THE country’s Balance of Payments (BOP) and Current Account (CA) to GDP ratio are expected to remain in negative territory until next year, according to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP). The data showed the country’s BOP will register a deficit of 1.3 percent of GDP in 2025 and 0.5 percent in 2026. The overall BOP position in 2025 is projected to be negative $6.3 billion while the
2026 figure is negative $2.8 billion. The CA as a percentage of GDP is expected to be at a deficit of 3.3 percent of GDP in 2025 and 2.5 percent in 2026. The CA account will register a negative $16.3 billion in 2025 and negative $13.6 billion in 2026. “They look reasonable, especially if the reason for the deficit is investment spending. If it’s weak production and largely consumption-led spending, then it can be worrisome. This doesn’t seem the case for now,” Bank of the Phil-
ippine Islands Chief Economist Emilio S. Neri Jr. told BusinessMirror
However, Neri said the BOP deficit expectations seem “a bit optimistic” as a central bank projection. He said this estimate may have assumed that the country’s capital and financial account will register surpluses this year and next year. He said a larger deficit could mean a depletion of the government’s international reserves or there is a weakening of the currency.
Neri said there was nothing wrong with having BOP deficits as long as the country’s current account deficits are sustainable.
“It’s always tough to make a call on the capital and financial accounts of the BoP,” Neri said. “To improve the chances of sustaining our current account position at comfortable levels, we need to improve overall domestic productivity which can be achieved through better investments and mobilization of physical and human capital.”
By Justine
and Cai U. Ordinario
than a million minimum wage earners in the National Capital Region are set to receive a P50 daily pay increase starting this July, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) announced on Monday.
By Ma. Stella F. Arnaldo Special
BusinessMirror
OREIGN visitor arrivals in the Philippines slipped to 2.54 million in the first five months of the year, 1.2-percent less from the same period in 2024. Data from the Department of Tourism (DOT) showed the continued sluggish arrivals of foreign tourists were cushioned primarily by the 28.5-percent increase in the arrivals of over-
seas Filipinos to 217,626, yearon-year (yoy). Foreign nationals, however, declined by 2.92 percent to 2.33 million, yoy. The largest sources of overseas Filipinos, or Philippine passport holders permanently living abroad, came from the United States at 53,607; Japan at 22,159; Canada at 21,686; Singapore at 16,604; the United Arab Emirates at 13,288; and Australia at 12,141. “I think we’ve seen recovery
THE Board of Investments (BOI) said it had approved P3.38
worth of investments under the Strategic Investment Priority Plan (SIPP) which took effect in June 2022 until its end in December 2024. In a statement on Monday, the investment promotion agency attached to the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) quoted Mariane Genelou S. Reyes, Chief Investments Specialist at the BOI’s Research and Policy Division as citing among the top-performing sectors Renewable Energy, which account-
ed for P2.58 trillion;
In a recent interview with reporters, BOI Managing Head Ceferino S. Rodolfo said the 2025-2028 SIPP is already up “for presentation and approval of the [Fiscal Incentives Review Board] FIRB.” “In the meantime, tuloy-tuloy lang [it just continues]. No one is prejudiced because we still continue with the [current] SIPP,” Rodolfo
Xyrah Garcia
CROSSING OVER: REHAB OF ICONIC SAN JUANICO BRIDGE IN FULL SWING Vehicles under
Juanico Bridge—currently undergoing rehabilitation. The
will be more resilient amid the devastating effects of natural calamities under the expanded coverage of crop insurance from the Department of Agriculture (DA), according to President Ferdinand Marcos.
DA said it is now planning to increase next year the number of beneficiaries of its attached agency, the Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation (PCIC), by requesting for about a billion additional funding.
In his meeting with farmers during the sidelines of the presentation of the 50th Gawad National Awardees in Muñoz City, in Nueva Ecija, Marcos said DA has implemented enhancements in the implementation of crop insurance.
“All our crops are insured. We provide insurance. So, it’s not like before—because it was so expensive— that other people were in charge, it was done by province and of course
it couldn’t cover everything,” he explained in Filipino.
“But, since the DA is doing it, the insurance can cover more. That’s why we expanded the coverage of our insurance,” he added.
In a Viber message, DA Secretary Francisco P. Tiu Laurel Jr. told BusinessMirror their plans to upgrade their crop insurance system.
“For 2026, we proposed a bigger budget...We are requesting 1 billion [pesos] more,” he said. He also said they have an ongoing project with the World Bank to modernize their insurance system and coverage.
Under the 2025 General Appro -
priations Act (GAA), Laurel said PCIC had the same P4.5-billion budget last year.
Marcos said that providing farmers with insurance for their destroyed crops is crucial during times of calamities, as what happened in 2024 when the country was hit by El Niño and mul-
definitely in the tourism sector, but maybe not as aggressive as we have hoped for, right? But I think the government is taking some good steps in terms of loosening, for example, visa restrictions. I think the most recent, of course, is the visa lifting for the Indian nationals, which is a big deal,” said Francis Gotianun, senior vice president of Filinvest Hospitality Corp., and vice president of the Philippine Hotel Owners Association (PHOA).
More interest from Indian tourists “FROM our own research and monitoring, we saw a 60-percent increase in the searches of India to Philippine travel. So India is a major, major market with over 1 million people...and it’s very important that we work to develop that. Of course, we wish that things would more progress, definitely, but I think that there are a lot of positive steps that are happening in terms of being able to have stronger tourist arivals and get us back to higher levels,” he added.
tiple typhoons. These resulted in P57.78 billion worth of damage to agriculture, DA reported.
The President admitted the government and private sector struggled to cope with such disasters.
“So we were forced to import a lot [of food items]. Then on top of that, we also gave—nothing yet, our insurance is not yet complete. But now, we are ready,” Marcos said.
The Department of Foreign Affairs in late May announced that Indian tourists can now travel to the Philippines without a visa for 14 days. Those with current visas from the United States, Japan, Canada, Schengen, Singapore, or the United Kingdom, or are permanent residents of those countries, can also visit the Philippines for a maximum of 30 days.
DOT data showed there were close to 79,000 tourists from India for the full year 2024, 41.5-percent less than the 134,963 who arrived in 2019, despite the Philippines still requiring visas from Indian tourists then. (See, “Mideast tensions
Continued from A1
Earlier this year, the BOI Managing Head said the agency is aiming to release the three-year blueprint, which he said is expected to include projects with “high impact” for job creation, moving up the value chain and providing essential support to sectors critical to industrial development.
While he did not disclose further details on the amendments that would manifest in the new SIPP, he earlier said changes could be seen in terms of “Articulating further tiers one, two and three.”
“Maybe a bit more…we’re focusing also on the review on the manufacturing sector,” the BOI managing head had said in
January. The SIPP, prepared by the BOI in coordination and consultation with the IPAs, the Fiscal Incentives and Review Board (FIRB), other government agencies administering tax incentives, and the private sector, lists the priority industries, sectors, and business projects that may qualify for investment incentives under Republic Act No. 11534 or the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (CREATE) Act.
BOI earlier said this Plan “serves as a catalyst to beef up various industries and yield more diversified, complex, and sophisticated products and services in the country.”
For instance, under the 2020 In-
lead to a larger BOP deficit, Asuncion said this will place greater pressure on the peso to depreciate, especially if this is not offset by capital inflows.
boost Indian interest in the PHL,” in the BusinessMirror, June 25, 2025.)
From January to May 2025, arrivals from India reached 35,272, slightly higher than the 35,258 who arrived in the same period in 2024.
Korean tourists down 19% PHOA on Monday launched PH Connect 2025, which will be held on July 24-25, 2025 at the Manila Marriott Hotel, Pasay City. The event, which features a conference and exhibition, is expected to attract some 300 participants. It will also provide a premier platform for the government and private sector to explore collaborative partnerships.
Meanwhile, South Korea continued to top the list of major market sources of foreign tourists for the Philippines at 552,925, yet was a 19-percent drop, yoy, from the 682,362 who arrived in the same five-month period in 2024. A spate of robberies in the posh enclave of Bonifacio Global City, along with murders involving Korean nationals in recent years have spurred the South Korean embassy in Manila to issue a travel warning on the Philippines.
This was followed by the United States at 442,756 (+9.67 percent, yoy); Japan at 189,696 (+19 percent); China at 114,496 (-32 percent); and Australia at 134,247 (+19.4 percent). Other source markets of tourists were: Canada at 120,044 (+18.64 percent); Taiwan at 83,682 (-11.2 percent); the United Kingdom at 80,336 (+8.06 percent); Singapore at 63,772 (-1 percent); and France at 41,206 (18.66 percent). The rise in arrivals from France is likely due to the resumption of Air France’s nonstop flights from Paris to Manila last December.
vestment Priorities Plan, some of the preferred activities included for investment are “all qualified activities relating to the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.”
Under the 2022 SIPP, meanwhile, Tier II includes these activities: green ecosystems such as electric vehicle assembly, manufacture of EV parts; health-related activities such as manufacturing in support of the Vaccine Self-Reliance Program; industrial value-chain gaps which covers activities that will address value chain gaps in, among others, steel, textiles, chemicals, green metals processing and labscale wafer fabrication, among others. Under the second tier of the 2022 SIPP, some of the activities are research and development and activities adopting advanced digital production technologies of the fourth industrial revolution.
Andrea E. San Juan
BSP cautiously optimistic?
MEANWHILE , Unionbank Chief Economist Ruben Carlo O. Asuncion said it is worth noting that the BSP expects an improvement in the country’s BOP position between this year and next year.
This, Asuncion said, suggested that the BSP is also being cautiously optimistic given expectations of slower global growth which will impact on the country’s external accounts.
Nonetheless, he said the estimates are “moderate,” especially considering the country’s own history. The Philippines is no stranger to BOP deficits as it has had periods of high import demand and the spillover effects of global shocks.
“The BSP’s projections seem realistic and aligned with current macroeconomic trends, though they remain subject to risks like geopolitical tensions or unexpected shifts in global trade,” Asuncion told BusinessMirror If these risks materialize and
Faster inflation could follow, which could lead to interest rate adjustments. Should this happen, the BSP might tighten monetary policy to stabilize the peso and manage inflation, Asuncion said.
“Persistent deficits may raise concerns among investors about external vulnerabilities, possibly affecting foreign direct investment and portfolio flows,” Asuncion said.
In order to better manage the BOP deficit, he recommended that the country take steps to promote tourism and boost remittances; and encourage foreign investments.
Asuncion said efforts must also include those that reduce the country’s import dependence as well as measures to promote monetary and fiscal discipline. Together, these will support currency stability and investor confidence.
Meanwhile, the BSP said its BOP outlook reflected a continued current account shortfall and moderating financial flows.
The central bank said risks such as global trade uncertainties, geopolitics, and weak investor confidence offset the steady growth of the economy and low inflation. In terms of the current account, the BSP said this indicated a gap in savings over investments in the face of global uncertainties.
“As a result, external financing remains necessary to support the country’s infrastructure-led, investment-driven growth strategy,” the BSP said. The country’s merchandise or goods exports is forecasted to contract by 1 percent in 2025 and post a growth of 2 percent in 2026 while services exports are expected to post a growth of 6 percent in 2025 and 8 percent in 2026. Travel receipts are expected to post double-digit growth of 10 percent this year and 11 percent in 2026 while Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) revenues are seen to post a five percent growth in 2025 and 2026. The country’s top dollar earning sectors will not be complete without cash remittances, which the BSP projects to post a growth of 2.8 percent in 2025 and 3 percent in 2026. Net Foreign Direct Investment liabilities are expected to reach $7.5 billion in 2025 and $8 billion in 2026. The country’s Gross International Reserves is projected to reach $104 billion in 2025 and $105 billion in 2026.
PNA FILE PHOTO
Romualdez files 5 ‘gut’ bills as ‘buena mano’
By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz @joveemarie
LEYTE Rep. Ferdinand
Martin G. Romualdez on Monday filed the first five legislative priorities for the 20th Congress, headlined by a sweeping reform of the rice sector aimed at fighting inflation and empowering farmers and consumers alike.
Romualdez’s flagship measure, House Bill 1, or the Rice Industry and Consumer Empowerment (RICE) Act, seeks to overhaul the National Food Authority (NFA) and restore its regulatory powers. The bill aims to stabilize rice prices, ensure food security, and strengthen support for local farmers.
“Rice is life, and it is the soul of every Filipino family’s dining table. That is why this bill is the very first we filed in the 20th Congress. It reflects our singular focus on the daily struggle of every Filipino family to put affordable food on the table and the need to reward our farmers with fair prices for their hard work,” said Romualdez, the Speaker of the recently concluded 19th Congress.
Under HB1, the NFA will once again be authorized to license and inspect grain warehouses, monitor
rice trading activities, confiscate hoarded rice and release stocks during artificial shortages or price increases, and set and enforce a floor price for palay purchases to protect farmers’ income.
The bill proposes amendments to the Rice Tariffication Law and introduces stricter penalties— including fines up to P2 million, two years imprisonment, and lifetime bans from public office—for hoarding and profiteering.
The Office of the President, the Department of Agriculture, and the NFA collaborated to develop HB 1, indicating broad executive support.
Romualdez emphasized that the measure preserves the liberalized rice import regime under the Rice Tariffication Law but adds essential safeguards.
The goal, he said, is not to restrict trade but to empower state intervention when the public interest is at stake.
HB 2
ROMUALDEZ filed HB 2, which seeks to exempt millions of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) from mandatory PhilHealth premium contributions.
The proposed amendment to the Universal Health Care Act (Republic Act 11223) also splits
House leader vows continuous funding for vets’ medical needs
THE leader of the House of Representatives has reaffirmed the chamber’s full support to enhance veterans’ access to healthcare services, particularly in areas outside Metro Manila.
Highlighting the need to honor the country’s heroes in their twilight years, Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez stressed the importance of delivering quality and accessible medical services to veterans, retired soldiers, and their families.
“The valor of our veterans and soldiers can never be fully repaid. But in recognition of their invaluable contributions to our nation, we in the House of Representatives, in support of President Marcos’ program, will work to ensure healthcare services, treatments, and medicines are always within their reach,” Romualdez said.
The Speaker issued the statement following President Marcos’ launch of the pilot site of the Veterans Access to Lifetime Optimized Healthcare (Valor) Clinic at Fernando Air Base in Lipa City, Batangas.
Spearheaded by the Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC), the Valor Clinic program aims to decentralize healthcare services by establishing a network of primary care facilities in military camps and hospitals throughout the country. The project is designed to serve more than 400,000 veterans, retirees, and their dependents who often face limited access to medical services owing to logistical and financial constraints.
Romualdez pledged to ensure adequate funding for the program through the General Appropriations Act, especially as the 20th Congress prepares to deliberate the 2026 National Expenditure Program.
“With the incoming 20th Congress poised to deliberate on the Executive Branch’s National Expenditure Program for 2026, we will make sure that the establishment of more Valor Clinics in underserved areas receives ample support in the national budget,” he added.
“They have sacrificed so much for our country so that we may live in peace and prosperity. Their wellbeing, especially their health, should always be safeguarded,” the House leader emphasized.
OFWs’ premiums equally between the government and their employers, reduces PhilHealth contribution rates across the board, and prohibits the transfer of PhilHealth funds to the national treasury.
The prohibition against transfer of funds states, “Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, no portion of the reserve fund or any fund or income of PhilHealth, including the provident fund under Section 16(C) and the special health fund under Section 20 of this Act, shall accrue to the general fund of the national government or to any of its agencies or instrumentalities, including government-owned or -controlled corporations.”
The bill was filed amid lingering controversy over the Department of Finance’s (DOF) directive that resulted in the transfer of at least P60 billion from PhilHealth to the Treasury—an action currently under Supreme Court review.
The transfer, questioned by concerned citizens, is still pending resolution by the Court. The DOF said its circular was authorized by the annual budget law.
The bill also provides that any unused portion of premium subsidies for indirect contributors shall be allocated exclusively for an in -
crease in benefits or a decrease in forthcoming premium subsidies.
HB 3
TO strengthen the country’s capacity to respond to pandemics, Romualdez filed HB 3, which proposes the creation of the Philippine Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC).
The CDC will be the lead agency in preventing and controlling infectious diseases, coordinating interagency responses during public health emergencies, and streamlining science-based decision-making in crisis situations.
In proposing the creation of the CDC, Romualdez invoked a provision of the Constitution mandating the state to “protect and promote the right to health of every Filipino and instill health consciousness among them.”
HB 4
IN a bid to revitalize private education, HB 4 seeks to repeal the Expanded Government Assistance to Students and Teachers in Private Education (E-Gastpe) law and replace it with the Private Basic Education Vouchers Assistance Act.
Key provisions of the bill include a tiered voucher system for students from low- and middle-
income families, new subsidies and support programs for private school teachers, and the creation of a Bureau of Private Education under the Department of Education to manage the program.
“The old E-Gastpe law is no longer suited to the times. We are filing this bill to ensure that no Filipino learner is left behind— an essential principle of President Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr.’s Bagong Pilipinas campaign,” said Romualdez.
The measure responds to the decline in private school enrollment, which dropped by 48 percent at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, and aims to ease congestion in public schools while ensuring quality education access.
It also seeks the establishment of a new Bureau of Private Education under the Department of Education, which will oversee the implementation of voucher subsidies, teacher support programs, and institutional development assistance for private schools.
Under the measure, qualified students from middle-income and underprivileged families will be granted governmentissued vouchers to enroll in private basic education schools when public schools in their area are either congested or
unavailable.
The amount of the voucher will vary depending on the student’s economic background, with priority support extended to the poorest sectors.
HB 5
ROUNDING out Romualdez’s top five priorities is HB 5, that mandates the creation of the Eastern Visayas Development Authority (Evda), aimed at fast-tracking the recovery and long-term growth of Region VIII through integrated planning, stronger governance, and public-private investments.
The proposed Evda, to be headquartered in Tacloban City, is envisioned as the lead agency in coordinating and harmonizing national and local government programs in the provinces of Leyte, Biliran, Southern Leyte, Northern Samar, Eastern Samar, Western Samar, and the cities of Ormoc and Tacloban.
The Evda will also be vested with control and administration of all post-Yolanda rehabilitation funds, equipment, and properties still unutilized or pending disposition, making it the central authority in ensuring transparency and results in rebuilding efforts over a decade after the disaster.
Group nixes US ammo factory at Subic
By Jonathan L. Mayuga @jonlmayuga
Under the proposed rollout, the Valor Program will unfold in three phases, aiming to establish 15 clinics by 2028. Each facility will offer preventive and primary healthcare services—ranging from immunizations and diagnostic tests to chronic disease management and provision of maintenance medications. Clinics will be staffed with trained medical teams and connected to the VMMC via telehealth systems.
In the first phase, Valor Clinics will be established at the Fernando Air Base in Batangas, Northern Luzon Command in Tarlac, Fort Bonifacio General Hospital in Taguig City, Southern Luzon Command in Quezon, and Camp Riego de Dios in Cavite City.
Under the second phase, additional clinics will be located at Eastern Mindanao Command in Davao City, Western Mindanao Command in Zamboanga City, Brigadier General Benito Ebuen Air Base Hospital in Mactan, and Government Arsenal Medical Facility in Bataan.
The third and final phase includes clinics at the Kuta Major Cesar L. Sang-an Hospital in Zamboanga del Sur, Camp Peralta Station Hospital in Capiz, Camp Evangelista Station Hospital in Cagayan de Oro City, Camp Melchor F. dela Cruz Station Hospital in Isabela, Camp Siongco Station Hospital in Maguindanao, and 8th Infantry Division Hospital in Camp General Vicente Lukban, Samar.
The government is also studying the possibility of extending Valor Clinic services to civilian personnel of the Armed Forces (AFP).
Romualdez has been a consistent advocate for veterans’ welfare. He championed the passage of Republic Act 11958, which rationalized and significantly increased the disability pension of veterans. Signed into law by President Marcos in August 2023, the measure raised monthly benefits for service-connected disabilities to between P4,500 and P10,000, depending on the severity.
Romualdez said these continuing efforts are part of the government’s commitment to ensure that veterans live with dignity and receive the care they rightfully deserve. Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz
AN alliance of small fishermen rejected a proposal at the US Congress to establish an ammunition production and storage facility at the former American naval base in Subic Bay.
The Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) cited its potential threat to the national security and the livelihood of Filipino fishermen
and their families.
In a statement, Pamalakaya said that such military depots to be installed in the country pose serious security threats as they make the Philippines a potential target of US rival countries.
“We certainly do not want to find ourselves in the middle of a war zone between the US and its rival nations. We have expelled US military bases and troops before. We can’t see any reason why it is strengthening its military presence
in our country, but to set the stage for provocative operations against China,” Fernando Hicap, national chairman of Pamalakaya, said.
“This will also threaten the fishing livelihood because of the toxic chemical waste that the ammunition and arms factory will discharge into the water,” Hicap added.
Pamalakaya urged the people and legislators to reject the installation of a US military facility at Subic Bay for its so-called
“forward-staged ammunition” manufacturing in the Indo-Pacific region.
“The Filipino people won’t benefit from the US arms and ammunition depot in our country. This plan should be outrightly rejected even by Filipino legislators, as it is a direct affront to our national sovereignty. We stand alongside the many Filipinos who reject and denounce the US warmonger in the country and the Marcos administration’s subservience,” he said.
Impeachment proceeding won’t disrupt House work–spox
DESPITE the heightened political tension brought by the impeachment proceedings, the House of Representatives on Monday assured the public that the legislative work of the 20th Congress will not be disrupted.
House spokesperson Princess Abante made the statement during the first day of filing of bills, where numerous members of the House of Representatives submitted their priority measures.
“The job and duty of lawmakers to pass legislation is separate from the impeachment process,” Abante said in a news conference. “For the House, the impeachment proceedings will be handled by an autho -
rized panel of public prosecutors. Meanwhile, legislative work here at the House continues for the measures already filed.”
Abante emphasized that the House remains focused on working hand in hand with the Senate to address the administration’s priority measures, especially those meant to provide concrete solutions to the pressing issues faced by Filipinos.
“Even though the Senate and the House may sometimes hold differing positions on various matters, for the sake of improving the lives of our people, there is always room for dialogue and agreement. That’s what we hope to see in the 20th
UN cites PHL’s performance in e-governance
THE United Nations has named the Philippines as one of the world’s top performers in e-governance, placing it among only 12 countries globally to receive the 2025 UN E-Government Award.
The award, conferred by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN Desa), honors nations that have demonstrated exceptional improvements in digital governance based on the E-Government Development Index (Egdi) and the Online Service Index (OSI).
From 2022 to 2024, the Philippines elevated its Egdi classification from “High” to “Very High,” jumping more than 15 places in the global rankings.
The country also registered a 15 percent improvement in OSI, a key indicator of the accessibility and quality of online government services.
