in more investments to the country.

She said companies based in countries with higher tariff rates may opt to relocate to the Philippines so they can ship their goods to the US at a lower price.

Castro also said the Departments of Trade and Industry and Finance are now studying the impact of the additional tariff, including the sectors that will bear its brunt.

“Whatever the impact, of course we must respond appropriately,” Castro said.

· Georgiana Pascu (Romania)

·

(Sri Lanka); and ·

Al-Hajj (Yemen) Student women protesters of Bangladesh also received the Madeleine Albright Honorary Group Award. Rubio thanked the awardees for their work in creating a “safe and more secure and just world.”

“At the State Department and under President Trump, we try to take every opportunity to defend and to promote women and girls across the world,” Secretary Rubio said at the ceremony. First Lady Melania Trump sought parallels with the women of courage, stressing that courage emanates from “a strength that is based in love.”

“I have harnessed the power of love as a source of strength during challenging times. Love has inspired me to embrace forgiveness, nurture empathy and exhibit bravery in the face of unforeseen obstacles,” she said.

Songco dedicated the award to her fellow rangers at the Tubbataha Reef.

“For me, courage is making decisions, making one’s choices, despite the uncertainties.

“This award is not just about my work. The efforts of the Rangers to conserve and protect Tubbataha ensures the food security of the Philippines. Even if we are just a very, very small part of the ocean, to have a place that is no-take where fish and corals can thrive is critical to our livelihoods,” she said.

The award from the US government is doubly significant for Songco, who in 2013 led efforts to exact compensation for the damage to the reef caused by the grounding of the USS Guardian, which was used for the protection and rehabilitation of the Unesco World Heritage site. The US paid P87 million (the equivalent of USD 1.97million) in 2015.

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situation and have been the primary cause of power interruptions.

While NGCP has complied with the DOE directive on the procurement of ancillary services (AS) through competitive selection process (CSP) and payment of AS procured through

SC ends…

Continued from A1 March…

respond to national emergencies is not new.

Similar fund sweeps were carried out under past administrations to address fiscal crises, he added.

“In the case of President Ramos, it was done during the time when the Philippines and Asia were actually confronted with the Asian financial crisis. I recall he said, ‘let’s try to get all the balances from different institutions that are now in the different banks and utilize this to address the crisis.’”

Teves, who served as Finance Secretary under President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, added that the Ramos administration was able to address the fiscal challenge and even recorded a surplus following the reallocation of idle funds.

He noted that the Arroyo administration also used a similar approach, as it recognized that “special funds tend to have a tendency to increase” and that “there probably should be a way of making use of these funds if they’re not utilized.”

Under the Duterte administration, Teves said government balances were again reallocated as part of the Covid-19 response.

“These circumstances, in fact, were already there,” Teves explained, adding that even in 2024, the lingering effects of the pan-

the AS Reserve Market (AS RM), the unplanned outages cause all power dispatched through the transmission system to be used for energy consumption, NGCP had said.

It explained that the contingency and dispatchable ancillary services will have been depleted and already running and dispatched for use by the consumers, and no longer reserved for ancillary services, since the contingency for which they were procured has already occurred.

demic necessitated the expansion of unprogrammed appropriations.

Asked by Associate Justice Rodil Zalameda whether these transfers or reprogramming of funds was valid, Teves said “all transfer or reprogramming of funds should have legal basis.”

“It has to be specified clearly because special funds are supposed to be for special purposes,” he said.

“Historically , there is a tendency for many special funds to really accumulate a lot of balances. So ,from the standpoint of a fiscal manager it would really be prudent to find out if there’s a way that some of these balances can be used for very important projects or purposes. But of course they have to consider the legal aspect before making decisions,” Teves further explained.

Zalameda reminded that any reprogramming of funds “ should not be violative of the Constitution or any statute.”

“So, no matter how noble or beneficial the wisdom or purpose of the law authorizing the transfer, this is not sufficient justification to uphold its validity and it has to comply with the Constitution and the statute,” he said.

Teves agreed that there has to be a legal basis for such action.

Recto on PhilHealth fund transfer

FINANCE Secretary Ralph Recto on Thursday maintained that the transfer of PhilHealth funds to the national treasury is not only legal but also “a moral and eco -

A shortfall in supply, should that occur, means that while all available generators are running, including those contracted by NGCP for ancillary services, the existing supply is still insufficient to meet demand, NGCP stated.

The procurement and scheduling of ancillary services through the AS RM is the responsibility of the Iemop. Lenie Lectura

nomic sound policy” that would benefit Filipinos.

“I stand before you, Your Honors, to humbly assert that the move to revert these excess funds is not only legal. But is also economically sound and a moral duty,” Recto said.

“We cannot, in good conscience, allow funds to languish in bank accounts as our nation’s needs multiply,” he added.

Recto also told the justices that the P60 billion unused funds that have so far been transferred to the national treasury were spent on health-related programs and social services. Related story in B3, Banking.

Recto also dismissed claims that PhilHealth is bankrupt, clarifying that the confusion stems from its Insurance Contract Liabilities (ICLs), which the Commission on Audit flagged as inaccurate and unreliable. He explained that ICLs are not actual debts but merely provisions for future obligations based on flawed actuarial estimates.

PhilHealth will not go bankrupt as its financial viability is fully backed by the government under the law, Recto strtessed.

“What is true Your Honors, is that for years, PhilHealth was earning more revenues than its expenditures.

There was a lot of money sleeping in PhilHealth because of their low absorptive capacity, which was only about 58 percent,” Recto pointed out.

· Zabib Musa Loro Bakhit (South Sudan)

Namini Wijedasa

Amat Al-Salam

Anilag 2025

A BusinessMirror Special Feature

Anilag Festival 2025: A story of firsts and comebacks

By Vincent Peter Rivera

FESTIVE spirits, celebratory symphonies, and vibrant adornments have once again filled the province of Laguna with the marking of the 16th Anilag Festival.

During the week-long celebration from March 9 to 15, the Ani of Laguna (Anilag) exhibited the synergy of the province’s culture and heritage through inclusive, meaningful, and entertaining activities, giving Lagunenses the opportunity to exhibit what they are best known for.

Incumbent Laguna governor Ramil L. Hernandez beamed from the well-received support of Lagunenses and other attendees. “I am glad for the successful launch of the Anilag Festival 2025 because as early as the first day, we already witnessed that a lot of people are supporting the event and many visitors have come from different places just to join the festivity,” he said.

L aguna 2nd District Congresswoman Ruth Mariano-Hernandez also felt the same way as Governor Hernandez, saying, “I am happy that this year’s Anilag Festival is finally here because I know that through this celebration, we can make a lot of our fellow Lagunenses happy.” Drawing inspiration from Laguna’s historical roots, Congresswoman Hernandez also expressed her excitement for the province’s grandest festival, seeing it as a prime opportunity to celebrate the region’s vibrant culture, traditions, and unique “Likhang Laguna” creations. Despite the unexpected rainfall at kickoff day, the festival’s spirit remained unwavering, overcoming all challenges.

We already anticipated that such in-

stances, like the unexpected rain, could actually happen. That’s why we allotted spaces, tents, and shades like the Town Plaza where people can stay for situations like this since the safety of everyone is our utmost priority,” Congresswoman Hernandez mentioned.

City Councilor Maria Kathrina Silva, Committee Chairwoman, Tourism of Calamba, Laguna, congratulated Governor Ramil L. Hernandez for successfully commencing the mother of all festivals amid adverse weather. The Anilag celebration provides significant benefits beyond Laguna, extending to all participating regions. It’s a chance to present our unique offerings, products, and historical sites,” Councilor Silva stated, emphasizing the festival’s impact on the province’s municipalities and cities.

Stories of firsts and comebacks

Touted as the “Mother of All Festivals,” the 16th Anilag Festival is continuously improving— occupying its rightful place in the province’s history of rich festivals, with a series of remarkable firsts and returning stories, reaching new heights and harvesting new achievements.

On the fourth day of the week-long festival at the Laguna Provincial Capitol Office in Santa Cruz, Anilag commenced the “PINAKAmalaking Basket mula sa Ani ng Laguna”—the grandest basket ever made—showcasing freshly harvested agricultural products like squash, eggplants, ampalaya, upo, tomatoes, sayote, and bananas.

This grand display served not only as a tribute to the hardworking farmers but also served as a symbol of Laguna’s inherent abundance. In a heartwarming gesture of community spirit, the provincial government, alongside the very farmers who cultivated this harvest, were joined by representatives from local orphanages and charities who are the official recipients of this bountiful “Ani ng Laguna.”

Well-received during the Anilag Festival 2025 were the Beyblade and Tamiya competitions—two of the new inclusions in the program.

Pamela Jane P. Baun, Officer-in-Charge of the Laguna Tourism Culture Arts and Trade Office (LTCATO), said the two new competitions would resonate with the “Batang ‘90s”—the generation who grew up with Beyblade and Tamiya. “It would ignite the competitive spirit of those passionate about these engaging hobbies,” Baun said.

L agunenses enjoyed a night of music at the Mar. 15 People’s Night Extreme, a finale concert that pulsed with the energy of both established and rising local artists, enthralling the immense crowd that attended the event. Outstanding performances sparked the

night—the in-synched bar and beats of Flow G, the raspy melodies of Juan Karlos, the signature R&B vocals of Michael Pangilinan, the P-POP girl group G22, and the infectious beats of DJ Tom Taus—all creating an unforgettable night of music.

Visitors, guests, and residents of Laguna watched with anticipation at the heartwarming comeback of the Little Mr. and Ms. Laguna pageant. This beloved event hailed young Sebastian Lorenzo Rañada from the Municipality of Santa Cruz and the charming Ingrid Clara Sophia Prats from the City of Santa Rosa as the Little Mister Laguna 2025 and Little Miss Laguna 2025, respectively.

Finally, in a nod to the digital age, the Anilag Festival 2025 embraced modernity with the introduction of “Post of the Day Winners.” Throughout the week-long celebration, the provincial government recognized the most liked and engaged posts across various social media platforms. This innovative initiative—a first in the festival’s 16-year history—not only encouraged active participation and online engagement but also captured the collective experience of Anilag 2025 through the lens of

its attendees, further solidifying its place as a truly dynamic and evolving celebration.

Anilag Highlights & Champions

Kicking off with palpable energy, the Anilag Festival’s opening day burst into life through its three signature competitions: the vibrant Trade Fair Booths, the creatively crafted Land Floats, and the dynamic Street Dance performances. This initial showcase offered visitors an immediate and captivating immersion into the rich culture and traditions of Laguna.

The Trade Fair Booth competition drew participation from 29 municipalities and cities. Each booth served as a representation of its locality, proudly displaying unique products, celebrating their distinct heritage, and echoing the festivities they are renowned for.

The Municipality of Famy emerged as the champion, with the Municipality of Siniloan securing second place. The Municipality of Los Baños claimed third, followed by the Municipality of Luisiana in fourth, and the Municipality of Calauan rounding out the top five.

Mirroring the spirit of the trade fair booths, the equally anticipated Land Float competition saw 11 participating municipalities and cities in vibrant floats that faithfully captured traditions and culture embraced by generations of Lagunenses. The Municipality of Victoria was declared the victor. The artistic prowess of the Municipality of Paete earned them first place, while the City of Santa Rosa won second place.

Another signature spectacle of the Anilag Festival was the electrifying Street Dance Competition. Through the captivating fusion of upbeat rhythms and precisely synchronized formations, the participating groups vividly portrayed their respective locales’ history and cultural narratives. In a thrilling culmination, the Municipality of Calauan clinched the coveted champion title. The City of Santa Rosa secured the first runner-up position, with the Municipality of Cavinti taking home the second runner-up honors.

Amidst the vibrant festival atmosphere, La-

pageant contenders. Charlie Calupig of the Municipality of Cavinti was crowned Ginoong Laguna 2025, followed by John Emil Brin (Municipality of Calauan), 1st runner-up; Astin Martin Ladanga (Municipality of Lumban), 2nd runner-up; Leanz Marron Cunanan (City of Biñan), 3rd runner-up; and Jeffry Dacuba (Municipality of Nagcarlan), 4th runner-up. In the Binibining Laguna 2025 competition, Julianna Marie Quiambao, representing the City of Biñan took the coveted crown. Maria Katrina Napigkit (City of San Pedro) was named 1st runnerup, Reizhelle Reign Garin (Municipality of Pagsanjan), 2nd runner-up; Floriane Jerick Lajara (City of San Pablo), 3rd runner-up; and Nicole Grencio (Municipality of Majayjay), 4th runner-up.

A beacon of unity

Beyond the eventful and exciting activities, Director Christopher Sanji, Laguna Provincial Information Officer (PIO), said that the Anilag Festival is a symbol of unity among Lagunenses, especially since the 2025 Midterm Elections is just around the corner.

The Anilag resides in no political colors, meaning it is neutral. This festival is open for everyone,” Director Sanji told BusinessMirror. “That’s why if you’ve noticed earlier, all of the mayors are gathered together because this is what our governor wanted: a peaceful relationship for everyone.”

This message is underscored by the plain white facade of the Laguna new capitol building—the cradle of Anilag, the Festival of Harvest. Gov. Hernandez said he intentionally adopted white as the color of the capitol, as part of his legacy of passion for social services that embraced and served all, with no regard for political persuasion.

“My message is simple. The success of the Anilag Festival is a success of the province. Therefore, it is only right to support and help one another regardless of our beliefs and political affiliations,” Governor Hernandez concluded.

gunenses eagerly followed the prestigious Ginoo at Binibining Laguna 2025 pageant, a well-known springboard for national

Governor Ramil L. Hernandez, together with other mayors of Laguna, led the ribbon cutting during the kick-off Anilag Festival 2025.

Governor Ramil L. Hernandez participated in the Holy Mass for the opening of the Anilag Festival 2025. The Nuestra Señora De Los Dolores De Turumba Land Float Champion, Municipality of Victoria

The winners of Little Mister and Miss Laguna 2025

Governor Ramil Hernandez and Laguna 2nd District Congresswoman Ruth Mariano-Hernandez while watching the Land Float Competition.

The winners of Ginoo and Binibining Laguna 2025

The winner of Mrs. Laguna 2025

Street Dance Competition Champion, Municipality of Calauan

Trade Fair Booth Champion, Municipality of Famy

The grand “PINAKAmalaking Basket mula sa Ani ng Laguna”

The bustling road during the Land Float Competition

Escudero explains caution on subpoena as Imee laments ‘total snub’ of hearing

By Butch Fernandez @butchfBM

“TOTAL snub.”

AThat’s how a member of

Sen. Imee Marcos’ Committee on Foreign Relations described the absence of key government officials at the second hearing on the arrest, detention and transfer of former President Rodrigo Roa Duterte to the International Criminal Court in the Netherlands.

However, a request by the committee to subpoena certain officials is still pending with the office of Senate President Francis Escudero, who referred it to Senate lawyers. He cautioned against rushing to trigger a “compulsory process” such as issuing subpoenas because such

might trigger a constitutional crisis.

Moreover, Escudero said, a third legal challenge against the use of “executive privilege” to shield officials from congressional grilling might only further bolster the hand of the Executive Department, since in two earlier cases, Ermita and Neri, the Supreme Court sided with the Executive against the Senate.

The absence of all key resource persons at Thursday’s hearing prompted Sen. Ronald dela Rosa, a known Duterte loyalist, to ask Senator Marcos to request issuance of subpoena to compel these officials to attend the next hearing.

Marcos informed him she had asked Escudero to issue subpoenas to at least two officials, Prosecutor General Anthony Fadullon, and Air Force (PAF) chief Lt. Gen.

Arthur Cordura, but was told the request is pending with the Senate’s legal office.

At the end of the hearing, Senator Marcos said in Filipino she hoped Escudero would grant the subpoena request by her panel, adding that the Senate’s “independence is at stake here.”

Escudero was prompted to call a second news conference at 2:00 p.m., just to stress that the Senate’s independence does not solely rest on that subpoena request, given the legal context.

“Because of the invocation of executive privilege” in Malacañang’s March 30 letter to the Senate, Escudero said, “I thought it wise to refer this to the legal office of the chamber.”

Escudero stressed that the

Executive privilege invocation “follows Supreme Court rulings,” that had twice upheld it. Hence, the Senate chief explained, the legislators must tread carefully, lest a premature showdown with the Executive end up with yet another ruling affirming it and thus strengthening the hand of the Executive.

He cited an example of a dilemmatic situation: “The Sergeant at Arms, should it be unable to enforce an arrest warrant by the Senate, would need the help of the Philippine National Police, but the PNP is under the Executive.”

That could set off a chain of events that will start “what we’d call a constitutional crisis, which I don’t want to happen,” Escudero said, by way of justifying why a

Administration coalition sets Rizal sortie

By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz @joveemarie

ITHOUT Sen. Imee

WMarcos, who is still hurting over the arrest and hand over to the International Criminal Court of former President Rodrigo Duterte, the administration-backed Senate slate, Alyansa Para sa Bagong Pilipinas, will campaign in Antipolo City on Friday, staging a significant show of force in Rizal, the country’s seventh most vote-rich province and an emerging political stronghold in Luzon.

This marks Alyansa’s first major sortie of the month, reinforcing its grassroots presence in a province that played a pivotal role in the 2022 elections. Rizal delivered

765,019 votes for President Marcos, more than double the tally secured by his closest rival.

The Alyansa said its ticket includes former Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos, Makati City Mayor Abby Binay; Sens. Ramon Bong Revilla, Pia Cayetano, Lito Lapid and Francis Tolentino; former senators Panfilo Lacson and Manny Pacquiao, former Senate President Vicente Sotto III, ACTCIS Rep. and former Social Welfare Secretary Erwin Tulfo, and Deputy Speaker Camille Villar.

It was not immediately known if Villar will join the sortie since his family earlier expressed support for the detained former President and expressed opposition to his arrest.

Navotas City Rep. Toby Tiangco,

Alyansa’s campaign manager, underscored the strategic importance of launching April’s campaign in Rizal, emphasizing its role in shaping national election outcomes.

“Rizal is a powerhouse. Its growth, its numbers, and its voter turnout show that this is where national momentum is built,” Tiangco said.

The April 4 rally will feature province-wide mobilizations, youth engagement initiatives, and strategic coordination with Rizal’s local leaders.

“Rizal is young, fast-growing, and full of potential. Alyansa is here to offer leadership that matches that energy and ambition,” Tiangco said.

He said that Alyansa’s approach is rooted in performance and prov -

en leadership that complements the development agenda of President Marcos.

“Our candidates are doers. They’ve delivered. When you combine that with the infrastructure and economic vision of President Marcos, Rizaleños will see a team truly worth supporting,” Tiangco said.

With over 1.67 million registered voters and a turnout rate of 81.03 percent, Rizal is a key battleground that could heavily influence the results of the May midterm elections. Antipolo, as the provincial capital and its lone component city, is set to host thousands of supporters at the Ynares Center, energizing Alyansa’s campaign message of unity, development, and competent leadership.

PDP Laban assails Comelec overseas voting process at SC

THE Partido ng Demokratikong Pilipino—Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) on Thursday led the filing of a petition before the Supreme Court (SC) seeking to nullify four resolutions issued by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) for being unconstitutional as these allegedly alter the voting process prescribed under existing election laws.

In a 122 page petition for prohibition and mandamus, PDP-Laban also sought the immediate issuance of a temporary restraining order (TRO) to enjoin the Comelec from implementing its Resolutions 11061, 11076, 11079 and 11081.

The petition also sought to compel the respondent Commission on Elections through

its chairman George Erwin Garcia and Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) through Secretary Enrique Austria Manalo to properly enforce Section 31 of Republic Act 9369 or the Election Automation Law which mandates manual counting of ballots at the precinct level and the provisions of RA 10590 or the Overseas Voting Act of 2013 which mandates an on-site counting and canvassing process. The four Comelec resolutions, according to the petitioners, were unconstitutional as these were issued beyond its legal power or authority and in violation of the provisions of RA 9369 and RA 10590.

“The assailed resolutions are ultra vires acts. The electoral process being implemented by these Resolutions are different from what is

provided and mandated by law,” the petitioners stressed.

Comelec Resolution 11061, promulgated on September 13, 2024, titled: “General Instructions for Special Board of Election Inspectors and Special Ballot Reception and Custody Group in the Conduct of Online Voting and Counting of Votes in Connection with Overseas Voting Act of 2013 for Purposes of 12 May 2025 National and Local Elections.”

Comelec Resolution 11079, promulgated on November 13, 2024, titled: “General Instructions for the Special Board of Election Inspectors and Special Ballot Reception and Custody Group in the Conduct of Automated Voting and Counting of Votes in Connection with Overseas Voting Act of 2013 for

Purposes of the 12 May 2025 National and Local Elections.”

Comelec Resolution 11081, promulgated November 20, 2024, titled: “General Instructions for the Special Board of Canvassers in the Conduct of Consolidation/Canvassing and Uploading of Election Results Votes in Connection with the Overseas Voting Act of 2013 for Purposes of the 12 May 2025 National and Local Elections.”

Comelec Resolution 11076, promulgated October 30, 2024, titled: “General Instructions for the Electoral Boards on the Process of Voting, Counting, & Transmission of Election Results for the 12 May 2025 National, Local, & Bangsamoro Parliamentary Elections.” Joel R. San Juan

Fighter planes from US not for offensive purpose–NSC

TPhilippines

from the United States, while aimed at boosting the country’s defense posture. Shall not be

used to attack other countries.

NSC Assistant Director General Jonathan E. Malaya made the statement after the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of People’s Republic of China expressed concern of the pending deal, which it said can threaten regional peace and security.

“We would like to assure the People’s Republic of China that the planned addition of F-16 fighter jets to the Philippine arsenal does not in any way harm the interest of any third party,” Malaya said in a press briefing in Malacañang on Thursday.

“It is not intended for any nation. It is merely part of the AFP [Armed Forces] Modernization Program,” he added.

Currently, the country has 11 F-50 “Game Changer of Marawi” jets, which it procured from South Korea.

On Wednesday, the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) confirmed that the US State Department has granted the request of the Philippine government to procure 16 F-16 aircrafts for US5.58 billion.

South Carolina-based Lockheed Martin will serve as the principal contractor for the said procurement deal.

The DSCA said the F-16 fighter jets to be sold to the AFP will be used to “conduct domain awareness and close air support missions and enhance its suppression of enemy air defenses, and aerial interdiction capabilities.”

The deal must be approved by the US Congress before it is consumated.

Malaya said he currently has no final details on the deal since the Department of National Defense is currently waiting for official communication from the US government before the deal can push through.

“So, I think, it’s premature at present to discuss the details of how much, when [will be sale finalized] and I’d like to defer to the Department of National Defense for further details. I think they will make an announcement at the proper time,” he said.

Samuel P. Medenilla

“careful study” was necessary on the question of subpoenas.

Meantime, he said, apparently reacting to Senator Marcos, he would not accept the notion that the Senate’s assertion of indepence is judged “according to the wishes of one or several members.”

He recalled that “all questions on executive privilege only brought wider power or amplifications on the part of Executive vis a vis the authority of Congress.”

Empty chairs

IN the morning hearing, the Committee on Foreign Relations secretariat informed Marcos that among the key officials invited as resource persons but who skipped Thursday’s hearing were: Cabinet Secretaries Enrique Manalo of

Foreign Affairs, Gilbert Teodoro of Defense, Juan Victor Remulla of the Interior and Local Government, and National Security Adviser Eduardo M. Año. Also absent was the head of the Philippine Center for Transnational Crime (PCTC) Anthony Alcantara. Marcos was told that Año, Remulla and Alcantara had earlier confirmed their presence at the hearing, but retracted this a day before, apparently heeding the guidance from Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin.

In his March 31 letter to the committee, Bersamin invoked executive privilege and said the officials would henceforth no longer attend further hearings, since they had given ample clarification in the previous one.

Court tells law enforcers to get arrest real killers of radioman

By Joel R. San Juan

THE Regional Trial Court in Calamba, Misamis Occidental, has dismissed the murder charges filed against three individuals who were accused of involvement in the November 5, 2023 fatal shooting of broadcaster Juan Jumalon while he was doing a live program on Facebook at his home-based radio station in Calamba town.

In an order dated March 18, 2025, Judge Michael Ajoc of Branch 36 of the RTC in Calamba ruled that the prosecution failed prove the guilt of the accused identified as Jolito Mangompit, Reynante Saja Bongcawel and his cousin Boboy Sagaray Bongcawel beyond reasonable doubt.

The trial court directed the warden of Misamis Provincial Jail-Oroquieta City to immediately release from detention the Bongcawels unless they are detained for some other reasons.

On the other hand, the trial court directed Mangompit’s transfer to the custody of the Zamboanga del Norte Correctional and Rehabilitation Center (ZNRC) because he is facing a separate attempted murder and murder case in that province.

“When a wrong person is brought to trial, it not only defeats the several purposes of our criminal justice system but also rubs a grain of salt into the wounds sustained by the grieving family of the murdered victim,” the ruling said.

“May the authorities exert all their efforts, time and money to look after the real killers and mastermind of the calloused murder of Juan T. Jumalon and give his family the justice they deserve,” it added. During the trial of the case, the defense presented the accused except Mangompit and nine other witnesses to support their claim that they were not present at the crime scene where Jumalon was shot dead.