“This global recognition by the UN validates the Philippines’ digital transformation roadmap under President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., aligning with his vision to make government services more efficient, inclusive, and futureready,” Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Undersecretary for E-Government David Almirol Jr. said.
He noted that the award follows a series of major digital reforms, including the deployment of the eGov PH Super App, now used by more than 13 million Filipinos. The app features 47 service modules and has processed over 150 million transactions.
Another flagship initiative, the eGovDX platform, has facilitated more than 500 million transactions in more than 1,000 national and See “UN,” A5
Congress,” she added.
When asked about the types of bills filed on the first day, many of which focus on urgent socioeconomic issues such as high prices of basic commodities and stagnant wages, Abante pointed out that lawmakers are simply responding to the needs of their constituents.
Abante said the public can expect more bills to be filed in the coming days. Once the internal organization of the 20th Congress is finalized, these measures will be referred to the appropriate committees for further deliberation.
“As the new term of our House members begins, we are looking forward to a productive 20th Congress. I hope you continue to join us in informing the public about the work and efforts of the House of Representatives for the benefit of our citizens,” Abante said. Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz
“The lawmakers know the situation on the ground. These bills reflect the continuing need for affordable basic necessities. Beyond that, we also saw proposals related to national security, housing, healthcare, and economic development, including the creation of economic zones,” Abante explained. “This demonstrates a holistic approach among House members to meet the needs of the people.”
Ruiz available for any govt post
AMID reports that he is set to be reassigned to a new post, Presidential Communications Office (PCO) Secretary Jay Ruiz said he is ready to continue serving the Marcos administration.
“I always serve at the pleasure of the President. Whatever happens, I will be forever grateful for the opportunity,” PCO Secretary Jaybee “Jay” C. Ruiz said in a brief statement released to Palace reporters last Monday. Ruiz issued the statement when asked for a reaction on an online report which said he will soon be reassigned as the new head of the Presidential Action Center (PACe). PACe is under the supervision of the Office of the Executive Secretary. It coordinates with other government agencies to address public requests for assistance, complaints and grievances. The same online report claimed that PFMTC, Inc., the local affiliate of Philippine
Tuesday, July 1, 2025
‘Protect public from triple planetary crisis’
By Bless Aubrey Ogerio
ENVIRONMENT advocates are calling on newly-elected officials to place the well-being of both people and planet at the forefront of local governance as they formally begin their terms.
Groups under the Ecological Waste Coalition urged local governments (LGUs) to act swiftly and decisively against the interlinked threats of pollution, climate change, and biodiversity loss—what the United Nations refers to as the “triple planetary crisis.”
“We urge our elected public servants in
all local governments to utilize their powers and resources to the fullest to provide their constituents with the best of the devolved basic services,” said Aileen Lucero, EcoWaste Coalition national coordinator.
Lucero emphasized that newlyminted local leaders have a critical role in upholding major environmental laws within their jurisdictions, including Republic Acts 9003 (Ecological Solid Waste Management Act), 8749 (Clean Air Act), 9275 (Clean Water Act) and 9729 (Climate Change Act). Echoing this call was Caritas Philippines, whose internal ecology national head Jing
Rey Henderson pressed LGUs to champion ecological justice.
Henderson underscored the importance of enforcing zero-waste programs, protecting watersheds and coastal areas, and rejecting environmentally harmful projects like waste incineration and fossil fuel operations.
“Inclusive governance, public participation and full transparency are essential to ensure accountability in all environmental actions,” Henderson said. “By putting people, planet, and accountability at the center of leadership, LGUs can help build healthier, just, and pollution-free
communities.”
In addition, for Mother Earth Foundation chairperson Sonia Mendoza, local ordinances banning single-use plastics must be strictly enforced and violators penalized. She added that these efforts are vital to encourage behavioral shifts and strengthen compliance with ecological solid waste management (ESWM) mandates.
Meanwhile, Rene Pineda, Partnership for Clean Air president, advocated for the formation of cooperatives that can support waste-based social enterprises, such as community vegetable gardens. Also, to ensure accountability, Pineda proposed
Tianjin City–Model for green logistics, regional connectivity
By Wes Cabangon
AS the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit convenes this year in Tianjin, attention turns to more than just diplomacy. The choice of Tianjin as host city underscores its growing stature—not only as a northern gateway to China but as a case study in how logistics, energy, and technology can converge to accelerate national development.
Known historically as “Heaven’s Port,” Tianjin has become a key link in China’s overland and maritime ambitions. Its port sits at the confluence of multiple trade corridors, supported by an inland rail network that stretches across Central Asia and into Europe. But its real significance today lies in how it demonstrates the future of smart and sustainable infrastructure.
Net zero logistics powerhouse TIANJIN Port is among the world’s busiest and most modern shipping facilities, processing between 25 to 30 million cargo containers annually. At its core is Section C, a cutting-edge terminal designed to operate as a net zero carbon logistics hub—a feat accomplished through the full integration of renewable energy systems and automation.
Powered entirely by on-site wind turbines and solar panels, the terminal generates roughly 58 million kilowatthours (kWh) per year, while the broader port complex produces approximately 180 million kWh annually, covering nearly 40 percent of its total energy demand. These figures are not symbolic. They mark a working demonstration of how industrial-
scale operations can function within a carbon-neutral framework—something still aspirational in much of the world. Beyond its green credentials, Tianjin has redefined operational efficiency. It uses ARTs (Automatic Robots Transportation) to move containers across the yard with minimal human involvement. These autonomous vehicles are guided by Huawei’s 5G network and BeiDou satellite positioning, enabling centimeter-level accuracy and smart traffic coordination. The result: stockyard operations that are twice as fast as conventional ports and one-third the manpower requirement for equivalent throughput.
Streamlining customs, saving time
THE innovation extends beyond cranes and container stacks. Tianjin Port has integrated its operations tightly with Chinese customs authorities. This collaboration is supported by unified digital infrastructure that allows cargo to be inspected and cleared in as little as 10 minutes—down from a traditional average of two hours. That efficiency has translated to an estimated RMB 200 million in annual time-saved value. Time is also saved at the macro level.
With approximately 63,000 ships processed each year, even marginal reductions in ondock dwell time compound significantly. By reducing bottlenecks per vessel, Tianjin is able to save an estimated 180,000 hours annually, directly impacting shipping costs and throughput capacity.
Tianjin’s ports also maintain real-time digital portals and APIs, allowing shipping companies to track container status and
customs progress from anywhere in the world. These systems are designed with standardized protocols, making them easy to scale and replicate across other Chinese ports—and increasingly, in overseas infrastructure projects where China plays a development role.
Binhai New Area: Logistics-Driven Industrial Ecosystem
ADJACENT to the port is the Binhai New Area, a 2,000-square-kilometer economic zone where finance, manufacturing, and trade logistics converge. The proximity to the port allows businesses to hold trade shows, conduct just-in-time assembly, and export goods with minimal friction.
Major players have set up operations here. Lenovo’s Smart Innovation Service Park, for example, assembles computing hardware ranging from consumer laptops to enterprise-grade servers, taking advantage of the region’s efficient access to global markets. The area is also home to COOEC’s intelligent manufacturing base, which specializes in prefabricated components for deep-sea oil rigs—many of which are exported abroad or used in China’s expanding offshore energy network.
Reflections for PHL TIANJIN’S experience provides useful insights—but also important caveats— for the Philippines. As the country looks to modernize its own logistics backbone, several lessons emerge:
1. Net Zero Development is Achievable at Scale
Tianjin shows that decarbonized port infrastructure is no longer theoretical. With the right investment in renewables, similar frameworks could be integrated into Philippine port expansions—especially in high-traffic or greenfield zones.
2. Digital Customs Integration Matters
By embedding customs clearance into the operational and digital design of the port, Tianjin has drastically reduced bottlenecks. Philippine ports still struggle with legacy systems and overlapping
clearances; a unified digital infrastructure could yield both cost and time savings.
3 Automation Has Limits Across Contexts
While Tianjin relies heavily on robotics and AI to reduce labor inputs, such a model may not be easily replicable in the Philippines due to differences in wage structures, labor policy, and industrial priorities. However, selective automation—particularly in yard coordination and data visibility—can still offer meaningful gains.
4. Standardization Enables Scaling
Tianjin’s success is built on the application of unified standards across equipment, data, and interface design. As the Philippines upgrades its own logistics systems, ensuring compatibility between ports, shipping agents, and regulatory bodies will be essential for long-term scalability.
Strategic Opportunity
HOSTING the SCO Summit is not merely symbolic. It reflects Tianjin’s emergence as a regional node for development, diplomacy, and innovation. With China continuing to build its trade corridors through Central Asia, Russia, and the Indian Ocean, ports like Tianjin are not just endpoints—they are active agents shaping global supply flows.
For the Philippines, deeper engagement with logistics hubs such as Tianjin may open opportunities for cooperation in technology, standards development, and infrastructure design. While direct replication may not be realistic, strategic alignment can help position the country for the next phase of regional integration.
Tianjin’s rise is a reminder that ports are more than just places of entry. They are centers of value creation—where trade, technology, and policy intersect to drive national development forward.
Wes Cabangon is currently based in Beijing, covering regional diplomacy, infrastructure, and cross-border cooperation under the 2025 China International Press Communication Center (CIPCC) program.
New PIDS chief assumes office
THE Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) is setting its sights on becoming more attuned to the needs of Filipinos as it continues shaping public policy—this time with an even deeper focus on issues affecting day-to-day life.
Philip Arnold Tuaño, who was sworn in as the eighth president of the government think tank, emphasized the importance of grounding research in the lived experiences of citizens while continuing the organization’s long-standing mandate of informing national planning and development.
“PIDS stands as a beacon of credible, independent, and evidence-based policy research—it is a legacy we must continue to honor and strengthen,” Tuaño said in his inaugural address.
He also committed to build on the institute’s core research themes of inclusive growth and human development, while also pushing for broader, interdisciplinary collaborations to meet the changing demands of public policymaking.
“We will continue to uphold the highest standards of academic integrity,
public audits of waste management budgets.
Moreover, the Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement’s Neneng Lava told local leaders to focus on improving waste segregation and collection systems, revitalize non-functional Materials Recovery Facilities (MRFs), reduce plastic use and promote reuse-centered strategies. Similar appeals came from grassroots groups, including Cebu-based Action for Nurturing Children and Environment (Ance), which emphasized the need for strict segregation, consistent garbage collection, and enforcement against illegal dumping.
By Henry J. Schumacher
Understanding of ‘public interest’ and ‘political integrity’
POLITICAL integrity means exercising political power consistently in the public interest, independent from private interests, and not using power to maintain the office holder’s own wealth and position.
Understandings of ‘public interest’ are ever evolving and at times hotly debated. What is clear, is that political integrity is only possible when safeguards exist throughout the political process:
1. The process to elect, appoint or select those who hold power is free from the undue influence of vested interests.
2. That all stakeholders have inclusive, open and meaningful opportunities to equally influence decision-making.
Political decisions and power holders are subject to scrutiny by the public and institutional checks and face consequences for using power for private gain.
Undisclosed, unchecked, or undue influence over the powerful skews resources and policies away from the common good. It perpetuates inequality, undermines democracy and deprives people of their human rights.
I enjoyed the article of Ramon del Rosario in the Inquirer last week, saying “Our voices mattered—but more needs to be done.” His first paragraph supports my story: “The 2025 midterm elections in the Philippines may well be remembered not just for the winners they produced, but for the quiet, powerful wave of change that swept through polling precincts across the country. This is wave-powered by young, well-educated voters who showed up, spoke up, and reshaped the narrative of Philippine democracy.”
In my view, local governments and the Private Sector, including nongovernment organizations, need to work together.
AFTER a hefty price increase in petroleum products last week, oil companies announced Monday that pump prices will drop by more than P1 per liter this week.
Associations of waste workers from Cugman, Cagayan de Oro City, and Mintal, Davao City, called on barangays to lead in ESWM implementation, underscoring its impact on health and community cleanliness. Government data and various reports indicate that the Philippines produces around 2.7 million tons of plastic waste each year. On average, a Filipino uses 20 kilograms of plastic annually, with 15.4 kilograms ending up as waste. The country is also the leading source of ocean plastic pollution, contributing 36 percent of the global total.
Rightsizing–is it needed
THE regulatory mania of the authorities can be excessive, and many rules are pointless and contradictory, and sometimes incomprehensible and obstructive. The following urgently needs to happen: Fundamental dismantling of bureaucratic obstacles, simplification of rules, automation/digitization of processes wherever possible.
Education Reform— investments in human capital are needed
THE investment in human development is a strategy for economic recovery and inclusive growth. The private sector has started to cooperate with DepEd to specifically focus on technical training and ‘learning by doing’. Workforce skills are critical if the Philippines is to gain from its ‘demographic dividend.”
Exciting times with the need for change for the common good. There is no question about the willingness of the private sector to cooperate with the Administration and Congress to ‘imagineering’ the future! Allow me to finish by again quoting Ramon del Rosario: “Now, the challenge is to keep the fire alive to accompany the youth who showed up this year. Democracy, after all, is a habit, one that is best be taught early, practiced often, and shared across generations.” The time for change is now; let’s work together for the common good. For comments, please contact me at hjschumacher59@gmail.com
transparency, and agility, especially as the policy landscape evolves rapidly,” he said.
His appointment was formalized by the Socio-economic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan, who also serves as chairman of the PIDS Board of Trustees.
Prior to his appointment, Tuaño served as dean of the Ateneo School of Government. He also previously held roles at the National Anti-Poverty Commission and the Human Development Network.
Tuaño holds several degrees in economics: a doctorate and a master’s degree from the University of the Philippines, a master’s in Development Economics from the University of Sussex in the United Kingdom and a bachelor’s degree from the Ateneo de Manila University.
He succeeds Aniceto Orbeta Jr., who led PIDS for four years and served the institute for over three decades.
PIDS plays a critical role in shaping national policy by conducting comprehensive and integrated research that informs government planning, program development and legislative agenda. Bless Aubrey Ogerio
Motorists will enjoy a P1.40 per liter decrease in gasoline products. Diesel price will be slashed by P1.30 per liter while kerosene is set to drop by P2.2 per liter. The new pump prices take effect at 6:00 a.m. of July 1. Among the oil companies that announced the new pump prices as of press time are Shell, Caltex, Seaoil, and Petron. Other oil companies are expected to follow suit.
This week’s price adjustment can be attributed to the easing of the geopolitical tensions between Iran and Israel and the ceasefire announcement last week of US President Donal Trump between Israel and Iran. However, this week’s price drop is not enough to offset last week’s price hike of P3.50 per liter for gasoline products, P5.20 per liter for diesel, and P4.80 per liter for kerosene. The big-time oil price increase was split into two to cushion the impact on motorists.
The Department of Energy (DOE), meanwhile, released a list of service stations offering discounts to public utility vehicle (PUV) drivers. Based on the list, there are 413 Petron stations offering P0.50 to P3 per liter discount to PUV drivers while Shell has 315 stations that provide P1 for every five liters. Seaoil’s 140 stations provide P4 per liter off on gas and P2 per liter on diesel from July 1 to September this year.
Phoenix Petroleum offers up to P1.5 per
cut for diesel and as much as P2
for gasoline at select 12 stations. Select stations of PTT, Jetti, Cleanfuel and Petro Gazz are also providing fuel discounts. Some of the oil companies, meanwhile, said the price discount offerings have been in
. . Continued from A3
local government systems through its eNGA and eLGU integrations. Of the 25 targeted eGovernment platforms, 21 have already been
launched—among them, eGovAI, eGovPay, eReport, eSignature, and eTravel. In additionb, more than 87 million
digital national IDs have been generated, enabling secure digital identity verification through eKYC features.
These advancements are backed by the country’s eGovCloud project, which hosts more than 3,000 government systems on
four multi-cloud infrastructures to ensure secure and scalable digital services. Lorenz S. Marasigan
Editor: Angel R. Calso
Deadly Russian airstrikes across Ukraine mark biggest aerial attack since invasion
By Volodymyr Yurchuk The Associated Press
KYIV, Ukraine—Russia launched its biggest aerial attack against Ukraine overnight, a Ukrainian official said Sunday, part of an escalating bombing campaign that has further dashed hopes for a breakthrough in efforts to end the 3-year-old war.
Russia fired a total of 537 aerial weapons at Ukraine, including 477 drones and decoys and 60 missiles, Ukraine’s air force said. Of these, 249 were shot down and 226 were lost, likely having been electronically jammed.
troops shelled the city of Kherson, and the body of a 70-yearold woman was found under the rubble of a nine-story building hit by Russian shelling in the Zaporizhzhia region.
In the far-western Lviv region, a large fire broke out at an industrial facility in the city of Drohobych following a drone attack that also cut electricity to parts of the city.
Ukraine’s air force said one of its F-16 warplanes supplied by its Western partners crashed after sustaining damage while shooting down air targets. The pilot died.
Russia has recently been improving its drone technology as well as its tactics, striking Ukraine with increasing success.
is ready for a fresh round of direct peace talks in Istanbul. Two recent rounds of talks between Russian and Ukrainian delegations in Istanbul were brief and yielded no progress on reaching a settlement.
Zelenskyy withdraws Ukraine from an anti-land mine pact
UKRAINIAN President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a decree to withdraw Ukraine from the Ottawa Convention banning antipersonnel land mines, a Ukrainian lawmaker said Sunday. The move follows similar recent steps by the Baltic States and Poland.
Three people were killed in each of the drone strikes in the Kherson, Kharkiv and the Dnipropetrovsk regions, according to the three governors.
Another person was killed by an airstrike in Kostyantynivka, local officials said. In addition to aerial attacks, a man died when Russian
The onslaught was “the most massive airstrike” on the country since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, taking into account both drones and various types of missiles, Yuriy Ihnat, head of communications for Ukraine’s air force, told The Associated Press. The attack targeted several regions, including western Ukraine, far from the front line. Poland and allied countries scrambled aircraft to ensure the safety of Polish airspace, the country’s air force said.
Russian troops reportedly advance in Donetsk RUSSIA’S Defense Ministry said it had shot down three Ukrainian drones overnight.
Two people were wounded in another Ukrainian drone attack on the city of Bryansk in western Russia, regional Gov. Alexander Bogomaz said Sunday morning, adding that seven more Ukrainian drones had been shot down over the region.
Meanwhile, Russia claimed
Sunday that it had taken control of the village of Novoukrainka in the partially Russian-occupied Donetsk region.
Russian forces have been slowly grinding forward at some points on the roughly 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line, though their incremental gains have been costly in terms of troop casualties and damaged armor.
In other developments, Russia’s foreign intelligence chief, Sergei Naryshkin, said he had spoken on
the phone with his US counterpart, CIA Director John Ratcliffe.
“I had a phone call with my American counterpart and we reserved for each other the possibility to call at any time and discuss issues of interest to us,” Naryshkin said in remarks to state TV reporter Pavel Zarubin, who posted them on his Telegram channel on Sunday.
Sunday’s attacks follow Russian President Vladimir Putin’s comments two days ago that Moscow
The 1997 treaty prohibits the use, production, stockpiling and transfer of antipersonnel land mines in an effort to protect civilians from explosives that can maim or kill long after fighting ends.
“This is a step that the reality of war has long demanded,” said Roman Kostenko, secretary of the Ukrainian parliamentary committee on national security, defense and intelligence. He noted that Russia is not a party to the convention “and is massively using mines against our military and civilians.”
New Gaza evacuation order as Trump pushes for ceasefire in 20-month war
TBy Tia Goldenberg, Samy Magdy & Wafaa Shurafa
The Associated Press
EL AVIV, Israel—US President Donald Trump on Sunday urged progress in ceasefire talks in the 20-month war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, though some weary Palestinians were skeptical about the chances. Israel issued a new mass evacuation order for parts of northern Gaza. Ron Dermer, a top adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, was set to travel to Washington this week for talks on a ceasefire, an Israeli official said, and plans were being made for Netanyahu to travel there in the coming weeks, a sign there may be movement on a deal.
Netanyahu was meeting with his security Cabinet on Sunday evening, the official said on condition of anonymity to discuss plans that hadn’t been finalized.
“MAKE THE DEAL IN GAZA. GET THE HOSTAGES BACK!!!” Trump wrote on social media early Sunday. Trump raised expectations Friday by saying there could be an agreement within the next week.
Some Palestinians doubtful of latest efforts AN eight-week ceasefire was reached as Trump took office earlier this year, but Israel
resumed the war in March after trying to get Hamas to accept new terms on next steps.
“Since the beginning of the war, they have been promising us something like this: Release the hostages and we will stop the war,” said one Palestinian, Abdel Hadi Al-Hour. “They did not stop the war.”
Israeli attacks continued. An airstrike Sunday evening hit a house sheltering displaced people in the Jabaliya al-Nazla area, killing at least 15, according to Fares Awad, head of the Gaza’s Health Ministry’s ambulance and emergency services in the territory’s north. He said
women and children made up over half the dead.
Israel’s military did not comment on the strike, but the area fell under the latest evacuation order.
During a visit to Israel’s internal security service, Shin Bet, Netanyahu said that the Israel-Iran war and ceasefire have opened many opportunities: “First of all, to rescue the hostages. Of course, we will also have to solve the Gaza issue, to defeat Hamas, but I estimate that we will achieve both tasks.”
Major sticking point for any deal BUT talks between Israel and Hamas have repeatedly faltered over a major sticking point—whether the war should end as part of any ceasefire agreement.
Hamas official Mahmoud Merdawi accused Netanyahu of stalling progress on a deal, saying on social media that the Israeli leader insists on a temporary agreement that would free just 10 of the hostages. About 50 hostages remain, with less than half believed to be alive.
Netanyahu spokesperson Omer Dostri said that “Hamas was the only obstacle to ending the war,” without addressing Merdawi’s claim.
Hamas says it is willing to free all the hostages in exchange for a full withdrawal of Israeli troops and an end to the war in Gaza. Israel rejects that offer, saying it will agree to end the war if Hamas surrenders, disarms and goes into exile, something that the group refuses.
The war in Gaza began with the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, in which militants killed 1,200 people and took roughly 250 hostage.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said that another 88 people had been killed by Israeli fire over the past 24 hours, raising the war’s toll among Palestinians to 56,500. The ministry, which operates under the Hamas government, doesn’t distinguish between militants and civilians in its count, but says more than half of the dead are women and children.
Fewer than half of Gaza’s hospitals are even partly functional, and more than 4,000 children need medical evacuation abroad, a new UN humanitarian assessment says.
“We are exhausted, we are tired. We hope to God that the war will end,” said one Palestinian, Mahmoud Wadi.
Military moves toward center of Gaza City ISRAEL’S military ordered a mass evacuation of Palestinians in large swaths of northern Gaza, home to hundreds of thousands who had returned during the ceasefire earlier this year.