Reynante denied that he was the driver of the getaway vehicle ridden by the killers of Jumalon He claimed that on the day of the killing he arrived from fishing and went directly to the port of Caluya, Sapang Dalaga to deliver and sell their catch to their barangay captain.

The accused further testified that after filling out the logbook to record their sale and transactions, he went home directly to sleep.

Reynante’s fellow fishermen who were

By Nonnie Pelayo

WHEN the Philippines takes delivery of the F-16 fighter jets two to three years from, it will acquire the most sucessful combat airplane in the world in the last 40 years or so. The F-16 fighter, the fourth generation warplane to come from the US, is the most widely used combat aircraft in the past 40 years. The F-16 first flew fifty years ago, and never stopped from there. F-16s were used in all major conflicts in the world since the late 1970s. The world’s most popular post-Cold War combat aircraft is one of the most modified jet fighters in service. While most are still called the F-16C, there are actually seven major mods, identified by block number like 32, 40, 42, 50, 52, 60, 70 and 72, plus the Israeli F-16I, which is a major modification of the Block 52. The various block models feature different new components and users can choose from five different

PSA hikes 2024 GDP forecast to 5.7%, Q4 to 5.3%

By Bless Aubrey Ogerio

THE full-year 2024 gross domestic product (GDP) growth forecast has been adjusted higher, signaling a more positive economic projection, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) announced on Thursday.

The GDP growth estimate for 2024 was revised slightly higher to 5.7 percent from 5.6 percent, while the Q4 2024 year-on-year GDP growth was also adjusted to 5.3 percent from 5.2 percent. For 2023’s full-year GDP growth, it remains unchanged at 5.5 percent.

Lawmaker to new DICT chief: Prioritize data privacy, cybersecurity

ASENIOR lawmaker on Thursday called on newly-appointed Secretary of Information and Communications Technology Henry Rhoel Aguda to prioritize data privacy and cybersecurity, as he emphasized that cyber fraud could lead to financial losses of up to P86 billion for Filipinos this year.

With most cyberattacks targeting cellular telephones, Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Raymund Villafuerte urged Aguda to collaborate with Congress, government agencies, telecommunications companies, and other stakeholders to revisit the Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) Registration Law.

Villafuerte pointed out that despite its implementation, text and online fraud persist, necessitating amendments to enhance its effectiveness.

“As the newly minted honcho at the DICT, Secretary Henry [Aguda] can put to use his extensive experience and expertise in digital transformation in the corporate world to possibly do wonders for the government’s drive to check surging cyberfraud,” Villafuerte said.

Villafuerte, a principal author of Republic Act 11934, or the SIM Registration Act, stressed the need for a comprehensive, multisectoral approach involving the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC), National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), and the National Police (PNP).

His call follows a report by mobile security firm Appdome, which estimated that cyberattacks targeting mobile devices could result in financial losses of $1.5 billion or P86 billion in 2024.

The Appdome chief executive officer, Tom

Killers. . .

Continued from A4

with him on the said day testified to support his claim.

Boboy, on the other hand, denied the accusation that he was the one who pointed a gun at Jumalon’s gatekeeper.

He testified that he suffered a stroke in 2020 which affected the movement of the left part of his body.

He presented his doctor and relatives as his witnesses.

Mangompit, the alleged gunman of Jumalon, presented several witnesses to prove that he was at a farm harvesting corn together with members of his family on November 4 and November 5.

The trial court also pointed out that fingerprints of the accused did not match the fingerprints gathered from the crime scene which allegedly belong to the perpetrators.

Likewise, the court noted that the prosecution failed to convincingly prove that Jumalon’s gunman was Mangompit.

F-16.

. .

Continued from A4

without moving the antenna itself.

The most successful F-16 user is Israel, one of whose early model F-16As achieved a record of 6.5 kills in combat in the 1982 Middle East conflict.

The soon-to-be Philippine F-16s will have AESA radars, a host of internal systems as well as a collection of munitions: 112 AIM-120C-8 or equivalent missiles, 36 Guided Bomb Unit (GBU)-39/B Small

Mark Pascasio, head of PSA’s Macroeconomy Division, told the BusinessMirror that the revision was based on updated and additional data from source agencies.

The sectors that contributed the most to the full-year 2024 revision included education (4.4

Tovar, highlighted that mobile “Trojan” attacks, disguised as legitimate applications, are a major threat, harvesting users’ sensitive data and leading to account takeovers.

Once sensitive information like e-wallet details has been obtained from scam victims, Tovar said that hackers can take over these digital accounts and get the money of the victims.

Aguda, appointed by President Marcos in late March, was previously the presidentCEO of UnionDigital Bank and has served in key digital transformation roles at Globe Telecom, Digital Telecommunications Philippines, and the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS).

For Villafuerte, among the possible reforms that could be considered for a possible amendatory law in the Congress is the requirement for the mandatory appearance of individuals registering their SIMs, in the same way that people are required to personally appear before the Land Transportation Office (LTO) in getting their drivers’ licenses or at the NBI when they apply for clearances.

Other possible provisions in a proposed amendatory law, he said, are limiting the number of valid government-issued identification (ID) cards that registrants can present, requiring agencies with accredited IDs for registration to put up platforms where the public telecommunications entities (PTEs) or telcos can validate the IDs of registrants, and authorizing the NTC to regulate or limit the number of SIM cards that people can register with the PTEs.

He emphasized that despite existing penalties—including up to six years of imprisonment and fines up to P300,000—scammers continue to exploit digital fraud schemes. Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

It also noted that the prosecution’s witnesses do not know the identity of the gunman at the time of the incident until it was provided to them by some police officers.

Aside from the clothing and bullcap worn by the two perpetrators, the trial court noted that the witnesses failed to provide any prior description during the initial investigation that would match the description with any of the accused.

“The totality of the evidence thus far presented by the prosecution was patently insufficient to prove the guilt of accused Mangompit as the gunman, Boboy Bongcawil as the one who pointed a gun to the gatekeeper and Reynante Bongcawil as look-out and driver of the getaway vehicle beyod reasonable doubt…,” the court ruled.

“This decision underscores the caution that courts must exercise when relying on eyewitness testimony, especially when it stems from potentially suggestive identification procedures. It reinforces the fundamental right of every accused to be presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt,” it added.

Diameter Bombs Increment 1 (SDB-1); 40

AIM-9X Block II Sidewinder missiles, 32

AIM-9X Block II Sidewinder Captive Air Training Missiles (CATMs); 60 MK-82 500lb general purpose bombs; and 60 MK-84 2,000-lb general purpose bombs, plus associated equipment.

When delivered to the Philippines, the country will be the 26th user of the F-16 “Fighting Falcon.” Neighboring Indonesia has the fighter while Taiwan, with 150 F-16s is a major user. Close to 5,000 F-16s have been built since its introduction in 1978.

percent from 3.9 percent), manufacturing (3.7 percent from 3.6 percent), public administration and defense (4.2 percent from 4.1 percent), human health and social work (10.9 percent from 10.7 percent), and agriculture, forestry, and fishing (-1.5 percent from -1.6 percent).

‘Hold Duterte accountable

for dredging, black sand mining in Cagayan River’

By Jonathan L. Mayuga @jonlmayuga

MASSIVE dredging operations at the Cagayan River have disrupted marine life causing a sharp decline in fish catch, fishermen complained.

Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) blamed former President Rodrigo Duterte’s policy to back China-led dredging operations in the region for the sharp decrease in fish catch.

Pamalakaya said that the river dredging project, initiated during Duterte’s term and carried out by Chinese contractors, was presented as a flood mitigation effort but caused serious damage to the local fishing industry.

“This is the direct result of Duterte’s betrayal. He allowed Chinese companies to dredge our rivers under the guise of rehabilitation, and now our fishermen are

the ones paying the price,” Pamalakaya Secretary General Salvador France said.

France said small fishermen in Aparri and other Cagayan coastal towns have suffered huge losses in their daily catch. What used to be earnings of P7,000 per fishing trip have plummeted to as low as P900, he said.

“That barely covers fuel. Families that rely on fishing are now struggling to survive,” he added.

The group stressed that the dredging activities, rather than being managed by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), were handed to foreign companies during Duterte’s term.

Black sand mining

PAMALAKAYA also raised concerns over the extraction of black sand (magnetite), a highly value mineral, which they said is being exploited and exported by Chinese dredgers surreptitiously.

House leader vows action on concerns of irrigators

By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz @joveemarie

THE leadership of the House of Representatives has reaffirmed Congress’ full legislative support in addressing longstanding concerns of the country’s irrigators.

Speaker Martin G. Romualdez recognized irrigators’ associations (IAs) as “key partners” in securing the nation’s food supply, recognizing their vital contributions as among the “heroes of agriculture.”

Speaking before hundreds of irrigators and farmers gathered for the 2025 Nationwide NIA-IA Congress held at Canyon Woods Resort Club in Laurel, Batangas, on Wednesday, Romualdez pledged full legislative support to uplift and address their longstanding concerns.

Led by Administrator Eduardo Guillen of the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) and other officials, the congress aimed to strengthen collaboration between irrigators, government agencies, and legislators.

In his speech, Romualdez underscored the fundamental role of irrigation in the livelihood of Filipino farmers, emphasizing its direct link to national food security.

“The importance of irrigation in a farmer’s life needs no explanation. Without water, there is no harvest. Without harvest, there is no food on the tables of Filipino families,” he stressed.

Acknowledging the sacrifices of irrigators, Romualdez described them as frontline

partners in the national economy, particularly amid the persistent challenges in the agricultural sector.

“We recognize your hard work and sacrifices. You, the members of irrigators’ associations, are our partners in ensuring food security. In Congress, we consider you as frontliners in the country’s food supply chain,” he added.

Romualdez also took note of the pressing issues raised by farmers during community visits, including access to farm inputs, machinery, subsidies, insurance, water permit fees, and educational scholarships for their children.

To directly address these concerns, the Speaker vowed to personally oversee legislative measures and policy-making processes that impact the agricultural sector.

“As Speaker, I will closely monitor the progress of bills that seek to uplift farmers. In crafting agricultural policies and budgets, I will ensure that farmers’ voices are heard and prioritized,” he assured.

Romualdez urged IA leaders and farming organizations to actively participate in legislative discussions and deliberations, ensuring that policies truly reflect their needs.

“I encourage you— leaders of IAs and farming organizations—to take part in congressional hearings and discussions. Speak up and tell us what laws you truly need,” he said.

He reassured farmers that the House of Representatives remains committed to translating their needs into concrete policies and laws.

For the fourth quarter of 2024, the largest revisions came from education (6.8 percent from 6.2 percent), other services (10.9 percent from 10.5 percent), public administration and defense (7.2 percent from 7 percent), manufacturing (3.3 percent from 3.1 percent), and agriculture, forestry, and fishing (-1.6 percent from -1.8 percent).

“These are not simple dredging activities. These are disguised black sand mining operations. The black sand being hauled out of Cagayan River is worth millions. And our fishermen get nothing but empty nets and murky waters,” France added.

Pamalakaya called for an immediate halt to the dredging operations, a full audit of the project’s approvals under the Duterte administration, and accountability for the long-term damage inflicted on the river’s ecosystem and local economy.

According to the statistics agency, the revisions were made in line with an approved policy that follows international standards for national accounts updates.

“We want the dredging stopped. We want the river restored. And we want Duterte held accountable,” France said.

France said a cumulative impact assessment must be conducted on the ongoing dredging activities in the Cagayan River to fully understand the long-term ecological, social, and economic effects.

“This is not just about isolated environmental disruption. It is about the compounded damage to marine biodiversity, livelihoods of small fishers, and the integrity of local communities,” he said.

“Any large-scale intervention like this must be subject to comprehensive and transparent evaluation, especially given the involvement of foreign entities and extractive interests.”

‘Vote-buying expected to be widespread in 2025 polls’

NEARLY six in every 10 Filipinos expect vote-buying to be rampant in the 2025 midterm elections, according to a survey by OCTA Research released on Thursday.

T he survey, conducted among 1,200 respondents nationwide, found that 66 percent anticipate widespread vote-buying in the upcoming polls.

T he perception that vote-buying will be widespread is shared across all major regions and socio-economic classes, except in Class ABC, where 54 percent disagreed.

T he findings also highlight concerns over the integrity of the elections, with nearly seven in every 10 Filipinos (68 percent) believing that vote-buying will negatively impact the outcome.

Among age gr oups, the highest levels of concern were recorded among voters aged 18 to 24 and 25 to 34 - the largest segment of the country’s voting population - at 73 percent and 74 percent, respectively.

Meanwhile, those with a high school or vocational education expressed the greatest apprehension, with 71 percent believing votebuying will undermine the elections.

In t erms of locality, the issue appears more pressing in urban areas (71 percent) than in rural areas (65 percent).

C ertain regions were specifically identified as potential vote-buying

hotspots, including Cagayan Valley, MIMAROPA, Cordillera Administrative Region, Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, and Caraga.

Commission on Elections Chairman George Erwin M. Garcia vowed to take action against candidates engaging in vote-buying through financial assistance, distribution of goods or social services, or any other forms of inducement.

He said the Comelec will immediately act on such incidents to restore voters’ confidence in the electoral process.

H owever, Garcia emphasized that voters still need to file a formal complaint for the poll body to take action.

“It ’s not enough to just observe and not take action. It’s better if we report these cases… If people stay silent, vote-buying will continue to thrive,” he added.

Earlier this week, Comelec reported receiving 34 complaints of vote-buying and the misuse of state resources nationwide.

T he commission noted that many of these cases were reported from the National Capital Region, which has been identified as a “center of vote-buying.” (Related: https:// businessmirror.com.ph/2025/04/01/ comelec-receives-34-complaintsof-vote-buying-abuse-of-stateresources/) Justine Xyrah Garcia

Comelec to place Maguindanao del Norte town under full control

HE Commission on Elections

T(Comelec) will place Datu Odin Sinsuat in Maguindanao del Norte under full Comelec control following the fatal ambush of its election officer.

Comelec Chairman George Erwin M. Garcia said Thursday the en banc is finalizing the provisions that will take effect once the town is officially placed under its control.

H e explained that previous declarations of Comelec control lacked clear guidelines, which sometimes led to concerns over the commission’s authority.

“In the past, the roles and responsibilities under Comelec control were unclear. There was a risk of overreach if the limitations and regulations were not properly defined. We need to establish clear guidelines on what we can and cannot do,” Garcia said in Filipino.

To address this, he said Comelec is now crafting rules that will set clear boundaries on its authority in Datu Odin Sinsuat.

T hese measures, he added, will help ensure that violence in the area is effectively addressed.

The decision comes after the fatal ambush of Election Officer Atty. Maceda Abo and her husband earlier in the day.

W hile there is no official report yet on the identities of the perpetrators, the Philippine National Police (PNP) said it is investigating four suspects.

Despite the incident, Garcia clarified that Comelec will not place the entire Maguindanao del Norte under its control, even as local election officials recommended it.

H e argued that such a move would be unfair to municipalities that remain peaceful.

“D eclaring the entire Maguindanao del Norte under Comelec control is not an option at this point. It would be unfair to municipalities that have no history of violence. It doesn’t make sense to escalate areas from yellow or orange classifications straight to full Comelec control. That would be too unfair,” Garcia said.

Datu Odin Sinsuat will be the first area to be placed under Comelec control in this super elections year.

The poll body has yet to release the final resolution regarding the matter. Justine Xyrah Garcia

Go leads Arkipelago Analytics 2025 senatorial survey; Tulfo Brothers, Sotto, ‘Bato’ among top contenders

SENATOR Bong Go leads the pack in the latest Arkipelago Analytics Senatorial Preferences Survey, conducted from March 15 to 21, 2025, with a commanding 64% of voter preference. Go, who is seeking reelection under PDP–Laban, appears to have maintained strong grassroots support and national visibility since his Senate debut.

Not far behind are the Tulfo brothers—Erwin Tulfo (59.8%), former DSWD Secretary running under Lakas–CMD, and independent candidate Ben “Bitag” Tulfo (57.7%).

At fourth place is veteran lawmaker and former Senate President Tito Sotto (49.0%) of the Nationalist People’s Coalition, followed closely by Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa (48.4%, PDP–Laban), a known ally of the administration and a former police chief.

Senator Pia Cayetano (48.0%, Nacionalista Party) and actor-politician Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. (46.0%, Lakas–CMD) also remain strong contenders in the top tier. At 8th place

DMW secures release of 17 OFWs in Qatar; they face possible raps for illegal assembly

By Samuel P. Medenilla @sam_medenilla

THE Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) announced last Thursday the provisional release of the 17 overseas Filipino workers (OFW), who were detained for allegedly conducting illegal assembly in Qatar.

In a briefing in Malacañang, DMW Secretary Hans J. Cacdac said the Qatari officials allowed their release upon the request of their legal counsel as directed by President Ferdinand Marcos.

Of those who were detained, 12 were males, and five were females.

“The Qatari authorities in two separate batches, the males at around 2.30 am Qatar time, and the females around 4 am Qatari time, were provisionally released

pending investigation,” he said.

Upon their release, he said the affected OFWs were able to return to their respective homes in Doha, Qatar and spend time with their loved ones.

There were among the 20 Filipinos, who were detained by Qatari authorities after they allegedly engaged in illegal assembly on 28 March 2025 to celebrate the 80th birthday of former President Rodrigo R. Duterte.

The three minors, who were among the detained group, were released last Monday.

Cacdac said the OFWs will still undergo investigation from Qatari Prosecution Service and may face imprisonment of six months to three years as well as fines ranging from 10,000 to 50,000 Qatari Riyals if they will be proven to have engaged

DOH intensifies primary care efforts with PuroKalusugan, BUCAS centers

By Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco @claudethmc3

THE Department of Health (DOH) said that it championing primary health care by shifting its priorities to the delivery of primary health care at the community level by intensifying its PuroKalusugan program and opening Bagong Urgent Care and Ambulatory Service (BUCAS) centers in more underserved areas throughout the country.

“I’d like to share with you our priorities at the DOH. We are championing primary health care at the Purok level… we are changing directions; we are opening the BUCAS centers in various parts of the Philippines,” Health Secretary Teodoro J. Herbosa said in his address at the recently held Unilab Foundation Partners’ Night at the Novotel Araneta Center attended by health and academic professionals, civil society leaders, and local government officials.

Herbosa said that the DOH has accelerated the establishment of BUCAS centers in partnership with the private sector.

“When I started last year, we said we will build 28 BUCAS centers for the 28 million poorest Filipinos by 2028. Nine months later, I have 46 BUCAS centers all over the country, all being led by our medical center chiefs, without putting out money because it was the money from the fiscal

autonomy,” he said. The BUCAS centers complement the PuroKalusugan program where barangay health workers and purok leaders are conducting house-to-house visits, identifying individuals who need medical care, immunizations, and follow-up checkups.

T his approach, according to the government, ensures that infants receive vaccinations, seniors get proper medications, and people with chronic illnesses receive ongoing medical attention.

PhilHealth benefit packages

ON the finance side, Herbosa said the DOH continues to increase all the PhilHealth benefit packages, including the acute myocardial infraction package and dialysis, which is now at P6,350 per session for 156 sessions/year from the previous P2,500/ session.

These, the Health chief stressed, can be more successful with the collaboration of the private sector, particularly citing the Unilab Center for Health Policy (UCHP) for their “strong partnership with the Department of Health.”

“Your work on research, policy, and innovation has complemented our efforts to bring UHC [Universal Health Care] to a tangible reality for every Filipino. Your commitment to undertake bold, essential

PN, Royal Australian Navy beefing up strategic ties

TBy Rex Anthony Naval

HE Philippine Navy (PN) on Wednesday hosted the 8th Navy-To-Navy Talks (NTNT) with the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) highlighting the country’s growing strategic ties with Australia.

is television host and businessman Willie Revillame (39.5%, Independent), a relative newcomer to politics whose popularity has translated into significant voter support.

Veteran senator Lito Lapid (38.7%, NPC) and Makati Mayor Abby Binay (38.4%, NPC) round out the top ten. Filling the 11th and 12th spots are Las Piñas Representative Camille Villar (37.9%, Nacionalista Party) and Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao (37.7%, PFP), reflecting voter support for experienced names in national and local governance.

O utside the top 12, Senator Ping Lacson (37.5%, Independent) ranks 13th, followed by actor and administration ally Phillip “Ipe” Salvador (31.5%, PDP–Laban) and Rodante Marcoleta (30.0%, Independent), a former congressman. Senator Imee Marcos (29.9%, Nacionalista Party) sits in 16th place, while Jimmy Bondoc (29.5%, PDP–Laban) and Gringo Honasan (27.9%, Reform Party) continue to receive support from niche constituencies.

In a statement, PN spokesperson Capt. Benjo Negranza said the NTNT was co-chaired by PN vice commander Maj. Gen. Edwin Amadar and RAN director general maritime operations Commodore Jonathan Ley serving as the meeting’s co-chairs.

The event was held at the PN headquarters at Naval Station Jose Andrada, Roxas Boulevard, Manila.

“As one of our closest strategic partners, the Philippines sees Australia as an important and credible partner in discussing how we can collectively move forward to realize the potential of our bilateral relations,” Amadar said.

He also extended his gratitude to the RAN for their continuous support of the PN’s endeavors.

The PN-RAN NTNT provides an opportunity to engage in discussions on topics of

Sandiganbayan junks Jinggoy plea to dismiss graft charges filed against him in connection with his PDAF

Tin illegal assembly or gathering that potentially disturbed public security.

“Part of the legal assistance that has been so carefully directed by the President is to put up the best legal defense for our 17 kababayans [nationals],” he said.

The DMW official did not give details on their legal defense for the OFWs citing attorney-client relationship.

He reminded other OFWs to always comply with the existing laws and customs in their host countries so they will not suffer a similar fate to those who were detained in Qatar.

Cacdac also reiterated they are ready to extend aid even to OFWs, who have contrary views with the administration as mandated by Republic Act No. 11641 or the DMW Act.

initiatives, such as the establishment of the One Hospital Command Center and the patient navigation system in the National Capital Region, is both commendable and deeply valued,” he said. These initiatives reflect the kind of thinking we need: strategic systems thinking rooted in real-world needs. I’m very glad the Unilab Center for Health Policy is also working alongside the Philippine College of Emergency Medicine and other institutions to bring these ideas to life,” he added. The enhanced patient navigation system will include real-time data utilization, centralization, strengthened coordination, and improved staff capabilities. It will ensur e that Filipinos receive timely access to the necessary medical services. The initial step is developing a comprehensive roadmap aligned with the DOH guidelines and the Universal Health Care Integration System (UHCIS). As Secretary of Health, I’m constantly reminded that strengthening the health system is not something the Government can do alone. It takes all of us working across sectors, sharing knowledge, and aligning our goals to make health for all a reality. This evening is not merely a celebration of the partners’ accomplishments but a tribute to the power of partnership; it is an opportunity to recognize the individuals and institutions that demonstrate each day that meaningful collaboration between the public and private sectors is not only feasible but transformative,” Herbosa concluded.

mutual interest and explore opportunities for enhanced maritime cooperation. Key areas of focus include exercises, operations, intelligence, and personnel exchanges, all aimed at strengthening the strategic partnership between the Philippine and Australian Navies. Negranza said the talks also served as a platform to review activities from the previous year, outline future collaborative efforts, and align perspectives on regional and global security objectives. The 8th PN-RAN NTNT reinforced both countries’ commitment to regional security, interoperability, and the continuous enhancement of maritime capabilities.

By Joel R. San Juan   @jrsanjuan1573

HE Sandiganbayan’s Special Fifth Division has denied demurrer to evidence filed by Sen. Jinggoy Estrada seeking the immediate dismissal of the 11 graft charges filed against him in connection with alleged irregularities in the disbursement of his P231.5 million Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) from 2008 to 2010. In a 99-page r esolution signed by Associate Justices Zaldy Trespeses, Maryann CorpusMañalac and Maria Theresa Mendoza-Arcega, the Sandiganbayan also denied the demurrer to evidence filed by Estrada’s co-accused former Technology and Livelihood Resource Center (TLRC) deputy director general Dennis L. Cunanan.

T he anti-graft court set the date for Estrada and Cunanan’s presentation of evidence to counter the graft charges on April 22, 2025.

“In t otal, the Court is convinced that the plaintiff clearly proved that Estrada’s PDAF was systematically pocketed, was divided among the accused, and nothing went to the supposed beneficiaries of the PDAF-funded agricultural and livelihood programs,” the ruling stated.

A demurr er to evidence is a motion filed by an accused after the prosecution rests its case, asserting that the evidence presented is insufficient to warrant a conviction.

If the demurrer to evidence is granted, the accused is acquitted. On the other hand, the Sandiganbayan granted the joint demurrer to evidence filed by Estrada’s other co-accused namely former Department of Budget and

Management (DBM) undersecretary Mario L. Relampagos, DBM officials Rosario S. Nuñez, Lalaine N. Paule, and Marilou D. Bare. It also ordered the lifting of the hold departure order (HDO) earlier issued against them.