The order includes multiple neighborhoods in eastern and northern Gaza City, as well as the Jabaliya refugee camp. Palestinians in Gaza City began loading children, bedding and other essentials onto donkey carts, uprooted once more.
The military will expand its attacks westward to the city’s center, with calls for people to move toward the Muwasi area in southern Gaza, Col. Avichay Adraee, a military spokesperson, said on social media.
The offensive aims to move Palestinians to southern Gaza, so forces can more freely operate against militants. Rights groups say it would amount to forcible displacement.
The war has displaced most of Gaza’s population, often multiple times, obliterated much of the urban landscape and left people overwhelmingly reliant on outside aid, which Israel has limited since the end of the latest ceasefire.
Trump slams Netanyahu trial TRUMP also doubled down on his criticism of the legal proceedings against Netanyahu, who is on trial for alleged corruption, calling it “a POLITICAL WITCH HUNT.”
In the post Saturday evening, Trump said the trial interfered with ceasefire talks, saying Netanyahu “is right now in the process of negotiating a Deal with Hamas, which will include getting the Hostages back.”
Last week, Trump called for the trial to be canceled. It was a dramatic interference in the domestic affairs of a sovereign state. It unnerved many in Israel, despite Trump’s popularity there.
Magdy reported from Cairo and Shurafa from Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip.
Tuesday, July 1, 2025 A7
CIA
chief told lawmakers Iran nuclear program set back years with strikes on metal
conversion site
By Aamer Madhani The Associated Press
WASHINGTON—
CIA Director John Ratcliffe told skeptical US lawmakers that American military strikes destroyed Iran’s lone metal conversion facility and in the process delivered a monumental setback to Tehran’s nuclear program that would take years to overcome, a US official said Sunday.
The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive intelligence, said Ratcliffe laid out the importance of the strikes on the metal conversion facility during a classified hearing for US lawmakers last week.
Details about the private briefings surfaced as President Donald Trump and his administration keep pushing back on questions from Democratic lawmakers and others about how far Iran was set back by the strikes before last Tuesday’s ceasefire with Israel took hold.
“It was obliterating like nobody’s ever seen before,” Trump said in an interview on Fox News Channel’s “Sunday Morning Futures.” “And that meant the end to their nuclear ambitions, at least for a period of time.”
Ratcliffe also told lawmakers that the intelligence community assessed the vast majority of Iran’s amassed enriched uranium likely remains buried under the rubble at Isfahan and Fordo, two of the three key nuclear facilities targeted by US strikes.
But even if the uranium remains intact, the loss of its metal conversion facility effectively has taken away Tehran’s ability to build a bomb for years to come, the official said.
Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said Sunday on CBS’ “Face the Nation” that the three Iranian sites with “capabilities in terms of treatment, conversion and enrichment of uranium have been destroyed to an important degree.”
But, he added, “some is still standing” and that because capabilities remain, “if they so wish, they will be able to start doing this again.” He said assessing the full damage comes down to Iran allowing in inspectors.
“Frankly speaking, one cannot claim that everything has disappeared, and there is nothing there,” Grossi said.
Trump has insisted from just hours after three key targets were struck by US bunker-buster bombs and Tomahawk missiles that Iran’s nuclear program was “obliterated.” His defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, has said they were “destroyed.” A preliminary report issued by the US Defense Intelligence Agency, meanwhile, said the strikes did significant damage to the Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan sites, but did not totally destroy the facilities.
As a result of Israeli and US strikes, Grossi says that “it is clear that there has been severe damage, but it’s not total damage.” Israel claims it has set back Iran’s nuclear program by “many years.” The metal conversion facility that Ratcliffe said was destroyed was located at the Isfahan nuclear facility. The process of transforming enriched uranium gas into dense metal, or metallization, is a key step in building the explosive core of a bomb.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio in comments at the NATO summit last week also suggested that it was likely the US strikes had destroyed the metal conversion facility.
“You can’t do a nuclear weapon without a conversion facility,” Rubio said. “We can’t even find where it is, where it used to be on the map. You can’t even find where it used to be because the whole thing is just blackened out. It’s gone. It’s wiped out.”
The CIA director also stressed to lawmakers during the congressional briefing that Iran’s air defense was shattered during the 12-day assault. As a result, any attempt by Iran to rebuild its nuclear program could now easily be thwarted by Israeli strikes that Iran currently has little wherewithal to defend against, the official said.
Ratcliffe’s briefing to lawmakers on the US findings appeared to mesh with some of Israeli officials’ battle damage assessments.
Israeli officials have determined that Iran’s ability to enrich uranium to a weapons-grade level was neutralized for a prolonged period, according to a senior Israeli military official who was not authorized to talk publicly about the matter.
Tehran’s nuclear program also was significantly damaged by the strikes killing key scientists, damage to Iran’s missile production industry and the battering of Iran’s aerial defense system, according to the Israeli’s assessment. Grossi, and some Democrats, note that Iran still has the know-how.
“You cannot undo the knowledge that you have or the capacities that you have,” Grossi said, emphasizing the need to come to a diplomatic deal on the country’s nuclear program.
Trump says he’s not planning to extend a pause on global tariffs beyond July 9
WBy David Klepper & Ali Swenson The Associated Press
ASHINGTON—President
Donald Trump says he is not planning to extend a 90-day pause on tariffs on most nations beyond July 9, when the negotiating period he set would expire, and his administration will notify countries that the trade penalties will take effect unless there are deals with the United States.
Letters will start going out “pretty soon” before the approaching deadline, he said.
“We’ll look at how a country treats us—are they good, are they not so good—some countries we don’t care, we’ll just send a high number out,” Trump told Fox News Channel’s “Sunday Morning Futures” during a wide-ranging interview taped Friday and broadcast Sunday. Those letters, he said, would say, “Congratulations, we’re allowing you to shop in the United States of America, you’re going to pay a 25% tariff, or a 35% or a 50% or 10%.”
Trump had played down the deadline at a White House news conference Friday by noting how difficult it would be to work out separate deals with each nation. The administration had set a goal of reaching 90 trade deals
RBy Nicole Winfield
The Associated Press
OME—Pope Leo XIV on
in 90 days.
Negotiations continue, but “there’s 200 countries, you can’t talk to all of them,” he said in the interview.
Trump also discussed a potential TikTok deal, relations with China, the strikes on Iran and his immigration crackdown. Here are the key takeaways:
Few details on possible TikTok deal A GROUP of wealthy investors will make an offer to buy TikTok, Trump said, hinting at a deal that could safeguard the future of the popular social media platform, which is owned by China’s ByteDance.
“We have a buyer for TikTok, by the way. I think I’ll need, probably, China approval, and I think President Xi (Jinping) will probably do it,” Trump said.
Trump did not offer any details about the investors, calling them “a group of very wealthy people.”
“I’ll tell you in about two weeks,” he said when asked for specifics.
It’s a time frame Trump often cites, most recently about a decision on whether the US military would get directly involved in the war between Israel and Iran. The US struck Iranian nuclear sites just days later.
Earlier this month, Trump signed an executive order to keep TikTok running in the US for 90 more days to give his administration more time to broker a deal to bring the social media platform under American ownership.
It is the third time Trump extended the deadline. The first one was through an executive order on Jan. 20, his first day in office, after the platform went dark briefly when a national ban—approved by Congress and upheld by the Supreme Court—took effect.
Trump insists US ‘obliterated’ Iran’s nuclear facilities US strikes on Iran “obliterated” its nuclear facilities, Trump insisted, and he said whoever leaked a preliminary intelligence assessment suggesting Tehran’s nuclear program had been set back only a few months should be prosecuted.
Trump said Iran was “weeks away” from achieving a nuclear weapon before he ordered the strikes.
“It was obliterated like nobody’s ever seen before,” Trump said. “And that meant the end to their nuclear ambitions, at least for a period of time.”
Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah
Ali Khamenei, said Sunday on X that Trump “exaggerated to cover up and conceal the truth.” Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations, Amir Saeid Iravani, told CBS’ “Face the Nation” that his country’s nuclear program is peaceful and that uranium “enrichment is our right, and an inalienable right and we want to implement this right” under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. “I think that enrichment will not— never stop.”
Rafael Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said on CBS that “it is clear that there has been severe damage, but it’s not total damage.”
Grossi also said the UN nuclear watchdog has faced pressure to report that Iran had a nuclear weapon or was close to one, but “we simply didn’t because this was not what we were seeing.”
Of the leak of the intelligence
assessment, Trump said anyone found to be responsible should be prosecuted. Journalists who received it should be asked who their source was, he said: “You have to do that and I suspect we’ll be doing things like that.”
His press secretary said Thursday that the administration is investigating the matter.
A ‘temporary pass’ for immigration raids on farms and hotels?
AS he played up his immigration crackdown, Trump offered a more nuanced view when it comes to farm and hotel workers.
“I’m the strongest immigration guy that there’s ever been, but I’m also the strongest farmer guy that there’s ever been,” the Republican president said. He noted that he wants to deport criminals, but it’s a problem when farmers lose their laborers
and it destroys their businesses. Trump said his administration is working on “some kind of a temporary pass” that could give farmers and hotel owners control over immigration raids at their facilities.
Earlier this month, Trump had called for a pause on immigration raids disrupting the farming, hotel and restaurant industries, but a top Homeland Security official followed up with a seemingly contradictory statement. Tricia McLaughlin said there would be “no safe spaces for industries who harbor violent criminals or purposely try to undermine” immigration enforcement efforts.
Status of China trade talks
TRUMP praised a recent trade deal with Beijing over rare earth exports from China and said establishing a fairer relationship will require significant tariffs.
“I think getting along well with China is a very good thing,” Trump said. “China’s going to be paying a lot of tariffs, but we have a big (trade) deficit, they understand that.”
Trump said he would be open to removing sanctions on Iranian oil shipments to China if Iran can show “they can be peaceful and if they can show us they’re not going to do any more harm.”
But the president also indicated the US isn’t afraid to retaliate against Beijing. When Fox News Channel host Maria Bartiromo noted that China has tried to hack US systems and steal intellectual property, Trump replied, “You don’t think we do that to them?”
Sunday celebrated a special feast day traditionally used by the Catholic Church to drum up donations from the faithful, with the Vatican under the first American pope rolling out a new campaign to urge ordinary Catholics to help bail out the deficit-ridden Holy See.
support was a sign of union with his young pontificate.
Leo celebrated Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica, marking the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul, during which he gave the pallium woolen stole to 54 new archbishops. He thanked donors who have contributed to the church, using the language of the publicity campaign to say their financial
In churches around the world, Masses on the June 29 feast day often include a special collection for Peter’s Pence, a fund which both underwrites the operations of the central government of the Catholic Church and pays for the pope’s personal acts of charity.
Vatican American-style fundraising pitch
WITH a promotional video, poster, QR code and website soliciting donations via credit card, PayPal, bank transfer and post office transfer, the Vatican is betting this year that an Americanstyle fundraising pitch under the Chicago-born Leo will do more to help keep the Holy See bureaucracy afloat and erase its 50 million to 60 million euro ($57-68 million) structural deficit.
The video features footage of Leo’s emotional first moments as pope, when he stepped out onto the loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica and later choked up as he received the fisherman’s ring of the papacy. With an evocative soundtrack in the background, the video superimposes a message, available in several languages, urging donations to Leo via the Peter’s Pence collection.
“With your donation to Peter’s Pence, you support the steps of the Holy Father,” it says. “Help him proclaim the Gospel to the world and extend a hand to our brothers and sisters in need. Support the steps of Pope Leo XIV. Donate to Peter’s Pence.”
Pope thanks donors
AT the end of his noon blessing Sunday, Leo used the same language about his first steps to say the Peter’s Pence fund is “a sign of communion with the pope and participation with his Apostolic Ministry.”
“From the heart, I thank those who with their gifts are supporting my first steps as the successor of St. Peter,” he said. The fund has been the source of scandal in recent years, amid revelations that the Vatican’s secretariat of state mismanaged its holdings through bad investments, incompetent management and waste. The recent trial over the Vatican’s bungled investment in a London property confirmed that the vast majority of Peter’s Pence contributions had
funded the Holy See’s budgetary shortfalls, not papal charity initiatives as many parishioners had been led to believe.
Between the revelations and the Covid-19 pandemic, which closed churches and canceled out the traditional pass-the-basket collection on June 29, Peter’s Pence donations fell to 43.5 million euros in 2022 — a low not seen since 1986 — that was nevertheless offset the same year by other investment income and revenue to the fund. Donations rose to 48.4 million euros (about $56.7 million) in 2023 and hit 54.3 million euros (nearly $63.6 million) last year, according to the Peter’s Pence annual report issued last week. But the fund incurred expenses of 75.4 million euros ($88.3 mil -
lion) in 2024, continuing the trend in which the fund is exhausting itself as it covers the Holy See’s budgetary shortfalls.
Vatican faces shortfall in pension fund ON top of the budget deficit, the Vatican is also facing a 1 billion euro (about $1.17 billion) shortfall in its pension fund that Pope Francis, in the months before he died, warned was unable in the medium term to fulfill its obligations.
Unlike countries, the Holy See doesn’t issue bonds or impose income tax on its residents to run its operations, relying instead on donations, investments and revenue generated by the Vatican Museums, and sales of stamps, coins, publications and other initiatives.
For years, the United States has been the greatest source of donations to Peter’s Pence, with US Catholics contributing around a quarter of the total each year. Vatican officials are hoping that under Leo’s pontificate, with new financial controls in place and an American math major running the Holy See, donors will be reassured that their money won’t be misspent or mismanaged.
“This is a concrete way to support the Holy Father in his mission of service to the universal Church,” the Vatican’s economy ministry said in a press release last week announcing the annual collection and new promotional materials surrounding it. “Peter’s Pence is a gesture of communion and participation in the Pope’s mission to proclaim the Gospel, promote peace, and spread Christian charity.”
PRESIDENT Donald Trump speaks during an event to announce new tariffs in the Rose Garden at the White House, on April 2, 2025, in Washington. AP/MARK SCHIEFELBEIN
Global leaders convene in Seville to address $4 trillion financing gap amid US withdrawal
By Edith M. Lederer The Associated Press
UNITED NATIONS—Many
of the world’s nations are gathering starting Monday in Spain for a high-level conference to tackle the growing gap between rich and poor nations and try to drum up trillions of dollars needed to close it. The United States, previously a major contributor, pulled its participation, so finding funding will be tough.
The four-day Financing for Development meeting in the southern city of Seville is taking place as many countries face escalating debt burdens, declining investments, decreasing international aid and increasing trade barriers.
The United Nations and Spain, the conference co-hosts, believe it is an opportunity to reverse the downward spiral, close the staggering $4 trillion annual financing gap to promote development, bring millions of people out of poverty and help achieve the UN’s wide-ranging and badly lagging Sustainable Development Goals for 2030.
UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed said Wednesday that despite “the headwinds” and high geopolitical tensions, there is hope the world can address one of the most important global challenges—ensuring all people have access to food, health care, education and water.
“This conference is an appeal to action,” Spain’s UN Ambassador Hector Gomez Hernandez said, “and we have the extraordinary opportunity to send a very strong message to defend the international community’s commitment to multilateralism.”
High-level delegations, including more than 70 world leaders, are expected in Seville, Mohammed said, along with several thousand others from international financial institutions, development banks, philanthropic organizations, the private sector and civil society.
At its last preparatory meeting on June 17, the United States rejected the 38-page outcome document that had been negotiated for months by the UN’s 193 member nations and announced its withdrawal from the process and from the Seville conference.
The rest of the countries then approved the document by consensus and sent it to Seville, where it is expected to be adopted by conference participants without changes. It will be known as the Seville Commitment—or Compromiso de Sevilla in Spanish.
The document says the leaders and high-level representatives have decided to launch “an ambitious package of reforms and actions to close the financing gap with urgency,” saying it is now estimated at $4 trillion a year.
Among the proposals and actions, it calls for minimum tax revenue of 15% of a country’s gross domestic product to increase government resources, a tripling of lending by multilateral development banks, and scaling up private financing by providing incentives for investing in critical areas like infrastructure. It also calls for a number of reforms to help countries deal with rising debt.
UN trade chief Rebeca Grynspan told a news conference Friday that “development is going backward” and the global debt crisis has worsened.
Last year, 3.3 billion people were living in countries that pay more interest on their debts than they spend on health or education—and the number will increase to 3.4 billion people this year, she said. And developing countries will pay $947 billion to service debts this year, up from $847 billion last year. She spoke at a press conference where an expert group on debt appointed by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres presented 11 recommendations that they say can resolve the debt crisis, empower borrowing countries and create a fairer system.
While the US objected to many actions in the outcome document, American diplomat Jonathan Shrier told the June 17 meeting: “Our commitment to international cooperation and long-term economic development remains steadfast.”
He said, however, that the text “crosses many of our red lines,” including interfering with the governance of international financial institutions, tripling the annual lending capacity of multilateral development banks and proposals envisioning a role for the UN in the global debt architecture.
Shrier also objected to proposals on trade, tax and innovation that are not in line with US policy, as well as language on a UN framework convention on international tax cooperation.
The United States was the world’s largest single funder of foreign aid. The Trump administration has dismantled its main aid agency, the US Agency for International Development, while drastically slashing foreign assistance funding, calling it wasteful and contrary to the Republican president’s agenda. Other Western donors also have cut back international aid.
The UN’s Mohammed said the US withdrawal from the conference was “unfortunate,” stressing that “many of the recommendations you see cannot be pursued without a continuous engagement with the US.”
After Seville, “we will engage again with the US and hope that we can make the case that they be part of the success of pulling millions of people out of poverty.”
Severe heat wave hits southern Europe and raises wildfire risks
By Giada Zampano The Associated Press
ROME—Major heat waves across southern Europe have pushed temperatures above 40 C (104 F) in countries including Italy, Spain and Greece, as local authorities issued fresh warnings against the risk of wildfires.
Experts link the rising frequency and intensity of these heat waves to climate change, warning that such extreme weather events are becoming increasingly common across Europe’s southern region.
Severe heat was recorded in Italy, Greece, Spain and Portugal before the weekend, with locals and tourists alike taking shelter from the sweltering conditions.
Two-thirds of Portugal were
on high alert Sunday for extreme heat and wildfires, with temperatures expected to top 42 C (107 F) in Lisbon.
In Italy, a few regions — Lazio, Tuscany, Calabria, Puglia and Umbria — were planning to ban some outdoor work activities during the hottest hours of the day in response to the record-high temperatures. Italian trade unions pushed the government to expand
such measures at a national level.
On Sunday, the Italian Health Ministry placed 21 out of 27 monitored cities under its highest heat alert, including top holiday destinations like Rome, Milan and Naples.
In Rome, tourists tried to seek shade near popular spots like the Colosseum and the Trevi Fountain, using umbrellas and drinking from public water fountains to stay cool.
Similar scenes were reported in Milan and Naples, where street vendors sold lemonade to tourists and residents to offer some refreshment from the heat.
Greece was again on high wildfire alert because of extreme weather, with the first summer heat wave expected to continue throughout the weekend.
A large wildfire broke out south of Athens on Thursday, forcing evacuations and road closures near the ancient Temple of Poseidon. Strong winds spread the flames, damaging homes and sending smoke across the sky.
Greek authorities deployed 130 firefighters, 12 planes and 12 helicopters to battle the blaze, while police evacuated 40 people, with five areas under evacuation orders.
In Spain, locals and tourists were desperately trying to keep cool this weekend, as the country
sizzled in temperatures as high as 42 C (107 F) in the southern city of Seville along with other locations in southern and central parts of the country.
Southern regions of Spain recorded temperatures above seasonal averages, prompting health alerts and safety recommendations from
authorities. The country’s national meteorological service Aemet has said that June is set to break yet another record, becoming the hottest such month since records started.
Experts warned that intense heat can affect daily life, especially for vulnerable populations such as the elderly and children.
Local authorities advised against physical activity during the hottest hours of the day, and recommended drinking plenty of fluids.
A Lancet Public Health study published last year highlighted the increasing risk of heat-related deaths because of climate change. The study predicted that heatrelated deaths could more than quadruple by midcentury under current climate policies.
While more people die from cold than heat, the study stressed that rising temperatures will offset the benefits of milder winters, leading to a significant net increase in heat-related mortality.
Canadian Prime Minister Carney says trade talks with US resume after Canada rescinded tech tax
By Rob Gillies
The Associated Press
ORONTO — Canadian
TPrime Minister Mark Car -
ney said late Sunday trade talks with US have resumed after Canada rescinded its plan to tax
US technology firms.
US President Donald Trump said Friday that he was suspending trade talks with Canada over its plans to continue with its tax on technology firms, which he called “a direct and blatant attack on our country.”
The Canadian government said “in anticipation” of a trade deal
“Canada would rescind” the Digital Serves Tax. The tax was set to go into effect Monday.
Carney and Trump spoke on the phone Sunday, and Carney’s
office said they agreed to resume negotiations.
“Today’s announcement will support a resumption of negotiations toward the July 21, 2025, timeline set out at this month’s G7 Leaders’ Summit in Kananaskis,” Carney said in a statement.
Carney visited Trump in May at the White House, where he was polite but firm. Trump traveled to Canada for the G7 summit in Alberta, where Carney said that Canada and the US had set a 30day deadline for trade talks.
Trump, in a post on his social media network last Friday, said Canada had informed the US that it was sticking to its plan to impose the digital services tax, which applies to Canadian and foreign businesses that engage
with online users in Canada.
The digital services tax was due to hit companies including Amazon, Google, Meta, Uber and Airbnb with a 3% levy on revenue from Canadian users. It would have
applied retroactively, leaving US companies with a $2 billion US bill due at the end of the month.
Daniel Béland, a political science professor at McGill University in Montreal, called Carney’s retreat a “clear victory” for Trump.
“At some point this move might have become necessary in the context of Canada-US trade negotiations themselves but Prime Minister Carney acted now to appease President Trump and have him agree to simply resume these negotiations, which is a clear victory for both the White House and big tech,” Béland said.
He said it makes Carney look vulnerable to President Trump’s outbursts.
“President Trump forced PM Carney to do exactly what big tech
wanted. US tech executive will be very happy with this outcome,” Béland said.
Canadian Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne also spoke with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Sunday.
“Rescinding the digital services tax will allow the negotiations of a new economic and security relationship with the United States to make vital progress,” Canadian Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne said in a statement.
Trump’s announcement Friday was the latest swerve in the trade war he’s launched since taking office for a second term in January.
Progress with Canada has been a roller coaster, starting with the US president poking at the nation’s northern neighbor and repeatedly
suggesting it would be absorbed as a US state.
Canada and the US have been discussing easing a series of steep tariffs Trump imposed on goods from America’s neighbor.
Trump has imposed 50% tariffs on steel and aluminum as well as 25% tariffs on autos. He is also charging a 10% tax on imports from most countries, though he could raise rates on July 9, after the 90day negotiating period he set would expire.
Canada and Mexico face separate tariffs of as much as 25% that Trump put into place under the auspices of stopping fentanyl smuggling, though some products are still protected under the 2020 US-Mexico-Canada Agreement signed during Trump’s first term.
YOUNG swimmers leap into the water from a rock on a breakwater on a hot day in Barcelona, Spain, Sunday, June 29, 2025. AP/EMILIO
CANADIAN Prime Minister Mark Carney holds a closing press conference following the NATO Summit in The Hague, Netherlands on Wednesday, June 25, 2025. SEAN KILPATRICK/THE CANADIAN PRESS VIA AP
Fragile truce holds in Middle East as uncertainties loom over Iran’s nuclear future and US relations
By Farnoush Amiri & Aamer Madhani The Associated Press
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates—
It’s been a week since the United States pressed Israel and Iran into a truce, ending a bloody, 12-day conflict that had set the Middle East and globe on edge.
The fragile peace, brokered by the US the day after it dropped 30,000-pound “bunker-busting” bombs on three of Iran’s key nuclear sites, is holding. But much remains unsettled.
How badly Iran’s nuclear program was set back remains murky. The prospects of renewed US-Iran peace talks are up in the air. And whether US President Donald Trump can leverage the moment to get Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ‘s government and Hamas focused on a ceasefire and hostage deal that brings about an end to the 20-month war in Gaza remains an open question.
Here is a look at what we still don’t know:
How far Iran’s nuclear program has been set back
TRUMP says three targets hit by American strikes were “obliterated.” His defense secretary said they were “destroyed.”
A preliminary report issued by the US Defense Intelligence Agency, meanwhile, said the strikes did significant damage to the Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan sites, but did not totally destroy the facilities.
Rafael Grossi, head of the Inter -
national Atomic Energy Agency, said on CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday that the three Iranian sites with “capabilities in terms of treatment, conversion and enrichment of uranium have been destroyed to an important degree.” But, he added, “some is still standing” and that because capabilities remain, “if they so wish, they will be able to start doing this again.” He said assessing the full damage comes down to Iran allowing inspectors access.
What future US-Iran relations might look like AFTER the ceasefire deal came together, Trump spoke of potentially easing decades of biting sanctions on Tehran and predicted that Iran could become a “great trading nation” if it pulled back once-andfor-all from its nuclear program. The talk of harmony didn’t last long.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in his first public appearance after the ceasefire was announced, claimed Tehran had delivered a “slap to America’s face.” Trump responded by suggesting the supreme leader own up to the fact Iran “got beat to hell. The president also said he
Gunman started Idaho blaze then fatally shot 2 firefighters in ambush attack, officials say
By Rebecca Boone & Christopher Weber
BThe Associated Press
OISE, Idaho—A man armed with a rifle started a wildfire Sunday and then began shooting at first responders in a northern Idaho mountain community, killing two firefighters and wounding a third during a barrage of gunfire over several hours, authorities said.
A shelter-in-place order was lifted Sunday night after a tactical response team used cell phone data to “hone in” on a wooded area where they found the suspect’s body with a firearm nearby as flames rapidly approached,
Kootenai County Sheriff Bob Norris said.
Officials did not release his name, nor did they say what kind of gun was found.
“We do believe that the suspect started the fire, and we do believe that it was an ambush and it was intentional,” Norris said at a Sunday night news conference.
“These firefighters did not have a chance.”
Sheriff’s officials said crews responded to a fire at Canfield Mountain just north of Coeur d’Alene around 1:30 p.m., and gunshots were reported about a half hour later.
See “Gunman,” A12
was backing off reviewing any immediate sanction relief, because of Khamenei’s heated comments.
White House officials say the US and Iran are already in early discussions about resuming negotiations that had ended after Israel began launching strikes. But Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says there’s no agreement in place to restart talks.
It’s unclear if Iran’s leadership is ready to come to the table so soon after the fighting has ended—especially if Trump holds to the position that Iran must give up nuclear enrichment for even civilian use. And Trump has offered conflicting statements about his commitment to talks. “We may sign an agreement,” he said Wednesday at a NATO summit press conference. He added, “I don’t think it’s that necessary.”
What role Iran’s supreme leader will play
KHAMENEI’S age and recent diminished appearance have raised questions about the scope of his involvement in US-Iran relations and the Islamic Republic’s response to both American and Israeli strikes. But despite having spent the last few weeks in a bunker as threats to his life escalated, there is little indication that the ayatollah does not still reign supreme over the country’s massive military and governmental operations.
Khamenei has ruled three times longer than his predecessor, the late Ruhollah Khomeini, and has shaped life for the country’s more than 90 million people perhaps even more dramatically.
He entrenched the system of rule by the “mullahs,” or Shiite Muslim clerics. That secured his place in the eyes of hard-liners as
the unquestionable authority, below only that of God. At the same time, Khamenei built the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard into the dominant force in Iran’s military and internal politics.
How Iran might strike back IRAN’S retaliatory missile attacks on a US base in Qatar following the American bombardment were sloughed off by the White House as a half-hearted, face-saving measure. The US was forewarned and the salvos were easily fended off.
Yet Iran remains a persistent threat, particularly via cyberwarfare. Hackers backing Tehran have already targeted US banks, defense contractors and oil industry companies — but so far have not caused widespread disruptions to critical infrastructure or the economy.
The US Department of Homeland Security last week issued a public bulletin warning of increased Iranian cyber threats. And the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, is urging organizations that operate critical infrastructure like water systems, pipelines or power plants
to stay vigilant.
Whether the Israel-Iran ceasefire will hold IT remains a fragile peace.
Immediately following the US strikes, Trump got on the phone with Netanyahu and told the Israeli leader not to expect further US offensive military action, according to a senior White House official who was not authorized to comment publicly about the sensitive diplomatic talks.
But even as he agreed to deal, Netanyahu made clear that Israel will strike again “if anyone in Iran tries to revive this project.”
The ceasefire deal came without any agreement from Tehran on dismantling its nuclear program.
Khamenei claims the attacks “did nothing significant” to Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Trump expressed confidence that Iran, at the moment, has no interest in getting its nuclear program back up. “The last thing they’re thinking about right now is enriched uranium,” Trump said.
Still, Trump says he expects Iran to open itself to international
inspection to verify that it doesn’t restart its nuclear program by the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. nuclear watchdog, or some other organization “that we respect, including ourselves.”
Whether Trump can now press Netanyahu on Gaza
THE president took a big gamble with his decision to order strikes on Iran’s nuclear fortress. As a candidate, he promised to quickly end Russia’s brutal war in Ukraine and the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza, but has failed to find a resolution to either. He also vowed to keep the US military out of foreign conflicts.
But after helping Israel with US strikes on Iran, Trump — in conversations with Netanyahu and other world leaders in recent days—has made clear he wants a deal completed soon, according to two people familiar with the private discussions and were not authorized to comment publicly.
On Friday, Trump told reporters, “We think within the next week we’re going to get a ceasefire.”
Trump didn’t offer any further explanation for his optimism. But Israeli Minister for Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer is expected to be in Washington this week for talks on a Gaza ceasefire, Iran and other matters, according to an official familiar with the matter. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
Madhani reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Stephanie Liechtenstein in Vienna, Wafaa Shurafa in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, Sam Mednick in Tel Aviv, Israel, and David Klepper in Washington contributed to this report.
THIS combination of photos shows Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Budapest, Hungary, April 3, 2025, from left, President Donald Trump in the briefing room of the White House in Washington, June 27, 2025, and a handout of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during a televised speech in Tehran, Iran, June 26, 2025.
A12
Tuesday, July 1, 2025
Under Wage Order No. NCR-26, the RTWPB raised the daily minimum wage for non-agricultural workers from P645 to P695.
For those in the agriculture sector, retail and service establishments with 15 or fewer workers, and manufacturing firms with fewer than 10 employees, the minimum wage will increase from P608 to P658.
The wage hike will take effect on July 18, a day after the anniversary of the previous P35 increase implemented last year.
In a statement, DOLE Secretary Bienvenido E. Laguesma said the wage board’s decision reflects its mandate to balance the interests of workers, employers, and the economy.
“[In] deciding the amount of minimum wage increases, the role of the wage boards is to balance the rights of workers to be protected from unduly low pay and of management to reasonable profits, as well as the overall development objectives of promoting employment and productivity and preventing inflation,” Laguesma explained.
Laguesma also assured the public that the board’s deliberations considered the latest economic conditions.
These include the 5.4-percent GDP growth posted in the first quarter of 2025, the 1.7-percent inflation rate in NCR as of May, and the 5.1 percent unemployment rate recorded in April, based on data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
The National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC) estimates that 1.2 million minimum wage earners will directly benefit from the wage order.
An additional 1.7 million workers earning just above minimum may also see adjustments due to enterprise-level corrections to address wage distortions.
Metro Manila is the first to issue a wage order for this year.
Other regions—specifically Regions I, II, III, IV-A, and VII—are set to hold public consultations between July and August for possible adjustments as well.
Employers will ‘respect it’ THE umbrella organization of employers in the Philippines said it respects the decision of the NCR wage board to approve the P50
Gunman. . .
Continued from A11
daily minimum wage hike within Metro Manila as it is the “most objective way” of adjusting the workers’ pay.
“Basically, a lot of my members are still complaining but as I said, because that is the most objective way of doing it, then it’s okay with us. We will respect it,” Employers Confederation of the Philippines (Ecop) President Sergio R. OrtizLuis Jr. told the BusinessMirror in a phone interview on Monday.
“It’s okay because we have to remember that it’s not really our members who will get hurt the most. Although, that can also be quite a heavy burden if you have many employees, P50 a day. That’s big,” he also noted.
The Ecop chief, however, stressed: “Our only objection is that only a minority of workers will get that. Only 10 percent of the workers. Who will take care of the 90 percent?”
Ortiz-Luis underscored the importance of taking into account the welfare of the micro industries when setting wages.
“The small, medium, and large, that’s okay. Those are our members. We can just say, let’s live with it. But I want to know what can be done to help the struggling micro industries—90 percent of those will be affected,” he said, partly in Filipino.
He stressed anew that compared to the legislated wage, greenlighting wage hikes through the regional wage boards go through an process.
“We do not agree with the legislated wage because it’s too politicized. But this one, this is really thought of. Even though we don’t agree sometimes, we respect it because it underwent a process,” Ortiz-Luis said.
On this wage hike being the highest increase ever within the NCR, Ortiz-Luis said: “Metro Manila is becoming the barometer of the others.”
In early June, the 19th Congress ended its session without approving the proposed nationwide wage hike.
Prior to this, the ECOP head said lawmakers would be “ignoring the realities” if they greenlight the P200 across-the-board daily wage hike as this will only benefit about 10 to 16 percent of the workers in the country, leaving behind small merchants forced to grapple with higher prices of goods once the wage hike is enacted.
Other business groups, in sepa -
Investigators said the gunman acted alone.
“We believe that was the only
BusinessMirror News
rate statements, also questioned the unilateral wage hike, with the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) saying that it was done without consideration of the impact it will have on the economy—on the price of goods and services, on those working in the informal sector who account for about 50 to 60 percent of the population, and on the micro and small enterprises (MSEs) that comprise 96 percent of the total number of enterprises in the country. (See: https://businessmirror.com.ph/2025/06/05/ecopon-%e2%82%b1200-wagehike-ignoring-reality/)
Not fair
THE P50 increase in minimum wage is not “fair” for workers and may prompt some of them to go overtime to increase their incomes or consider international options, according to an economist.
Former Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Dante B. Canlas told BusinessMirror on Monday that considering the growth in productivity, an increase of over P100 per day would be “fair to workers.”
“Between P100 and P200 increase per day is fair to workers,” Canlas told BusinessMirror. “Workers with the opportunity to work overtime will do so.”
Canlas also said that overseas employment remains an option despite geopolitical risks, especially in the Middle East. However, there are skills that are highly sought after by foreign firms which Filipino workers can consider applying to.
He said these high-skilled employment abroad include medical professions and Information Technology. He added that low -skilled workers who are in “routine jobs” are less in demand due to robotics and Artificial Intelligence.
“[Underemployment will not increase], provided firms continue to pay workers commensurate with the rise in labor productivity,” Canlas told this newspaper.
Department of Economy, Planning, and Development (DEPDev) Undersecretary Rosemarie G. Edillon told BusinessMirror that the increase in minimum wage will have “minimal impact” on overall inflation and not cause job losses.
Edillon said the economy is “well-positioned” to absorb the effects of the wage adjustment, especially now that inflation is low. In May, inflation averaged 1.3 percent, according to the
Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
Nonetheless, Edillon said the government continues to push the envelope in terms of generating quality employment, leveraging technology, and expanding reskilling and upskilling programs.
“Emergency employment assistance programs are also in place to support displaced workers in securing temporary or transitional employment opportunities,” Edillon also told this newspaper.
Incentive
ATENEO de Manila University economist Leonardo Lanzona Jr. said, however, that increasing minimum wage and income levels should not be the priority but a more macro view about productivity.
Lanzona said the P50 increase in wages in Metro Manila only accounted for the spikes in inflation. Small firms may encounter problems complying but they may have the opportunity to seek exemptions.
Still, Lanzona said, this framing of the minimum wage should be replaced with one that thinks of increases in wages as incentives to become more productive.
This, Lanzona said, will allow wages to increase while workers contribute to high productivity. While firms can be given some elbow room to set the parameters, this will still lead to higher productivity.
“It is about time we go beyond thinking about just income and focus instead on raising productivity. Wage increases are justified only if these raise productivity,” Lanzona told BusinessMirror
“The government should mandate firms to create mechanisms that shares their gains or savings to the workers in the form of bonuses, merit increases and productivity payments,” he added.
Last week, the DOLE said Metro Manila minimum wage earners may have another reason to hope for higher pay as the National Capital Region wage board is set to meet this week to decide on the grant for a new increase.
The 19th Congress adjourned sine die earlier this June without tackling the proposed P200 acrossthe-board wage hike bill, effectively killing its chances of passage in the current legislative cycle.
With no law passed, wage adjustments once again rest in the hands of the Regional Tripartite
shooter that was on that mountain at that time,” Norris said.
Three victims were brought to Kootenai Health, said hospital spokesperson Kim Anderson. Two were dead on arrival and the third was being treated for injuries, Anderson said. The wounded firefighter was “fighting for his life” after surgery and was in stable condition, Norris said.
The scene was sheer pandemonium as the brush fire burned and firefighters rushed to the scene only to come under heavy fire.
First responders made urgent calls for help on their radios: “Everybody’s shot up here... send law enforcement now,” according to one dispatch.
Gov. Brad Little said “multiple” firefighting personnel were attacked.
“This is a heinous direct assault on our brave firefighters,” Little said on X. “I ask all Idahoans to pray for them and their families as we wait to learn more.”
Norris said it appeared the sniper was hiding in the rugged terrain and using a high-powered rifle. He said he instructed deputies to fire back.
Wages and Productivity Boards (RTWPBs).
Higher VAT, excise tax?
WHILE the P50-increase in the daily minimum wage will unlikely raise the government’s income tax collections, it may lead to higher value-added tax (VAT) and excise tax revenues.
According to John Paolo Rivera, senior research fellow at the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS), the increase will not immediately push most minimum wage earners above the taxable income threshold.
Citing the National Internal Revenue Code, or Tax Code, minimum wage earners are explicitly exempt from paying income tax, regardless of whether their income crosses the P250,000 annual threshold.
“Therefore, this wage hike is unlikely to directly increase income tax collections from minimum wage earners,” Rivera told BusinessMirror
“ However, it may have indirect tax implications such as slightly higher VAT or excise collections due to increased consumption, especially in local economies where the wage hike boosts purchasing power,” Rivera added.
This could be an added boost to government revenues as it projects lower revenue collection at P4.520 trillion this year on expectations of slower economic growth.
Half of the Bureau of Internal Revenue’s (BIR) tax collections this year will come from taxes on net income and profits at P1.630 trillion, followed by VAT at P710.042 billion and excise taxes at P343.103 billion.
Rivera, however, cautioned that the increase in consumption could have mild inflationary effects, particularly on basic goods and services.
“As minimum wage earners gain more purchasing power, spending may rise, particularly in local economies, pushing up demandside pressures,” Rivera said.
Nonetheless, Rivera said the overall impact on inflation is seen to be modest and temporary if supply chains remain stable and food prices are well-managed.
“The more immediate risk would come from wage spillovers if other sectors raise wages in response, leading to broader costpush effects,” Rivera added.
Labor groups slam ‘barya-barya’ SEVERAL labor groups on Monday
blasted the P50 daily minimum wage increase in Metro Manila, calling it a token gesture that fails to catch up with rising prices. In separate statements, labor leaders argued that the new daily wage in NCR remains far from enough to cope with the “continuously rising” cost of living.
Partido Manggagawa Chairperson Rene Magtubo said, “With a daily living wage of over P1,200 for a family of five, this increase barely makes a dent in the poverty faced by workers.”
Magtubo said the wage-setting system—anchored on the 10-point criteria under the Wage Rationalization Act and handled by the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Boards (RTWPBs)—is designed to keep wages low, not lift workers out of poverty.
Federation of Free Workers (FFW) President Sonny Matula said the system institutionalizes wage inequality across regions.
“It fails to address the discriminatory regional wage system, which continues to penalize provincial workers with poverty wages far below those in NCR,” Matula said. He said the P50 increase is barely substantial, amounting to roughly 7.75 percent of the current P645 daily minimum wage in NCR.
Damage control?
FOR Sentro Deputy Secretary General Nice Coronacion, the record-high wage hike is just a last-ditch effort to contain growing disappointment after Congress failed to pass a national wage hike law.
“The RTWPBs are scrambling to contain the outrage of millions of minimum wage earners whose most basic demand for relief was brazenly discarded by Malacañang. This paltry P50 increase is a pathetic attempt to pacify workers—nothing more,” Coronacion said.
Kilusang Mayo Uno Secretary General Mary Ann Castillo vowed continued action to push for a national living wage.
“We will continue to take action. We will use all democratic spaces—dialogue, picket-protests, creative forms of expression, and, when needed, our ultimate weapon, the strike—to keep asserting workers’ rights to decent wages, jobs, and dignity across the country,” Castillo said. With Andrea E. San Juan and Reine Juvierre Alberto
LAW enforcement and emergency responders at Cherry Hill Park off 15th Street on Sunday afternoon, June 29, 2025, following reports of an ambush shooting attack on Canfield Mountain, in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. BILL BULEY/COEUR D’ALENE PRESS VIA AP
Just as the evening press conference was expected to begin, the bodies of the slain firefighters arrived in the nearby city of Spokane, Washington, escorted by a procession of fire and law enforcement vehicles. Firefighters and others saluted as the vehicles passed by.
An alert by the Kootenai County Emergency Management Office asked people to avoid the area around Canfield Mountain Trailhead and Nettleton Gulch Road, about 4 miles (6.5 km) north of downtown Coeur d’Alene.
Though the shelter-in-place order was lifted, the sheriff’s office cautioned residents to be prepared because the fire was still burning.
The FBI responded to the scene with technical teams and tactical support, Deputy Director Dan Bongino said.
The Idaho House Republican Leadership said in a statement: “We are horrified by the murder of two firefighters in Coeur d’Alene, and shocked by such a vicious attack on our first respond -
ers. We are praying for them, the injured, their families and their colleagues.”
Coeur d’Alene is a city of 55,000 residents near the border with Washington. Canfield Mountain is a popular hiking and biking area on the city’s outskirts, covered with trees and heavy brush and crisscrossed with trails that lead into a national forest.
Fire is always a big concern for the region, said Bruce Deming, whose property abuts the trail system. When he noticed smoke on the ridge Sunday afternoon, he wondered why no firefighting helicopters were responding. When a friend texted to tell him about the shooting, he realized why he wasn’t seeing aircraft: “Because they’re concerned about being shot at,” he said.
Weber reported from Los Angeles. Associated Press journalists Mead Gruver in Cheyenne, Wyoming, and Josh Funk in Omaha, Nebraska, contributed to this report.
Bam files 10 education-related bills to help resolve education crisis, other learning issues
By Butch Fernandez @butchfBM
COMEBACKING Sen. Bam Aquino hit the ground running on his return to the Senate on Monday, filing 10 education-related measures as part of his pledge to the Filipino people to help resolve the country’s education crisis.
Aquino’s draft measures included proposals to bridge the education-toemployment gap and strengthen the implementation of the Tertiary Education Subsidy (TES) under the Free College Law.
“We are currently facing an education crisis that must be addressed urgently. We hope these bills help address the situation and respond to other pressing needs of our education system, so every Filipino student can enjoy the quality education they rightfully deserve,” said Aquino, former chairperson of the Senate Committee on Education.
Topping his priority measures as part of his commitment to provide guaranteed jobs for Filipinos is the School-to-Employment Program (STEP) Act that proposes setting up Job Placement Offices in all public senior high schools, state universities and colleges, and local universities and colleges.
It also pushes for the creation of a National Industry-Academe Council and corresponding Local Industry-Academe Councils to address job-skills mismatch and promote decent employment.
“The School-to-Employment Program [STEP] Act takes the next step in the fight for sure jobs for all. It envisions a future where every learner walks a clear, supported pathway from education into decent, meaningful work,” Aquino noted.
Aquino also filed a measure seeking to amend Republic Act No. 10931, or the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act, to ensure that all 4Ps beneficiaries who complete Senior High School and are accepted into CHED-recognized Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) will receive support through the TES.
The bill establishes clearer mechanisms for prioritizing TES recipients, giving due preference to the most economically disadvantaged.
“This legislation affirms and renews that promise, with a sharper focus on equity, clarity, and compassion for Filipino youth. It ensures that public investment in higher education becomes a bridge to opportunity, social mobility, and national development,” said Aquino.
Here are highlights of Aquino’s 10 measures: School-to-Employment Program (STEP) Act
PROPOSES the establishment of Job Placement Offices in all public senior high schools, state universities and colleges, and local universities and colleges.
It also seeks the creation of a National Industry-Academe Council and corresponding Local Industry-Academe Councils to address job-skills mismatch and promote decent employment.
The measure empowers higher education institutions to adjust course and program offerings based on labor market evidence, ensuring that graduates are equipped with the skills needed to thrive in today’s economy.
Amendments to RA 10931
SEEKS to amend Republic Act No. 10931, or the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act, to ensure that all 4Ps beneficiaries who complete Senior High School and are accepted
into CHED-recognized Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) are granted support through the Tertiary Education Subsidy (TES). It ensures that TES beneficiaries receive sustained assistance until they complete their degree or training, and adapts a needs-based system for awarding remaining TES slots. The bill also mandates a quality assurance process for institutions accepting TES grantees, with a focus on academic standards and graduate employability.