T he case stemmed from the complaint filed by the Office of the Special Prosecutor of the Office of the Ombudsman accusing Estrada of receiving kickbacks by endorsing non-governmental organizations (NGOs) owned and controlled by pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim Napoles to the appropriate government agencies as partnersimplementers of his PDAF-funded projects which turned out to be fictitious. For his defense, Estrada claimed that the daily disbursement report stored in the hard drive of pork barrel scam whistleblower Benhur Luy, which was presented as part of the prosecution’s evidence, are unreliable as they are mere printouts and can be easily manufactured.

Trump announces sweeping new tariffs to promote US manufacturing, risking inflation and trade wars

By Josh Boak The Associated Press

WASHINGTON—President

Donald Trump on Wednesday announced farreaching new tariffs on nearly all US trading partners—a 34 percent tax on imports from China and 20 percent on the European Union, among others— that threaten to dismantle much of the architecture of the global economy and trigger broader trade wars.

Trump, in a Rose Garden announcement, said he was placing elevated tariff rates on dozens of nations that run meaningful trade surpluses with the United States, while imposing a 10 percent baseline tax on imports from all countries in response to what he called an economic emergency.

The president, who said the tariffs were designed to boost domestic manufacturing, used aggressive rhetoric to describe a global trade system that the United States helped to build after World War II, saying “our country has been looted, pillaged, raped and plundered” by other nations.

The action amounts to a historic tax hike that could push the global order to a breaking point. It kickstarts what could be a painful transition for many Americans as middle-class essentials such as housing, autos and clothing are expected to become more costly, while disrupting the alliances built to ensure peace and economic stability.

Trump said he was acting to bring in hundreds of billions in new revenue to the US government and restore fairness to global trade.

“Taxpayers have been ripped off for more than 50 years,” he

said. “But it is not going to happen anymore.”

Trump declared a national economic emergency to levy the tariffs. He has promised that factory jobs will return to the United States as a result of the taxes, but his policies risk a sudden economic slowdown as consumers and businesses could face sharp price hikes.

Trump was fulfilling a key campaign promise as he imposed what he called “reciprocal” tariffs on trade partners, acting without Congress under the 1977 International Emergency Powers Act. But his action Wednesday could jeopardize Trump’s voter mandate in last year’s election to combat inflation. Several Republican senators, particularly from farm and border states, have questioned the wisdom of the tariffs. US stock market futures sold off sharply overnight in anticipation of the economy weakening, after having already dropped since the start of this year.

“With today’s announcement, US tariffs will approach levels not seen since the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930, which incited a global trade war and deepened the Great Depression,” said Scott Lincicome and Colin Grabow of

the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank.

The president’s higher rates would hit foreign entities that sell more goods to the United States than they buy. The administration essentially calculated its tariff rates to raise revenues equal in size to the trade imbalances with those nations. Trump then halved that rate in act that he described as “very kind.”

The White House says the tariffs and other trade imbalances led to a $1.2 trillion imbalance last year. Administration officials suggested it could take an extended set of actions by other countries to bring down the new tariffs their imports now face, and retaliatory tariffs by those countries could make the situation worse.

Olu Sonola, head of US economic research at Fitch Ratings, said the average tariff rate charged by the United States would increase to roughly 22 percent from 2.5 percent in 2024.

“Many countries will likely end up in a recession,” Sonola said. “You can throw most forecasts out the door, if this tariff rate stays on for an extended period of time.”

The new tariffs will come on top of recent announcements of 25 percent taxes on auto imports; levies against China, Canada and Mexico; and expanded trade penalties on steel and aluminum. Trump has also imposed tariffs on countries that import oil from Venezuela and he plans separate import taxes on pharmaceutical drugs, lumber, copper and computer chips.

Canada and Mexico would not face higher rates on what they’re already being charged by Trump in what he says is an effort to stop illegal immigration and drug smuggling. As of now, goods that comply with the USMCA North American trade pact would be excluded from those tariffs.

But the 20 percent charged on imports from China due to its role in fentanyl production would largely be added to the 34 per -

cent announced by Trump. The specific products that Trump is tariffing, such as autos, would be exempt from the tariffs unveiled Wednesday, as would products such as pharmaceutical drugs that he plans to tariff at a later date.

Threats of backlash

NONE of the warning signs about a falling stock market or consumer sentiment turning morose have caused the administration to publicly second-guess its strategy, despite the risk of political backlash.

Senior administration officials, who insisted on anonymity to preview the new tariffs with reporters ahead of Trump’s speech, said the taxes would raise hundreds of billions of dollars annually in revenues. They said the 10 percent baseline rate existed to help ensure compliance, while the higher rates were based on the trade deficits run with other nations and then halved to reach the numbers that Trump presented in the Rose Garden.

The 10 percent rate would be collected starting Saturday and the higher rates would be collected beginning April 9.

Trump removed the tariff exemptions on imports from China worth $800 or less. He plans to remove the exemptions other nations have on imports worth $800 or less once the federal government certifies that it has the staffing and resources in place.

Based on the possibility of broad tariffs that have been floated by some White House aides, most outside analyses by banks and think tanks see an economy tarnished by higher prices and stagnating growth.

Trump would be applying these tariffs on his own; he has ways of doing so without congressional approval. That makes it easy for Democratic lawmakers and policymakers to criticize the administration if the uncertainty expressed by businesses and declining consumer sentiment are signs of trouble to come.

Rep. Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., said the tariffs are “part of the chaos and dysfunction” being generated across the Trump administration. The chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee stressed that Trump should not have the sole authority to raise taxes as he intends without getting lawmakers’ approval, saying that Republicans so far have been “blindly loyal.”

“The president shouldn’t be able to do that,” DelBene said. “This is a massive tax increase on American families, and it’s without a vote in Congress. ... President Trump promised on the campaign trail that he would lower costs on day one. Now he says he doesn’t care if prices go up—he’s broken his promise.”

Even Republicans who trust Trump’s instincts have acknowledged that the tariffs could disrupt an economy with an otherwise healthy 4.1 percent unemployment rate.

“We’ll see how it all develops,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La. “It may be rocky in the beginning. But I think that this will make sense for Americans and help all Americans.”

Allies brace themselves LONGTIME trading partners are preparing their own countermeasures. Canada has imposed some in response to the tariffs that Trump tied to the trafficking of fentanyl.

The European Union, in response to the steel and aluminum tariffs, put taxes on 26 billion euros ($28 billion) worth of US goods, including on bourbon, which prompted Trump to threaten a 200 percent tariff on European alcohol.

Many allies feel they have been reluctantly drawn into a confrontation by Trump, who routinely says America’s friends and foes have essentially ripped off the United States with a mix of tariffs and other trade barriers.

The flip side is that Americans also have the incomes to choose to buy designer gowns by French

fashion houses and autos from German manufacturers, whereas World Bank data show the EU has lower incomes per capita than the US.

The Chinese government delivered a measured response to the new tariffs, saying in a statement: “China believes that protectionism leads nowhere, and trade and tariff wars have no winners. This has been widely recognized in the international community.”

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said Trump’s new tariffs would “fundamentally change the international trading system.” He noted that the tariffs already in place against his country and those Trump says he plans to add will be fought with countermeasures.

“In a crisis, it’s important to come together and it’s essential to act with purpose and with force and that’s what we will do,” Carney said.

Italy’s conservative Premier Giorgia Meloni said Trump’s new tariffs against the EU were “wrong” and Italy would work toward an agreement with the United States to avoid a trade war that would weaken all involved.

Basic Fun CEO Jay Foreman, whose company is behind such classic toys as Tonka trucks, Lincoln Logs and Care Bears, has been working hard to come up with new ways to cut tariffrelated costs like reduce packaging and eliminate batteries with the products.

But Trump’s announcement that he plans a 34 percent increase in tariffs on Chinese imports has solidified his decision to hike prices. Most of the company’s toys are made in China. He said the Tonka Mighty Dump Truck will go from $29.99 to $39.99 this holiday season, possibly even $45.

“There is no other way,” he said.

The Associated Press writers Anne D’Innocenzio in New York, Rob Gillies in Toronto and Didi Tang, Paul Wiseman and Lisa Mascaro in Washington contributed to this report.

Trade tensions rise: Trump’s new tariffs draw criticism from allies and partners

BBy The Associated Press

ANGKOK—The sweeping new tariffs announced Wednesday by US President Donald Trump were met initially with measured reactions from key trading partners, highlighting the lack of appetite for a fullfledged trade war.

Trump presented the import taxes, which he calls “reciprocal tariffs” and range from 10 percent to 49 percent, in the simplest terms: the US would do to its trading partners what he said they had been doing to the US for decades.

“Taxpayers have been ripped off for more than 50 years,” he said. “But it is not going to happen anymore.”

The president promised that “Jobs and factories will come roaring back into our country.” He framed it not just as an economic issue, but a question of national security that threatens “our very way of life.”

Financial markets were jolted, with US stock futures down by as much as 3 percent early Thursday and Tokyo’s market leading losses in Asia. Oil prices sank more than $2 a barrel and the price of bitcoin dropped 4.4 percent.

‘Nobody wants a trade war’ SHORTLY after Trump’s announcement, the British government said

the United States remains the UK’s “closest ally.”

Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said the U.K. hoped to strike a trade deal to “mitigate the impact” of the 10 percent tariffs on British goods announced by Trump.

“Nobody wants a trade war and our intention remains to secure a deal,” said Reynolds. “But nothing is off the table and the government will do everything necessary to defend the U.K.’s national interest.”

Italy’s conservative Premier Giorgia Meloni described the new 20 percent tariffs against the European Union as “wrong,” saying they benefit neither side.

“We will do everything we can to work towards an agreement with the United States, with the aim of avoiding a trade war that would inevitably weaken the West in favor of other global players,” Meloni said in a Facebook post.

Brazil’s government said it was considering taking the case to the World Trade Organization. And later, in a rare display of unity, Brazil’s Congress unanimously passed a reciprocity bill to allow its government to retaliate against any country or trade bloc that imposes tariffs on Brazilian goods.

‘No basis in logic’ SOME countries took issue with

the White House’s calculations.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the US tariffs imposed on his country were totally unwarranted, but Australia will not retaliate.

“President Trump referred to reciprocal tariffs. A reciprocal tariff would be zero, not 10 percent,” said Albanese. The US and Australia have a free trade agreement and the US has a $2-to-$1 trade surplus with Australia. “This is not the act of a friend.”

Trump said the United States bought $3 billion of Australian beef last year, but Australia would not accept US beef imports. Albanese said the ban on raw US beef was for biosecurity reasons.

The 29 percent tariff imposed on the tiny South Pacific outpost of Norfolk Island came as a shock.

The Australian territory has a population of around 2,000 people and the economy revolves around tourism.

“To my knowledge, we do not export anything to the United States,” Norfolk Island Administrator George Plant, the Australian government’s representative on the island, told the AP Thursday.

“We don’t charge tariffs on anything. I can’t think of any nontariff barriers that would be in place either, so we’re scratching our heads here.”

New Zealand also took issue with Trump’s tariff logic.

“We don’t have a 20 percent tariff rate,” said trade minister Todd McClay, adding that New Zealand was “a very low tariff regime” and the correct figure was below the 10 percent baseline rate applied by the US to all countries.

“We won’t be looking to retaliate. That would put up prices on New Zealand consumers and it would be inflationary,” he said.

Spared for the moment from the latest round of tariffs were Mexico and Canada, so far as goods that already qualified under their free trade agreement with the United States. Yet, the previously announced 25 percent tariffs on auto imports were scheduled to take effect at midnight.

Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum said Wednesday she would wait to take action on Thursday when it was clear how Trump’s announcement would affect Mexico.

“It’s not a question of if you impose tariffs on me, I’m going to impose tariffs on you,” she said Wednesday morning. “Our interest is in strengthening the Mexican economy.”

Canada had imposed retaliatory tariffs in response to the

www.businessmirror.com.ph

The World

Trump slaps India with 26% tariff, ignoring personal ties with Modi

By Shruti Srivastava

PRESIDENT Donald Trump slapped India with some of the highest tariff rates imposed on any major US trading partner, saying his good personal ties with Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not affect his decision.

The Trump administration imposed a 26 percent tariff on imports from India, which is slightly higher than the 20 percent levy for the European Union, the 24 percent for Japan and the 25 percent for South Korea. China was hit with one the highest rates for a major US trading partner and now faces a tariff of at least 54 percent on many goods.

T he tariffs are a setback for Modi’s government, which had sought to ward off the new levies by rolling out sweeping concessions on issues central to Trump’s agenda. During a visit to Washington by Modi in February, the two nations agreed to work toward a trade pact this year.

“India, v ery, very tough. Very, very tough,” Trump said at a news event at the White House on Wednesday to announce the tariffs. “The prime minister just left, and he’s a great friend of mine. But I said, you’re a friend of mine, but you’re not treating us right. They charge us 52 percent.” The levies are likely to ratchet up pressure on officials in New Delhi to hash out a trade pact with Washington.

“The reciprocal tariff rate increases the urgency to strike a bilateral trade agreement with the US as soon as possible,” said Sonal Varma, an economist with Nomura Holdings Inc. India will likely respond to the levies with moves over the coming months including the lowering of tariffs on a broad array of US imports, buying more American energy products and increasing market access, Varma added.

Ahead of the move, the Trump administration has been signaling India would be a target of the new duties, given

that New Delhi charges some of the highest tariffs of any major economy. Trump has repeatedly criticized India’s high levies, branding the country as the “tariff king.”

O ver the past few weeks, New Delhi overhauled its tariff regime, reducing import duties on some 8,500 industrial items, including on prominent American goods like bourbon whiskey and high-end motorcycles made by Harley-Davidson Inc., satisfying a longtime grievance of the US president.

India also indica ted its willingness to buy more American oil, LNG and defense equipment to narrow its bilateral trade surplus. Officials have also signaled that more tariff cuts would be in the offing.

Modi, who w as one of the first foreign leaders to meet Trump after his return to the Oval Office, recently lavished praise on the US president, underscoring their close personal ties. The two nations agreed to conclude the first tranche of a trade deal by the fall of this year and boost bilateral trade to $500 billion by 2030, up from $127 billion in 2023, following the meeting.

T he levies will also add further pressure on India to make even deeper cuts to its tariff regime. As a part of the discussions, India is considering US demands of duty cuts on US farm products, Bloomberg News reported last week, although agriculture is a politically sensitive issue in India. Officials were optimistic of a favorable outcome in wake of these concessions.

The new duties could also push New Delhi to yield to the US demand on dismantling non-tariff trade barriers, such as opaque import restrictions and licensing requirement on some imports.

Trump and Modi held multiple meetings during the US president’s first term. The US over multiple administrations has cultivated India as a regional partner and a bulwark against a more assertive China.

With assistance from Niluksi Koswanage and Ruchi Bhatia/Bloomberg

Vietnam charm offensive fails to stave off 46% Trump tariff

By Nguyen Dieu Tu Uyen, Nguyen Kieu Giang & John Boudreau

VIETNAM said it’s working on solutions describing the huge tariffs imposed by the Trump administration as “not in line” with the good relationship between the two nations, after a charm offensive failed to avert one of the largest levies announced by the White House.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh ordered a task force be set up for a quick response and told officials to “remain calm and have proactive, timely and flexible measures to cope with the situation,” according to a post on the government website.

Vietnam is being hit with a 46 percent tariff, one of the highest “reciprocal” rates aimed at what the Trump administration labels the worst offenders based on a government tally of the levies and non-tariff barriers imposed on US goods.

“This is devastating for Vietnam,” said Trinh Nguyen, senior economist at Natixis in Hong Kong. It not only damages the nation’s economy, but also puts at risk future foreign investment, she said.

Continued from A8

25 percent tariffs that Trump tied to the trafficking of fentanyl. The European Union, in response to the steel and aluminum tariffs, imposed taxes on 26 billion euros’ worth ($28 billion) of US goods, including bourbon, prompting Trump to threaten a 200 percent tariff on European alcohol.

Little to gain

China vows retaliation as Trump unleashes ‘Bazooka’ US tariffs

By Bloomberg News

CHINA vowed to retaliate after being hit with Donald Trump’s biggest tariffs yet, which threaten to decimate trade between the world’s largest economies.

The Chinese Ministry of Commerce condemned the US levies and pledged to hit back with unspecified measures in a statement Thursday, adding that the sweeping tariffs threatened the stability of global supply chains.

“China firmly opposes this and will resolutely take countermeasures to safeguard its own rights and interests,” the ministry said, urging the US to cancel the levies and resolve the conflict through dialogue.

Trump announced a 34 percent tariff hike on almost all Chinese products as he unveiled the steepest American tariffs in a century on partners around the world including the European Union and Japan. The new levies on Chinese goods will go into effect on April 9, the Republican leader said during a Wednesday event in the White House Rose Garden.

The latest tariffs bring average US tariffs on all Chinese products to as high as 65 percent, according to economists. That rate includes existing tariffs from the first Trump term that were maintained by the Biden administration.

The yuan weakened in both onshore and offshore markets after Trump’s move despite support from the central bank and big lenders. The offshore yuan slipped as much as 0.7 percent to 7.3484, down the most since December.

The new tax from the US, Vietnam’s largest export market, could significantly dent the nation’s ambitious goal of boosting growth to at least 8 percent this year. Chinh said the growth target remains unchanged for now.

Vietnam’s benchmark VN Index fell as much as 6.7 percent as of 1:34 p.m. local time, the steepest decline since January 2021. The gauge is poised to erase its year-to-date gain.

“If these tariffs remain in place, we could see GDP growth forecasts for Vietnam being downgraded,” said Ruchir Desai, a fund manager at Asia Frontier Capital in Hong Kong.

Like governments around the region, Vietnam has sought to pull in capital from multinational companies as the country emerges as a viable alternative to China in the manufacturing of everything from gadgets to basic semiconductors. Intel Corp. operates a chip assembly and test manufacturing facility in Ho Chi Minh City, and the country has also attracted the likes of Apple Inc. suppliers and Samsung

See “Vietnam,” A10

“Put simply: if Trump’s prior 20 percent tariff hikes took a hammer to US-China trade, today’s actions are a bazooka,” said Jennifer Welch, chief geoeconomics analyst for Bloomberg Economics.

Macquarie Group Ltd. estimated last year that China’s GDP growth could be reduced by 2 percentage points in the event of a 60 percent tariff rate. A simulation by Bloomberg Economics shows that the trade between the world’s largest economies would shrink to practically nothing with tariffs that high.

The official Xinhua News Agency published a commentary criticizing Trump’s tariff offensive, calling it “self-defeating bullying.”

“By turning trade into an oversimplistic tit-for-tat game, Washington is dismantling a global trade system based on efficiency, specialization and mutual benefit and hurting both the US economy and the global economy at large,” Xinhua said.

Beijing has retaliated against previous tariffs with levies on

American products. China has also restricted exports of critical minerals and targeted additional US firms for investigation, steps it could take in response to Trump’s latest moves.

“These tariffs will put China under enormous pressure,” said Martin Chorzempa, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington.

“China’s retaliation to the latest two rounds was relatively muted, but today’s action could harden views in Beijing and lead to serious escalation far beyond tariffs,” he added.

The new so-called reciprocal tariff will add to a slew of US moves designed to curb the US’ trade deficit with China.

De Minimis tariff exemptions, which currently allow packages worth $800 or less from China and Hong Kong to enter the US dutyfree, will end on May 2, the White House announced Wednesday. The tariff exemptions helped give rise to online marketplaces by Shein and PDD Holdings Inc.’s Temu that ship goods directly to US shoppers from Chinese factories.

These actions by the US may prompt Beijing to add stimulus to the domestic economy to try to compensate for the likely hit to demand. China’s economy was already struggling with a supply glut that was pushing down prices. That issue would likely be exacerbated by a decrease in exports because of the tariffs.

“If you add today’s announcement of 34 percent tariffs to the 13 percent average tariff rate China faced prior to Trump’s return to the White House, and the 20 percent hike Trump has introduced since January 20, we’re actually looking at a 67 percent average tariff rate. Trump also signed an executive order today once again eliminating duty-free de minimis treatment for low-value imports from China, which will nudge the average tariff rate higher,” said Jennifer Welch, Bloomberg chief geoeconomics analyst.

Economists expect the central bank to reduce the amount of cash banks must keep in reserve this quarter, which will allow them to lend more money to households and companies.

Chinese consumption has shown signs of resilience on a government initiative to subsidize purchases of cars and home appliances. But con-

sumer inflation dropped far more than forecast earlier this year, and expectations for future business in the manufacturing industry weakened for a second month in March to the lowest level in 2025.

Tensions between Washington and Beijing have worsened since Trump returned to the White House in January. The US president has yet to speak with his Chinese counterpart more than two months after his inauguration. They are also locked in a stalemate over China’s alleged role in the flow of fentanyl into America, which Trump cited as a reason for the 20 percent tariffs imposed earlier this year.

Fentanyl has become a flashpoint in US-China relations, with Trump accusing Beijing of having done too little to stop its precursors from entering the US. China has in turn blamed the Trump administration for using the issue as a pretext to raise tariffs, with Chinese Foreign Minister describing it as “blackmail” earlier this week.

The economic conflict between the two governments has spilled over to private companies in both countries. Chinese officials have pushed back against Walmart Inc.’s efforts to pressure Chinese suppliers to cut prices to offset Trump’s tariffs. Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing attracted Beijing’s ire by agreeing to sell his company’s ports in Panama to appease Trump.

Trump justified his new tariffs as a fair way to match the barriers that other countries enact on US firms and goods. The new 34 percent blanket levies are half of what Trump considers to be tariffs China charges to the US, including the effects of other trade barriers and alleged currency manipulation.  The Trump administration has accused China of erecting non-tariff barriers that disadvantage US exports and companies, complaints that were laid out in an annual report published by the USTR this week. With assistance from Colum Murphy, Yujing Liu and Iris Ouyang/Bloomberg

“In the face of unrelenting economic warfare, the United States can no longer continue with a policy of unilateral economic surrender,” Trump said.

before, said via X that the tariffs marked a global milestone: “Today the neoliberalism that proclaimed free-trade policies all over the world has died.”

Analysts say there’s little to be gained from an all-out trade war, neither in the United States or in other countries.

“Once again, Trump has put Europe at a crossroads,” said Matteo Villa, senior analyst at Italy’s Institute for International Political Studies.

Villa also noted that retaliation would certainly be a further “blow” to the United States, but it would hurt Europe even more, as the EU bloc depends more on exports to the US than vice versa.

Speaking from a business forum in India, Chilean President Gabriel Boric warned that such measures, in addition to causing uncertainty, challenge the “mutually agreed rules” and the “principles that govern international trade.” Colombia President Gustavo Petro, who has clashed with Trump

AS Trump read the list of countries that would be targeted Wednesday, he repeatedly said he didn’t blame them for the trade barriers they imposed to protect their own nations’ businesses. “But we’re doing the same thing right now,” he said.

“If Trump really imposes high tariffs, Europe will have to respond, but the paradox is that the EU would be better off doing nothing,” he added.

“On the other hand, Trump seems to understand only the language of force, and this indicates the need for a strong and immediate response,” Villa said. “Probably the hope, in Brussels, is that the response will be strong enough to induce Trump to negotiate and, soon, to backtrack.”

AP journalists around the world contributed to this story. Tariffs. . .

Israeli strikes on Gaza Strip overnight leave more than 50 Palestinians dead

By Wafaa Shurafa The Associated Press

DEIR AL BALAH, Gaza

Strip—Overnight strikes by Israel killed at least 55 people across the Gaza Strip, hospital officials said Thursday, a day after senior government officials said Israel would seize large areas of Gaza and establish a new security corridor across the Palestinian territory.

Israel has vowed to escalate the nearly 18-month war with Hamas until the militant group returns dozens of remaining hostages, disarms and leaves the territory. Israel has imposed a month-long halt on all imports of food, fuel and humanitarian aid that has left civilians facing acute shortages as supplies dwindle.

Officials in Khan Younis, in the southern part of the strip, said the bodies of 14 people had been taken to Nasser Hospital – nine of them from the same family. The dead included five children and four women. The bodies of another 19 people, including five children aged between 1 and 7 years and a pregnant woman, were taken to the European hospital near Khan Younis, hospital officials said. In Gaza City, 21 bodies were taken to Ahli hospital, including those of seven children.

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Israel was establishing a new security corridor across the Gaza Strip to pressure Hamas, suggesting it would cut off the southern city of Rafah, which Israel has ordered evacuated, from the rest of the Palestinian territory.

Electronics Co. The Southeast Asian nation has for years been the second-largest supplier of clothes and shoes to the US, according to the American Apparel & Footwear Association, which represents more than 1,000 brands.

Many Vietnamese textile and apparel companies, which rely on the US market for a bulk of their exports, are at a “high risk” of being forced out of business, putting

Netanyahu referred to the new axis as the Morag corridor, using the name of a Jewish settlement that once stood between Rafah and Khan Younis, suggesting it would run between the two southern cities. He said it would be “a second Philadelphi corridor “ referring to the Gaza side of the border with Egypt further south, which has been under Israeli control since last May. Israel has reasserted control over the Netzarim corridor, also named for a former settlement, that cuts off the northern third of Gaza, including Gaza City, from the rest of the narrow coastal strip. Both of the existing corridors run from the Israeli border to the Mediterranean Sea.

“We are cutting up the strip, and we are increasing the pressure step by step, so that they will give us our hostages,” Netanyahu said.