Bayanihan Work Program Act
A NATIONAL jobs guarantee program aimed at providing all willing and able Filipinos with dignified, meaningful, and socially valuable employment, rather than relying on “ayuda” or financial assistance from the government.
Adopt-A-School Act of 2025 and AccelerationClassroom-Building Program (CAP) Act
TO help address the estimated shortage of over 165,000 classrooms nationwide, Aquino filed two complementary measures.
The Adopt-A-School Act of 2025 seeks to encourage private entities to support a wider range of school and education-related programs through an adopt-a-school one-stop shop and clearer, enhanced tax incentives. The Classroom-Building Acceleration Program (CAP) Act, for its part, intends to authorize capable local government units (LGUs) and private sector entities to build classrooms in compliance with national standards and guidelines within their jurisdictions, with funding support from the national government.
Angat Sweldo Para sa Guro Act SEEKS to grant an additionalP10,000 monthly compensation to all public school teachers and qualified non-teaching personnel, to be implemented in three tranches over three years.
Libreng RLE Act
AIMS to ease the financial burden on nursing students by prohibiting the collection of RLE fees in SUCs and LUCs. Instead these costs will be included as part of the tuition and other school fees already covered by government appropriations.The proposed measure also seeks to expand the TES to cover RLE fees for nursing students enrolled in accredited private higher education institutions.
E-Textbook Para sa Lahat Act INTENDS to improve access to textbooks for teachers and learners by requiring all Department of Education (DepEd)-approved textbooks for basic education to be made available in digital format, free of charge, through official platforms or other authorized channels.
Student Discount Para sa Load Act ALL enrolled students from elementary to tertiary levels will enjoy a 20 percent discount on mobile load, text, call, and internet services to support their studies, particularly for research and online learning.
Private Education Voucher Expansion (PEVE) Act
BASED on the complementary roles of public and private institutions in providing quality basic education, modernizes and strengthens government’s support for private basic education by expanding the coverage of government’s basic education voucher program and additional support to private basic education schools, including for in-service training of teachers.
Risa to file charges against culprits behind video of ‘tampered’ witness
SENATOR Risa Hontiveros on Monday vowed to go after the culprits behind the video of an ex-Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC) member who testified in her committee, but recently claimed she paid witnesses against Pastor Apollo Quiboloy and former President Rodrigo Roa Duterte.
Saying those behind the video of the ex-KOJC Church member who testified against Quiboloy have “crossed the line,” an angry Senator Hontiveros said her committee will file cases against them for cybercrime, data privacy breach, and witness tampering. The aggrieved senator signaled that charges will be filed by Wednesday against those who produced and circulated the video, saying: “Let’s call this what it is: witness tampering, fake news, psychological warfare.”
The Hontiveros-led Committee on Women had led the Senate inquiry into alleged abuses committed by Quiboloy, notably child sex abuse. The Davao-based church leader with a checkered reputation is now detained on the
Marcos orders new Customs chief to ramp up anti-smuggling efforts
By Samuel P. Medenilla @sam_medenilla
RESIDENT Ferdinand Mar -
Pcos has ordered newly appointed Bureau of Customs (BOC) Commissioner Ariel F. Nepomuceno to intensify the government campaign against smuggling and illicit trade.
“President Marcos’ marching order for the BOC is to safeguard the country’s borders and ensure transparency and efficiency in revenue collection,” the Presidential Communications Office
(PCO) said in a statement last Monday.
The Palace announced the new designation of the former National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) after he took his oath of office before the President in Malacañang last Monday.
Nepomuceno was appointed as head of NDRRMC and undersecretary of the Office of Civil Defense in 2022. He already held the same position during the administration of former President Benigno “Noynoy” C. Aquino III
in 2012 to 2013. PCO said Nepomuceno also previously worked as BOC assistant commissioner of the Post Clearance Audit Group from December 2017 to April 2018 and deputy commissioner of the Enforcement Group from December 2013 to February 2017.
He also worked as an executive for private firms such as the Avalon Pacific Corporation and the Malayan Pacific Power Holdings Corporation.
Nepomuceno replaced former BOC Commissioner Bienvenido
Newly-elected Manila 6th district rep runs to SC stop Comelec from nullifying his victory
NEWLY -ELECTED Manila Sixth
District Representative Joey
Chua Uy filed a petition before the Supreme Court (SC) Monday seeking to immediately enjoin the Commission on Election (Comelec) from nullifying his victory in the May 2025 midterm elections on the ground that he is not a natural-born Filipino citizen.
In a 75-page petition for certiorari and prohibition, Uy through his counsel Gialogo & Associates led by lawyer Edward Gialogo, specifically urged the court to nullify and set aside the resolution issued by the Comelec’s Second Division on June 18, 2025 and Comelec en banc resolution dated June 30, 2025 which annulled his proclamation for the said post and declared his rival Bienvenido “Benny” Abante Jr. as the duly elected member of the House.
Uy also asked the court to issue a temporary restraining order (TRO) to immediately enjoin the Comelec from implementing the assailed resolutions.
After summary hearing, the petitioner asked the Court to issue a writ of preliminary injunction or a status quo ante order (SQA) that would allow him to assume his post pending the resolution of his petition on the merit.
Uy maintained that he has formally assumed his post starting June 30, 2025 after being proclaimed as winner, thus, any question involving his election or qualifications is now vested with the House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal (HRET).
The petitioner was proclaimed as duly elected winner in the congressional election for Manila’s sixth district on May 13, 2025 after having obtained the highest number of votes totaling to 64,746 while Abante obtained 63,358 votes.
TBy rex anthony naval
HE defense of the Philippines and Lithuania on Monday signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on defense cooperation.
charges filed after the lengthy Senate inquiry and series of raids by the police and the NBI. “Michael exposed people who trusted the people with their stories.
I am angered that this people are in danger again,” she said of Michael Maurilio, alias Rene, who in his video claimed Hontiveros’s panel coerced and paid witnesses to testify againt Quiboloy and Quiboloy’s key ally, former President Duterte.
Hontiveros said Quiboloy’s camp disowned the video as coming from them, but she revealed that on June 22, Maurilio had texted her staff seeking help, saying he had been abducted and was being kept in "Glory Mountain," part of the sprawling KOJC complex in the south. Before police could rescue him, the video—which he presumably did under coercion—was released.
It exposed and endangered the dozen other witnesses, and also exposed personal data of Senate staff, an angry Hontiveros said in last Monday’s press conference Monday. Butch Fernandez
The MOU, a testament of to the Marcos Administration’s commitment to elevate cooperation with international partners, was signed by Department of National Defense (DND) Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. and Lithuanian Minister Dovilė Šakalienė.
“The MOU builds on the positive developments in Philippines-Lithuania defense relations and provides a concrete framework
He took his oath before Manila Regional Trial Court Executive Judge Carolina Icasiano-Sion on May 26, 2025.
“Any further attempt to challenge Cong. Joey’s qualification or his right to hold office – including actions by the Commission on Elections [Comelec] – falls outside of Comelec’s jurisdiction and is now properly within the exclusive purview of the HRET,” the petitioner said.
“As of that moment, COMELEC was divested of all authority to enforce or execute any decision or ruling concerning Cong. Joey’s election, returns, or qualifications. Thus, any further attempt by COMELEC to implement these Resolutions clearly exceeds its constitutional jurisdiction,” he added.
Uy named the Comelec and Abante, who filed the complaint against him, as respondents in the petition.
He argued that the Comelec failed to conduct clarificatory hearing when it ruled that he did not possess Philippine citizenship from birth as required under the law.
The Comelec held that Uy is a naturalized Filipino citizen as he was born in 1962 to a Chinese father and a mother who had lost her Filipino citizenship by marriage, making both parents non-Filipino at the time of his birth.
Uy, however, argued that the Comelec gravely abused its discretion by entertaining and acting upon Abante’s petition under Section 78 of the Omnibus Election Code, despite that it was filed beyond the mandatory 25-day statutory period and its lack of jurisdiction to act on it.
Furthermore, Uy argued that his mother’s marriage to a foreigner does not result in loss of Filipino citizenship.
He added that those born of Filipino
for possible defense cooperation between the two countries’ defense establishments, particularly in the field of cyber security, defense industry, munitions production cooperation, addressing hybrid threats, and maritime security,” the Lithuanian defense minister said. Šakalienė is in the country for her fourday official visit, marking the first time a Defense Minister from Lithuania visited the Philippines.
The signing of the MOU follows the bilateral meeting between the Secretary Teodoro and the Lithuanian Defense Minister on the sidelines of the IISS Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore on June 1, 2025.
mothers with an alien father, being naturalborn Filipino citizens, need not elect Philippine citizenship.
He maintained that natural-born Filipino citizens include those born of Filipino mothers with an alien father.
A reading of the Petition shows that Abante failed to specifically point any legal basis in saying that women would automatically lose their Filipino citizenship and acquire that of their foreign husband. Neither was there a showing, nor any attempt to prove that Cong. Joey’s mother acquired Chinese citizenship by virtue of Chinese law” the petition stated.
Even assuming an election of Philippine citizenship was required in his case, Uy said he has complied with the requirement, albeit, informally.
Uy noted that he registered and consistently voted as a Filipino, repeatedly sought and served in public office, and explicitly identified as Filipino throughout his life.
He also assailed the Comelec for relying on the identification certificates attached by Abante in his complaint in ruling on his citizenship.
He said the identification certificates have no value being plain photocopies allegedly provided by an unnamed “concerned citizen” and inadmissible under the Rules of Evidence.
“Mere photocopies, without proper certification or attestation by the officer with legal custody, do not satisfy the evidentiary standards required by the Rules of Court and jurisprudence,” the petitioner stressed.
“Since Abante only submitted uncertified photocopies of the Identification Certificates, their admissibility is clearly barred by established procedural standards,” he added. Joel R. San Juan
Prior to the MOU signing, the two defense officials exchanged views on global security concerns, particularly on the developments in the West Philippine Sea and the larger South China Sea, as well as in the European region.
Both sides emphasized their shared principles and commitment in upholding international law and deterring unilateral actions that threaten regional stability.
Lithuania has been a vocal supporter of the 2016 arbitral award and expressed solidarity with the Philippines in light of the security developments over the South China Sea.
Go rallies support for public safety officers, advocates for welfare of uniformed personnel during PSOAC graduation in Davao City
SENATOR Christopher “Bong” Go, Vice Chairperson of the Senate Committee on Public Order and Chairperson of the Senate Committee on Health, reaffirmed his strong backing for uniformed personnel and key government reforms towards their welfare during the graduation of the Public Safety Officers Advance Course (PSOAC) “Lex Aegis” Class of 2024–32 on Friday, June 27, in Davao City.
Speaking before 58 graduates, Go em -
phasized his continuing legislative work while urging law enforcers to “just do what is right” — a guiding principle instilled by former President Rodrigo Duterte. “Isa lang naman po ang paalala ko sa pulis, at ito po ay natutunan ko kay dating Pangulong Duterte: Just do what is right. Gawin n’yo lang po ‘yung tama. Unahin n’yo ‘yung interes ng bayan, unahin n’yo po ‘yung interes
Y. Rubio, who was among the officials in the Executive branch of the government, who were forced to submit their courtesy resignation last May to undergo a performance assessment.
Rubio has served as head of BOC since 2023.
Marcos said the review aims to remove underperforming or corrupt officials of the government.
As of press time, Malacañang has yet to disclose the reason for the President’s decision to accept Rubio’s courtesy resignation.
‘I think I have a lot to offer there:’ Remulla eyes Ombudsman post
JAddressing the graduates, Go celebrated their perseverance and reminded them of the meaning behind their class name. “Today marks the culmination of your sacrifices, discipline, and dedication to your duty as protectors of peace and
By Joel R. San Juan @jrsanjuan1573
USTICE Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla admitted that he is eying the Ombudsman post which will be left vacant by Ombudsman Samuel Martires whose term will expire on July 27, 2025. Remulla said he would be submitting his application before the eight-man Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) for the position before the deadline on Friday. The JBC is a constitutional office that accepts, screens, and nominates appointments in the judiciary; the Office of the Ombudsman and its deputies and special prosecutor; and members of the Legal Education Board.
It is headed by Chief Justice Alexander G. Gesmundo as ex-officio chairperson Remulla is facing administrative and criminal complaints filed by Senator Imee Marcos in connection with the alleged “kidnapping” and subsequent turn-over of former President Rodrigo Duterte to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague, Netherlands. Last May 5, the Office of the Ombudsman issued an order giving Remulla, his brother Interior and Local Government Secretary Juanito Victor “Jonvic” Remulla, Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief Gen. Rommel Francisco Marbil, PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) head Maj. Gen. Nicolas Torre III and Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA)-Special Envoy on Transnational Crime Ambassador Markus V. Lacanilao, 10 days to file their counter-affidavits to the complaints filed by Marcos. They were charged before the Ombudsman with graft, arbitrary detention, grave threats, false testimony, perjury, usurpation of authority or official functions and for violation of R.A 7438 or An Act Defining Certain Rights of Person Arrested, Detained or Under Custodial Investigation As Well as the Duties of the Arresting, Detaining and Investigating Officers.
“I’m going to apply. I’m submitting my application by Friday, before Friday,” Remulla told reporters in a chance interview Monday. Remulla expressed confidence he has the potential and capability to assume the Ombudsman’s position.
“I think I have a lot to offer there,” he said. Remulla also sees no conflict of interest in applying for the post where a complaint is pending against him, noting that the JBC can make its own evaluation.
When asked what his plans are if he is appointed as the Ombudsman, Remulla said we would have to talk to the JBC about it first.
“I think the JBC is in the best position to appreciate whatever I have to offer as Ombudsman,” he added.
Remulla serves as one of the three exofficio members of the JBC. Martires was appointed Ombudsman on July 26, 2018 by then president Rodrigo Duterte after the former’s early retirement as associate justice was approved by the SC. Under Republic Act 6770, the law that created the Office of the Ombudsman, its functions are “to investigate and prosecute on its own or on complaint by any person, any act or omission of any public officer or employee, office or agency, when such act or omission appears to be illegal, unjust, improper or inefficient.”
PHL’s economic recovery: A fragile balance between growth and debt editorial
RECENT findings from ANZ Research offer a detailed view of the Philippine economy, highlighting a complex relationship among high price levels, stagnant wage growth, and changing consumer behavior. As households increasingly rely on credit to finance essential goods, the implications for both immediate consumption and long-term economic stability are significant. (Read the BusinessMirror story: “Weak household, biz spending dims ANZ Research Q3 outlook,” June 27, 2025).
Despite a robust employment landscape, private sector wages have not kept pace with inflation. This disparity is particularly concerning, as it suggests that the economic recovery, while visible in employment figures, is not translating into real purchasing power for the average household. The reliance on credit card loans to fund basic consumption underscores a precarious situation. Families are caught in a cycle of debt, attempting to maintain their standard of living amid rising prices.
The findings from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) consumer expenditure survey reveal that the primary reason households are taking on loans is to buy basic goods. This reliance on borrowed money for essentials raises questions about financial resilience. While the recent growth in Household Final Consumption Expenditure (HFCE) indicates a positive trend, it is essential to consider whether this growth is sustainable in the face of mounting debt.
ANZ’s forecast of GDP growth averaging 5.1 percent this year and 5.6 percent next year reflects cautious optimism. However, the projected modest growth in private consumption—5.1 percent this year—is a reminder that economic recovery is still fragile. The anticipated rebound in consumption is tempered by the reality that many households are prioritizing savings to buffer against economic uncertainties.
Interestingly, the recent deceleration in inflation, particularly in food prices, offers a glimmer of hope. The decrease in rice prices, aided by reduced import tariffs, has played a role in food disinflation. With core inflation averaging 2.3 percent in early 2025, the favorable inflation forecast of 2.2 percent is a positive development, especially in light of external pressures such as rising crude oil prices.
However, the consumer sentiment reflected in the BSP Consumer Expectation Survey indicates growing pessimism among households. This disconnect between economic indicators and consumer confidence could dampen spending in the long term. For GDP growth to be truly robust, it is imperative that consumers feel secure in their financial situations, which is currently not the case.
As the country navigates these economic headwinds, policymakers must prioritize measures that bolster wage growth and enhance financial literacy to reduce reliance on credit. Sustainable growth will depend not only on GDP figures but also on the well-being of households. Strengthening the economic foundation for consumers will ensure that the recovery is inclusive and resilient. While there are signs of recovery, the path forward requires a careful balance of encouraging consumption while addressing the underlying issues of wage stagnation and consumer debt. Only through comprehensive economic policies can the Philippines hope to achieve a stable and prosperous future for all its citizens.
Opinion
TJohn Mangun
OUTSIDE THE BOX
HE Israel-Iran conflict, with the United States playing wingman, has concluded for the moment, and every side is crowing about victory. Israel blasted its success in Persian, ensuring Tehran got the message loud and clear. Iran’s Press TV countered with footage of flag-waving crowds chanting in triumph. In 2025, surviving to spin the narrative at a press conference apparently passes for a geopolitical win.
So who is gloating, who is licking wounds, and who is merely posturing? The so-called 12-Day War wrapped up without overthrowing regimes, redrawing borders, or unleashing tank brigades. By Middle Eastern standards, that is a “diplomatic solution” not really war. Yet the raw data paints a grim picture: Iran took a beating, while Israel walked away with a few bruises. “Winning” in 21st century geopolitics has many definitions.
The human toll reveals the disparity though. Iran’s Ministry of Health reported 1,000 dead—450
civilians, 600 military—as of June 24. Israel’s Ministry of Defense, on June 25, counted 25 to 30 losses. That is a 30-to-1 death ratio. Iran’s wounded tally hit 3,500; Israel’s, just over 1,100. This was less a fight than a fiasco with a devastating imbalance. Leadership losses underscore the asymmetry. Iran’s IRGC chief, Quds “Palestine Corps” head, several nuclear scientists, and regional commanders were eliminated and are now footnotes in history. Israel lost no senior officials or military officers. The apparent precision of this targeted destruc -
tion speaks volumes. The military arsenal used also tells a stark story. Iran launched 480 ballistic and cruise missiles and 1,000 Shahed drones, most failing over Jordan or Iraq. Israel’s defenses supported by US systems neutralized 80 percent of missiles and 90 percent of drones. Costly, yet effective. Israel and the US responded with 520 precision strikes via stealth strike fighter jets, stealth B-2 bombers, cruise missiles, and “bunker busters,” delivering surgical devastation on Iran.
Iran’s nuclear aspirations suffered a rude awakening and setback. On June 25, the IAEA reported Natanz’s enrichment hall as “irreparably damaged.” Fordow’s bunkers are sealed, Arak’s reactor reduced to rubble, Parchin’s tunnels collapsed, and Isfahan’s air defense batteries obliterated. Tehran’s Republican Guard base lies in ruins, with hundreds dead.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Esmail Baghaei, admitted the nuclear facilities took a “significant hit,” though Tehran predictably downplayed the long-term fallout.
Israel’s damages were minimal. Two strikes on Beersheba’s Soroka Medical Center claimed four lives and injured 200, yet the emergency room resumed operations by June
Starmer works to quell Labour mutiny that threatens his future
By Alex Wickham
KEIR STARMER is working to contain the rebellion in his Labour Party ahead of a vote Tuesday on his flagship welfare policy that’s provoked widespread criticism and called his leadership into doubt.
After being forced by Labour lawmakers into an embarrassing U-turn last week that saw him water down a plan to cut disability benefits, the premier will spend Monday trying to persuade skeptics in his party to back a revised package. That would exempt existing claimants from tougher rules at a cost of some £3 billion ($4.1 billion) to the Treasury.
While Starmer is expected to win the vote in the House of Commons, dozens of Members of Parliament on the left of the party, including several disabled MPs, are still considering voting against the government.
In an effort to win them over, the premier on Monday announced details of a comprehensive review of Personal Independence Payment, the benefit at the heart of the controversy over which more than 120 Labour MPs had threatened to vote against Starmer, an outcome that would have plunged his premiership into doubt.
The vote comes after a weekend of media speculation about Starmer’s position and a series of interviews
given by the premier in which he admitted to a raft of mistakes in his first year in office, with the anniversary falling this week.
He’s conducted three major climb-downs recently: on welfare; a planned cut to pensioners’ coldweather payments; and reversing his past opposition to holding an inquiry into child sexual abuse gangs. That prompted criticism of his judgment. Despite leading Labour to a landslide election victory last July, the party now trails Nigel Farage’s right-wing Reform UK in opinion polls.
The Times newspaper reported that some members of Starmer’s cabinet were privately questioning whether the country needed a different prime minister.
Some Labour MPs want him to sack Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves and Downing Street chief of staff Morgan McSweeney and pivot the government to the left, Bloomberg reported Saturday. There may be no imminent danger to Starmer, though the threatened
mutiny by Labour lawmakers over the welfare bill and the briefings by anonymous MPs to the media about his leadership style are all the more extraordinary given he presides over a huge working majority of 165 in the Commons and his position was seen as unassailable only a few weeks ago.
Starmer had promised that his election would bring an end to the political chaos and infighting that defined his Conservative predecessors’ 14 years in government, a pledge he is already struggling to deliver.
Speaking to the Sunday Times, Starmer suggested he’d been distracted by global affairs such as last week’s NATO summit and the outbreak of conflict between Israel and Iran, saying he would “carry the can” for his government’s domestic woes.
In a separate interview with the Observer, the premier conceded he’d made errors including his gloomy rhetoric about the economy on taking office and his language when talking about immigration. In both interviews, the premier said he had been shaken by alleged firebomb attacks on properties linked to him earlier this year.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting told broadcasters Sunday that the government was in a “better position” ahead of Tuesday’s vote than it had been before it made concessions to rebel MPs. But in a sign of the at-
26. Ashdod’s LNG pier, lightly struck, was restored by June 27. Power outages in southern Israel were resolved within 48 hours—a swift recovery that underscores resilience. The victors? President Trump authorized a strike that crippled Iran’s nuclear program—at least temporarily—without plunging the US into an immediate regional quagmire. His last-minute demand against further Israeli strikes tried to demonstrate independence from Tel Aviv’s agenda. Even Russia’s envoy offered reluctant acknowledgment of success. Israel’s economy and strategy emerged fortified. The iShares MSCI Israel ETF approached record highs, signaling a clear Israeli victory by investors (or the government “market makers”). The Sunni Gulf states navigated astutely, remaining uninvolved, mediating the ceasefire, enhancing their diplomatic standing, and avoiding repercussions, dodging blowback save for one intercepted missile aimed at a US base in Qatar. The defeated include US neoconservatives, whose demands for further strikes post-ceasefire exposed their unrelenting warmongering. Iran’s hardliners stand isolated, with Hezbollah inactive and Iran’s allies See “Mangun,” A14
mosphere, Streeting was forced to deny that he had ambitions to replace Starmer as premier, dismissing such questions as “mischief.”