The Western-backed Palestinian Authority, led by rivals of Hamas, expressed its “complete rejection” of the planned corridor. Its statement also called for Hamas to give up power in Gaza, where the militant group has faced rare protests recently.

Netanyahu’s announcement came after the defense minister,

thousands of Vietnamese out of work, said Duong Thi Ngoc Dung, the Ho Chi Minh City-based vice chairwoman of the Vietnam Textile & Apparel Association.

“This is shocking. I opened my eyes this morning and was completely stunned,” Dung said. “This 46 percent tax rate is beyond anything we could have imagined. This will drive up the prices of all Vietnamese goods in the US. Will American consumers still buy them?”

Vietnam has taken increasing steps to convince the US it is serious about reducing its trade surplus, which reached $123.5 billion last year, the third highest

Israel Katz, said Israel would seize large areas of Gaza and add them to its so-called security zones, apparently referring to an existing buffer zone along Gaza’s entire perimeter. He called on Gaza residents to “expel Hamas and return all the hostages,” saying “this is the only way to end the war.”

Hamas has said it will only release the remaining 59 hostages—24 of whom are believed to be alive—in exchange for the release of more Palestinian prisoners, a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli pullout. The group has rejected demands that it lay down its arms or leave the territory.

On Sunday, Netanyahu said Israel plans to maintain overall security control of Gaza after the war and implement US President Donald Trump’s proposal to resettle much of its population elsewhere through what the Israeli leader referred to as “voluntary emigration.”

Palestinians have rejected the

gap for the US, behind China and Mexico.

Vietnam on Monday slashed tariffs on a range of imports, from liquefied natural gas and automobiles to various agricultural products.

V ietnam planned to dispatch another delegation to the US this weekend led by Deputy Prime Minister Ho Duc Phoc and accompanied by executives from companies including Vietnam Airlines JSC, Vietjet Aviation JSC and VinaCapital Group Ltd. to New York.

“With this tax level, Vietnamese products can’t compete in the US market. So, if Vietnamese businesses want to survive,

plan, viewing it as expulsion from their homeland after Israel’s offensive left much of it uninhabitable, and human rights experts say implementing the plan would likely violate international law.

The war began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostages, most of whom have since been released in ceasefire agreements and other deals. Israel rescued eight living hostages and has recovered dozens of bodies.

Israel’s offensive has killed more than 50,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t say whether those killed are civilians or combatants. Israel says it has killed around 20,000 militants, without providing evidence.

The war has left vast areas of Gaza in ruins and at its height displaced around 90 percent of the population.

they’ll have to look for other markets such as the Middle East, South America, or Africa,” said Le Dang Doanh, an economist and former government adviser in Hanoi.

“We can’t rely on the US market anymore. Vietnam will need to take careful steps and find ways to negotiate a tax reduction, we cannot live with this 46 percent rate. It’s an exorbitant tax rate,” Doanh said.

President Donald Trump said Wednesday he will issue a minimum 10 percent import duty on all exporters to the US and slap additional duties on around 60 nations with the largest trade imbalances with the US.

Myanmar’s military declares a ceasefire to ease quake relief as deaths pass 3,000

By David Rising The Associated Press

BANGKOK—Myanmar’s ruling military declared a temporary ceasefire in the country’s civil war Wednesday to facilitate relief efforts following a 7.7 magnitude earthquake that has killed more than 3,000 people.

The surprise announcement by military leaders who also head the unelected government came late Wednesday on state television MRTV, which said the halt in fighting would run until April 22 to show compassion for people affected by Friday’s quake.

The announcement followed unilateral temporary ceasefires announced by armed resistance groups opposed to military rule, and the military warned that those groups must refrain from attacking the state and regrouping, or else face “necessary” measures.

The resistance forces have also reserved the right to fight in self-defense.

Earlier Wednesday, rescuers pulled two men alive from the ruins of a hotel in Myanmar’s capital, a third from a guesthouse in another city, and another in the country’s second city, Mandalay, five days after the quake. But most teams were finding only bodies.

The quake hit midday Friday, toppling thousands of buildings, collapsing bridges and buckling roads. The death toll rose to 3,003 on Wednesday, with more than 4,500 people injured, MRTV reported. Local reports suggest much higher figures.

The quake worsened an already dire humanitarian crisis due to Myanmar’s civil war. More than 3 million people had been displaced from their homes and nearly 20 million were in need even before it hit, according to the United Nations.

Dramatic rescue in Myanmar capital

In the capital, Naypyitaw, a team of Turkish and local rescue workers used an endoscopic camera to locate Naing Lin Tun on a lower floor of the damaged hotel

T he Trump administration set Vietnam’s country tariff at 90 percent. A USTR report released Monday on foreign trade barriers listed import bans and restrictions, product registration requirements, and technical and sanitary barriers among the issues. Trump indicated he would consider lowering rates if other nations remove their trade barriers on US exports.

‘Negative shock’ VIETNAM is among the world’s most tradedependent nations, with exports equivalent to about 90 percent of gross domestic product last year.

where he worked. They pulled him gingerly through a hole jackhammered through a floor and loaded him on to a gurney nearly 108 hours after he was first trapped.

Shirtless and covered in dust, he appeared weak but conscious in a video released by the local fire department, as he was fitted with an IV drip and taken away. State-run MRTV reported later in the day that another man was saved from the same building, more than 121 hours after the quake struck. Both were age 26.

Another man, a 47-year-old primary school principal, was rescued by a team of Malaysian and local crews from a collapsed guesthouse in the Sagaing township, near the epicenter of the earthquake close to Myanmar’s second-largest city, Mandalay, where a fourth rescue was reported Wednesday night.

The earthquake also rocked neighboring Thailand, causing the collapse of a high-rise building under construction in Bangkok. One body was removed from the rubble early Wednesday, raising the death total in Bangkok to 22 with 35 injured, primarily at the construction site.

Resistance groups have announced ceasefires MYANMAR’S military seized power in 2021 from the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, sparking what has turned into significant armed resistance. Ceasefires had been announced earlier this week by the People’s Defense Force, which is the armed wing of the shadow opposition National Unity Government, and the Three Brotherhood Alliance, a trio of ethnic minority guerrilla armies. That had put pressure on the military government to follow suit, said Morgan Michaels, a Singapore-based analyst with the International Institute of Strategic Studies.

See “Myanmar,” A11

Buying more pricey US goods can be challenging for developing economies like Vietnam, economist Trinh said. In the short term, Vietnam doesn’t have a lot of room to mitigate the tariff’s “negative shock” through currency and monetary policies, she said. The economic damage to Vietnam could hurt the nation’s relationship with the

PALESTINIANS inspect a UN building after it was hit by an Israeli strike, in Jabaliya, northern Gaza Strip on Wednesday, April 2, 2025. AP/JEHAD ALSHRAFI

India’s parliament passes controversial bill amending Muslim land endowment laws

By Aijaz Hussain & Sheikh Saaliq Associated Press

SRINAGAR, India—The Lower House of India’s parliament early Thursday passed a controversial bill moved by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist government to amend laws governing Muslim land endowments.

The bill would add non-Muslims to boards that manage waqf land endowments and give the government a larger role in validating their land holdings. The government says the changes will help to fight corruption and mismanagement while promoting diversity, but critics fear that it will further undermine the rights of the country’s Muslim minority and could be used to confiscate historic mosques and other property.

As hourslong debate in the Lower House grew heated as the Congress-led opposition firmly opposed the proposal, calling it unconstitutional and discriminatory against Muslims. Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party lacks a majority in the Lower House, but its allies helped to pass the bill.

The debate that began Wednesday ended with 288 members voting for the bill while 232 were against it early Thursday.

The bill will now need to clear the Upper House before it is sent to President Droupadi Murmu for her assent to become law.

Later Thursday, lawmakers in the Upper House began debating the bill. At least eight hours have been set aside for discussion.

Minority Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju introduced the bill to change a 1995 law that set rules for the foundations and set up state-level boards to administer them.

Many Muslim groups as well as the opposition parties say the proposal is discriminatory, politically motivated and an attempt by Modi’s ruling party to weaken minority rights.

The bill was first introduced in parliament last year, and opposition leaders have said some of their subsequent proposals on it were ignored. The government has said opposition parties are using rumors to

Myanmar. . .

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It’s too early to say whether a pause in fighting could lead to something longer lasting, he said. “It would require very deft and active diplomacy to transform a humanitarian pause into something more lasting. And that’s not guaranteed,” Morgans said.

Military leader due in Thailand

THE military government was particularly vulnerable to bad publicity this week because its leader, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, was expected for a high-profile visit to a regional conference in the Thai capital Thursday.

It will be his first to a country other than his government’s main supporters

discredit them and block transparency in managing the endowments.

What’s a waqf?

WAQFS are a traditional type of Islamic charitable foundation in which a donor permanently sets aside property—often but not always real estate—for religious or charitable purposes. Waqf properties cannot be sold or transferred.

Waqfs in India control 872,000 properties that cover 405,000 hectares (1 million acres) of land, worth an estimated $14.22 billion. Some of these endowments date back centuries, and many are used for mosques, seminaries, graveyards and orphanages.

Law would change who runs waqfs

In India, waqf property is managed by semi-official boards, one for each state and federally run union territory. The law would require non-Muslims to be appointed to the boards.

Currently, waqf boards are staffed by Muslims, like similar bodies that help administer other religious charities.

During the parliamentary debate, Home Minister Amit Shah said non-Muslims would be included in waqf boards only for administration purposes and helping run the endowments smoothly. He added that they were not there to interfere in religious affairs.

“The (non-Muslim) members will monitor whether the administration is running as per law or not, and whether the donations are being used for what they were intended or not,” he said.

One of the most controversial changes is to ownership rules, which could impact historical mosques, shrines and graveyards since many such properties lack formal documentation as they were donated without legal records decades, and even centuries, ago.

Questions about title OTHER changes could impact mosques on land held in centuries-old waqfs.

See “India,” A12

and backers—China, Russia and Russia ally Belarus—since he attended another regional meeting in Indonesia in 2021.

Min Aung Hlaing and other senior leaders are shunned and sanctioned by many Western countries for their 2021 takeover and human rights abuses as they try to crush the resistance to their rule.

Claims of an attack on a Chinese Red Cross convoy BEFORE Wednesday’s ceasefire announcement, an opposition militia belonging to the Brotherhood Alliance reported that the military fired on a relief convoy of nine Chinese Red Cross vehicles late Tuesday in the northern part of Shan state.

The Ta’ang National Liberation Army said that the Chinese Red Cross was bringing supplies to Mandalay and had reported its

Netanyahu rocked by new scandal linking his close advisers to Qatar

By Tia Goldenberg The Associated Press

TEL AVIV, Israel—Prime

Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office is once again ensnared in scandal after police arrested two of his close associates this week on suspicion of accepting money from Qatar to promote a positive image of the Gulf Arab state in Israel.

The affair has gripped Israelis because Qatar, a country that many view as a patron of Hamas, and which has no formal diplomatic ties to Israel, appears to have penetrated the highest corridors of power.

Qatar, which is a key mediator for Hamas in its ceasefire negotiations with Israel, denies backing the militant group. Netanyahu has given a statement to police on the matter but is not a suspect in the case, which he says is baseless and meant to topple his rule.

The investigation is just the latest scandal to roil Netanyahu, who is the subject of a long-running corruption trial and regularly rails against a “deep state” that is out to get him.

Critics say Netanyahu, the country’s longest-serving prime minister, has worked in recent years to undermine Israel’s state institutions, including its judiciary. Most recently, they point to his attempt to dismiss the head of

route to the military.

But Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun, spokesman for the military government, said that the convoy hadn’t notified authorities of its route ahead of time, MRTV reported. While not mentioning the Red Cross, he said that security forces had fired into the air to deter a convoy that refused to stop. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun didn’t comment on the attack. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said it was looking into the matter.

More international aid heads to Myanmar COUNTRIES have pledged millions in assistance to help Myanmar and humanitarian aid organizations with the

Israel’s domestic security agency, which is also investigating his office’s alleged links to Qatar.

Netanyahu advisers allegedly promoted Qatari interests

DUBBED “Qatargate” by Israeli media, the investigation centers on accusations that two close advisers to Netanyahu—longtime media consultant Jonatan Urich, and former spokesman Eli Feldstein—were hired to run a public-relations campaign to improve Qatar’s image among Israelis while it was negotiating on behalf of Hamas for a ceasefire in Gaza. Payments were allegedly funneled through an American lobbyist. According to a court document, the American lobbyist and Urich struck a “business connection” to positively promote Qatar and spread negative messages about Egypt, another important mediator in the Israel-Hamas ceasefire negotiations. Feldstein was allegedly paid to

monumental task ahead, while also sending in specialist search and rescue teams and setting up field hospitals.

India and China, both neighbors of Myanmar that compete for influence there, have been especially quick and generous with assistance. Multiple other countries have sent teams, including Turkey, Vietnam, Singapore and Malaysia.

The US government has pledged $2 million in emergency aid and sent a three-person team to assess how best to respond given drastic cuts to US foreign assistance.

United Nations spokesman Stephane Dujarric said that continuing aftershocks are complicating humanitarian response efforts. In Mandalay City, many people are completely cut off from electricity and

pass on those messages to journalists. He and Urich could face charges of contact with a foreign agent, money laundering, bribery, fraud and breach of trust, according to Israeli media. Other than financial gain, any other possible motives are unclear.

One Israeli journalist questioned in the case is Zvika Klein, the editor-in-chief of the Jerusalem Post, an English-language daily. According to a report this week in the Post, Klein visited Qatar at the invitation of its government last year and subsequently wrote a series of articles about his impressions, one of which laid out Qatar’s case against Israeli claims that it backs the militant group. The newspaper said Klein, who could not be reached for comment, is currently barred from speaking to journalists.

Lawyers for Urich and Feldstein did not respond to requests for comment.

Netanyahu has slammed the probe as a political witch hunt and accused police of holding his advisers as “hostages”—wording that angered many in Israel because Hamas is still holding dozens captive inside Gaza after its October 7, 2023, attack that ignited the war.

A judge on Tuesday extended the detentions of Urich and Feldstein, who has been indicted in a separate case involving the leak of classified information to a German tabloid.

Qatar is a key mediator on Gaza with ties to Hamas THE nearly 18-monthlong war in Gaza rages on after last month’s collapse of a 42-day ceasefire that Qatar played a key role in helping secure.

Among Israelis, the gas-rich emirate is best known for sending money to Gaza beginning in 2018—an effort meant to help poor families. But analysts and former officials say some of the money dispatched with Netanyahu’s blessing made its way to Hamas’ military wing and helped it prepare for the October 7, 2023, attacks.

Israelis are also suspicious of Qatar’s intentions because it is the homebase for Hamas’ political leaders, and its broadcaster Al Jazeera is seen by Israel as a mouthpiece for Hamas, allegations the network denies. Qatar says it provided humanitarian aid to Gaza in full coordination with the Israeli government. When reached by the AP, a Qatari government official did not directly respond to the alleged links to Netanyahu’s advisers. He said mediation efforts on Gaza would continue. He spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.

If the new allegations are substantiated, “it’s an abuse of the office,” said Tomer Naor, of the Movement of Quality Government in Israel. What’s particularly worrying, he said, is how easily outside actors appear to have gained access to the prime minister’s inner circle—and that the advisers allegedly promoted Qatari talking points to journalists while giving the impression that the messaging was coming from the prime minister’s office.

running water.

“People affected continue to need urgent healthcare and medical supplies, safe drinking water, food and other critical items,” Dujarric said. “Tents and temporary shelter are needed, as well as latrines and other hygiene items, to prevent disease outbreaks.”

Extent of devastation is still unclear

MOST of the details so far have come from Mandalay, which was near the epicenter of the earthquake, and Naypyitaw, about 270 kilometers (165 miles) north of Mandalay.

Many areas are without power, telephone or cellphone connections, and

See “Netanyahu,” A12

difficult to reach by road, but more reports are beginning to trickle in.

In Singu township, about 65 kilometers (40 miles) north of Mandalay, 27 gold miners were killed in a cave-in, the independent Democratic Voice of Burma reported. In the area of Inle Lake, a popular tourist destination northeast of the capital, many people died when homes built on wooden stilts in the water collapsed in the earthquake, the Global New Light of Myanmar reported.

Matthew Lee in Washington, Jamey Keaten in Geneva and Jintamas Saksornchai and Grant Peck in Bangkok contributed to this report.

Rubio and Trump’s NATO envoy seek to reassure wary allies amid uncertainty

By Matthew Lee & Lorne Cook The Associated Press

BRUSSELS—US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the Trump administration’s new envoy to NATO are seeking to reassure wary NATO allies of the US commitment to the alliance.

Rubio on Thursday decried “hysteria and hyperbole” in the media about President Donald Trump’s intentions despite persistent signals from Washington that NATO as it has existed for 75 years may no longer be relevant.

Rubio and newly confirmed US ambassador to NATO Matt Whitaker are in Brussels for a meeting of alliance foreign ministers at which many are hoping Rubio will shed light on US security plans in Europe.

“The United States is as active in NATO as it has ever been,” Rubio told reporters as he greeted NATO chief Mark Rutte before the meeting began. “And some of this hysteria and hyperbole that I see in the global media and some domestic media in the United States about NATO is unwarranted.”

“President Trump’s made clear he supports NATO,” Rubio said. “We’re going to remain in NATO.”

“We want NATO to be stronger, we want NATO to be more visible and the only way NATO can get stronger, more visible is if our partners, the nation states that comprise this important alliance, have more capability,” he said.

In a statement, Whitaker said that “under President Trump’s leadership, NATO will be stronger and more effective than ever before, and I believe that a robust

NATO can continue to serve as a bedrock of peace and prosperity.” But he added: “NATO’s vitality rests on every ally doing their fair share.”

Concerns about US commitment to allies DESPITE those words, European allies and Canada are deeply concerned by Trump’s readiness to draw closer to Russian leader Vladimir Putin, who sees NATO as a threat as the US tries to broker a ceasefire in Ukraine, his rhetorical attacks and insults against on allies like Canada and Denmark.

And Trump’s Wednesday imposition of new global tariffs, which will affect allies, have added to the uncertainty and unease.

Asked about concerns among European allies about a possible US troop drawdown and the importance of getting clear messages from the Trump administration, Rutte said: “These issues are not new. There are no plans for them to all of a sudden draw down their presence here in Europe.”

Indeed, the Trump administration has not made its NATO allies aware any plans it might have. But several European countries are convinced that US troops and equipment will be withdrawn, and they want to find out from Rubio how many and when so they can fill any security gaps.

“We need to preempt a rapid retreat, but we’ve had nothing precise from the US yet,” a senior NATO diplomat said ahead of the meeting, briefing reporters on his country’s expectations on condition that he not be named.

Haiti’s journalists under siege: Dodging bullets, defying censorship in a city controlled by gangs

By Pierre-Richard Luxama, Dánica Coto & Evens Sanon

The Associated Press

ORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Jean-Jacques

PAsperges once relished returning home after a long day working at a radio station in one of the world’s most dangerous places for journalists.

He had a roof and four walls for protection, but gang violence forced him and his family to flee their home twice.

Now, Asperges, 58, his wife and their two children are forced to sleep on the floor of a soiled and overcrowded makeshift shelter with thousands of other Haitians also left homeless by gang violence.

“Bullets fall here all the time,” he said.

Having lost all his work equipment, Asperges relies solely on his phone, but he remains undeterred like dozens of other journalists in Haiti who are under attack like never before. They are dodging bullets, defying censorship and setting personal struggles aside as they document the downfall of Haiti’s capital and the surge in violence blamed on powerful gangs that control 85% of Port-au-Prince.

Heavily armed gangs attacked at least three TV and radio stations in March. Two of the buildings

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Once the target of a regional blockade over its alleged ties to Islamist extremist groups and Iran, Qatar has long sought to be seen as an influential regional player and as a trusted conflict mediator.

But throughout the war in Gaza, many in Israel, including Netanyahu, have expressed anger that Qatar wasn’t doing enough to pressure Hamas to meet Israel’s terms for a ceasefire.

Qatar’s aim in the alleged public-relations campaign in Israel may have been to quell those accusations and make sure they didn’t influence the US, with whom it has close security ties, said Yoel Guzansky, a senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies, a Tel Aviv think tank.

were already abandoned because of previous violence, but gunmen stole equipment that had been left behind.

“It’s a message: You don’t operate without our permission, and you don’t operate at all in our turf,” said David C. Adams, an expert on press freedom issues in Haiti.

Gangs sent an even deadlier message on Christmas Eve, when they opened fire on journalists covering the failed reopening of Haiti’s largest public hospital, saying they had not authorized its reopening.

Two journalists were killed and at least seven others were injured, including Asperges, who was shot in the stomach. It was the worst attack on reporters in Haiti in recent history.

“Everyone is threatened. Everyone is under pressure,” said Max Chauvet, director of operations at Le Nouvelliste, Haiti’s oldest independent newspaper.

‘You feel in danger doing your job’ DONNING a bulletproof vest emblazoned with “PRESS” on it is now a dangerous move in Haiti. What used to serve as a symbolic and physical shield has become a target.

At least 10 journalists covering a major March protest were attacked, including Jephte Bazil, a

Rutte’s dilemma

RUTTE is in a bind. European allies and Canada have tasked him with keeping the United States firmly in NATO. Around 100,000 US troops are stationed in Europe along with the Navy’s 6th Fleet and nuclear warheads. US firepower ensures that NATO’s ability to deter Russia is credible.

This means he cannot openly criticize Trump, who is commander in chief of NATO’s biggest and bestequipped armed forces. What is clear, is that US allies must ramp up defense spending even more than they already have since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine 3 years ago, so that they can defend Europe with less American help and keep Ukraine’s armed forces in the fight.

“The US expects European allies to take more responsibility for their own security,” Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp said, which means that “European NATO countries rapidly have to strengthen the European pillar of NATO and have to increase their defense spending.”

Since Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth warned last month that US security priorities lie elsewhere—in Asia and on the US’s own borders—the Europeans have waited to learn how big a military drawdown in Europe could be and how fast it may happen. In Europe and Canada, governments are working on “burden shifting” plans to take over more of the load, while trying to ensure that no security vacuum is created if US troops and equipment are withdrawn from the continent.

videographer who runs his own media company, Machann Zen Haïti.

He was threading his way through a protest in the Canapé-Vert neighborhood of Port-au-Prince when three men dressed in black and with their faces covered called him over.

“What the hell are you doing around here?” Bazil recalled them asking.

They searched his bag, took away his cellphone and demanded multiple forms of ID. Bazil handed over only his passport, keeping his ID card hidden because it stated he was from Martissant, a community that gangs seized several years ago. He was too scared to show it and possibly be accused of being a gang member or a sympathizer.

“I believe I could have been killed,” Bazil said. After an interrogation that lasted at least half an hour, Bazil said the men released him. As he walked away, one followed him with a machete to see if he was headed where he said he was going.

Once he reached his destination, Bazil said the man told him: “If you had made any other turn, I would have…cut your head off.”

It was not the first time Bazil feared for his life. He was injured in December’s hospital attack and, in February, while covering a confrontation between police and gangs, his motorcycle was shot but he was spared.

“Journalists are targets now, whether police or gangs,” he said.

Coto reported from San Juan, Puerto Rico.

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Radical Hindu groups have laid claim to several mosques around India, arguing they are built on the ruins of important Hindu temples. Many such cases are pending in courts.

The law would require waqf boards to seek approval from a district level officer to confirm the waqfs’ claims to property.

Critics say that would undermine the board and could lead to Muslims being stripped of their land. It’s not clear how often the boards would be asked to confirm such claims to land.

“The Waqf (Amendment) Bill is a weapon

“Qatar is contemptible. But we should check ourselves first,” he said. “We not only allowed, we encouraged Qatar to invest in Gaza.”

The affair is the latest scandal to dog Netanyahu IT’S not clear what, if anything, Netanyahu knew about his advisers’ alleged wrongdoing.

Previous aides who got into trouble with the law have turned state witness against Netanyahu in his corruption trial. Netanyahu’s testimony in that trial was halted after Urich and Feldstein’s arrest this week; he was summoned to give police a statement about the case.

He said any effort to besmirch Egypt, a longtime mediator between Israel and the Palestinians, may have been a way to improve Qatar’s own regional standing. Qatar “brings up a lot of emotions” in Israel because it is viewed as having played a key role in bolstering Hamas ahead of its October 7 attack, Guzansky said. Before the war, Netanyahu had approved the transfer of funds from Qatar to Gaza as part of a strategy to contain Hamas, he explained.

aimed at marginalizing Muslims and usurping their personal laws and property rights,” Rahul Gandhi, the main opposition leader, wrote on social media platform X. He said the bill was an “attack on the Constitution” by the BJP and its allies “aimed at Muslims today but sets a precedent to target other communities in the future.”

Fears among Muslims WHILE many Muslims agree that waqfs suffer from corruption, encroachments and poor management, they also fear that the new law could give India’s Hindu nationalist government far greater control over Muslim properties, particularly at a time when attacks against minority communities have become more aggressive under Modi, with Muslims often

Netanyahu is under immense public pressure to accept responsibility for his role in failing to prevent the October 7 attack, including allowing the transfer of Qatari cash to Gaza. Mass protests erupted in recent weeks over Netanyahu’s decision to end the Gaza ceasefire that had facilitated the release of dozens of hostages, and over his moves to fire the head of the country’s domestic security agency and its attorney general.

The attempt to fire Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar came as the agency was running its own probe into the Qatar links. That prompted accusations that Netanyahu was trying to snuff out the investigation. Netanyahu has suggested, with little evidence, that the probe was a result of collusion between Bar and the attorney general as a way to thwart the domestic security chief’s dismissal. A court froze Bar’s dismissal pending further hearings. That hasn’t stopped Netanyahu from trying to appoint his replacement.

targeted for everything from their food and clothing styles to inter-religious marriages. Last month, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom said in its annual report that religious freedom conditions in India continued to deteriorate while Modi and his party “propagated hateful rhetoric and disinformation against Muslims and other religious minorities” during last year’s election campaign. Modi’s government says India is run on democratic principles of equality and no discrimination exists in the country. Muslims, who are 14% of India’s 1.4 billion population, are the largest minority group in the Hindu-majority nation but they are also the poorest, a 2013 government survey found.

South and Midwest battered by severe storms, flash flooding, and tornadoes

By Jeff Martin & Hallie Golden

The Associated Press

VIOLENT storms cut through a wide swath

of the South and Midwest, spawning tornadoes and killing at least one person, knocking down power lines and trees and ripping roofs off homes.

Dozens of tornadoes and severe thunderstorm warnings were issued Wednesday in parts of Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri and Mississippi as storms hit those and other states in the evening. Forecasters attributed the violent weather to daytime heating combining with an unstable atmosphere, strong wind shear and abundant moisture streaming into the nation’s midsection from the Gulf.

At least one person was killed in southeast Missouri, KFVS-TV reported, while part of a warehouse collapsed in a suburb of Indianapolis, temporarily trapping at least one person inside. In northeast Arkansas a rare tornado emergency was issued as debris flew thousands of feet in the air.

The coming days were also forecast to bring the risk of potentially deadly flash flooding to the South and Midwest as severe thunderstorms blowing eastward become supercharged. The potent storm system will bring “significant, lifethreatening flash flooding” each day through Saturday, the National Weather Service said. With more than a foot (30 centimeters) of rain possible over the next four days, the prolonged deluge “is an event that happens once in a generation to once in a lifetime,” the weather service said. “Historic rainfall totals and impacts are possible.”

More than 90 million people were at some risk of severe weather in a huge part of the nation stretching from Texas to Minnesota and Maine, according to the Oklahoma-based Storm Prediction Center.

Tornadoes touch down, and more could be coming A TORNADO emergency—the weather service’s highest alert—was briefly declared around Blytheville, Arkansas, on Wednesday evening, with debris lofted at least 25,000 feet (7.6 kilometers), according to Chelly Amin, a meteorologist with the service.

“It’s definitely going to be a really horrible situation here come sunrise in the morning in those areas,” Amin said.

A tornado was also reported on the ground near Harrisburg, Arkansas, in the evening.

The Arkansas Division of Emergency Management reported that there was damage in 22 counties due to tornadoes, wind gusts, hail and flash flooding. At least four people were injured, but there were no reports of fatalities as of Wednesday evening.

In Kentucky, a tornado touched down Wednesday night around Jeffersontown, a suburb of Louisville, passing the Interstate 64 and Interstate 265 interchange, according to the weather service.

Four people were injured in Kentucky when a church was hit by debris from a suspected tornado, according to Ballard County Emergency Management. One person was in critical condition, while the others have nonlife-threatening injuries.

In Brownsburg, Indiana, where part of a warehouse collapsed, the police department told people to not travel through the city. Five semitrucks were blown over on Interstate 65 near Lowell, Indiana, state police reported.

In Pilot Grove, Missouri, several structures were damaged, cars flipped over and power poles were snapped, the state emergency management agency said. Minor injuries were reported, according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol. Authorities in eastern Missouri were trying to determine whether it was a tornado that damaged buildings, overturned vehicles and tore down utility poles, tree limbs and business signs in the morning in and around the city of Nevada.

Another tornado touched down in the northeastern Oklahoma city of Owasso on Wednesday, according to the weather service. There were no immediate reports of injuries, but the twister heavily damaged the roofs of homes and knocked down power lines, trees, fences and sheds.

Power was knocked out to nearly 90,000 customers in Arkansas, Mississippi, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee, according to PowerOutage.us, which tracks outages nationwide. As storms moved through Indiana on Wednesday night, more than 182,000 customers lost power.

Strong and long-lasting tornadoes are possible in highest-risk area

ABOUT 2.5 million people were in a rarely called “high-risk” zone, covering parts of west Tennessee including Memphis; northeast Arkansas; the southeast corner of Missouri; and parts of western Kentucky and southern Illinois.

The Storm Prediction Center said “multiple long-track EF3+ tornadoes” were likely. Tor-

nadoes of that magnitude are among the strongest in intensity.

At a slightly lower risk for severe weather was an area that included Chicago, Indianapolis, St. Louis and Louisville, Kentucky. Dallas, Detroit, Milwaukee and Nashville, Tennessee, were also at risk.

Floods could inundate towns, sweep cars away A LINE of thunderstorms dropped heavy

rain through parts of Indiana on Wednesday night. At least one street was flooded in Indianapolis, with water nearly reaching the windows of several cars, according to the city’s metropolitan police department. No one was in the vehicles.

Additional rounds of heavy rain were expected in parts of Texas, the lower Mississippi Valley and the Ohio Valley from midweek through Saturday. Forecasters warned that they could track over the

same areas repeatedly, producing dangerous flash floods capable of sweeping cars away.

Middle Tennessee was looking at severe storms followed by four days of heavy rains as the front stalls out and sticks around through the weekend, according to NWS meteorologist Mark Rose.

“I don’t recall ever seeing one like this, and I’ve been here 30 years,” Rose said. “It’s not moving.”

Rain totaling up to 15 inches (38 centimeters) was forecast over the next seven days in northeastern Arkansas, the southeast corner of Missouri, western Kentucky and southern parts of Illinois and Indiana, the weather service warned, with some areas in Kentucky and Indiana at an especially high risk for flooding.

Power outages in Upper Midwest IN Michigan, crews worked to restore power after a weekend ice storm. More than 122,000 customers were still without electricity on Wednesday, according to PowerOutage.us.

Associated Press writers Andrew DeMillo in Little Rock, Arkansas; Adrian Sainz in Memphis, Tennessee; Seth

Borenstein in Washington; Isabella O’Malley in Philadelphia; and Ed White in Detroit.

Stolen songs, tainted campaigns: Copyright crisis in our elections

AS the election season heats up, the spotlight has turned to a concerning issue—the unauthorized use of original Filipino music by political candidates in their campaign jingles. The issue came to light when OPM band Lola Amour took to social media to reveal that their songs were being used in campaign jingles without their consent.

This is not an isolated incident, and it is likely that many other artists are facing similar violations. Protecting intellectual property rights is essential in promoting creativity and innovation. Artists pour their heart and soul into creating music that reflects the nation’s culture and identity. When their work is used without permission, it is not only a violation of their rights but also a disservice to the very essence of creativity. The growing problem prompted Comelec to take action, underscoring the significance of safeguarding Filipino artists’ intellectual property rights. The Comelec’s statement, urging OPM bands to report any unlawful use of their songs, sends a clear message that such blatant copyright infringement will not be tolerated. (Read the BusinessMirror story, “Comelec to OPM bands: Report unauthorized use of songs in campaigns,” April 1, 2025).

This is a welcome move, as it recognizes the hard work and creativity that goes into producing original music. Filipino artists deserve to be fairly compensated and have their works respected, even in the frenzy of election campaigns.

The Comelec’s plan to coordinate with the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) and issue the necessary legal notices to offending candidates is a prudent step. By leveraging the existing legal framework, the commission can ensure that violators face the appropriate administrative and criminal penalties, ranging from hefty fines to potential imprisonment.

Moreover, the Comelec’s reminder of the memorandum of agreement it signed with IPOPHL last year to promote copyright awareness is a positive signal. Educating candidates on the importance of respecting intellectual property rights is crucial in cultivating a culture of fairness and legality in the electoral process.

As political candidates embark on their campaigns, it is essential to remember the importance of originality and respect for intellectual property. Using popular songs as campaign jingles can be tempting, as they resonate with voters and evoke emotions that align with a candidate’s message. However, it is crucial to obtain the necessary permissions and licenses before using any copyrighted material. Stealing a song, even in the context of a campaign, can lead to legal issues, damage a candidate’s reputation, and alienate potential supporters who value creativity and integrity.

The unauthorized use of OPM songs not only deprives the rightful owners of their due credit and compensation, but it also undermines the integrity of the electoral process. By addressing this issue head-on, the Comelec is setting an important precedent that should resonate with all political candidates. The protection of intellectual property rights must be a priority, even amidst the frenzy of election campaigns. This move not only safeguards the interests of Filipino artists, but it also upholds the principles of fairness and respect for the creative community that is so vital to our nation’s cultural identity.

BusinessMirror

Three separate and distinct benefits of a

medically repatriated  seafarer

TPinoy Marino Rights

HE employer is liable for three separate and distinct  kinds of liabilities for any work-related illness or injury that the seafarer may have suffered during the term of the contract.

The medically repatriated Filipino seafarer is entitled to medical treatment at cost to the employer, apart from sickness allowance and disability benefits.

Away from his family and working on board vessels sailing non-stop for weeks or months the world’s oceans, the Filipino seafarer is physically, mentally and emotionally stressed.

The risks of his getting killed, injured or ill are high as the seafarer is constantly exposed to fluctuating temperatures caused by variant weather changes of extreme hot and cold as the ships cross ocean boundaries.

The Department of Migrant Workers Standard Employment Contract (DMW-SEC) mandates that the employers must: (a) provide medical treatment to the seafarer at their cost; (b) pay the seafarer sickness allowance equivalent to his basic wage and (c) compensate the seafarer for his permanent total or partial disability as finally determined by the company-designated physician.

First, Section 20-B (2), paragraph

2, of the DMW-SEC entitles the seafarer medical treatment that is aimed at the speedy recovery of the seafarer and the restoration of his previous healthy working condition.

The contract  imposes on the employer the liability to provide, at its cost, for the medical treatment of the repatriated seafarer for the illness or injury that he suffered on board the vessel until the seafarer is declared fit to work or the degree of his disability is finally determined by the company-designated physician.

This liability for medical expenses is conditioned upon the seafarer’s compliance with his own obligation to report to the company-designated physician within three days from his arrival in the country for diagnosis and treatment.

until the seafarer is declared fit to work or the degree of his permanent disability is determined by the company-designated physician. The period for the declaration should be made within the period of 120 days or 240 days, as the case may be.

Third, once a finding of permanent (total or partial) disability is made either within the 120-day period or the 240-day period, employer must pay the seafarer disability benefits for his permanent total or partial disability caused by the workrelated illness or injury.

The Supreme Court emphasized the separate treatment of, and the distinct considerations in, these three kinds of liabilities in the case of Javier v. Philippine Transmarine Carriers Inc. (GR 2014101 July 2, 2014).

While the DMW-SEC did not expressly state that the employer’s liabilities are cumulative in nature —so as to hold the employer liable for the sickness allowance, medical expenses and disability benefits—it does not also state that the compensation and benefits are alternative or that the grant of one bars the grant of the others.

the company-designated doctor to decide if the injury or illness is work-related.

If the seafarer is declared fit for duty after the medical treatment, the sickness allowance is the only benefit he could get. If the seafarer is further assessed disability grading due to irreparable physical damage, he could receive the said sickness allowance plus the disability benefits.

A finding of permanent disability means a permanent reduction of the earning power of a seafarer to perform future sea or on board duties; permanent disability benefits look to the future as a means to alleviate the seafarer’s financial condition based on the level of injury or illness he incurred or contracted.

Disability is intimately related to one’s earning capacity. The test to determine its gravity is the impairment or loss of one’s capacity to earn and not its mere medical significance. In disability compensation, it is not the injury per se that is compensated but the incapacity to work.

WWhile a seafarer is not entitled to total and permanent disability benefits, this does not rule out his right to the other benefits provided for under the DMW-SEC such as reimbursement for medical expenses, sickness allowance and benefit for partial disability caused by a workrelated injury.

The company is liable for the sickness allowance at the time when he is under treatment and waiting for

Disability need not render the seafarer absolutely helpless or feeble to be compensable; it means disablement of an employee to earn wages in the same kind of work, or work of similar nature that he was trained for or accustomed to perform, or any kind of work that a person of his mentality and attainment could do.

Atty. Dennis R. Gorecho is the junior partner who heads the Seafarers’ Division of the Sapalo Velez Bundang Bulilan Law Offices. For comments, e-mail info@sapalovelez.com, or call  0908866578.

The Philippines’ renewable energy transition: An urgent necessity and a promising opportunity

ITH an ambitious target of achieving 50% renewable energy (RE) in its power mix by 2040, the country faces a challenging journey marked by economic, institutional, social, and geopolitical hurdles. However, this formidable task is achievable through the robust collaboration between government agencies, the private sector, and civil society, alongside critical considerations such as cybersecurity, international cooperation, and geopolitical dynamics.

Second, since the seafarer is repatriated to the country to undergo treatment, his inability to perform his sea duties would normally result in depriving him of compensation income. The employer must provide the seafarer with sickness allowance that is equivalent to his basic wage The Philippines is

environmental

tion. Transitioning to renewable energy

it is fundamentally about economic resilience, energy security, and social equity. Critical to this transition is the

active and strategic role of the government. Policy frameworks like the Renewable Energy Act of 2008 have provided foundational support and the government must continue to establish clear regulations that incentivize renewable investments, including streamlined permitting processes and attractive fiscal incentives. Recently introduced mechanisms such as the Green Energy Auction Program (GEAP) is a good signal for long-term policy certainty. Its further expansion will be great. Moreover, strategic investment in grid infrastructure is essential. The intermittent nature of renewable energy necessitates modernized, resilient, and flexible grid systems. The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) will need to prioritize upgrading grid capacity to accommodate variable renewable inputs. Additionally, decen -

tralizing power generation through microgrids, especially in rural and island communities, can enhance energy access and reliability. An often-overlooked but critical consideration is cybersecurity. Renewable energy systems, increasingly digitalized and interconnected, are vulnerable to cyber threats. Ensuring the cybersecurity resilience of these systems requires proactive policies, stringent standards, and continuous risk assessment. Collaborative efforts between government agencies and private sector cybersecurity experts are essential to safeguarding infrastructure integrity and public trust. The private sector plays an indispensable role as the primary driver of technological innovation and capital mobilization. Renewable energy requires significant upfront See “Eagle Watch,” A15

Dennis Gorecho

WATCH

Fernando T. Aldaba

What Mackenzie Shirilla owes the families of her victims

‘IWISH I could remember what happened. I’m just so sorry. I’m heartbroken.”

T hese were the words of Mackenzie Shirilla during her sentencing on August 14, 2023, when she received two 15-years-to-life sentences for the murders of her boyfriend, Dominic Russo, 20, and Davion Flanagan, 19.

Shirilla’s denial of memory compounds the pain of the victims’ families, who grapple with the senselessness of the murders. The fundamental question, “why?,” remains unanswered.

For every murder, there is a motive. In this case, it was unknown except for the perpetrator, who was only 17 years old at the time.

The lack of explanation deepens the tragedy for the families of Russo and Flanagan, who had a bright future until their lives were abruptly and violently ended.

There were no knives, blunt objects, or guns at the crime scene. Her choice for the murder weapon was a Toyota Camry, which she deliberately slammed into a building at full speed, killing Russo and Flanagan.

Shirilla survived the horrific crash, only to be arrested a few months later for murder, felonious assault, aggravated vehicular homicide, drug possession, and possessing criminal tools.

Not only were the murders senseless, they were carried out with precision and in the most terrifying way.

During the trial, the defense said Shirilla could not remember what happened. A Law and Crime documentary explained this: “If she didn’t remember it, she could deflect the moral weight of what she had done—it would remain an accident, and she would not be a murderer.”

The judge didn’t buy it, and Shirilla was handed down two 15-years-to-life in prison to be served concurrently. Said the judge: “The totality of the evidence clearly demonstrates that Mackenzie Shirilla acted purposely and intentionally. No reasonable fact finder could view the totality of this evidence in this case and come to any other conclusion. Her actions were controlled, methodical, deliberate, intentional, and purposeful. This was not reckless driving. This was murder.”

The weight of causing the deaths of two individuals, whether intentionally or accidentally, is immense and a burden that can profoundly affect an individual.

investments, and private companies can lead this charge by deploying innovative financial solutions and new technologies. Through publicprivate partnerships (PPPs), risks can be effectively shared, stimulating investment flows into renewable infrastructure. Local banks and financial institutions can develop specialized financial products that can attract both local and international investors. Civil society’s involvement is equally vital. Communities and grassroots organizations bring critical perspectives, ensuring that the renewable transition aligns with social justice and inclusive development goals. These groups can fos-

Welcoming the real bunny

IT does appear to look like the real rabbit—soft, fluffy, tiny. The size is ideal: it is small enough to qualify as manageable and cute, nothing that could harm the small child who is the recipient of this new toy.

Remember the Tamagotchi , a portmanteau for “tamago,” a Japanese word for “egg” and “uotchi” or “watch”? Created for Bandai, a multinational toy company that is behind toy figures like Pokemon, Dragon Slayer and Ultraman, just to name a few, the Tamagotchi came in the form of a small egg-shaped video game usually handheld. In some of its incarnations, the Tamagotchi is embedded in a keychain-sized virtual pet; there are toys that can be worn like a wristwatch.

There are ways to atone—offenders exhibit remorse, change, and serve time. Shirilla would have plenty of opportunities to reflect on these while in prison, including the idea that she had to take full responsibility for what happened that early morning in July 2022 and provide closure to her victims’ families.

Unfortunately, Shirilla was not willing to do this. A year after her sentence, she appealed her convictions, indicating a continued refusal to accept responsibility. The Court of Appeals upheld her conviction. If I were Shirilla, I would ask my lawyer if finally taking full responsibility for the crime would be counterproductive. If not, I would see the families of Russo and Flanagan and offer a mea culpa.

Whether the act stemmed from a death wish, teenage impulsiveness, emotional instability, or hormonal factors, an admission of what transpired could help Shirilla’s process of moving forward, even within the confines of prison.

The victims’ families deserve to understand the events of that tragic morning. Her refusal to provide answers risks perpetuating her internal conflict.

Explaining might have legal ramifications, so she needs to discuss it with her lawyer. Sure, it was a sensitive issue while the trial was ongoing, but finally accepting accountability post-conviction is a different matter.

The victims’ families need to know what happened; Shirilla owes this to them. Not doing so would only gnaw on her conscience, which would be a heavier price. That is too many cobwebs on one’s brain and too much guilt to bear.

Even Shirilla’s mother, who pleaded for leniency, acknowledged the profound impact of the tragedy, saying, “She will never emotionally or physically recover from it.”

The loss of two lives as a result of Shirilla’s actions is a heavy burden. Her path to any form of recovery may begin with honesty, both to herself and to the families she has harmed.

ter community acceptance and engagement, critical factors in project sustainability. NGOs and academic institutions should collaborate to educate communities on renewable energy benefits, improving local support and participation. Despite this potential, several significant challenges remain. Firstly, financial constraints pose major hurdles. Renewable energy projects are capital-intensive and face higher initial costs compared to traditional energy sources. This barrier can be overcome by targeted subsidies, financial incentives, and robust international climate finance. Secondly, complex permitting processes hinder renewable energy deployment. A move towards more simplified, transparent regulatory environment will be welcomed. This can be facilitated through

From its introduction in the 1990s, Tamagotchi has evolved into other designs but its origin myth has been retained: Tamagotchis are tiny alien species that deposited an egg on earth. When the toy is activated, it is the duty of the owner or the player to help the egg mature into a creature. It can go through several stages depending on the kind of care the owner can give the egg. Tamagotchi has hunger levels, happiness levels, and so on. You know where this is heading of course – to higher life and even to death. Its life can go through what is called Gameplay and soon the toy that was initially marketed for young girls (the masculine version is the Digital Monster) became a distraction. You could also see gender orientation in the toy, with the maternal instinct a

way to supervise the Tamagotchi for young and even older girls.

Soon, the toy was banned in schools and there were even urban legends about young girls committing suicide after their Tamagotchi had died.

We could go back in time and consider the more “primitive” pet rock in the late ’70s and onwards. In so many ways, the pet rock could be the indirect ancestor, albeit less sophisticated, of the Tamagotchi. As you can guess, the pet rock, which came from the US in the mid-70s, was an easier toy to manage; after all, a rock need not be fed! As a pet, they need not be walked nor bathed. They were the perfect pets. Well, their popularity was short-lived. Now this pet bunny is so real that in its “advertorial,” it announces how it can “mimic a rabbit’s movements, produce sounds, and even move its ears in response to noise, offering children a close interactive experience.”

mographics. The Tamagotchi, as we can see, was a response to the childrearing that happened in a condition that saw the Japanese child isolated from other children and from parents. A very strong technological component also accompanied the narrative of the toy. From the early form of Tamagotchi, it was but a short leap to more digital toys, one that brought the young minds closer and more attached to gameboys, laptops, tablets and mobile phones.

It appears this pet rabbit is responding to the same conditions –young boys and girls who spend their waking hours glued to the screen of their digital games.

What could pull them away from such obsessive activity?

How true is this only time will. But, it seems, we are going full circle in introducing toys that are aimed at creating a “lively play beyond the screens.”

In the same advertorial, it mentions a study culled from JAMA Pediatrics, a monthly peer-reviewed medical journal published by the American Medical Association, that states “how children aged 0-8 spend an average of over three and a half hours a day using screens and how this affects their physical and mental growth.” The report continues: “Excessive screen time leads to loss of interest in the real world, decreased attention span, emotional instability, and social difficulties.” The report further says: “If children spend over 4 hours a day on screens, their communication and problem-solving skills lag behind their peers.”

Toys are responses to the child de-

There is a narrative that accompanies the introduction of the pet bunny, of how, one day, a young girl was shown the nearly real toy, and how, for the first time, she put her tablet aside, and cuddled the bunny.

Would a toy bring back the sociability skills of our children?

The testimonials about this toy expresses one principle: “The more real, tangible, and responsive a toy is, the better it is at guiding a child’s healthy development. As we often say in the form of testing, time and usage will prove how effective this toy is. Still, it must be said that the technological leaps around us have been so great that we are looking at the spaces where our children grow and are beginning to have doubts as to whether what we are doing—as guardians and parents—is still on the right, humanizing path.

E-mail: titovaliente@yahoo.com

Oil slumps, gold rallies as traders review Trump tariff hit

By Robert Tuttle, Ilena Peng, Michelle Ma, Yvonne Yue Li & Jennifer A. Dlouhy

THE long-awaited unveiling by President Donald Trump of sweeping reciprocal import tariffs triggered a slump in oil prices on Thursday, while gold rose to a fresh record.

There was also an important carve-out for commodities from Canada and Mexico, as well as for energy and energy products.

Here’s a round-up of the initial impact of Wednesday’s big announcement.

Metals

According to a White House fact sheet, steel, aluminum, gold and copper imports won’t be subject to reciprocal tariffs, providing at least some relief to domestic buyers who are already bearing the cost of Section 232 tariffs of 25 percent on all imports of some key metals. Gold, however, jumped as much as 1.1 percent to a record as investors sought safety following the tariff headlines. Bullion has climbed more than 20 percent this year after a ferocious run in 2024.

Copper futures declined on con-

digitalization and clear coordination among involved agencies, thereby reducing transaction costs and project delays.

Thirdly, infrastructure inadequacy remains a pressing concern. The current grid infrastructure, designed primarily for centralized fossil-based power generation, cannot efficiently handle distributed and intermittent renewable sources. Prioritizing grid modernization and expanding transmission capacity is critical. Investments must also be directed towards energy storage technologies and smart grid solutions, which can manage fluctuations inherent in renewable sources.

Fourthly, cybersecurity vulnerabilities must be systematically addressed. Protecting critical energy infrastructure requires international cooperation, knowledge sharing,

cerns over the global economy.

Oil and gasoline

Crude immediately dropped as trading started in the Asian morning. Futures fell more than 2percent, dipping below $70 a barrel, amid concerns about declining demand and the potential for a trade war.

However, energy and energy products are exempt from the new levies, meaning oil and natural gas markets won’t be directly impacted.

Canada and Mexico—the two biggest foreign suppliers of oil to the US—were also left out of Wednesday’s cascade. Exports from the countries to the US that aren’t compliant with the North American trade agreement known as the USMCA will remain subject to an earlier levy of 25% generally (and 10 percent on Canadian energy), imposed by Trump earlier to counter illegal immigra-

and capacity-building initiatives. This global partnership can enhance security standards and resilience against cyber threats. Fifthly, geopolitical issues significantly impact renewable energy transition efforts. Territorial disputes, international trade tensions, and global energy market dynamics can affect resource accessibility, technology transfer, and investment flows. Strengthening diplomatic ties and proactive engagement in regional cooperation mechanisms can mitigate these risks, ensuring stable supply chains and supportive international partnerships. Lastly, social acceptance presents a subtle yet potent challenge. Public misconceptions, limited awareness, and resistance to change can slow the adoption of renewable technologies. This issue requires comprehensive

tion and fentanyl smuggling. If that 25 percent tariff is later dropped for either country, the newly ordered reciprocal rate would apply, a senior administration official told reporters Wednesday.