According to John Curtice, politics professor at the University of Strathclyde, Starmer’s plummeting poll ratings are unprecedented for a British prime minister following an election victory.
“It’s the worst start for any newly elected government, any newly elected prime minister, either Labour or Conservative,” Curtice told Times Radio. The problems for Starmer and Reeves are compounded by their need to raise money elsewhere to balance the UK’s fragile public finances in a budget later this year. It’s seen as highly likely that Reeves will have to hike taxes again, despite her insistence that she didn’t want to repeat last year’s tax-raising budget. Yet further increasing the tax burden risks running at odds with the government’s insistence that its defining mission is economic growth.
As part of a wider attempt to focus more on policy areas that are important to voters, the government is due to unveil a 10-year plan to reform the National Health Service. Artificial intelligence will be used to scan NHS systems to flag safety issues, the department of health and social care said Monday. Bloomberg
Bond traders basking in gains bet Fed will fuel winning streak
By Michael Mackenzie & Ye Xie
US bond traders gutted through turbulence to somehow find themselves notching profits as the first half ends. Now, they’re setting up for more gains following a three-week winning streak, with Thursday’s jobs report as a potential catalyst.
The Treasury market is wrapping up its best monthly return since February and its biggest first-half stretch in five years. That’s despite some harrowing moments caused by a laundry list of cross-currents, from President Donald Trump’s erratic policies to tariff uncertainties, geopolitical eruptions and a Moody’s downgrade.
While trade negotiations remain in the spotlight, some of the other pressures have eased as the month ends. Yields are near two-month lows, with the benchmark US 10year note around 4.28 percent. And investors have largely shrugged off the implication of Trump’s tax plan— which is set to face a Senate vote as soon as Monday after a weekend of wrangling in the chamber— to focus on the Federal Reserve, which they expect will cut interest rates at least twice this year.
“There’s a market lean towards the Fed cutting rates and a bit of a fear of missing out,” when central bankers eventually resume their rate-easing cycle after pausing since December, said George Catrambone, head of fixed income at DWS Americas. Catrambone has been adding interestrate exposure, including the 30-year in recent weeks, in part as evidence from auctions shows foreign demand for Treasuries remains intact.
Investors who earlier this month saw a July rate cut as negligible are now pricing in nearly 1-in-5 odds for a reduction, with September seen as a lock. Even as Fed officials including Chair Jerome Powell favor waiting for clarity on the economy before easing again, traders are positioning for the possibility of earlier action should key measures such as employment weaken materially and inflation stay under control.
Rates options trades flagging the potential for lower yields and a faster pace of Fed easing have picked up markedly, while asset managers favor owning Treasuries in the fiveyear maturity range that would benefit from an eventual bigger Treasury rally extending into 2026.
“For the Fed to be more pro-active in cutting rates requires labor market deterioration,” said John Madziyire, portfolio manager at Vanguard. “July is all about payrolls and it’s the one thing that can move the market.” Madziyire said owning Treasuries due in five to 10 years was “attractive as there are signs of the economy slowing, so you are being compensated” for taking on interest-rate risk.
The June employment report, due on Thursday given the July 4 holiday on Friday, is forecast to show growth
China issuing soft warnings and Russia barely blinking. Is this only “strategic caution”?
Paleoconservatives, predicting a US disaster that failed to occur, resembled doomsday prophets with bad timing. Palestinians remain empty-handed, as Israel’s damaged urban cities highlight their vulnerability, stifling prospects of West Bank autonomy concessions. The conflict deepens Palestinian marginalization as Israel’s swift recovery and regional clout dampens West Bank hopes, leaving them strategically sidelined and politically adrift. Iran’s negotiation strategy with the US failed. Its proxies and allies did not effectively engage, and its leadership was decimated. This conflict tested resilience, not territory, and Tehran proved deficient. The con-
Opinion
Trump deals poised to fall short of sweeping trade reforms
Win the workforce easing to about 113,000 new jobs from 139,000 the prior month, according to economists surveyed by Bloomberg. The unemployment rate is seen nudging up to 4.3 percent, and while still contained, would mark a fresh peak since 2021.
A reading like this probably wouldn’t force the Fed’s hand, though it would add to evidence of slowing growth. A softer report would be a different story.
“If we get a weaker payroll number and we get inflation that still doesn’t show a lot of signs of tariffs, then I think July can be live,” said Dan Carter, portfolio manager at Fort Washington Investment Advisors, referring to next month’s Fed policy meeting. “But it could be one of those where it’s a close call, and the chair gets his way and they push it to September.”
“Whether the Fed follows through with cuts as early as July remains to be seen. But with growth stalling and the labor market starting to show cracks, the bid for duration looks increasingly justified,” said Brendan Fagan, Bloomberg’s FX Strategist.
Expectations for Fed rate cuts this year have waxed and waned since December. But policymakers’ median forecast—which didn’t change in March and June—was that the band would decline to 3.75 percent to 4 percent by the end of the year, implying two quarter-point cuts.
After recent gains, and with the market now in line with the Fed’s forecasts, there’s a risk of a hiccup should the jobs report surprise on the upside. Trade is also back in focus ahead of Trump’s July 9 tariff deadline, with the administration sending mixed signals on the timing and severity of levies.
In spite of the June rally, yields are relatively range bound and trading well above their April lows given the macroeconomic uncertainty that could keep the Fed on the sidelines. Bank of America in their mid-year update said two-year yields will end this year and 2026 at 3.75 percent, not far from where they are now, with the 10-year at 4.5 percent.
JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s rate strategist on June 13 maintained the firm’s call for 10-year yields to reach 4.35 percent by year-end, higher than where they are now. The bank expects the first Fed rate cut in December, followed by an additional three consecutive cuts early next year.
Treasuries were little changed across maturities in early Asia trading on Monday. With assistance from Edward Bolingbroke and Carter Johnson/ Bloomberg
flict was brief, severe, and decisively uneven. Iran suffered major losses; Israel, minimal impact. Regardless, the Middle East’s power dynamics have tilted sharply, and the ripples will shape alliances and conflicts for years.
Yet, the horizon is fraught with unknowns. Iran’s wounded pride could fuel covert reprisals—cyberattacks, proxy militias, or oil route disruptions—escalating tensions in unpredictable ways. Israel’s triumph, while decisive, risks overconfidence, potentially alienating neutral players or provoking a desperate Tehran. The region’s chessboard is redrawn, but the game is far from over. A single misstep could ignite a broader inferno, and only time will reveal whether this pause is peace or prelude.
By Catherine Lucey & Jenny Leonard
ITH just 10 days to go until President Donald Trump’s country-specific tariffs are set to resume, the White House appears poised to fall short of the sweeping global trade reforms it promised to achieve during the three months they were on hold.
Agreements with as many as a dozen of the US’s largest trading partners are expected to be completed by the July 9 deadline, top Trump advisers said this week. But if Trump’s only two other accords, with China and the UK, offer any indication, the pacts likely won’t be fulsome deals that resolve core issues, but instead will address a limited set of topics and leave many specifics to be negotiated later.
“I would expect the White House will announce some number of frameworks that it’s going to call trade deals, but do not meet anyone’s ordinary understanding of that term,” said Tim Meyer, a professor at Duke University law school who specializes in international trade.
For dozens of other countries that don’t reach deals—but were hit by Trump’s higher tariff on April 2—the president has threatened to impose new duties above the 10 percent baseline that has been in place during the negotiating period. Those would mostly be “smaller trading partners,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Friday on CNBC.
Trump and his advisers have left investors on edge ahead of July 9, offering cryptic signals about which countries were close to agreements and which were off track. The outcome will help determine the future of Trump’s trade agenda—one of the centerpieces of his 2024 campaign— with high stakes for the global economy and America’s relationships with allies and adversaries alike.
Even with those high stakes, it was still unclear whether the administration would hold firm on the deadline or extend it to allow more time for talks.
Bessent on Friday said about 20 countries that don’t reach deals by
next Wednesday could continue negotiating but would see their tariff rates reverted to the higher April 2 rate or stay at 10 percent if they are deemed to be “negotiating in good faith,” Bessent said.
But hours later, Trump reiterated his threat to unilaterally set tariff rates for countries—even saying he could do so even before July 9. The US will not broker individual deals with hundreds of nations, Trump said.
“We can do whatever we want,” Trump said during a White House press conference. “I’d like to just send letters out to everybody. ‘Congratulations. You’re paying 25 percent.’”
Later, the president abruptly announced on social media he was terminating trade talks with Canada over its digital services tax and threatened to set a new tariff within a week on the second-largest US trading partner. It’s a move that could also be interpreted as a warning shot to other leaders Trump sees as out of line.
The rapid-fire statements served as yet another reminder for foreign governments of just how sudden the president’s policy swings can be.
The frenzied final days before the deadline featured leaders lobbying the president, delegations traveling to Washington and Trump and his aides offering mixed messages about how negotiations will be resolved.
The US is nearing agreements with some countries, including Taiwan and Indonesia, according to a person familiar with the discussions. Pacts with Vietnam and South Korea are also possible, the person said.
Trump himself has repeatedly teased a deal with India, as negotiators met last week in Washington to break a deadlock over key issues.
While Trump’s threats have unsettled the world, his practice of making sweeping tariff threats—only to back down later—has signaled to other world leaders even modest concessions can secure retreats. Investors have grown so used to the pattern they’ve adopted the acronym “TACO”—or “Trump Always Chickens Out”—to describe the phenomenon.
And both the US and the European Union have grown more optimistic about reaching agreement.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told Bloomberg Television on Thursday that there will be some “top 10 deals” done with major economies by the July date.
“We’re going to do top 10 deals, put them in the right category, and then these other countries will fit behind,” Lutnick said.
“My sense is the White House will potentially give a delay for some countries if they are negotiating in good faith or earnestly,” said Clark Packard, a research fellow who focuses on trade at the libertarian Cato Institute. “I do think some deals will be struck and some won’t. I do think some countries will retaliate.”
While Trump’s approach may win him some concessions from trading partners, the erratic effort has injected uncertainty into the financial markets, and created anxiety for domestic businesses. The lack of clarity around the deadline heightens the tension.
Trump entered office vowing to reduce US trading deficits and boost domestic manufacturing and has made his tariff agenda the linchpin of his effort to reshape global trade flows. He unveiled higher tariffs in April, but quickly halted them after markets panicked over investor fears they could trigger a global recession.
For months, Trump and his aides have promised that numerous deals
are coming—notably trade adviser Peter Navarro said in April that “90 deals in 90 days” was the target. Not only is the president likely to fall short of that number, the deals that have been made have included cautionary tales for other negotiating partners.
The UK entered its framework expecting duties on metals imports to fall to zero, only to see the US keep 25 percent levies on steel and aluminum with a promise to broker a future quota systems. Rare earths shipments that Trump said China agreed to resume quickly in a round of talks in London have yet to fully materialize.
Some partners, including Japan, India and EU, have balked at signing deals without knowing how badly they’ll be hit by separate levies on exports including chips, drugs and commercial aircraft. The US Commerce Department will announce the results of probes into some of those sectors in the coming weeks, which could lead to levies.
There is also uncertainty about the legality of the tariffs as a legal battle plays out over Trump’s use of emergency powers to impose the levies. The US Court of International Trade ruled in May that the majority of the tariffs were issued illegally and ordered them blocked, but an appeals court has allowed them to remain in place until it hears the case in late July.
While Trump’s threats have unsettled the world, his practice of making sweeping tariff threats—only to back down later—has signaled to other world leaders even modest concessions can secure retreats. Investors have grown so used to the pattern they’ve adopted the acronym “TACO”—or “Trump Always Chickens Out”—to describe the phenomenon. And for Trump, who has long promoted himself as a dealmaker, reaching the agreements is often as important—if not more so—than their substance. He favors quick deals and has grown openly impatient with the drawn-out process. Bloomberg
Bitcoin soars, altcoins fade in $300 billion crypto shakeout
By Kirk Ogunrinde & Sidhartha Shukla
ON the face of it, 2025 looks like a banner year for crypto: Bitcoin hitting a record, an industry-boosting US president whose family is venturing headlong into the sector, and key legislation widely expected to be passed by Congress.
But look beyond the bullish headlines and the rally in Bitcoin, and a vastly different landscape comes into view. Most of the so-called altcoins once touted as competitors to the original cryptoasset are nursing steep declines, with more than $300 billion of market value wiped out so far this year.
The sea of red points to a wider malaise that’s forcing parts of the industry to confront existential questions. Crypto was imagined by early enthusiasts as a universe where a host of coins competed for investor money, offering a diverse set of use cases. But as Bitcoin reigns supreme, that’s giving way to predictions that large swathes of the sector will become a digital wasteland.
“I think they’re just going to die, frankly,” Nick Philpott, co-founder of trading platform Zodia Markets, said of altcoins. “They’ll just wither away. Technically, a lot of this stuff will just sit there and gather dust in perpetuity.”
Bitcoin’s share of the total market value of cryptoassets has climbed by nine percentage points this year to 64 percent, the highest since January 2021, according to CoinMarketCap. Back then, cryptocurrencies were a largely unregulated space, crypto lending was roaring with few safeguards and nonfungible tokens were just starting to take off.
In sharp contrast, altcoins—the catch-all term for all digital assets outside of Bitcoin and stablecoins— are faltering. A MarketVector index tracking the bottom half of the largest 100 digital assets, which more
than doubled in the aftermath of Donald Trump’s Nov. 5 election victory, has since given up all those gains and is down around 50 percent in 2025.
With Bitcoin soaking up the bulk of capital flows from investors in exchange-traded funds, other parts of the market are increasingly left behind. Even Ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency, remains about 50 percent below its all-time high after a modest rebound fueled by inflows to spot ETFs investing in the token.
“Historically, Bitcoin’s moved and then that’s passed down into altcoins,” said Jake Ostrovskis, an OTC trader at Wintermute. “We’ve not really seen that yet this cycle.” Crypto is no stranger to mass extinction events. The 2022 market crash, punctuated by the implosions of algorithmic stablecoin TerraUSD and Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX exchange, led to the demise of hundreds of projects. Thousands of coins still exist on their blockchains, with little or no activity—relegated to the status of “ghost chains” in crypto parlance.
What’s different this time is that crypto is becoming a more regulated, institutionally-driven marketplace, and that stablecoins appear to be the only tokens with a real shot at achieving means-of-payment status, due to the fact that they eliminate volatility.
In the past year alone, the market value of stablecoins has swelled by $47 billion, and some of the world’s largest banks are entering the field. The Wall Street Journal reported this month that Amazon.com Inc.
With Bitcoin soaking up the bulk of capital flows from investors in exchange-traded funds, other parts of the market are increasingly left behind. Even Ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency, remains about 50 percent below its all-time high after a modest rebound fueled by inflows to spot ETFs investing in the token.
is studying a potential stablecoin.
That’s putting pressure on altcoin projects to find ways to shore up their status and appeal to a wider base of investors.
“I’ve talked to a couple of projects that have been thinking about merging foundations, putting it up for governance, saying, ‘Hey, we can now be governed under this other authority’—that authority being another altcoin community,” said Kanyi Maqubela, managing partner at venture capital firm Kindred Ventures.
The shifting tides are also reflected in corporate behavior. Modeled on Michael Saylor’s Strategy, a new breed of Bitcoin accumulators has emerged. In April, a special-purpose acquisition company affiliated with Cantor Fitzgerald LP partnered with Tether Holdings SA and SoftBank to launch Twenty One Capital Inc., seeded with nearly $4 billion in Bitcoin.
The Trump family, which is also getting involved in Bitcoin mining, has raised $2.3 billion via Trump Media & Technology Group Corp. to create a Bitcoin treasury. While similar vehicles have been set up recently to accumulate smaller tokens like Ether, Solana and BNB, they are much smaller.
Glimmers of hope NOT all altcoins are floundering. Tokens like Maker and Hyperliquid that
are linked to thriving decentralizedfinance protocols have notched big gains this year.
“There’s certainly a subset of the market doing incredibly well—generally companies with real businesses, real revenues, and those revenues are being used to buy back tokens,” said Jeff Dorman, chief investment officer of digital asset investment firm Arca.
There’s also the prospect of more favorable regulations. The potential for US Securities and Exchange Commission approval of ETFs backed by coins like Solana are stirring hopes of wider adoption. Another possible catalyst is the Digital Asset Market Clarity (CLARITY) Act, informally referred to as crypto’s market structure bill. The CLARITY Act aims to provide a comprehensive regulatory framework, including delineating responsibilities between the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the SEC.
“The Clarity Act has the potential to do for altcoins what ETFs did for Bitcoin and Ethereum: provide the regulatory legitimacy that unlocks real institutional capital,” said Ira Auerbach, a senior executive at Offchain Labs.
Yet according to Maqubela, the issue ultimately boils down to utility. He compares Bitcoin to gold and Ether to copper—the former has a capped final supply and the latter’s blockchain underpins much of crypto’s functionality—and says most altcoins are stuck in a sort of twilight zone, underpinned by big promises and not much else.
“I think a lot of them are going to whittle down to zero because they were driven by speculation without that mimetic value like Bitcoin, and they tried to be utilitarian without achieving any real scale,” he said.
Tuesday, July 1, 2025
BSP sees higher inflation in June on peso, food, oil prices
By Cai U. Ordinario
THEBangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) expects inflation to be higher in June given the increase in food and oil prices as well as the depreciation of the peso.
Based on its latest month-ahead inflation forecast, the BSP projects that inflation may have settled between 1.1 and 1.9 percent in June 2025. The BSP’s month-ahead forecast settled between 0.9 and 1.7 percent in May. The official inflation print, as reported by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), was 1.3 percent.
“Upward price pressures for the month are likely to be driven by higher meat and vegetable prices, elevated oil prices, and the depreciation of the peso. These pressures, however, could be partially offset by lower prices of rice, fish, and fruits, as well as lower electricity rates,” the BSP said.
De La Salle University economist Maria Ella Oplas told BusinessMirror that she expects inflation to be higher than BSP’s estimate. She said
inflation may have settled at 1.9 to 2 percent in June 2025.
Oplas said this is due to the uncertainties surrounding the global economy. This is also the reason for her expectation that inflation will continue to increase in the coming months.
Ateneo Center for Economic Research and Development (ACERD) Director Ser Perceival K. Peña-Reyes told this newspaper there is a possibility that inflation will continue increasing because of the Iran-Israel conflict.
“Not far-fetched [increase in inflation]. Consider also the DBCC’s [Development Budget Coordination Committee] downgrading of growth targets. Even they anticipate a tempestuous global economic environment,” PeñaReyes told BusinessMirror on Monday.
However, these inflation expectations remain below the 2 to 4 percent target set by the BSP. Oplas said this may be an indication that Filipinos are trying to control their spending in anticipation of what is happening globally.
Oplas said even if it’s a lean season for spending and there are a lot of items on sale in malls, Filipinos are not buying. She said this can also indicate that people are saving for a rainy day.
The BSP’s latest also pointed to this. The Consumer Expectations Survey (CES) fell to -14 percent in the second quarter, steeper than the -13 percent posted in the first quarter. However, it is still more optimistic compared to the -20.5 recorded in the same period last year. (See: https://businessmirror.com. ph/2025/06/30/phl-consumersmood-sours-on-inflation-incomedecline/).
“Going forward, the BSP remains committed to safeguarding price stability by ensuring that monetary policy settings are conducive to sustainable economic growth and employment,” the BSP said in its statement.
Earlier, United States-based Global Source Partners said playing down the impact of the Middle East conflict
on oil prices and overall economic growth “may be too premature” at this point, even after the declaration of a ceasefire.
In a new economic brief, Global Source Partners Country Analyst Diwa Guinigundo said the ceasefire, at best, caused an initial decline in oil prices. The decline, however, was only temporary given the “violations of the [ceasefire] declaration by both sides.”
Last week, US President Donald Trump announced that a ceasefire agreement was reached, but only hours after the disclosure, both Israel and Iran violated the truce. (See: https://businessmirror.com. ph/2025/06/25/dfa-welcomes-israel-iran-ceasefire/).
Guinigundo also said the announcement of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) that it will increase oil volume production and the slowdown in global growth will lead to a decline in oil demand.
This, however, must not be viewed as a guarantee of favorable economic conditions that will lead to faster economic growth. (See: https://businessmirror.com.ph/2025/06/30/ too-early-to-cheer-truce-in-middle-east-analyst-warns/).
TBy Ada Pelonia @adapelonia
HE country’s corn output in the upcoming marketing year 2025-2026 may rebound to 8.3 million metric tons (MMT), owing to the expansion in area harvested and better handling of pests, an international agency said.
The United States Department of Agriculture-Foreign Agricultural Service in Manila (USDA-FAS Manila) projects the Philippine corn production to reach 8.3 MMT, 100,000 metric tons (MT) higher than the 8.2 MMT estimated volume in the current MY 2024-2025.
“The increase in corn production in the current MY and the outyear is driven by less intense dry season beginning Q1 2025 and increased technical knowledge of farmers in handling the fall armyworm [FAW],” the international agency said in its latest report.
The USDA-FAS Manila noted that farmers gained technical expertise in handling FAW through corn varieties that were more resistant to the pest.
The agency also attributed the projected jump in
corn output to the marginal increase in area harvested to 2.55 million hectares (ha) in MY 2025-2026 from the adjusted estimate of 2.5 million ha in the current marketing year. Meanwhile, the USDA-FAS Manila forecasts that total corn demand in the next marketing year will grow to 10 MMT from 9.9 MMT. Feed and residual use will still dominate the bulk of the corn demand, with the country’s requirement for the category projected to inch up to 5.6 MMT from 5.55 MMT. This is lower than the expected requirement for food, seed, and industrial (FSI) use, which is estimated to reach 4.4 MMT from 4.350 MMT.
The rise in feed corn consumption is bolstered by higher demand from poultry, layer, pet food, and aquaculture industries, while the FSI consumption is buoyed by the sustained demand for corn-based snacks, USDA-FAS Manila said.
The international agency maintained its forecast for the country’s corn imports in MY 2025-2026 to 1.75 MMT from 1.63 MMT.
By Joel R. San Juan @jrsanjuan1573
MAJORITY of Filipinos are in favor of the Philippines rejoining the International Criminal Court, based on a recent survey conducted by OCTA Research in April.
The non-commissioned survey conducted from April 20 to April 24, 2025 nationwide showed 57 percent of the 1,200 Filipino respondents expressed support for the Philippines’s return to the ICC as a member state.
On the other hand, 37 percent are opposed to the move and 6 percent of those who were interviewed were undecided.