Agriculture

US farmers also benefit from the reprieve on USMCA goods. The US gets roughly 90 percent of its potash fertilizer from other countries, mostly from Canada. Non-USMCA compliant energy and potash will be tariffed 10 percent.

The exemption for USMCA products is good news as well for dairy, canola and sugar buyers. Mexico is the biggest supplier of sugar to the US, while Canadian farmers rely on the US and China for most of their canola exports.

Despite the USMCA exemption, Trump called out Canada for its tariffs on dairy products.

Vietnam, facing a 46 percent tariff rate, is the world’s biggest producer of Robusta coffee, used in instant coffee. The typically cheaper variety was expected to help offset supply tightness in the more premium arabica bean, which had sent prices

awareness campaigns, educational initiatives, and participatory processes involving communities in renewable energy planning and implementation.

Addressing these challenges through collective efforts can substantially accelerate the renewable energy transition. The government, private sector, and civil society must operate synergistically, leveraging their respective strengths to build a resilient renewable energy ecosystem. International cooperation is equally essential, fostering technology transfer, financing support, and best practice exchange.

In conclusion, the Philippine renewable energy transition, while ambitious, is very much attainable.

Through the government’s firm commitment,

soaring to record highs. Other top coffee producers, including Brazil and Colombia, are subject to 10 percent tariffs. Meanwhile, Ivory Coast, the world’s biggest cocoa grower, is facing 21 percent tariffs.

Clean energy Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia and Malaysia together account for about 80 percent of US imports of solar panels. The four nations face reciprocal tariffs that are expected to build on existing levies hitting some solar cells and panels from the region and any antidumping and countervailing duties that US authorities may order in coming weeks. There’s been an uptick in US clean tech manufacturing in recent years—in part spurred by President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act as well as levies on foreign solar supplies that encouraged panel production in the US. But the US is still very dependent on parts of Asia for many parts of the supply chain. These announced tariffs are another potential dent to the clean energy buildout by a president keen to boost fossil fuels. With assistance from Rob Verdonck /Bloomberg

and civil society engagement, the Philippines can overcome existing barriers. Achieving this transition is not only possible but imperative for sustainable economic growth, environmental preservation, and inclusive societal advancement. In line with these discussions, the Independent Electricity Market Operator of the Philippines (IEMOP) held the 3rd Edition of the Philippine Electric Power Industry Forum on April 3 in Cagayan de Oro. The forum delved into these critical issues, bringing together key stakeholders to collaboratively explore strategies and solutions for accelerating the renewable energy transition.

Tito Genova Valiente ANNOTATIONS

Friday, April 4, 2025

PHL attracts 1.65M foreign tourists in Q1, DOT reports

By Ma. Stella F. Arnaldo

Special to the BusinessMirror

INTERNATIONAL travelers in the Philippines reached some 1.65 million in the first quarter of the year, a dip by 0.60 percent from the same period in 2024.

Data from the Department of Tourism (DOT) showed surges in arrivals from Japan, Canada, and Australia helped cushion the large declines in tourists from South Korea, China, and the United Kingdom.

Of the total inbound arrivals from January to March 2025, some 92.7 percent or 1.53 million were accounted for by foreign nationals, while the rest, at 123,760, were overseas Filipinos, described as Philippine passport holders living permanently abroad.

Compared to prepandemic levels, the first quarter arrivals this year were 25 percent less than the same period in 2019. But the same data showed the significant surge in arrivals of the overseas Filipinos this year, over an eightfold increase, compared to the 14,610 who visited in the first quarter of 2019.

The number of overseas Filipinos also grew by 31.3 percent from the 94,265 who arrived in the first quarter of 2024.

SoKor still top market THE largest number of international tourists for the period came from South Korea at 395,059 (a 13.9-percent decrease from the first quarter in 2024); followed by the United States at 285,597 (up 7.9 percent); Japan at 125,083 (up 18.73 percent); Australia at 79,779 (up 13 percent); and Canada at 77,390 (up 14.4 percent). Arrivals from mainland China plunged further to 72,665 (-33.7 percent) from the same period in 2024; followed by Taiwan at 54,439 (+5.07 percent); the United Kingdom at 47,613 (down by less than one percent); Singapore at 38,401 (+4.18 percent); and Germany at 29,124 (-1.36 percent).

Visitors from India slipped by 6.6 percent to 21,872 in the first three months of 2025, despite being now able to apply for tourist visas electronically. Filipino travel sellers recently said Indians had expressed concern over the high costs of visit-

ing the Philippines, especially since there are no direct flights between both countries. (See, “Safety, costs bug Indian tourists in PHL,” in the BusinessMirror, Feb. 27, 2025.)

Under the National Tourism Development Plan of 2023-2028, the DOT has targeted the arrival of 8.4 million inbound tourists this year, 9-percent higher than last year’s target of 7.7 million. However, Tourism Secretary Christina Garcia Frasco has said the DOT may have to “recalibrate” its goals for the rest of the years under the Plan, with foreign tourists reaching just 5.95 million last year, missing the target by almost 23 percent.

China travel advisory MEAWHILE , tourism stakeholders believe the recent travel advisory the Chinese Embassy in Manila for its citizens visiting the Philippines will likely not have any impact on arrivals from mainland China. “ Wala naman Chinese travelers at the moment [There are no Chinese travelers at the moment],” said James Montenegro, president of the Tourism Congress of the Philippines in a Viber message to the

INFRA SPEND FOR ’24 EXCEEDS P1.5T, OR 8.9% MORE; DPWH SPENDING CITED

THE national government ramped up its infrastructure spending year-onyear in 2024, going beyond the full-year program, according to the Department of Budget and Management (DBM).

BusinessMirror

This was echoed by Boracay Foundation Inc. chairman Dindo Salazar, who said: “We’re not seeing much of an impact here in Boracay, as Chinese tourist arrivals have already been quite limited. The few who are coming in are mostly from Taiwan, and they are most likely not covered by the travel advisory issued by mainland China.”

When asked, Tourism Secretary Christina Garcia Frasco failed to give a comment on the issue.

In a recent advisory on its website, the Embassy warned its citizens traveling to, or already in the Philippines. to “keep a close watch” on situations that may impact on their security; “minimize non-essential outings” and refrain from going near political rallies or crowded venues; and to “remain vigilant against potential security traps and schemes.”

The Embassy claimed Chinese businesses were being harassed more frequently and there were more political demonstrations nationwide. As such, “Chinese citizens and businesses in the Philippines are faced with higher security risk,” the Embassy stressed.

DOF: US…

Continued from A1

Opportunities

RECTO said the Philippines could present itself as a hub for global value chains in electronics, textiles, food and automobiles. The CREATE MORE Act will attract investors looking to expand or relocate to the Philippines amid the lower tariffs imposed on the Philippines’ exports to the US, he added. Semiconductor and Electronics Industries in the Philippines Foundation Inc. (Seipi) President Danilo C. Lachica said in a televised interview on Thursday that Washington has just turned the country into a viable site for manufacturing electronics and semiconductors.

“Our neighboring countries, the Asean countries, China, which supplies a lot of the world’s electronic products, are going to be experiencing higher tariffs, so that’s an opportunity for us, for, you know, companies who want to exit or move some of their product from high tariff countries to the Philippines,” he said.

“Relatively, the 17 percent is much lower than, you know the 34 percent from China, the 46 percent from Vietnam, the 32 percent from Taiwan. So realistically, I’m an optimist. I think it’s going to be good for us,” he added.

Because of Washington’s new policy, Lachica said the local semiconductor and electronics sector may see growth and even attract foreign direct investments.

Even with higher tariffs, Sergio R. Ortiz-Luis Jr., president of the Philippine Exporters Confederation Inc. (Philexport), said Philippine exporters will still be able to make money.

“I will say that rather than negative, it will be

ELECTRICITY spot market prices for the March billing period (February 26 to March 25) rose to P5.34 per kilowatt hour (kWh) from P2.73 per kWh in the previous month, brought about by tighter system conditions, the Independent Electricity Market Operator of the Philippines (IEMOP) reported Thursday.

The Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) operator said demand in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao for the said billing period went up by 5.9 percent to 13,670 megawatts (MW) from 12,904MW, driven by extreme heat during the first week of March.

System-wide average supply decreased to 19,611 MW, a 4.4-percent drop from 20,512 MW in February, primarily due to forced outages and derations. As a result of the reduced supply and increased demand, margin shrank to 3,957 MW, down by 1,768 MW from 5,725 MW in February.

Latest DBM data showed the government’s infrastructure spending and other capital outlays amounted to P1.545 trillion from January to December 2024, an 8.9-percent increase from the P1.419 trillion spent in 2023.

This also exceeded the government’s infrastructure disbursement program of P1.473 trillion by 4.9 percent, based on the DBM data.

The full-year infrastructure disbursement is equivalent to 5.8 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), which the DBM said is “well within” the 5 to 6 percent target for 2024, despite the same outturn in 2023.

The budget department credited the increased spending to the Department of Public Works and Highways’ (DPWH) higher expenditures for its construction activities, specifically the carryover projects from last year and progress billings from completed infrastructure projects.

Direct payments made by development partners for foreignassisted rail projects of the Department of Transportation

positive for us because our competitors will be the ones to suffer. For Philippine exporters to earn, they will just have to raise their prices by 17 percent. Other will have to increase their prices by more than that that to preserve their profit margin,” Ortiz-Luis told BusinessMirror in a phone interview on Thursday.

Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) Chairman George Barcelon agreed with Ortiz-Luis.

“From the buyer side it’s going to be more expensive because they’re the one paying for the increase in import taxes…tariffs. But from the point of view for our country, you notice that the rate that is slapped on us is one of the lowest. So you have to look at the comparative advantage,” Barcelon told this newspaper in a phone interview.

He urged the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the Office of the Special Assistant to the President for Investment and Economic Affairs (OSAPIEA) to look into how the Philippines could take advantage of the potential benefits of the new tariff policy. Game plan

FOR his part, former Tariff Commissioner George N. Manzano said the fresh duties slapped by Washington on Philippines goods will not affect products that have few substitutes.

“The US does not grow bananas but their local fruit may substitute bananas depending on the price difference. It also depends if there are other banana exporters to the US that are charged lower tariffs,” he said in a Viber message.

“So, Philippine export products with few substitutes among local US products and with little competition from other exporters that have lower tariffs than the Philippines may be able to wither the current market turmoil,” he added.

Still, Manzano said the landed price of Philippine exports in the US will rise, and could dent demand.

During the period, the Secondary Price Cap (SPC) was imposed 6.39 percent of the time due to sustained high prices during the first week of March. A yellow alert notice was issued last March 5 mainly on hot weather conditions. A yellow alert is issued when the operating margin is insufficient to meet generation’s contingency requirement, putting the grid at risk, with the available contingency reserve less than the required operating margin. Per grid, Luzon’s supply went down 6.5 percent to 13,530MW, with demand increasing by 7.1 percent to 9,713 MW. The numbers resulted in higher WESM prices for Luzon at P5.5 per kWh from P2.71 per kWh. In the Visayas, supply declined to 2,365MW from 2,397MW, while demand jumped to 1,913MW from 1,876MW, bringing the regional av-

(DOTr) also jacked up spending. Infrastructure disbursements include estimated national government infrastructure disbursements and infrastructure components of subsidy and equity to state-run and -controlled corporations and transfers to local government units. Meanwhile, infrastructure outlays reached P1.326 trillion in 2024, up by 10.1 percent from P1.204 trillion in 2023. The DBM said the sizable disbursements to the DPWH for its banner infrastructure projects and defense modernization projects of the Department of National Defense (DND) accelerated infrastructure outlays. It noted the growth of infrastructure and other capital outlays was faster in the first and second quarter, registering 10.2 percent and 27.2 percent, respectively, amid favorable weather conditions benefiting construction activities and settlement of progress billings for completed projects. Similarly, infrastructure spending grew by 5.8 percent in the third quarter but contracted by 0.8 percent in the fourth quarter after the rainy season brought delays coupled with the impact of base effects. In December alone, infrastructure expenditures slumped

“Infra,”

Citing data from the Observatory of Economic Complexity (OEC), Philip D. Tuaño, Dean of the Ateneo School of Government, said the products most affected by the additional US tariffs on Philippine exports include integrated circuits (electronics), office machine parts (office equipment), trunks and cases (leather goods) and insulated wiring (automotive equipment).

“The simulation assumes no changes in the tariff rates coming from other countries but the overall effect on the Philippine export market would depend on the diversion of importation of goods from other countries, e.g., since the tariffs now are higher in other Asian countries, it might be possible that that the US will import less from other Asian countries and might import more from the Philippines,” he said.

“The Philippines may be able to attract the relocation of the supply chain if it improves its ease of doing business, shipping and other types of transport and infrastructure. Exporters may also want to see greater opportunities in the East Asian and also in the domestic market,” added Tuaño. Ma. Ella Oplas, De La Salle University (DLSU) economist, told BusinessMirror this most recent US announcement “will be a major challenge to our exporters, most especially those exporting electrical machinery and equipment.”

“Our game plan should be to consider other countries of destinations like the Netherlands. The Netherlands has high demand for electric/semicon products due to its highly mechanized industries e.g. agriculture,” she added.

The US is the top export market of the Philippines. In 2024, the Philippines exported $12.14 billion worth of goods, comprising a 16.6-percent share of the country’s total exports.

“Taxpayers have been ripped off for more than 50 years,” Trump said. “But it is not going to happen anymore.”

erage to P5.48 per kWh. Mindanao, however, experienced a 2.1-percent increase in supply to 3,716MW from 3,640MW, while demand grew by 4.5 percent to 2,044 MW. The region’s average price rose to P4.39 per kWh from P2.72/kWh. Last March 6, the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) recorded the highest peak demand for the year at 12,467MW, a 5-percent increase from the Department of Energy’s (DOE) forecast demand of 11,870 MW for that day. For 2025, the DOE forecasted a peak of 14,769 MW for Luzon to occur midMay, a 5.37-percent increase from the 2024 actual peak of 14,016 MW on 24 April 2024. As in the past years, NGCP cautions the public that while power supply seems sufficient on paper, over the years, unplanned outages of critical plants are a major factor in the power

Editor: Jennifer A. Ng

B1 Friday, April 4, 2025

NTC nullifies Now Telecom temporary operating permit

By Lorenz S. Marasigan @lorenzmarasigan

THE National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) has revoked Now Telecom Co. Inc.’s authority to operate a nationwide mobile telecommunications network, declaring its provisional authority “inoperative” over supposed multiple regulatory violations, non-compliance with rollout commitments, and P3.57 billion in unpaid fees.

In a 45-page order, the regulatory body said the telco failed to meet critical conditions tied to its license, including deploying promised infrastructure, utilizing its assigned spectrum, and settling regulatory obligations.

more than P3.57 billion as of end2024. This includes P1.33 billion in principal fees and P2.24 billion in penalties.

The telecom regulator said Supreme Court rulings had already upheld the NTC’s authority to impose these charges.

The NTC found that despite receiving its provisional authority in 2020, Now Telecom had deployed only six of the 2,306 base stations it committed to build under its 2017 Revised Rollout Plan--and none were operational on the assigned frequencies.

2020 Order extending its Provisional Authority,” the NTC said.

Furthermore, citing Republic Act 7925 and Commonwealth Act 146 as amended by Republic Act 11659, the NTC said the radio frequency spectrum is a “scarce public resource” and must be allocated only to operators that use it efficiently and in the public interest.

LEGACY carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) is ramping up operations at its Mactan-Cebu International Airport hub in time for the peak travel season, adding more flights and deploying larger aircraft to cater to rising demand for inter-island connectivity.

increase connectivity, to boost the economy, and help drive tourism across our inter-island network from Cebu,” Ang said in a statement.

PAL Express President Rabbi Vincent Ang said this month, PAL will operate 287 weekly roundtrip domestic flights between Cebu and 18 destinations across Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao—a 10-percent increase in frequency.

Among the key routes seeing increased frequencies are Cebu to Boracay (Caticlan), from 14 to 21 weekly flights; Cebu to Siargao, from 18 to 26; Cebu to Puerto Princesa, from 7 to 14; and Cebu to Coron (Busuanga), from 14 to 17. Flights to Davao will rise to 29 per week, while Cebu-Tacloban services will double to 14 weekly flights.

“Now Telecom’s provisional authority... is hereby deemed inoperative in view of its expiration/nonextension of its provision authority,” the NTC said, noting that the firm had not met the terms set out in prior rulings issued in September and December 2020, which have since attained finality.

ERC

TThe NTC also emphasized that the company had outstanding supervision and regulation fees (SRF) and spectrum user fees (SUF) totaling

“After more than five years, the frequency band 3520-3540 MHz is used only in 6 out of 2,306 base stations (0.26 percent) or 3 out of 245 locations (1.22 percent),” the order read, citing the company’s supposed failure to implement its rollout plans and invest P1.9 billion in fresh capital as required.

“From the foregoing, it is beyond question that (Now Telecom) had failed to comply with a significant number of conditions required by the Commission in its 14 September

workforce expansion gets nod

By Lenie Lectura @llectura

HE Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) can now better fulfill its mandate following the long sought-after approval to increase its workforce.

The commission, which currently regulates 142 distribution utilities and 251 power generation companies, is known to be short staffed, hindering its ability to effectively act on pending applications and to release soonest the decisions related to pricing mechanisms. At present, the ERC has 290 employees.

Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla said the other day that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has approved additional staff for the commission to help the agency deal with pressing issues more quickly.

“The President approved the additional plantilla items that would allow ERC to attend with

greater speed on concerns this sector has,” Lotilla said during a renewable energy forum.

The commission, which plays a crucial role in regulating the power industry, asked for an additional 130 positions.

Sought for comment, ERC Chairperson Monalisa Dimalanta said the commission has yet to receive the formal approval.

“We are grateful for the support of the President, through the DBM [Department of Budget and Management] for the work we do at the ERC. The backlog that has built up over the years, including the challenge of undertaking resets that were not conducted in the previous regulatory periods, are daunting challenges on the shoulders of the present Commission. Any additional resources and personnel will help us deliver on our mandate more effectively,” said the ERC chief.

She reiterated that the commission can perform better with additional manpower, particu -

larly in the legal and technical departments.

The DOE and the ERC have been pushing for amendments to Republic Act 9136 or the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001. However, the possibility of these proposed changes to actually happen under the 19th Congress is “very slim” given the fact that both chambers are currently in recess.

“In the House, we’ve actually advanced quite a bit; it’s already on its second reading. In the Senate, it hasn’t gone past the committee on energy,” Dimalanta had said. As such, the bill would have to be refiled.

One of the major proposed changes is to expand the composition of the ERC from five to nine commission members. “They want to make it nine members with divisions in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao – three commissioners for Luzon, three for the Visayas and three for Mindanao,” Dimalanta said.

Fast Logistics unveils venture studio

FBy Andrea E. San Juan @andreasanjuan

AST Logistics Group, an end-to-end logistics and selling and distribution company, said it has launched the Philipines’s first venture studio dedicated to logistics innovation.

The company said the RevvEVODINE Venture Studio is set to create “value innovation and tackle interoperability challenges in Philippine logistics and supply chain.”

“With a focus on leveraging artificial intelligence for forecasting, automation, and digital freight matching, among others, the initiative aims to enhance operational efficiency and reduce logistics costs for businesses across the country,” it said.

Fast CEO for Logistics Manuel L. Onrejas Jr. said the company aims to solve the many “pain points” in logistics, from fragmented systems to last-mile inefficiencies, through the venture studio.

“The rapid evolution of the logistics sector makes this the perfect time to innovate.”

Onrejas said Fast will partner with the government, startup community and “visionary,techdriven entrepreneurs.”

During the launch, Fast Group President William B. Chiongbian II described the Revv-EVODINE Venture Studio as a “launchpad for innovators and entrepreneurs so they can make the greatest impact.”

“This means access to mentorship and real-world sandbox environments to ensure that promising solutions move from concept to execution,” he said.

“Ultimately, our aspiration is that the ideas we incubate here do not remain just ideas, but become scalable, transformative solutions for our countrymen.”

Fast VP for Strategic Growth Initiatives

Gladys S. Ceniza, who is also Revv-EVODINE’s Chief Visionary Officer, said the venture

studio will “incubate” ideas from FAST’s internal teams, “igniting” innovation across all levels of the organization and empowering internal talent to become the next generation of venture leaders.

“Revv-EVODINE will also champion groundbreaking ideas from young entrepreneurs outside the organization, including those recognized by FAST during the recent Philippine Startup Week, in alignment with the national government’s innovation initiatives.”

Through Revv-EVODINE, Ceniza said Fast’s executives and seasoned venture builders will provide innovators with mentorship, critical resources, cuttingedge tools, and strategic support to validate problems worth solving and create pathways for new business models.

“We believe in solutions that deliver real impact. By integrating startups into our logistics ecosystem, we help them scale faster and bring innovation to the industry more effectively.”

“The flagrant and continuing, and even unexplainable propensity by (NOW Telecom) to violate specific terms and conditions of its authority, as in this particular case, accords no other recourse for the Commission… but to act decisively by denying this Ex-Parte Motion for Extension of Provisional Authority to Operate and Maintain Mobile Telecommunications System under NTC CN 2005-115 as a necessary incident to its grant,” the order read.

Now Telecom is a subsidiary of Now Corp., a listed company led by businessman Mel Velarde.

Officials of Now Corp. were sought for comment, but none have responded to media queries as of press time.

The expansion includes upgrading aircraft on selected routes, such as replacing 86-seater De Havilland Dash 8-400 NGs with 199-seater Airbus A321s, resulting in a 17 percent jump in weekly seat capacity, or more than 39,000 additional seats to and from the Queen City of the South.

“We invite travelers to make the most of the peak summer season by flying to these exciting destinations from Mactan-Cebu, our growing hub in the Central Philippines. These additional flights and greater seat capacity reflect our flag carrier’s commitment to

PAL’s Cebu network currently includes 11 daily flights to Manila and newer domestic links like Cebu–Catarman, which now operates three times weekly to provide Samar residents better access to the Central Visayas. On the international front, PAL is also scaling up its overseas services from Cebu. Following the December 2024 launch of Cebu–Osaka flights, the airline is set to begin Cebu–Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) flights in May. These routes complement existing services to Tokyo Narita and Seoul Incheon.

Lorenz S. Marasigan

Banking&Finance

Asian CBs incorporate Nexus Global Payments

ASIAN central banks have incorporated Nexus Global Payments (NGP) to operationalize and manage the Nexus scheme for secure and instant crossborder payments.

The NGP announced last Thursday that it has been formally incorporated as a company limited by guarantee in Singapore and will run as a nonprofit organization.

The NGP Ltd. is incorporated by five central bank partners in Project Nexus, namely the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, Reserve Bank of India, Bank Negara Malaysia, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and Bank of Thailand.

“[This] marks the transition of the Nexus initiative from a Bank for International Settlements’ (BIS) project to real-world implementation,” NGP said.

The goal of Project Nexus is to standardize the connection between domestic instant payment systems.

Instead of an IPS operator building custom connections for every new country to which it connects, the operator only needs to establish a single connection to Nexus, allowing the IPS to reach all other countries in the network.

In 2021, the BIS Innovation Hub initiated Project Nexus as an experimental project.

Moreover, Benjamin Lee has been appointed as the interim director of NGP, who has been involved in the Nexus initiative since its inception and will be seconded from the MAS to fill the position.

NGP also announced the commencement of an open procurement exercise to select and appoint a Nexus Technical Operator (NTO), who will be in charge of the technical development and subsequent day-to-day operation of Nexus.

The European Central Bank and Bank Indonesia, which took part in previous phases of Nexus, will continue to serve as special observers throughout the operationalization phase, it added.

Meanwhile, the initial capital needed to develop, establish and launch the Nexus platform will be contributed by “first mover” jurisdictions.

“They aim to expand membership and participation to other interested jurisdictions over time as part of the shared vision of making Nexus a scalable multilateral model for connecting IPS globally,” the NGP said. Reine Juvierre S. Alberto

Government condones debt of Davao de Oro co-op members

By Jonathan L. Mayuga @jonlmayuga

THE Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) announced last Thursday the agency condoned P17.7 million owed to government by members of the Ricop Monkayo Farmworkers Agrarian Reform Cooperative (Rimfarco) in Jaguimitan, Monkayo, Davao de Oro.

This was formalized through the distribution of the “Certificate of Condonation with Release of Mortgage,” effectively freeing the cooperative from land amortization payments.

According to the DAR, a total of 132 Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries (ARBs) of the 27-year-old Davao cooperative will benefit from the condonation, covering a total area of 278.28 hectares of agricultural land.

With their financial burden lifted, the members of the cooperative can

‘Energy, doing-business costs dissuade investors, not tariffs’

By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz @joveemarie

WºHILE the tariff rates imposed on the Philippines by the United States are relatively lower than expected, an economist-lawmaker on Thursday said challenges in attracting investments remain due to high power costs and the expensive cost of doing business in the country.

House Committee on Ways and Means Chairman Joey Sarte Salceda made a statement following the recent imposition of reciprocal tariffs by the Trump administration.

“Sovereign countries can do as

they please with their trade policy. I’m frankly surprised the tariff rates imposed on us turned out lower than I expected. Among our competitors, the Philippines imposed relatively lower retaliatory tariffs, so there

Unused PhilHealth fund must benefit PHL–DOF

are, possibly, some opportunities to explore,” Salceda said.

The US recently imposed a 17-percent reciprocal tariff on Philippine exports, a rate significantly lower than those imposed on other Asean countries such as Vietnam (46 percent), Indonesia (32 percent) and Cambodia (49 percent).

Salceda emphasized that the biggest hindrance to Philippine export competitiveness is not tariff rates but the high cost of electricity and overall business operations in the country.

“The tariff rates imposed on Vietnam, a US-friendly country, are potentially crippling and are much higher than tariffs imposed on China, the US’s main adversary. I don’t understand the geopolitical logic, and I have long given up trying. We just have to fortify our own house as much as we can,” he said.

Salceda underscored the need for continued reforms to enhance the country’s competitiveness.

“The biggest hindrance to Philippine export competitiveness is not tariff rates, but power cost and the cost of doing business. We need to continue making strides in this area. The incentives under the ‘Create More Act,’ especially the increased power cost deduction, help address these issues,” he said. Salceda also called on the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) to implement a comprehensive strategy to mitigate potential disruptions in the Philippine economy, particularly in labor-intensive sectors such as textiles and footwear, which may be affected by the new tariffs. He said he hopes the DTI “has a comprehensive strategy to deal with potential disruptions in our economy, mainly in the labor-intensive textile and footwear sector. Salceda added that government should make “ayuda, job retraining and unemployment assistance…ready if there are job losses in these sectors.”

Above board

Tnow allocate more resources toward improving productivity and agricultural development, the DAR has said.

“What we have long awaited has finally arrived, something we never expected. We no longer have to pay a large amount, and our cooperative funds will not be depleted. This has a huge impact on our cooperative,” Rimfarco Chairman Danilo Gevero was quoted as saying in a statement issued by the government agency that condoned the debt.

The condonation is mandated by Republic Act 11953 (New Agrarian Emancipation), which was signed into law by President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. on July 7, 2023. The law mandates the condonation of all unpaid principal amortizations, interest, and surcharges incurred by ARBs for agricultural lands awarded by DAR. Through this landmark legislation, more than 600,000 ARBs nationwide will benefit, covering over 1.7 million hectares of agricultural land.

Fitch unit sees spending cares less about inflation

HOUSEHOLD spending in the country is expected to reach

P13.2 trillion in 2025, despite persistent inflationary pressures and high debt levels, noted a subsidiary of Fitch Solutions Inc.

BMi Research (Pty) Ltd. projects a 5.3 percent increase in real household spending growth this year, up from 5 percent in 2024. This growth comes amid a gradual easing of inflation, which slowed to 2.1 percent year-on-year in February.

However, the Randburg, South Africa-headquartered BMi Research warned that “spending will remain influenced by the elevated inflationary pressures seen over 2025 as well as currently high debt levels, along with related debt servicing costs.” Despite these pressures, the firm maintains a positive outlook by highlighting the expected benefits of a tight labor market and positive real wage growth. BMi Research added that these factors are anticipated to support purchasing power. The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas is also expected to take action to support the economy, with analysts forecasting a 25-basis-point (bps) cut in policy interest rates in April.

BMi Research quoted the central bank chief as saying that there is scope to lower rates by a cumulative 75bps in 2025, up from 50bps previously “and aligning with our full-year rate forecast.” Bless Aubrey Ogerio

SBy Reine Juvierre Alberto @reine_alberto

THE Department of Finance (DOF) defended anew its sweeping of the reserve fund parked in the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) with its chief arguing that unused government funds must be maximized for the country’s benefit.

During the Supreme Court oral arguments on the constitutionality of DOF Memorandum Circular 0032024, Finance Secretary Ralph G. Recto said the DOF must put every peso to work for the people.

“ Hindi po pwede na kapag may nakitang malaking pondo na natutulog at hindi nagagamit para sa kapakanan ng taumbayan, hahayaan na lang ,” Recto said. [It is not acceptable to simply leave a large fund dormant and unused when it could benefit the people.]

“Sleeping funds serve no one. Every idle peso is a disservice to every Filipino,” the DOF chief added.

The DOF issued its controversial MC in July last year, which ordered the state’s health insurer and the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. to remit P89.9 billion and P110 billion, respectively, to the National Treasury. The move received backlash with some taking the DOF to court.

“Sleeping government funds must be put to use for public benefit, as every unused peso is a missed opportunity to serve the Filipino people,” Recto said.

Citing the fiscal strategy employed for Bayanihan 3 during the pandemic, Recto said all idle, excess and sleeping public funds were mobilized to help the economy recover faster by creating more jobs, increasing incomes and reducing poverty.

“We wouldn’t be doing our job, Your Honors, if we willfully neglect our duty to exercise fiscal prudence

in this matter just because it is unusual,” the Finance chief told the court. “We wouldn’t be doing our job if we clung to convention over common sense.”

PhilHealth was found to have an “unrestricted” P183.1 billion in its reserve funds, based on DOF’s “careful and cautious” computation.

“Yet, the DOF exercised a prudent and moral decision to limit the return of the excess, idle, and unused government subsidies from 2021 to 2023. Because we did not want to touch the hard-earned contributions of the PhilHealth members,” Recto said.

This is how the DOF identified that P89.9 billion of excess, idle and unused government subsidies are “sleeping” in PhilHealth’s bank, accumulating P5 billion in interest to be shouldered by taxpayers.

“The move is aligned with the medical principle of ‘do no harm,’” Recto said emphasizing that “no member contributions have been taken.”

According to the DOF, 78 percent of the P60 billion that PhilHealth remitted to the National Treasury was used to finance health projects. This includes the P27.45 billion in payouts for the health emergency allowances of Covid-19 frontliners and P10 billion for the medical assistance to indigent and financially incapacitated patients. About P4.10 billion was also used to purchase medical equipment for Department of Health (DOH) hospitals, local government unit hospitals and primary care facilities. Three DOH health facilities were also granted P3.37 billion while P1.69 billion was allotted for the Health Facilities Enhancement Program. The rest, or P13.00 billion, was used to fund government counterpart financing for foreignassisted infrastructure and “social determinants for health” projects, according to the DOF.

Solon cites enforcement in excisable goods trade

HE phrase “above board” still echoes in my mind every time I remember working in a development bank many years ago. My boss then constantly reminded me to be “above board” when dealing with clients applying for project loans.

“Above board” means something is done in an honest, open, and transparent manner, without any deceit or hidden motives. It’s often used to describe actions, dealings, or behaviors that are legitimate and ethical. The term is believed to have originated from card games where a dealer, who kept his hands “above the board” (the table), was visibly honest, ensuring no cheating occurs.

Being above board in an association means it operates with complete honesty and transparency. Its actions, decisions, and policies are conducted ethically, openly, and without any hidden agenda. This reflects the association’s commitment to fairness, accountability, and trustworthiness, ensuring its members and stakeholders feel confident in its governance leadership and practices.

Here are key applications of above-board practices:

1. Transparent governance. Leadership teams must prioritize transparency in decision-making processes which include sharing meeting agendas, providing minutes, and openly communicating rationale behind key decisions. When members understand how and why decisions are made, they are more likely to feel valued and engaged.

2. Ethical financial management. Associations should provide clear, detailed financial reports to their members, demonstrating that funds are managed responsibly and in alignment with organizational goals. Conducting regular audits and sharing the results reinforces an above-board culture.

board are:

1. Enhanced member trust. When members see their association acting with integrity, they are more likely to remain loyal and actively participate.

2. Strengthened reputation. An association’s reputation depends on its ability to demonstrate ethical behavior consistently. Above-board actions bolster credibility with external stakeholders, including sponsors, partners, and the broader community.

3. Conflict reduction. Transparency reduces misunderstandings and potential conflicts, ensuring smoother operations and a more harmonious organizational culture.

While the benefits of aboveboard practices are clear, associations may face challenges such as balancing transparency with confidentiality or managing dissenting opinions. Here’s how to navigate these issues:

n Confidentiality vs. transparency. Clearly define what information must remain confidential (e.g., sensitive member data) and what can be shared. Establish policies that balance openness with privacy.

n Managing disagreement. Encourage a culture where differing opinions are respected and addressed constructively. This strengthens member engagement and reinforces the association’s commitment to fairness.

By Butch Fernandez @butchfBM

ENATOR Sherwin T. Gatchal-

ian last Wednesday trained the Senate probers’ sights on the enforcement of laws against smuggling and illicit trade in excisable products.

Gatchalian presided at the continuation of the Ways and Means Committee hearing on the rising incidence of smuggling and illicit trade in excisable products, particularly tobacco prod-

ucts and importation of illegal vapes. The lawmaker said that enforcement starts with intelligence gathering, raids, prosecution and, eventually, conviction of those depriving the government of much-needed revenues for various programs and projects.

Gatchalian added that the committee will propose some recommendations that will be submitted to the Department of Finance, particularly to the Bureau of Customs (BoC) and the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR).

“And we are urging the different enforcement agencies to take these recommendations seriously and update the committee later on the implementation of these resolutions,” he said.

Gatchalian urged the Department of Justice, the BoC and the BIR to work together and take decisive action in prosecuting perpetrators of illicit tobacco trade, highlighting the alarmingly low conviction rate in cases filed in court.

“We are losing the fight against the

illicit trade of tobacco and cigarettes because we are not prosecuting and not convicting enough. Sa prosecution pa lang, talo na tayo and less than 1 percent of all seizures result in conviction. That’s not positive news for us. Dahil walang natatakot, tuloy-tuloy ang ligaya,” he said during Wednesday’s hearing.

Gatchalian said the DOJ, BOC and the BIR need to build the capacity of law enforcement personnel to increase the rate of conviction.

3. Clear communication. Whether addressing members, sponsors, or the public, associations must ensure their messaging is accurate and consistent. Miscommunication or withholding information can erode trust and harm reputation.

4. Inclusive decision making. Associations represent diverse groups with differing perspectives. Engaging members in decisions, seeking feedback, and being open to dissenting views reflect a commitment to inclusivity and fairness. The benefits of staying above

For associations, above board is more than a phrase, but a philosophy that ensures ethical, transparent, and inclusive practices. By embedding this principle into their operations, associations can build lasting trust, enhance their reputation, and achieve their mission with integrity. In a world where trust is increasingly hard to earn but easily lost, staying above board is not just advisable; it’s indispensable. Are you above board in your work and actuations?

Octavio Peralta is founder and volunteer CEO of the

Octavio Peralta

Association World

Eugenia Last

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Put your emotions aside and your energy into something positive and constructive. How you choose to use your time and talents will determine your success. Focus on what brings the highest returns and make a point to nurture what’s meaningful to you.

IABSOLUTELY love ramen. I’ve long added it to my list of comfort food such that when I feel under the weather, it’s one of my go-to dishes. Slurped slowly, the broth just feels like a warm hug to comfort me even in my feverish (fevered?) dreams.

Especially a great dish to enjoy during the rainy season, I either order ramen from a reputable Japanese-chain restaurant, or rip open a plastic wrap of instant ramen. After boiling the noodles, I empty the broth and flavor packets, then add my own homemade chasu (Japanese braised pork belly), soft-boiled egg, and nori (seawood) strips. Marutai is my current preference for instant ramen, just because my usual favorite, Nakiryu, seems to no longer be available in

So I was excited to receive an invitation to have lunch at the Menya Kokoro Kushi & Highball in the heart of San Juan City. Then I was told it served a brothless ramen. I said, “Whut?!” Sounds daft, I know, but apparently Menya Kokoro is the pioneer of authentic mazesoba in the country and this soup-less ramen, I was told, has been giant hit in Japan.

A creation of Japanese chef Takuma Ishikawa, this unique ramen style became an instant favorite in the metro after it was first introduced in 2019. The first two branches—in Uptown Bonifacio Global City and The Podium in the Ortigas Central Business District— captivated guests with this innovative dish, setting a new trend in the local ramen scene.

At the new branch, I got the chance to talk to restaurant owner and local franchisee, Malvin Ang. He tells me that Menya Kokoro is actually his second outing in the food business, having earlier brought in the popular Brotzeit from Singapore. (An unceremonious parting of ways with his former landlord led the SM Group to gladly “adopt” him, such that Brotzeit will soon be opening at the The Podium soon.)

and

As I visited the Menya Kokoro on a Friday (i.e., I was abstaining from meat), I was served the Unaji mazesoba. To enjoy it, I had to mix the brimming bowl of soba noodles with the grilled slab of sweet-smokey and spices. This helped to coat the noodles with a rich flavorful sauce. I guess I could describe it as the bastard child of ramen,

JOLLIBEE and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) have teamed up once again for the BEE Earth’s Best Friend campaign, now expanding from 16 stores in Batangas last year to 280 Jollibee stores across Calabarzon, Mimaropa, and the Bicol region. Running from March 15 to April 15 in celebration of World Consumer Rights Day, the initiative encourages customers to opt out of plastic utensils when ordering via Take Out and Drive-Thru. Doing so would earn

them incentives such as free products or upgrades on their next visits. With this initiative, Jollibee hopes to bring joy to customers through rewards and at the same time encourage them to uphold sustainable practices. This campaign is just one of the brand’s efforts that align with the Jollibee Group’s “Joy for Tomorrow” global sustainability agenda, which promotes responsible practices in Food, People and Planet. More information is available at tinyurl.com/ywbnzs6e.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Concentrate on something you enjoy doing. Let your creative imagination take over, and see what develops. Travel, educational pursuits and hanging out with inspiring people will turn into unique actions that lead to positive change. Touching base with past associates will help put different lifestyle changes in perspective. ★★★

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): A new plan will help you understand your options and navigate your way forward. Participating in an event, meeting or pastime that encourages positive change or enforces the backup you require to reach your goals is in your best interest. ★★★★

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Leave your comfort zone and venture into unknown territory. The experience will help build a foundation for new beginnings and offer insight into what you no longer need. It’s up to you to make things happen. Invest more time and money into developing what excites you most. ★★

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Diversify, try something you’ve never done before and engage in conversations that offer a unique perspective regarding life choices, places you frequent and documentaries that impact you personally. Question your long-term plans and the mountains you must climb to reach your destination. Make health and love a priority. ★★★★★

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Listen carefully and devise a plan to help you take the road less traveled if it will help you reach your destination with greater insight into who you are and what you want to achieve. Become the mastermind of your success. ★★★

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Separate feelings and money. Spending on things you don’t require to service an emotional need will leave you cash poor. Put more thought into how to use your talents, experience and connections to get ahead. ★★★

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Declutter your space and make room for something you want to pursue. Having a place that facilitates your dreams, hopes and wishes will be the pick-me-up

BEE EARTH FRIENDLY (From left, standing) Trade assistant sec. Domingo Tolentino Jr., assistant sec. Grace Baluyan, usec. Blesila Lantayona, Jollibee area customer activation senior manager Bong Tan, area manager Karen Cortez, channels and retail marketing senior manager Rodelyn Canapi. From left, seated: Trade R4A assistant regional director Revelyn Cortez, regional director Marissa Argente, CPAB director Atty. Che Carbonell, Trade R5 regional director Dindo Nabol, Jollibee trade marketing group AVP Eloise Siccion, operations director Michelle Dayrit, Trade R4B provincial director Noel Flores, and CTIDS Versuelo Garcia III

SEE “RAMEN,” B5

Widows’ War makes its Netflix Philippines debut on April 16. The series stars Bea Alonzo and Carla Abellana as Samantha/ Sam and Georgina/George, respectively.

Filled with twists and turns, Widows’ War explores the story of two women who are former best friends. After some time apart, they cross paths once more while mourning their husbands, Paco and Basil. Soon, they become suspects in the sudden deaths of their husbands, putting their sanity and reputation at risk.

The plot-driven drama features a powerhouse ensemble of actors including Tonton Gutierrez, Jeric Gonzales, Juancho Triviño, Jackie Lou Blanco, Lito Pimentel, Timmy Cruz, Rita Daniela, Royce Cabrera, Lovely Rivero, James Graham, Charlie Fleming, Matthew Uy, and Jean Garcia.

Also joining the star-studded cast in their special roles are Benjamin Alves as Basil Palacios, the competitive husband of George, and Rafael Rosell as Paco Palacios, Sam’s loving husband.

Premiering on Netflix Philippines beginning on April 16, Widows’ War is produced by GMA Entertainment Group, helmed by award-winning directors Zig Dulay and Jerry Lopez-Sineneng. It is based on the original concept by RJ Nuevas and Ken De Leon.

More information is available at www.gmanetwork.com

Ramen...

Continued from B4

I was encouraged to add a teaspoonful of kombu (seaweed) vinegar, which helped cut the richness of the mazesoba, but added a layer of depth. The kombu also makes the soba noodles a tad chewier.

Toward the end of my meal, I was served a tiny plate of white rice to mix in with the sauce that had remained at the bottom of my bowl. It felt like a nod to Filipino culture, where we enhance our enjoyment of Adobong Baboy or Bistek Tagalog by mixing in their sauces with our plate of rice.

I was also pleased with Menya Kokoro’s King Prawn Tempura, that because of its impressive size and crispiness offers incredible value for money for diners. I ordered the three-piece serving and managed to finish only two prawns—they were that huge.

To cap off my delicious meal, I had the creamy matcha and sesame ice cream for dessert.

At this particular branch, the restaurant also serves “kushi,” literally “stick,” which are kushi-katsu (crispy fried skewers) and kushi-yaki (charcoal-grilled skewers). This location features a conventional chargrill, imparting an authentic smoky Japanese flavor to every bite.

Guests can enjoy these expertly grilled or fried skewers alongside the restaurant’s exciting selection of highballs, including lemon sours and Sapporo draft beer, making it the perfect spot for after-work gatherings, casual dinners, and late-night drinks.

(Like most restaurants in this fast-expanding area of eateries, Menya Kokoro closes at 1 am.)

Malvin says they also serve the regular ramen with broth, as there are still “quite a number of diners who order them.” But he expressed satisfaction at the growing number of Filipinos who have become enamored with their mezasoba, so much so that, “I’ve had inquiries from people who want to put up a branch in Cebu” and other locations in the country. “But I want to focus on strengthening and expanding our brand first in Metro Manila,” he stresses.

That said, Malvin is scouting for new branch locations. “There are more untappped locations in Makati alone,” he says. I only plead for a branch in Quezon City accessible from my home. Hahaha. (When I suggested a particular upscale mall in my neighborhood, I was pleasantly surprised that Malvin knew exactly what ramen restaurants were already located in it.)

Meanwhile, with its commitment to elevating the mazesoba experience, diners can expect exceptional quality, bold flavors, and a lively yet cozy ambiance at Menya Kokoro Kushi & Highball. Whether diners are craving a comforting bowl of mazesoba or looking to indulge in perfectly cooked skewers paired with a crisp highball, this new branch in San Juan promises an unforgettable dining experience. I certainly had one. *Burp*

n Menya Kokoro Kushi & Highball is located at the Gallery 7 Design Center, 191 A. Mabini, San Juan City. For inquiries, call 0908-8691696.

Show BusinessMirror

Listening to ‘em young: The case of ‘Adolescence’

IT’S the devastating ending—and it comes in a tandem—of the global blockbuster Netflix limited series Adolescence that will remain embedded in our consciousness. There is first that scene where Eddie Miller, Jamie’s father, enters the boy’s room, falls on the bed and sobs as he hugs the pillow of his child, now in jail; the last scene has only the voice of Jamie as he calls his father and makes a confession.

Sadness, regrets, isolation, doubts, confusion and recrimination are all fused in these terminating scenes of a drama that dares once more to look into the most difficult age of man—adolescence. While we all have gone through this stage, there is a varied understanding or misunderstanding of that age. Credit goes to the wisdom of the writers (Jack Thorne and Stephen Graham) and its director (Philip Barantini) that we will forever be discussing the form and technology of Adolescence, the series. And yet, there is one more aspect of the film that is getting the attention not only of critics but of educators and parents, and this is the practical application of what is hidden by the structure of the narrative—the language employed within the film. The codes or what Inspector Bascombe calls the symbols found in the insta or Instagram application popular among the generation of Katie, the victim, and Jamie, the alleged murderer.

On the surface, Episode 2 of the series revolves around ultimately the search for the murder weapon.

This has preoccupied Bascombe and his buddy, Sergeant Misha Frank. But as the plot unfolds, Bascombe’s son, Adam, requests a time with his father. The kid is so embarrassed how his father is coming across as clueless in front of his schoolmates. And so, there in one of the classrooms, alone with his dad, Adam probes if his father is aware of the emojis being utilized by the kids of his age online.

Adam begins by asking what his father usually sends his mother. “Heart.” “What color?” “Red.” And Adam starts explaining the meaning of that color. Red is love. Purple is “horny.” Yellow is “interested” (perhaps in the other person) Pink is “interested but not in sex.” Orange means “you will be fine.”

Everything has a meaning, Bascombe slowly realizes this, but more is being disclosed. Adam is relentless and yet he senses his father does not get him. He moves out but his action proves him wrong:

his father is interested even if the information and disclosure are turning into a sensory overload—for an adult like him. It is a reversal in learning—the older members of society are grappling with the new language that has become second nature to the younger, different generation.

Oftentimes, we feel this generation is not intellectual enough to deal with constructs—ideas that have turned complex, even convoluted. But the conversation between the father who is a policeman and the boy who is in high school is proving how wrong this observation has become. While we were not looking, new tools and technologies have been developed with the young mind as consumers. And while we merely looked at these devices as toys, the new breed of users have gone on to develop alternative skills that can be employed to bring about more efficacious handling of the new kits. It is as if manufacturers have provided the template and the young users are meeting them halfway to introduce a manner of benefiting from the invention. A generation has found its machine while the previous generation of parents, school administrators and authorities are looking at them as a distraction.

This is the new generation gap: the young developing a new way of communicating and we, the

Harrison and Ringo Starr—along with the newly announced stars set to play them.

Sony Pictures kicked off the annual CinemaCon convention and trade show in Las Vegas on Monday by touting their four upcoming biopics told from the perspective of each member of The Beatles. At their presentation on the main stage at Caesars Palace, the studio confirmed and brought out the long-rumored leads for each film—Paul Mescal as McCartney, Joseph Quinn as Harrison, Barry Keoghan as Starr and Harris Dickinson as Lennon.

Director Sam Mendes said all four films will premiere April 2028, calling it the “first binge-able theatrical experience.” “I’ve been trying to make a story about The Beatles for years,” Mendes said.

packed with film clips, trailers and stars to make the case that their upcoming slate will lure audiences to theaters.

Sony also brought out Oscar-winning filmmaker Danny Boyle to debut the new trailer for 28 Years Later his long-awaited zombie apocalypse sequel to 28 Days Later hitting theaters in June, as well as the team behind Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse to tease their third film in the Spider-Verse trilogy.

Sony CEO Tom Rothman encouraged movie theater owners to get creative with weekday discounts, and Sony executive Adam Bergerman made the case for keeping films in cinemas for longer.

The convention comes fresh off an Oscars rallying cry for seeing movies in theaters. AP

older members of the human group, bristling at the thought that we are witnessing a population wasting their time in these fruitless endeavours.

As Bascombe plumbs deeper into the ideas being shared by Adam, he begins to see more. It is the misfortune of the investigator that his goal is to find the knife. It is his fortune that he not only finds a way into the heart of his son that he never addresses as “son” but discovers the meaning behind the symboling of Katie, the victim, and Jamie, the murder suspect.

Incel. Involuntary celibacy. Katie was calling Jamie names. She was bullying Jamie. Cyberbullying has turned into an esoteric game, a puzzle that renders its users vastly sophisticated and intelligent.

Contrary to what we have condemned our children to be, they do live in a world that, to borrow an old poet’s words, we cannot visit, not even in our dreams.

Indeed, how can we help them at all—these troubled young boys and girls—if they speak in an alternative universe, passing between them not caustic epigrams but emojis, literally, emotion-laden letters or syllabary? Adam has this to say, “I can tell you 15 different emojis with the same meaning.”

Such density, such opaqueness. Such emotional distance. And we call it adolescence. n

EDGE-OF-YOUR-SEAT THRILLER

‘DROP’ ARRIVES IN PHL ON APRIL 9

FIRST dates are nerve-wracking enough. Going on a first date while an unnamed, unseen troll pings you personal memes that escalate from annoying to homicidal? Blood-chilling. From director Christopher Landon (Happy Death Day) comes Drop, a mysterythriller starring Meghann Fahy (White Lotus Season 3) and Brandon Sklenar (It Ends with Us).

When widowed mother Violet (Fahy) finally takes the plunge and steps out on her first date in years, she starts receiving innocuous but annoying media drops on her phone.

Things begin to take a turn for the nightmarish as the pesky drops turn into threats to her son’s life. She is directed to kill her date (Brandon Sklenar) or risk losing her son. Time is ticking as she races to unveil the tormentor hiding in plain sight at the restaurant where her date is taking place.