The survey showed that 60 percent of the respondents who support the Philippines being a member of the ICC are from Metro Manila, Luzon and the Visayas.
However, in Mindanao, 66 percent of the respondents expressed opposition to the plan, while 30 percent backed the move.
Former president Rodrigo Roa Duterte, the hugely popular Mindanao mayor who as president ordered a controversial bloody war on illegal drugs that killed at least an estimated 6,000 people, is now detained in The Hague, in an ICC facility. His camp had described as an “abduction” his arrest in March by the Interpol acting on ICC’s behest. His lawyers said the Philippine government’s acquiescence in the arrest was illegal because Manila had withdrawn as an ICC member when Duterte was the president.
Commenting on its survey results, OCTA said, “Across socioeconomic classes and age groups, support remains relatively consistent with at least half of the respondents in each category favoring rejoining, according to the survey.”
The survey also showed that opposition by class ranges from 34 percent to 42 percent, with the highest levels in Class E.
By age, opposition spans 32 percent to 44 percent, with at least 40 percent of adults aged 18–24,
35–44, and 45–54 not in favor of rejoining the ICC. Meanwhile, the survey showed that 85 percent of adult Filipinos are aware of the ICC, while only 13 percent admitted being unaware of the institution.
OCTA said respondents were shown the following statement before they were asked of their stand: The International Criminal Court (ICC) is a global institution dedicated to upholding justice and protecting human rights by holding individuals accountable for the most serious crimes, including genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and aggression.
President Duterte announced on March 14, 2018 the Philippines’s withdrawal of its ratification of the Rome Statute, a United Nations (UN) treaty creating the ICC.
Duterte cited the ICC’s “baseless, unprecedented and outrageous attacks” against him and his administration as the reason for his withdrawal as a state party. The Philippines’s withdrawal took effect on March 17, 2019.
Despite the ICC losing jurisdiction over the Philippines, the government under the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. handed Duterte over to the ICC to stand trial for alleged crimes against humanity in connection with the death of 43 individuals during his all-out campaign against illegal drugs.
By Ma. Stella F. Arnaldo Special to the BusinessMirror
PROPERTY developer Ayala
Land Inc. (ALI) has finalized its purchase of the 598-room New World Hotel Makati, describing it as a “strategic move that strengthens its footprint in the country’s leading business hub.”
In a news statement, the Zobelled developer said this hotel purchase will beef up Ayala Land Hospitality’s (ALH) portfolio. “This move reflects our continued focus on offering a cohesive and highquality guest experience across key locations,” said George Aquino, president and chief executive officer of ALH. He added, “The addition of New World Hotel Makati comple -
ments our existing portfolio and reinforces our commitment to serving evolving customer needs in one of the country’s most dyn amic cities.”
ALI did not disclose the purchase price of the hotel, nor the direction of the property’s branding.
Industry sources earlier told the BusinessMirror that the hotel may be rebranded as a Rosewood Hotel.
New World Hotels and Resorts is now part of the Rosewood Hotel Group, an international hospitality company privately owned by Chow Tai Fook Enterprises. (See, “ALI eyes pact in 2025 with new hospitality partner,” in the BusinessMirror, May 14, 2025.)
ALH said hotel operations will continue without interruption, “with the existing team retained
and all current bookings honored. ALH assures guests and partners a smooth transition, maintaining the high standards of service the brand is known for. Business continuity will be maintained across all touchpoints.”
Purchase of the landmark property sharpens ALH’s portfolio in high-growth urban centers, particularly in the Makati, where it already operates a number of business and lifestyle hotels. New World Hotel Makati is strategically located across Greenbelt and within walking distance of major commercial offices and luxury retail destinations—making
Editor: Jennifer A. Ng
Manila Water: WawaJVCo acquisition to boost growth
By Jonathan L. Mayuga @jonlmayuga
MANILA Water Company Inc. (MWC) is taking over the operations of Wawa Dam following its acquisition of WawaJVCo Inc. from Prime Infrastructure Inc. and minority shareholders.
In a disclosure to the stock exchange, Manila Water said it has signed a term sheet for the acquisition of 100-percent ownership interest in WawaJVCo. The total purchase price for the shares is estimated at P37.8 billion.
“Once completed, the acquisition will be financially accretive to Manila Water and is strategically aligned with its long-term water security plans for Metro Manila’s East Zone,” Mark Orbos, head of Manila Water’s Investor Relations, said in a statement.
Tayabasan Weir located in Antipolo, and the Upper Wawa Dam in Rodriguez, Rizal Province, with a capacity of up to 712 million liters per day (MLD).
It has a 30-year bulk water supply agreement with the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) and Manila Water for the supply of 518 MLD through to 2050. The facility currently transports water to the downstream Calawis treatment facility of Manila Water.
indirect parent company.
Meanwhile, over 70 volunteers of Laguna Water, including employees and key stakeholders, came together to plant 500 native tree saplings as part of the 2025 Philippine Arbor Day celebration.
A Manila Water Non-East Zone operating unit, Laguna Water provides water, wastewater, and environmental services in several municipalities in Laguna.
‘Century Pacific Food still has room to grow’
By VG Cabuag @villygc
Tthe desire for protein and healthier diets increase.”
Manila Water said the Wawa Bulk Water Supply Project is a critical raw water source infrastructure program designed to augment Metro Manila’s water needs, currently being served by the Angat Dam.
WawaJVCo was established in 2019 to develop, operate, and maintain the Wawa Bulk Water Supply Project, which includes the
“In anticipation of the full operation of the Upper Wawa Dam, it has been determined that MWC is best placed to directly manage, operate, and optimize the Upper Wawa Dam to ensure technical compatibility, system efficiency, and operational synergies,” Manila Water said in its disclosure.
Vertically integrating this asset into Manila Water will yield positive financial benefits, optimize end-to-end water delivery operations, and enhance the overall resilience and sustainability of its water supply system, according to Manila Water.
The acquisition, when completed, will ensure a credible, consistent, and stable source of raw water for Manila Water’s East Zone service areas. This will enable the company to support future growth and expand its services.
WawaJVCo is a special purpose vehicle that is majority-owned by Prime Infastructure, Manila Water’s
The company holds its annual tree planting and nurturing program, Pasibol: Puno ng Pag-asa
This year, the planting site spans half a hectare within the Camp Scouter Jaime B. Ching Campsite in Barangay Anibong, Pagsanjan, Laguna, which is managed by the Boy Scouts of the Philippines – Laguna Council.
Roselyn Pagtananan, Head of the Pagsanjan Municipal Environment and Natural Resources Office, emphasized the importance of protecting the area due to its proximity to the town’s water source. She reaffirmed her office’s support for regular treegrowing activities that contribute to watershed conservation.
Globe: More towns now ‘copper-free’
By Lorenz S. Marasigan @lorenzmarasigan
GLOBE Telecom Inc. has completed the migration of more than 600 towns nationwide to full fiber connectivity, replacing copper lines with highspeed broadband infrastructure in a move aimed at improving digital access and sustainability. The telco giant said these towns are now “completely copper-free,” allowing residents to benefit from what it says is faster and more reliable internet for remote work, online learning, small businesses, and government services.
21 power projects endorsed to NGCP
THE Department of Energy (DOE) is endorsing 21 power projects to the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) for the conduct of system impact study (SIS).
These are all renewable energy (RE) which could potentially inject 3,495 megawatts (MW) to the grid. The endorsed list for May also included battery energy storage system (BESS) with a capacity of 1,390 MW-hour (MWh) capacity.
The agency said Monday that the 21 SIS endorsements include 17 new applications and four amendments. The list brings to 43 the total issued SIS endorsements since the start of the year. The 43 projects are composed of 30 RE and 11 BESS.
The conduct of SIS is necessary determine the adequacy of the grid and its capability to accommodate a request for power delivery service. Lenie Lectura
“We’ve built the infrastructure, now we need to protect it,” said Joel Agustin, Globe Head of Service Planning and Engineering. “Fiber has no copper, no resale value, and cutting it only harms the communities that rely on it. That’s why we’re asking residents to help us safeguard these lines. Connectivity is no longer a luxury, it’s a lifeline.”
Despite the shift to fiber, Globe reported that incidents of intentional cable cuts persist. In the first 425 towns that were migrated to fiber, 170 areas--or 40 percent--still experienced cable cuts. Even in areas with a history of copper theft, 63 percent recorded
VANTAGE Energy Solutions and Management Inc. (Vantage Energy), an affiliate retail electricity supplier (RES) of the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco), will energize 35 key properties of the Gokongwei Group across the country.
Vantage Energy signed Retail Electricity Supply Agreement (RESA) with Robinsons Land Corp., Robinsons Supermarket Corp., and Universal Robina Corp. (URC).
Robinsons Land is the real estate arm of JG Summit Holdings, Inc., the flagship conglomerate of the Gokongwei Group, with developments spanning residential, commercial, office, and hospitality sectors.
URC, another JG Summit subsidiary, is one of the country’s leading food and beverage companies with a strong presence in key Asean markets, while Robinson Retails Holdings Inc. subsidiary Robinsons Supermarkets operates a nationwide supermarket chain.
With a portion of the power supply from Vantage Energy coming from renewable energy, JG Summit President and CEO Lance Y. Gokongwei said the partnership plays a crucial role in supporting the sustainable operations of the group’s key business pillars. “This commitment to renewable en-
fiber-related incidents, often due to mistaken beliefs that fiber cables hold monetary value.
Agustin warned that these cuts bring no financial gain but can cause widespread disruption, disconnecting homes, schools, businesses, and public offices for extended periods.
To address the issue, he urged residents to report suspicious activity near fiber lines, support community patrols, and work with local leaders to include infrastructure protection in barangay ordinances and plans.
Last month, Globe said its net income in the first quarter reached P7
billion, nearly 3 percent higher than the previous year’s P6.8 billion. It said growth was mainly fueled by higher equity earnings from affiliates, particularly Mynt (Globe Fintech Innovations Inc.) and a P2.6-billion gross gain on the deemed disposal of the GCash owner, arising from the dilution of Globe’s ownership in Mynt.
Excluding the one-time gain on the Mynt transaction and gain on sale and leaseback of towers, as well as foreign exchange and mark-to-market adjustments, Globe’s core earnings during the period declined by 22 percent to P4.5 billion.
ergy empowers the Gokongwei Group to wholeheartedly pursue our sustainability targets, knowing that we have strong, forward-thinking partners aligned with our environmental stewardship goals,” Gokongwei said during the ceremonial signing.
Vantage Energy delivers reliable and competitive power supply to contestable customers beyond the power distributor’s franchise area.
“Our partnership spans over half a decade now with contestable properties recently added--some of which are already transitioning to renewable energy supply. This expansion reflects our aligned commitment to transforming shared values into meaningful, measurable progress toward a sustainable future,” said Vantage Energy President Ernesto Cabral.
MPower, a RES provider within the franchise area of Meralco, earlier announced it extended the retail supply contract with the Gokongwei Group to include Robinsons Supermarket Corp.
“This agreement goes beyond securing a reliable power supply--it represents our collective commitment to sustainability and innovation. With MPower as our partner, we can integrate a 60-percent renewable energy solution into our operations.
This is a meaningful step forward in our journey to reduce our environmental impact while continuing to serve Filipino communities through our businesses,” Gokongwei said. Lenie Lectura
UNA canner Century Pacific Food Inc. (CNPF) has set a growth target of 10 percent to 12 percent for this year and as much as 15 percent for the next three to five years.
Christoper T. Po, the company’s executive chairman, said even if the company has been in the business of tuna canning for decades, it still has room to grow.
“The runway is still quite attractive with even our flagship tuna business with category penetration rates of below 80 percent and frequency of consumption still below four times a month. So, we do see that as an indication that even if it’s our core business, we’ve been in this business for decades, there’s still so much more opportunity,” Po told reporters after the company’s annual stockholders’ meeting.
CNPF also increased its 2025 capital expenditure budget to as much as P5 billion from the initial P4 billion.
“The dairy business, we believe that it still has a ‘long runway,’ especially as the middle class grows and
CNPF said its emerging businesses like pet, coconut, refrigerated business, plant-based business, Hunt’s-all of which were categorized in its emerging businesses--were already in their high single-digit growth rates of 7 percent to 9 percent.
“And that as a group, that set of businesses are growing like 30 percent, 40 percent or even 50 percent. So hopefully that’s enough, provides us enough diversification going forward, even if there’s a lot of uncertainty, a lot of risks in the economy, a lot of unknowns. We think that our diversified portfolio will serve us well as we strive to deliver doubledigit growth, both top line and bottom,” Po said.
CNPF said its OEM business, such as coconut water and tuna, were strong drivers of growth last year.
“This year, 2025, the tables have turned, and the opposite now is the case where our OEM businesses are facing significant headwinds from geopolitical and other factors happening in the world market,” Teodoro Alexander T. Po, the company’s president and CEO, said.
Last week, the local RES of Meralco signed a similar agreement with the Gokongwei group.
BUSINESSMIRROR FILE
Banking&Finance Control use of e-wallets for gambling solons
By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz @joveemarie
WITH its growing role in “”worsening gambling addiction among Filipinos, particularly the poor, the use of e-wallets in online gambling sites should be strictly regulated, according to some lawmakers.
Bukidnon 2nd District Rep. Jonathan Keith T. Flores warned that the increasing accessibility of digital wallets has made it very easy for users
to top up and place bets in online gambling platforms.
“Many are becoming addicted to online gambling [as] it’s [become] very
Navigating retirement with confidence
ACCORDING to statistics from JP Morgan Invest-
ment, life expectancy in the United States continues to rise, with more people living to older ages.
For a 65-year-old couple, there is nearly an even chance that one member will live to age 90 or beyond. This means individuals should plan to live well beyond the average—possibly to age 95 or even 100, especially people in good health or with a family history of longevity.
In Asia, a similar trend is possible. If you have a family history of long life and maintain a healthy lifestyle, you, too, may live well into your 90s. According to the United Nations Population Division, the average life expectancy in Asia is around 75 years.
With this in mind, it’s essential to recognize the value of preparing for retirement as early as your working years begin.
Here are some key principles to help you prepare well and avoid becoming a financial burden to your family as you grow older:
1. Start investing 10 percent of your income.
Investing isn’t about starting with a large amount; it’s about being consistent and thinking long-term. Begin by setting aside 10 percent of your income. Choose investment vehicles you understand, such as index funds or bond funds. These can help you generate the necessary returns to reach your retirement goals whether it’s building a target amount or achieving a desired monthly income.
2. Rebalance your portfolio regularly.
If you’re still young, you can afford to be more aggressive with your portfolio by allocating more to equities like index funds and a portion to bonds or multi-asset funds. As you get closer to retirement, gradually shift your investments to more conservative assets. This is because you’ll need more stability and less volatility when you begin drawing income from your retirement fund.
3. Build dividend- or incomepaying assets.
Aim to create a portfolio that
generates consistent income. This will keep you motivated and focused on a specific goal. For instance, if your target is to receive P50,000 per month in passive income, and you’re expecting a 6 percent annual return from income-paying funds or dividend stocks, you’ll need to build a portfolio worth around P10 million.
4. Invest in yourself. One of the best investments you can make is in your own growth. Pursuing continuous learning increases your value and the quality of your contributions, whether in business or employment. As your value rises, so does your income potential, allowing you to invest more than just 10 percent of your earnings.
5. Be generous. Generosity does not necessarily mean that you need to have a huge amount of surplus of money to help others, by extending your free time, talent and resources if possible, you are being generous. Whenever we practice this principle, we acknowledge that the ultimate source of our finances is not our own capabilities but the One who created us.
As a Millennial, I know that consistent investing isn’t easy— especially with the rising cost of living, family responsibilities, and caring for aging parents. But even in the midst of these realities, we can trust God to guide us through our responsibilities. By practicing discipline and keeping a long-term vision, we can prepare for a future where we live with dignity, purpose, and peace of mind.
Karlo Biglang-awa is a Registered Financial Planner of RFP Philippines. His views herewith do not necessarily reflect those of the BusinessMirror’s To learn more about personal financial planning, attend the 112th RFP program this July 2025. E-mail info@rfp.ph or visit rfp.ph to learn more about the program.
accessible through e-wallets. There are even lists within the apps showing which games you can easily load and top up,” Flores said in a radio interview.
The lawmaker expressed concern that this convenience puts low-income Filipinos at greater risk, as they may be tempted to gamble away their hard-earned money in the hopes of winning big to meet their daily needs.
“A lot of families are being destroyed by online gambling,” Flores said. “If we continue to make it more accessible for people to bet and load credits, it’s like we’re feeding the addiction.”
Flores is set to file a bill that will seek to impose tighter regulations and safeguards on digital financial services, particularly their integra-
tion with online gambling platforms. He clarified that the measure would not seek an outright ban but instead would aim to limit the use of e-wallets as payment tools for gamblingrelated transactions.
Joining the call for a crackdown, Manila 2nd District Rep. Rolando M. Valeriano issued an appeal to President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. to stop all forms of online gambling in the country.
Valeriano, the chairman of the House Committee on Metro Manila Development, said in a separate statement that he is “respectfully” asking Marcos “to order the revocation of any administrative issuances and regulations that allow the existence and operation of any forms of
online gambling, including online casinos and online sports betting, by any means.”
He also urged the Department of Justice and the Executive Branch to recognize the social and psychological harms caused by online gambling and to propose measures that would classify such activities as cybercrimes under Philippine law.
Valeriano also called on the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) and the Games and Amusement Board to revoke all licenses that have enabled the proliferation of online gambling operations.
That may be a tall order as the Pagcor said through a statement on June 18 that the rapid growth of the electronic gaming sector has propelled
nearly half of the country’s total gaming revenues. According to the Pagcor, revenues from e-games and e-Bingo doubled to P51.39 billion in the first quarter of the year from P22.5 billion in the same period a year ago.
“The sector is now the leading gaming revenue generator and has reshaped the local gaming landscape as players continue to shift towards digital gaming,” read the statement issued by the Pagcor.
Valeriano, nonetheless, is also pushing the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas to prohibit the use of e-wallets and other electronic payment systems as conduits for online betting, warning that financial technology should not be weaponized to prey on vulnerable citizens.
PBCOM declares ₧480.65M special cash dividends
AFTER its June 25 regular Board meeting, the Philippine Bank of Communications (PBCOM) announced the declaration of special cash dividend of P1.0 per share to all shareholders on record as of July 09, 2025, with a payout date of July 31, 2025.
This is the first time the bank is declaring a cash dividend, after a stock dividend declared in September 1997. This clearly demonstrate the substantial improvement in the bank’s financial standing over the past 27 years.
PBCOM entered into a Financial Assistance Agree -
ment with PDIC in March 2004. The entry of the ISM Group led by Eric Ramon O. Recto in 2011 resulted in the bank getting out of the PDIC Financial Assistance Agreement in March 2014. Thereafter, the entry of the PG Holdings Inc. of Lucio L. Co in September 2014 as the bank’s majority shareholder, further strengthened the bank’s recovery measures. With steady income growth resulting from a focus on core businesses, the bank obtained its universal bank license in December 2022.
PBCOM, which celebrated its 85th year in 2024, regis-
GSIS premiums mark double-digit increase
tered its highest net income of P2.2 billion that year. The country’s 17th-largest bank was also awarded one of the three “Forbes Asia’s Best Under a Billion in the Philippines” in 2024.
“This is a noteworthy milestone in the long destiny of PBCOM with a lot of hard work and discipline,” Recto, chairman of the Board, was quoted in a statement as saying. “The bank’s management working closely with its major shareholders, have brought the bank to a position of financial stability. This will provide a base for us to grow even bigger in the years to come.”
T-bill yields correct as ME tensions ease
By Reine Juvierre Alberto @reine_alberto
STATE-RUN Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) reported a double-digit increase in premiums from its non-life insurance operations, as demand for asset protection continues to grow.
The GSIS’s gross premiums written amounted to P7.59 billion from January to May 2025, higher by 11.9 percent from P6.78 billion in the same period in 2024.
Policies issued by the GSIS also reached 93,244 as of May 2025, with P436 million in claims and losses.
Last year, premiums collected by the GSIS hit P10.5 billion, surpassing its P8.9-billion full-year target.
The GSIS’s non-life insurance operations have yielded P4.6 billion in net income, as premium income amounted to P4.7 billion as of May 2025.
Building on this growth, the GSIS launched its non-life insurance center at its Quezon City Branch Office on June 30, completing the nationwide rollout of its insurance hubs.
The insurance hub will cater to individual members and qualified dependents seeking coverage for motor vehicles, residential properties and
personal safety through the GSIS’s Motor Vehicle, Fire and Personal Accident Insurance programs.
In addition, the hub will serve property officers handling institutional insurance needs. Agencies can submit applications, renewals and claims for coverage of public assets.
GSIS President and General Manager Jose Arnulfo A. Veloso was quoted in a statement as saying that the hub “strengthens our commitment to provide efficient protection, right where it’s needed.”
“As risks become more complex, government institutions need timely and reliable insurance solutions,” Veloso said.
As mandated by Republic Act 656, the GSIS became the official insurer of government properties, including buildings, vehicles and equipment.
As of June 2025, the GSIS has disbursed a total of P413.4 billion in loans to government employees under its multi-purpose loan programs.
The GSIS posted a net income from operations of P135.7 billion in 2024, higher by 21 percent from P112.1 billion in 2023. Total assets of the pension fund also grew to P1.83 trillion in 2024, up by 9.23 percent year-on-year from P1.67 trillion.
Activists urge ‘bolder’ Manila stance at devt finance confab
LEADERS of nongovernment groups Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC) and the Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement (PRRM) sat down with a key official of the United Nations and International Organizations (UNIO) office of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to discuss “bolder positions” for the upcoming “4th Financing for Development Conference” (FfD4) to be held in Sevilla, Spain starting June 30. FDC President Rene E. Ofreneo and PRRM president Edicio G. Dela Torre led the delegation that met with UNIO Chief Maria Teresa T. Almojuela, read a statement issued by the FDC last Monday.
Among the positions the delegates urged the government to take is rejection of attempts to water down efforts to push for a UN convention on tax and on sovereign debt.
According to the FDC, the FfD4 represents “a once-in-a-decade opportunity.”
The FfD4 could be a moment to break from business-as-usual and reshape global finance, the group said in a separate statement.
“Instead, we see world’s richest governments defending undemocratic institutions like the International Monetary Fund-World Bank, and insisting on half-measures that preserve debtor’s profits that perpetuates a colonial-era power imbalance:
a few rich nations continue to set the rules, often with minimal input from those most affected,” the group said.
The FDC is urging the Philippine government to “affirm that those ‘most impacted by an unjust and colonial economic system’ must not be left out of key negotiations.”
“All countries, North and South, should sit on equal footing,” the group said. According to the organization, the FfD4 should kick off an intergovernmental process for a UN debt convention.