The idea for the film came from real life circumstances when producer Cameron Fuller and executive producer were on an overseas vacation.

“We’re at a beautiful dinner and we start receiving drops from someone in the restaurant,” Fuller says.

“Over the course of the meal, they were getting progressively scarier. By the end, we thought we had figured out who it was, but we were never able to confirm it. That was the scariest part. We never knew who the sender of these drops was. And then we said,

‘Maybe this should be a movie.’” Director Christopher Landon felt like he had a personal connection to the film, which deals with abuse and trauma. “I’ve had people very close to me who have been victims of abuse, specifically domestic abuse,” says Landon. “This was very personal to me, and something I wanted to handle delicately. But I also wanted to show that there is a path for people, a way out.”

Drop opens in Philippine theaters on April 9.

IN the Netflix drama Adolescence, 13-year-old Jamie Miller (Owen Cooper) talks with the court-appointed psychiatrist Briony Ariston (Erin Doherty) following his arrest for stabbing to death a female classmate.

Explore Sabang Beach This Summer; Stay In Comfort at Four Points Palawan

ON sunny days, Sabang Beach on the western coast of Palawan beckons with dreams of an untouched tropical paradise. An expanse of golden sand stretches out, and the sea shimmers in shades of teal and turquoise, deepening to cerulean and cobalt blue as it meets the sky. The far end of the beach is bordered by sheer limestone cliffs, their somber charcoal gray broken up by pockets of lush green plants. Although Sabang is the jump-off point for the Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park (30 minutes away by banca), there’s hardly anyone on the beach. It’s a perfect example of why the province of Palawan is nicknamed the Philippines’ “last frontier.”

While most travelers base themselves in Puerto Princesa City (just 90 minutes away from Sabang), there’s a compelling argument to be made for vacationing on Sabang Beach. It’s ideal for those who want a refreshing change from the usual crowded beaches of Boracay, Bohol, and Cebu. And for today’s discerning travelers who enjoy nature and adventure by day but prefer air-conditioned rooms and a comfortable bed at night, there’s a Four Points by Sheraton Hotel by the beach.

Four Points by Sheraton is one of the 30plus hotel brands of the renowned Marriott International group. The hotel in Palawan offers the essential amenities that a traveler might seek in a luxury resort. All the rooms are just steps from the beach, with a techfriendly workspace, complimentary Wi-Fi and an ambiance that soothes into instant relaxation after a day of adventuring. The beds, of course, are signature Four Points by

Sheraton Comfort Beds.

The resort effectively uses its 5.25-hectare property by providing spacious areas for leisure and relaxation. Restful lounge areas dot the premises; there’s a 1,367 sq.m. pool with a swim-up bar, an on-premise spa, a 24-hour fitness center, and for parents who may need “me time,” the hotel offers Cub’s Club, a playroom with an indoor playground, supervised activities, and a safe environment for children to spend a few hours at play. Recognizing its unique position of being situated in 22,000 hectares of marine protected area, the resort champions sustainability and actively collaborates with the community to support the local economy. It has implemented a number of initiatives to reduce its environmental impact. The resort is fully powered by solar energy, with 30 percent generated from its own solar panels and the remaining sourced from Sabang

RABIES AWARENESS MONTH Boehringer Ingelheim (Philippines), Inc. expanded its Stop Rabies program with a mass vaccination drive at The Clubhouse in Filinvest 2, Quezon City to mark Rabies Awareness Month. The initiative provided free pet vaccinations, reinforcing the importance of responsible pet ownership and strengthening community-wide rabies prevention efforts. With support from the Bureau of Animal Industry and Magic 89.9 FM’s Pets in the City radio program, veterinarians and volunteers worked together to educate pet owners on the crucial role of vaccination in eliminating rabies and safeguarding public health. Through this vaccination drive, Boehringer Ingelheim remains committed to making vaccinations accessible and building safer, rabies-free communities in the Philippines. For more information about Boehringer Ingelheim’s rabies prevention initiatives, visit https:// www.boehringer-ingelheim.com/animal-health.

Raising the Bar in Condotel Development with Anchor Land’s Market Leadership

AMIDST a rapidly changing market, leisureoriented developments such as condotels have proven to be one of the most sought-after investments. With the strong resurgence of interest in travel, whether for business, leisure, or medical tourism, the demand for high-quality accommodations continues to grow. This shift has reinforced the need for condotels that go beyond traditional hospitality, combining luxury experiences and sustainable income-generating opportunities.

As a leader in luxury real estate, Anchor Land continues to redefine condotel development through innovation and strategic foresight. Expanding its reach in the sector with its premium brand, Savea Condotel, the industry leader further raises the bar, offering not just five-star hospitality but also future-proof investments.

Drawing from its experience in developing and elevating key districts, such as the luxurious Admiral Complex, the developer will soon introduce Savea Condotel in some of the country’s premier locations, from prime waterfront districts such as Central Roxas Boulevard to the enchanting shores of renowned island destinations, such as Boracay, Coron, and San Vicente, Palawan. These strategic locations consistently show high demand for upscale accommodations while benefiting from continued infrastructure and economic development, driving long-term appreciation for investors.

As a trailblazer in real estate, Anchor Land continuously adapts to

the evolving needs of modern travelers and discerning investors. Recognizing the growing emphasis on health and well-being, the developer has thoughtfully designed Savea Condotel to nurture every aspect of wellnessfrom the physical to the personal and financial.

Founded on its expertise in building luxury developments, Anchor Land has conceptualized each Savea condotel to feature masterful architectural designs inspired by the natural splendor of each destination, highlighting the most distinct features of the property’s surroundings.

Beyond its aesthetic flair, these premium condotels offer world-class spaces that foster a sense of balance and rejuvenation. With social nooks to encourage guests to spend time with loved ones, fully-equipped amenities to nourish physical wellness, and convenient access to five-star leisure experiences, each property is crafted to deliver a luxurious, wellness-centered experience for guests and investor.

Renewable Energy Corporation (SREC), ensuring a sustainable and eco-friendly energy supply. It has a materials recovery facility and a rainwater catchment system, and operates its water treatment facility. The staff’s uniforms come from Rurungan sa Tubod Foundation which teaches women from impoverished areas how to weave.

Additionally, Evolution, the all-day dining and buffet restaurant, uses local produce sourced from the resort’s organic garden, and its partner, Sheridan Organic Farm. Guests can book a tour and farm-totable lunch for a chance to savor truly fresh and organic cuisine. Some guests may even opt to do a quick immersion in farm life by trying out plowing a rice field or harvesting vegetables. Many leave with a deeper respect for farmers and the relationship between man and nature.

With the all-important “where can we take you” covered, let’s talk about “what to do.” The Four Points Palawan works with community organizations that steward the various ecotourism sites in the area to organize tours that allow guests to immerse themselves in the local culture and natural beauty.

The beach adjacent to the resort is a nesting haven for olive ridley and green sea turtles, and if a visit is timed just right there’s the chance to watch the eggs hatching. The Mangrove Paddleboat Tour is engaging and educational as visitors glide through a 1.2-kilometer stretch of mangrove waterways, and community guides share insights about the local ecosystem. Keen observers may

SABANG Beach – Golden sands, crystal-clear waters, and the perfect spot to unwind after a day of adventure in Palawan. spot monitor lizards sunning themselves on rocks, the Palawan Hornbill and other birds, snakes curled up on branches, and more. The Sabang Waterfall is 50 feet high and a 20-minute walk along the beach from the wharf. Tumbling over rocks and boulders, the water crashes into a rock pool on the beach. For an adrenaline rush, there’s the Puerto Princesa Sabang X Zipline. Soaring 150 feet high and stretching 800 meters long, it offers breathtaking views of Sabang Beach. Adventure seekers will enjoy Ugong Rock. The limestone rock formation is hollow inside and offers the opportunity for a caving and spelunking adventure. Or there’s the Sabang Jungle Trail, a five-kilometer

trek through a limestone karst forest alive with wildlife, beautiful dipterocarp trees, and small caves. The best thing about all of these activities is that they’re less than an hour from the Four Points Palawan, leaving enough time for sunning on the beach or lounging by the pool. To secure the Best Available Rates and special room packages, book rooms directly through the hotel or its website (www. fourpointspalawan.com). The room rates in this platform offer exclusive and highly competitive rates over other websites. Reservations may also be made through e-mail reservations.palawan@fourpoints.com or by calling (048) 550 9000.

Okada Foundation Provides P50M Grant for Filipino Musicians

AS Okada Foundation Inc. (OFI) continues its steadfast commitment to nation-building and the development of Filipino cultural arts, the foundation has pledged a total of P50 million to the National Music Competitions for Young Artists (NAMCYA) and the Young Musicians Development Organization (YMDO).

“Okada has always envisioned actively

contributing to the cultural life of the country, and today, that vision is being realized,” noted Irene M. Araneta, Chairperson of YMDO and Vice Chairperson of NAMCYA. The Young Musicians Development Organization (YMDO) is a non-profit organization whose main objective is to support young Filipino musicians and nurture the Philippine symphonic band tradition. The fruit of their efforts is the

WITH the first whispers of summer settling on the metro, Megaworld Lifestyle Malls unveils a collection of new experiences that capture the spirit of the season—bright, bold, and brimming with possibility. These destinations fuse contemporary elegance with culinary artistry, extending an invitation to immerse yourself in spaces that mirror the excitement of the days to come.

Harlan + Holden at Uptown

Bonifacio

LAUNCHED on March 28, Harlan + Holden offers a sublime marriage of modern design and artisanal craft. Its avant-garde interior, minimalist yet striking, juxtaposed to the artistry of its curated menu, creates a delightful experience where the elegance of craft coffees elevates the everyday ritual. GF, One Uptown Residence

Vamos at Paseo Center

NEWLY opened on March 26, Vamos brings the bold, sun-drenched flavors of Spain to the diners of Makati City. A celebration of Spain’s culinary soul, its selection of pintxos—small, delightful

skewered snacks—are complemented by an exceptional array of grilled fish and steaks, capturing the essence of Iberian charm in every bite. GF

Korea Garden at Three Central Mall

NOW open, Korea Garden offers an authentic escape into the flavors from the land of the morning calm. Revered for its bibimbap, Korean beef stew, and the unforgettable gujeolpan—a nine-sectioned plate of diverse meats and vegetables, this intimate eatery brings a rare taste of Seoul to Manila. GF

Flora’s at Forbes Town FLORA’S redefines healthy dining with Western and Mediterranean-inspired dishes that nourish both body and soul. From tender steaks to vibrant salads, every bite is thoughtfully crafted to offer a balanced, wholesome dining experience— where wellness meets culinary delight. GF Discover what’s new and indulge in the vibrant offerings across Megaworld Lifestyle Malls, where the season of warmth and renewal is always within reach. For updates, visit megaworld-lifestylemalls. com or call (02) 8462-8888.

Philippine Youth Symphonic Band, which is composed of young, talented and highly trained musicians from various regions of the Philippines.

“I was honestly surprised to hear that the Okada Foundation is one of the first organizations to support the NAMCYA and YMDO. I hope that, somehow, we can inspire other benefactors to help preserve Filipino cultural arts in whatever we can,” OFI President James Lorenzana emphasized. “Rest assured, we will continue to work together with key stakeholders in this endeavor, to ensure that our rich musical culture and heritage is preserved and empowered for generations to come,” he added.

Okada Manila recently hosted “UP Symphony: Harmonies of Memories” as part of its ongoing initiative to support the nation’s cultural arts. The concert, held at the hotel’s Grand Ballroom, was a testament to the foundation’s dedication to enriching the cultural fabric of the Philippines.

“With this steadfast commitment, Okada Foundation continues to pave the way for all aspiring Filipino artists to pursue their dreams and be cultural ambassadors both here and abroad,” Lorenzana concluded.

The Okada Foundation and its representatives led by President James Lorenzana (center, bottom row) and Vice President (leftmost) - Corporate Planning and SAP Kentaro Amamoto, with the leadership of the National Music Competitions for Young Artists (NAMCYA) and the Young Musicians Development Organization (YMDO).

Harlan + Holden at Uptown Bonifacio

ISUZU PHILIPPINES SET TO UNVEIL

THE NEW 2025 ISUZU MU-X ON APRIL 4

ISUZU Philippines Corporation (IPC) has officially announced the launch of the highly anticipated 2025 Isuzu mu-X, set to take place on April 4, 2025. With a refreshed bold and luxurious design, the latest edition of Isuzu’s flagship SUV promises enhanced features that elevate both style and functionality.

The new 2025 Isuzu mu-X has already made waves in markets like Thailand and Australia, where it has gained immense popularity as a family-friendly SUV ideal for both daily driving and adventurous getaways. Now, Filipino families and business owners alike can look forward to experiencing one of the best mu-X versions yet.

“We are excited to introduce the new 2025 Isuzu mu-X to the Philippine market. We know how much Filipino families love their mu-X, and this latest version is our best yet - offering the perfect combination of luxury, comfort, and 5-Star safety for both families and business professionals,” said IPC Vice President for Sales, Mr. Toshihiko Kojima. Since its debut in 2014, the mu-X has been a

VETERAN Maila Alivia ruled the premier Super Sporting Class, with Jesse Garcia topping the Sporting Class and Luis Moreno the Novice Class as the 2025 TOYOTA GAZOO RACING Philippine Cup roared off to a blazing kickoff in the event’s 11th season at the Clark Speedway in Pampanga last weekend In the new Legacy Class Sprint Race category, former Vios Cup racers grabbed the spotlight, with Sen. JV Ejercito, the Vios Cup champion in 2017, leading the pack in the company of Paolo Ang, the two-time Sporting Class runner-up in 2021 and 2023. Also showcased in the first of three weekend races lined up for the year was the GR 86 drifting exhibition, with GR car club members competing in sprint races for the first time in the racing series’ history. Dubbed the Club Race, the event highlighted Toyota’s philosophy of bringing thrill and joy to customers through one-of-a-kind fan experiences.

Not to be outdone, Lexus car

owners also took to the track their vehicles for the Track Day, with fans afforded the luxury of gawking at Toyota’s GR lineup and Lexus’ F SPORT series up close at the display area. Said the ever-efficient Allana Faith Rufo, one of Mixie Flavier’s race writers from Toyota Motor Philippines: “In the activity area, event goers enjoyed freebies and prizes from the sponsors’ booths and they had also the chance to try their hand at remote control and sim racing. There were also diecast collectibles for sale.”

It has always been Allana chronicling the blow-byblow happenings in the freeadmission series that I always enjoy covering, mainly for the one distinct reason that I also get to see and sometimes chat enormously with TMP bigwigs like Jing Atienza, Sherwin ChuaLim, Elijah Marcial, Dino & Tini Arevalo, Masa Haoka, Elvin Luciano, Andy Ty and, of course, the TMP president himself, Masando Hashimoto, Speaking of Hasimoto-san— the guy has become a race buff and his enthusiasm has reaped dividends by placing third in the Novice Class, marking the second straight time that he has scored a podium finish after placing second earlier.

The second race is set in May, with some surprises on tap in the event sponsored by Petron and GT Radial

and supported by Toyota Financial Services Philippines, myTOYOTA Wallet, Denso, AVT, 3M, ROTA, Tuason Racing, OMP and Kinto One.

trusted choice in the Philippines, known for its durability, comfort, and advanced safety features. With this latest model, Isuzu continues to raise the bar, ensuring that the mu-X remains a top contender in the SUV segment. For more details and latest updates on the new 2025 Isuzu mu-X, visit www.isuzuphil.com or follow Isuzu Philippines on Facebook.

PEE STOP Talk about conflict of interest and we need not go far. By being part of American President Trump’s inner circle of economic managers, isn’t

Elon Musk, the Tesla owner, guilty of that? What if, say, Alfred V. Ty, the chairman both of TMP and Lexus, accepts the post as President

Marcos’ car czar? That will not happen. Never. I know Alfred to be an upright man. Translation: Over here, we have delicadeza.

Cignal eyes

Spikers’ Turf

Open crown

CIGNAL goes all out for a sweep of Criss Cross to wrap up the championship series of the Spikers’ Turf Open Conference at the PhilSports Arena in Pasig City on Friday.

B8 | Friday april 4, 2025 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph

Angels wield broom to finals

PETRO GAZZ seized the moment with a dominant 25-22, 2520, 25-18 victory over Akari to sweep its single round-robin assignments in the semifinals and advance to the Premier Volleyball League AllFilipino Conference finals at the Smart Araneta Coliseum on Thursday. The Angels’ relentless pursuit of a championship

berth was on full display as they carried the momentum from their stunning victories over the powerhouse Creamline Cool Smashers and Choco Mucho Flying Titans into their semifinal clash with the Chargers.

Akari fought valiantly early on, but the Chargers couldn’t keep up with the two-time Reinforced Conference champions, who turned up the heat in the last two sets to seal the win in one hour and 27 minutes.

With an immaculate 3-0 record, Petro Gazz clinched the first spot in the best-of-three championship series—the Angels’ second trip to the All-Filipino Finals after the 2023 season when then fell short against Creamline.

“I ’m really happy. We kind of fell short in the last two conferences,”

said Myla Pablo, who delivered a stellar 16-point performance highlighted by four kill blocks.

Her efforts earned her a second consecutive Best Player of the Game honors following her gutsy showing in the Angels’ hard-fought four-set victory over the Choco Mucho Flying Titans last Tuesday.

“But the job’s not done yet. We’ll get some rest and then shift our focus to the Finals,” she added.

Petro Gazz’s bench rose to the occasion and eased the scoring load from Brooke Van Sickle, Jonah Sabete, MJ Phillips and Pablo.

“Everyone stepped up, the whole team was locked in,” Pablo said. “Our

defense and blocking worked well. We’re just really happy we pulled off this win.” Van Sickle finished with 15 points and nine excellent digs, while Phillips and Sabete contributed nine and six points, respectively. Akari fell to a 1-2 record and is awaiting the outcome of the other semifinals matchup between sister teams Creamline and Choco Mucho to determine its fate.

The Cool Smashers, who bounced back from their loss to the Angels with a dominant win over the Chargers last Tuesday, need to beat the Flying Titans on Thursday night to advance to the finals.

Gretchel Soltones led Akari with 14 points, but struggled to get consistent support from her teammates—Ivy Lacsina contributed eight points in just two sets, while Eli Soyud was limited to seven points.

C ed Domingo and Nisperos

C ignal’s championship experience took over in Game 1 where the HD Spikers scraped bottom for a 22-25, 25-19, 22-25, 25-21, 15-12 victory that moved them a win away from their ninth championship in the league organized by Sports Vision.

G ame 2 is set at 6 p.m.

A fter suffering three defeats to Criss Cross in the elimination and semifinal rounds, Cignal flipped the script when it mattered most in the opener of their best-of-three series.

C ignal swept Criss Cross in both the 2024 Invitational and last season’s Open title but despite the setback the other night, Criss Cross remains a formidable force.

Armed with a souped-up roster, they entered the finals unblemished in 13 matches they highlighted with three

victories over the HD Spikers.

Their core of Jude Garcia, Nico Almendras, Marck Espejo and Ish Polvorosa has been nothing short of stellar, making them the most wellrounded challenger Cignal has faced in the league.

C ignal head coach Dexter Clamor credited the team’s Game 1 success to team depth, particularly the contributions of reserve players Jau Umandal and reliever setter Cian Silang.

Umandal led the squad with 19 points, including 17 attacks in the third set, while Silang stepped in with 23 excellent sets after replacing Owa Retamar.

“Everyone stepped up, especially Umandal. That’s the Jau we’ve been looking for,” Clamor said. “The support from each and every one, Cian [Silang’s] support for Owa [Retamar]—everything. It was truly a collective effort from everyone.”

S avouge, meanwhile, tries to annex a second consecutive bronze medal when it takes on VNS-Laticrete at 3 p.m. in Game

2 of their best-of-three series for third place.

By Aldrin Quinto

CITY of Santa Rosa, Laguna—James Buytrago and Rancel Varga came up with thundering spikes that left Japan’s Nassim Malki and Kosuke Fukushima scrambling to defend and the Alas Pilipinas pair went on to complete a sweep of their pool play matches with a 19-21, 21-13, 15-10 victory on Thursday in the Rebisco Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) Beach Tour Nuvali Open. The Alas Pilipinas top tandem delivered another thrilling show for the crowd at the world-class Nuvali Sand Courts, the same venue of their silver-medal finish

Jau Umandal steps up at the right moment. Rojas key Zambo

ZAMBOANGA SiKat leaned on John Edcel Rojas’s clutch points to nip Marikina, 7574, and stayed close to the pacesetters in the Manny Pacquiao presents 1xBet-Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League 2025 Season at the WES Arena in Valenzuela on Wednesday. Rojas made a follow-up to knot the count and converted his second free throw with 2.6 seconds left to lift Zamboanga to its fourth win against one loss in the round-robin elimination phase of the 30-team tournament. Zamboanga gained on Nueva Ecija and Rizal Xentromall, both 5-0 won-lost, Quezon Province (4-0) and San Juan (30), caught up with Pangasinan and Abra, and moved ahead of reigning back-toback champion Pampanga and Caloocan, both 3-1, in the race for playoff berths. The 6-foot-2 Rojas, formerly of St. Clare College, wound up with 13 points and five rebounds to complement Abdul Sawat’s dominant 17-point, 15-rebound, 5-assist performance and JP Cauilan’s 13-point, 9-rebound, 3-assist output.

Marikina suffered its sixth straight defeat despite Nem Dela Cruz’s 24 points and Julius Tiburcio’s 10 points. Biñan Tatak Gel, meanwhile, leaned on Kenny Roger Rocacurva and Carlo

Lastimosa to pip Valenzuela, 69-66, in the nightcap.

Trailing 62-50, Valenzuela rallied behind Kyle Drexler Neypes and JR Alabanza and tied the count at 66 with one minute and seven seconds left.

Rocacurva, however, drove in to shatter the deadlock, while Lastimosa made the first of two free throws with 3.9 ticks to go for the marginal points that lifted Biñan’s card to 3-3.

Biñan drew 10 points and 12 rebounds from Jaymar Gimpayan, 10 points and six rebounds from Marc Pingris and 10 points apiece from Christian Fajarito and Kristan Hernandez.

Valenzuela, which fell to 2-4, got 13 points from Neypes and nine points each from Alabanza and JR Ongteco.

The Ilagan Isabela Cowboys hit targets in the second half and subdued the Quezon City Galleries Taipan, 80-72, in the opener.

Arth Dela Cruz, Mark Dyke and Joshua Guiab combined for 29 points in that span, enabling the Cowboys to pull away, 70-55, en route to a 3-3 card.

in the FIVB Beach Pro Tour Futures tournament last year, to lead the Philippine pairs into the Round of 16 of the 44-team 11-nation meet.

Sofia Pagara and Khylem Progella went 1-1 in pool play to advance in women’s play, while also set to see action in the knockout rounds are Sunnie Kalani Villapando and Jenny Gaviola, and the pair of Alexa Polidario and Lorien Gamboa.

We just had to keep moving forward. We put that one-set loss and moved forward and fought for the win,” Varga said. “We just reminded each other that we have what it takes to overcome this kind of deficit.”

Buytrago and Varga pounded the ball as Philippines scored in bunches in the second and third sets, dominating the

47-minute match with 31 total attacks against 18 by the Japanese. “I was confident I could make those hits and blocks because I had the advantage in reach,” Buytrago said. “If I could not get it past the defense, I knew I had the chance to score off the blockers.”

Varga and Buytrago seek a place in the quarterfinals when they battle New Zealand’s John McManaway and James Sadlier, who went 1-1 in pool play.

Pagara and Progella’s sizzling run in pool play got doused by a dispiriting officiating blunder, holding  the upper hand in the second set against China’s Yu Tong and Jiang Kaiyue but ending up absorbing a 14-21-15-21 loss for a 1-1 record.

FAR Eastern University (FEU) defeated Adamson University, 3.5-.5, Wednesday to advance to the University Athletic Association of the Philippines Season 87 women’s blitz semifinals of chess as the top seed while bolstering its “three-peat” bid at the Adamson University Gym. Franchesca Largo, Mhage Sebastian and Me Ann Joy Baclayon provided the decisive wins on boards one, two and four, respectively, while Samantha Umayan drew with Angela San Luis on on the fourth board. The Lady Tamaraws’ dominated the elimination round with

Progella and Pagara, who both stand 5 feet 9 inches, were stunned and the crowd started shouting in disbelief. That triggered a series of errors on the Philippine side and allowed the Chinese to regain the lead, scoring eight straight points on the way to their second victory in pool play.

“It’s about momentum in beach volleyball, and it was quite disheartening right when we were getting our groove back. Our run was cut short just because of that very wrong call,” the 19-year-old Progella said.

The Philippine National Volleyball Federation Invitational champions, Pagara and Progella looked set to seize a set from the pair of Chinese six-footers when they held a 12-9 lead in the second. But the run was halted by an errant ball touch call against the Filipinas by a line judge on a shot that sailed long.

MYLA PABLO showcases her veteran smarts in the Angels’ domination of the Chargers.

VETERAN Marc Pingris takes a short break during Biñan’s 69-66 win over Valenzuela.