“The Convention would set binding rules, including debt transparency, and a permanent multilateral debt resolution mechanism that places human rights and climate
above debt repayment. Under such a system, unconditional debt cancellation would be possible in genuine crises, and countries would no longer be trapped by predatory debts. We call on the Philippine government to support this initiative.”
The group is also urging the Philippine delegation to the conference “to oppose removal or watering down of language on the establishment of an intergovernmental process to agree on a UN convention on sovereign debt.”
“Only a binding UN convention can ensure that countries negotiate sovereign debt issues on an equal footing,” the group said. Dennis D. Estopace
THE Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) was unable to fully raise its borrowing target during Monday’s Treasury bills (T-bills) auction, as investors remained cautious, even after yields corrected following the easing of tensions in the Middle East.
The auction committee generated only P23.950 billion out of the P25 billion targeted to be raised from three-tenor T-bills.
The offer was 2.3 times oversubscribed as total demands for the T-bills reached P57.740 billion. The bids, however, were lower than the P65.470 billion tendered in the previous auction last week.
The 91-day T-bills were partially awarded P6.950 billion out of the P8 billion programmed for auction. Tenders amounted to P18.125 billion, or 2.26 times oversubscribed the offer.
Yield of the 91-day government securities averaged 5.526 percent, down by 0.4 basis points from 5.530 percent last week. Rates went from a low of 5.490 percent to a high of 5.548 percent. Meanwhile, tenders for the 180-day debt papers hit P20.900 billion, 2.61 times the P8-billion offer, which was awarded in full.
The 180-day T-bills fetched a higher average yield at 5.607 percent, up by 5 basis points from the previous 5.557 percent yield. Investors’ asking yields were as low as 5.583 percent to as high as 5.640 percent. Finally, the yield of the 364day government IOUs slightly lowered by 0.5 basis points to 5.651 percent from 5.655 percent previously.
The 91-day T-bills were higher compared to the secondary benchmark rates, while the 180-day and 364-day tenors were lower. The Philippine Bloomberg Valuation (PHP BVAL) rates are 5.479 percent for the three-month tenor, while the six-month and one-year tenors are 5.642 percent and 5.696 percent, respectively.
According to Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) Chief Economist Michael L. Ricafort, the Tbills’ average auction yields mostly corrected after slightly rising for two weeks straight.
This comes after global crude oil prices dropped to the lowest in more than two weeks after a ceasefire between Israel and Iran was announced, Ricafort said. The Philippine peso also strengthened to P56.54 as of June 30, reversing the weakness caused by the Middle East conflict.
Despite the 25-basis point reduction in the key policy rate delivered by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), Ricafort said the latest decline in T-bill yields is still “relatively modest.” However, continued dovish signals by the BSP of another 25-basis points rate cut, as well as the US Federal Reserve lowering the policy rate, could bring down local borrowing costs, Ricafort added.
The target reverse repurchase rate was set at 5.50 percent while interest rates on the overnight deposit and lending facilities were reduced to 5 percent and 6 percent, respectively.
This July, the Treasury will auction off 91-day, 182- day and 364-day T-bills every Monday to raise a total of P125 billion.
This is part of the government’s P2.545-trillion borrowing program for the year. Of the amount, P2.037 trillion will be raised domestically while P507.408 billion will come from external sources.
The government has borrowed P1.327 trillion in the first five months of the year, to finance its budget deficit amounting to P523.9 billion as of end-May. The outstanding debt of the national government reached a new record of P16.752 trillion as of endApril, up by 11.56 percent from P15.017
PERSONAL FINANCE
Karlo Biglang-Awa
FACADE of the PBCom headquarters in Makati City. CREDIT: PHILIPPINE BANK OF COMMUNICATIONS
MoCAF 2025: ‘Big�er in reach, more
inclusive in approach’
THE Modern and Contemporary Art Festival (MoCAF) returns for its fourth run next weekend with promises of more.
Festival director Coleen Wong said that since its inception in 2022, the annual event, tagged as “Manila’s Premier Art Festival,” has “challenged itself to introduce something new every year.” The festival stays true to that principle this 2025 by being “bigger in reach and more inclusive in approach.”
“This year,” she said, “we’re proud to present a wide-ranging showcase of the best of modern and contemporary art, from established masters to emerging artists.”
Over 50 exhibitors representing 200-plus artists and nearly 40 independent artisans are set to show up at MoCAF 2025, which will take place from July 11 to 13 at the Marquis Events Place in Bonifacio Global City.
It’s a more global game for MoCAF as well, with this year’s roster of international galleries expanding to nine. The list includes Vin Gallery from Vietnam, Core Contemporary Art from Malaysia, and Parallel+ from Hong Kong. They will showcase alongside local debuts from White Walls Gallery, Space Encounters Gallery, Arcadia Art Gallery, and others. Meanwhile, returning galleries include Village Art Gallery featuring Qwark, Ysobel Art Gallery, and Art For Space, showcasing artists, like Demi Padua, Ezeikel Fajardo and more.
Moreover, there will be several special exhibitions, according to Wong. Among them, a multigenerational showcase from the Orlina Family, featuring Ramon Orlina and his children Anna and Michael, alongside solo shows by SAIS, Dennis Bato and Pinky Ibarra Urmaza, AR Manalo, Bryan Teves, Katrina Cuenca, Jaspher Penuliar, and Juanito Torres. A heartfelt tribute to the late Juvenal Sanso, who passed away in March, is likewise lined up. MoCAF 2025 will also showcase its various programs. The festival’s community arm MoCAF
XP, for one, continues to broaden engagement and accessibility by bringing art into everyday life through interactive and approachable programming.
This year, MoCAF partners with The Astbury Club, a cultural hub in Makati, for the MoCAF XP Art Bazaar that put the spotlight on young creatives on June 28. There was a casting and mold-making workshop on that day, as well. Meanwhile, on July 5, a workshop on fabric accessories and DIY button pins will be held at Mess Studio by Common Room in Makati, offering another hands-on opportunity to engage with local design and craft.
MoCAF XTN also returns this year to provide a platform for younger galleries, rising artists, and alternative art forms. The idea is to extend the festival’s reach beyond traditional spaces to nurture fresh creative voices alongside established artists.
“This initiative reflects our dedication to nurturing the next generation of artists, while honoring the contributions of seasoned artists who shaped our understanding of art today,” Wong said.
MoCAF 2025 is also a celebration of creativity across different forms and practices, from fashion to crafts, as well as jewelry and food. A solid lineup
of artisan brands will join this year’s festivities, including Manila Middle Ground’s curated art and design goods; RUNIT DECKS’ collectible cards and puzzles, and Clockwork Vintage’s rare timepieces, among others.
Another highlight of MoCAF 2025 is its commitment to community and inclusivity. This year’s festival supports two meaningful initiatives: Fundacion Sansó’s ScholarSIP, which helps fund the education of young art students through scholarships; and the Mbrace Project, a non-profit dedicated to supporting Filipino children with disabilities and chronic illnesses.
“Through these partnerships, we aim to make art not only accessible but also impactful where it’s needed most,” Wong said.
Tickets for MoCAF 2025 are priced at only P380, with discounted rates offered to students, PWDs, and senior citizens. Tickets can be purchased online at www.mocaf.net or onsite during the festival.
More information on MoCAF and upcoming MoCAF XP activities can be found at www.mocaf.net or follow @mocafmanila on Instagram or Mocaf.net on Facebook.
VATICAN UNVEILS LAST OF RESTORED RAPHAEL ROOMS AFTER 10-YEAR CLEANING THAT YIELDED NEW DISCOVERIES
VATICAN CITY—The Vatican Museums on Thursday unveiled the last and most important of the restored Raphael Rooms, the spectacularly frescoed reception rooms of the Apostolic Palace that in some ways rival the Sistine Chapel as the peak of high Renaissance artistry.
A decadelong project to clean and restore the largest of the four Raphael Rooms uncovered a novel mural painting technique that the superstar Renaissance painter and architect began but never completed. Raphael used oil paint directly on the wall, and arranged a grid of nails embedded in the walls to hold in place the resin surface onto which he painted.
Vatican Museums officials recounted the discoveries in inaugurating the hall, known as the Room of Constantine,
after the last scaffolding came down.
The reception room, which was painted by Raphael and his students starting in the first quarter-century of the 1500s, is dedicated to the fourth-century Roman emperor Constantine, whose embrace of Christianity helped spread the faith throughout the Roman Empire.
“With this restoration, we rewrite a part of the history of art,” Vatican Museums director Barbara Jatta said.
Pope Julius II summoned the young Raphael Sanzio from Florence to Rome in 1508 to decorate a new private apartment for himself in the Apostolic Palace, giving the then-25-year-old a major commission at the height of his artistic output.
Even at the time, there were reports that Raphael had wanted to decorate the rooms
not with frescoes but with oil paint directly on the wall, to give the images greater brilliance. The 10-year restoration of the Room of Constantine proved those reports correct, said Fabio Piacentini, one of the chief restorers.
Vatican technicians discovered that two female figures on opposite corners of the hall, Justice and Courtesy, were actually oil-on-wall paintings, not frescoes in which paint is applied to wet plaster. They were therefore clearly the work of Raphael himself, he said.
But Raphael died on April 6, 1520, at the age of 37, and before the hall could be completed. The rest of the paintings in the room were frescoes completed by his students who couldn’t master the oil technique Raphael had used, Jatta said.
During the cleaning, restorers discovered that Raphael had clearly intended to do more with oil paints: Under the plaster frescoes, they found a series of metal nails they believed had been drilled into the wall to hold in place the natural resin surface that Raphael had intended to paint on, Piacentini said. “From a historical and critical point of view, and also technical, it was truly a discovery,” he said. “The technique used and planned by Raphael was truly experimental for the time, and has never been found in any other mural made with oil paint.”
The final part of the restoration of the room was the ceiling, painted by Tommaso Laureti and featuring a remarkable example of Renaissance perspective with his fresco of a fake tapestry “Triumph of Christianity over Paganism.” AP
the cost involved and who to contact to get things done. A calm, positive approach to your actions will lead to favorable results. ★★★★
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Join the conversation, participate in groups that address your concerns, and make your voice heard. Reminisce and attend reunions; the experience will help you understand yourself better and visualize what to do next. Clarity is the path to personal growth and progress. ★★★
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): You are overdue for a change. Ask questions, research and set a budget to cover your costs. Changing locations or visiting a place that offers insight or spurs your imagination will help you uncover how to enhance your life by taking the path to achieve what you want. ★★★
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Test the water before you jump into something new. Taking a leap of faith will leave you scrambling, but taking baby steps, paying attention to detail and choosing to develop something unique yet marketable will set you on a journey that will change your life. ★★★
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Stop spinning your wheels and trying to do too much for too many. The anger and frustration you feel have more to do with you than with those you let take advantage of you. Pull up your socks and make a to-do list that discloses what you want, and make it happen. ★★★
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Address issues concerning money, shared expenses, joint ventures and property. Once you are clear regarding responsibilities and how to maintain equality or opt out of the relationship, it will ease stress and allow you to reinvest your time and money while rebuilding a better lifestyle and greater security moving forward. ★★★★
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Be careful what you wish for. You’ll face opposition and misinformation requiring attention, deciphering and patience. Take a break from the monotony, and attend a networking or social event that will fill your mind with alternatives. ★★
AQUARIUS
Spielberg returns with new breed of dinosaurs in ‘Jurassic World Rebirth’
ORIGINAL Jurassic Park (1993) director Steven Spielberg is back at the helm for the future of the series as an executive producer for Jurassic World Rebirth. For him, there’s no better way to bring his vision to life than with his OG partner, Jurassic Park screenwriter David Koepp, who’s now writing for the new film.
“We wanted a film that felt like a fresh start while remaining in the world of the previous films,” says producer Frank Marshall, who has been the longtime producer of the franchise. “We continue to develop the idea that ‘life finds a way’ with a different kind of story that combines heist-movie adventure with creature-feature horror. We have new characters, a new setting, and new dinosaurs, some of which have gone very, very bad. At the same time, what I find exciting about Rebirth is that it finds a tone that harkens back to the original Jurassic Park. And that has a lot to do with the creative team we assembled for this one.”
In Jurassic World Rebirth, it’s been five years after the events of Jurassic World Dominion, and the planet’s ecology has proven largely inhospitable to dinosaurs. Those remaining exist in isolated equatorial environments with climates resembling the one in which they once thrived. The three most colossal creatures across land, sea and air within that tropical biosphere hold, in their DNA, the key to a drug that will bring miraculous life-saving benefits to humankind.
The premise behind Jurassic World Rebirth came from Koepp’s fascination with larger dinosaurs and their lifespans. “While doing research, I found that certain dinosaurs, the larger ones in particular, did have extraordinarily long lifespans and the reason was they had remarkably low incidences of heart disease,” says Koepp.
Spielberg and Koepp also dug deep into their roots and made sure that they follow the nine rules that all Jurassic films should follow, and they’re willing to share a few of them: Jurassic films should embrace plausible science as much as possible; they must keep continuity with past films; and they should be funny. “Humor is oxygen for movies like these,” Koepp says. “Not in a self-conscious way, but in an utterly believable, character-oriented way. To me there’s nothing funnier in films like these where you have characters trying to stay calm in the face of extreme peril by understating it.”
The era of dinosaurs is back as Jurassic World Rebirth arrives in the Philippines on July 2.
WHY IS RIHANNA IN BELGIUM THIS WEEKEND? HINT: SMURFS
BRUSSELS—Belgium rolled out the blue carpet Saturday for Rihanna and other stars who turned out for the world premiere of the new Smurf movie. Rihanna produced Smurfs and voices Smurfette in the summer family film, a live-action animated reboot that takes the little creatures on a Smurfetteled rescue mission to save Papa Smurf. At Saturday’s showing in Brussels, the visibly pregnant Grammy winner chatted with children, linked arms with someone dressed as her cartoon alter-ego, and joined the audience arm in arm with A$AP Rocky.
Film director Chris Miller held Smurf toys and other cast members at the premiere included James Corden and Dan Levy. Many of the guests wore a shade of Smurf-ish blue.
The movie premieres in the US on July 18. Belgian comics artist Peyo created the Smurfs— known here as “Schtroumpfs”—and the Belgian capital embraced the premiere with a weekend of events. It took place in central Brussels, not far from a Smurf museum. The city’s famed Mannekin Pis statue was dressed for the occasion as No Name Smurf. The city’s Grand-Place held Smurf-themed events all weekend, and tourist buses and train cars were decorated in blue. AP
Surprise winner of GMA Campus Cutie search
MANY were surprised that Ahmad Hussein Ramos bagged the grand prize during the live finals presentation of the Sparkle Campus Cuties search of GMA Entertainment Network recently.
Not because he was undeserving, because Ramos was consistently on top of his game especially after the top 20 hopefuls were revealed weeks ago. Perhaps it was that Ramos looked tougher physically, against the mold compared to the other standouts who were closer to the description of the standard “young and cute-looking” that we are all used to.
There were a few contestants who fit this standard “cute” description. Just like Andrei Fajardo who took the runner-up honors. We personally expected that Fajardo would be declared winner for the simple reason that he’d still remain “cute” even after five years or more. Fajardo also registers very well on camera, has many talents, and his boyish grin is undoubtedly infectious.
Another semi-finalist who charmed the both the live audience and the online fans was Kady Costales, originally from Baguio City. Costales got many of the special awards and was thought to be one of the favorites going into the finals, along with Fajardo and Jayson David, a young model from Tarlac who joined the recent great Man of the Universe pageant.
But destiny decided that Ramos, who will carry the screen name Mad Ramos, would be the eventual winner.
Some media colleagues who were with us described Ramos as more like a typical action star in the making, with his sharp look and facial edges, but perhaps the decision-makers that afternoon who were tasked to select the winner thought otherwise. Or maybe they were swayed by his reply during the final Q&A (just like those in the world of pageantry where the final Q&A can sometimes be the deciding factor).
“I want to be able to represent the Muslim community well. We can be at par with the rest in this industry even if there are only a few of us who have
dared to try, especially in competitions like this. I hope you will all be proud of me,” he said in Filipino.
Another media colleague remarked that he was glad that former Miss Universe turned actress Gloria Diaz was not among the roster of judges because he was certain that Diaz would insist that it was contest for cute young men, not an IQ or best in Q&A contest.
Seemingly confident in his speech and demeanor, Ramos shared that he was initially shy but settled in quickly a few weeks before the finals. True to form, he gave the best answer during the final round and impressed the selection committee.
Currently a senior high school student at the University of Santo Tomas, Ramos shared that he plans to take up Customs Administration at the Lyceum of the Philippines University after
graduation. But it looks like college education would have to take a back seat because Ramos has to fulfill his responsibilities as the grand winner, and he will be signing an exclusive contract with Sparkle, the business unit that will take charge and plot his young career.
Wherever this big win takes him, we are quite sure that Mad Ramos will go places, as long as he can understand, accept, and get used to everything that stardom requires, including taking on roles that his religion, tradition and culture would normally not allow.
And if ever he attains success, we hope his head will not grow big, his heart will not become jaded, and his feet will continue to remain planted on the vast showbiz ground.
‘Beauty Empire’ makes TV debut on July 7
By Dinna Chan Vasquez
YOU know it will either be a dramatic masterpiece or a campy classic when a project co-stars Barbie Forteza and Kyline Alcantara, who are both talented actresses. For Beauty Empire, a collaboration between GMA Network, Viu Philippines, and CreaZion Studios, Barbie and Kyline play Noreen Alfonso and Shari De Jesus, respectively.
Based on the title, Beauty Empire, which makes its TV debut on July 7, is set in the beauty industry.
“I think this is my first murder-mystery, which is why I am very excited because we will tackle murder and mystery with fashion and beauty. I am surrounded here by powerful women, a great support. Direk Mark Sicat Dela Cruz has such great energy,” said Barbie.
“Shari De Jesus is a power-driven woman and she will do anything to get what she wants. All my roles have had that layer and I am grateful for that because I can relate to that because I can empathize with that and it helps me approach my roles,” said Kyline.
Both actresses and the cast, which includes Sid Lucero (Eddie), Sam Concepcion (Migoy), Chai Fonacier (Kriselda) and Ruffa Gutierrez (Velma Imperial) are one in saying that they received great support from the crew and staff.
“Our support system here was so great, not just the cast and crew. Everyone—from the gaffer and utility people to the wardrobe and hair and makeup— worked so hard to make Beauty Empire a good drama,” said Kyline. The show also features Gloria Diaz as Clara and Korean actor and K-pop star Choi Bo-Min as Alex in his first Filipino production.
Joining the powerful Beauty Empire ensemble are Gabby Padilla (Helena), Alex Agustin (Martika), Paolo O’Hara (Gardo), Polo Laurel (Gino), Arkel Mendoza (Jessie), Divine Aucina (Jana), Aaron Maniego (Sylvester), Noemi Gonzales (Charing), and Isay Alvarez (Eva).
Beauty Empire centers on Noreen Alfonso (Barbie), a rags-to-riches beauty entrepreneur who is out to tear down the empire that her enemies have built. She
goes head-to-head against Shari De Jesus (Kyline), a social media-famous beauty CEO who is mentored by Velma Imperial (Ruffa), Noreen’s idol and a powerful industry veteran.
Pivotal scenes in Beauty Empire were filmed in South Korea so it will be thrilling for K-drama enthusiasts and everyday Filipino viewers to redefine their own beauty standards.
“Beauty for me is very personally subjective and that belief helped me to portray my role as Noreen. I am beautiful because I believe I am and not because other people said it,” said Barbie.
Created by award-winning filmmaker Real Florido and seasoned screenwriter Rona Co of CreaZion Studios Creatives, Beauty Empire is under the helm of director Mark Sicat Dela Cruz.
This GMA Public Affairs series first premiered on streaming platform Viu on June 16, ahead of its muchawaited television debut on July 7.
Don’t
Editor: Gerard S. Ramos
AHMAD HUSSEIN RAMOS, winner of the Sparkle Campus Cutie serach
JURASSIC World Rebirth stars Scarlett Johansson and Jonathan Bailey.
U.S. Troops Volunteer with AFP, PCG for Brigada Eskwela 2025
From June 9 to 13, 2025, United States Army soldiers teamed up with members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) to support the Department of Education’s (DepEd) Brigada Eskwela in Rizal, Palawan, rolling up their sleeves to renovate and prepare classrooms for the new academic year.
“Our military service members are honored to join their AFP and PCG counterparts in Brigada Eskwela, demonstrating our shared commitment to supporting and empowering local communities,” said Lieutenant Colonel Adam Chu, Acting Chief of the Joint U.S. Military Assistance Group Philippines.
The U.S. Army soldiers volunteered alongside members of the Philippine Marine Corps, Philippine Air Force, and the PCG, who were in Palawan together for joint exercises. They worked with local community members to clean, paint, decorate, and repair the facilities of five schools in Rizal: Malapandeg Elementary School, Guilingan Elementary School, Tarumpitao Point Elementary School, Rizal Central School, and Jose P. Rizal National High School.
“It is inspiring to see service members contributing to education on the home
US and Philippine service members paint tables at an elementary school in Rizal, Palawan, on June 10 as part of Brigada Eskwela, a nationwide effort to prepare schools for the new academic year.
front,” said DepEd Officer-in-Charge Undersecretary for Operations Malcolm S. Garma. “These students are the future of our nation. When we help them, we help built lasting peace and prosperity.”
Brigada Eskwela is the DepEd’s annual nationwide program that gathers volunteers and community members to help ensure schools are clean, safe, and
welcoming prior to the formal opening of classes. As a longstanding partner committed to community development, U.S. service members have regularly supported the AFP and the Philippine government in initiatives such as Brigada Eskwela, as well as in disaster response, joint training exercises, and other outreach activities.
Travel + Leisure honors Newport World Resorts’ international hotel brands for service excellence
were named among the Best General Managers in the Philippines, a nod to their visionary leadership and commitment to hospitality that inspires their teams to deliver above and beyond. Hilton Manila’s Vega Pool was also deemed as one of the country’s Best Hotel Pools, admired for its thoughtful resort-style design and the seamless, relaxing experiences it creates for guests.
Hotel Okura Manila earned a place among the Top 10 Best City Hotels in the Philippines, celebrated for its unique harmony of Japanese omotenashi and Filipino warmth. The hotel’s dedication to detail and intuitive service also led to its recognition in the Michelin Hotels 2024 for Hotels in the Philippines. Manila Marriott Hotel joins this achievement, being listed in the Michelin Hotels 2025 for its consistent excellence and refined luxury.
Okada Manila’s La Piazza Celebrates “Best of Award of Excellence” Win
LA Piazza, Okada Manila’s signature Italian restaurant, is raising a glass to another year of exceptional wine service.
The outlet has won the coveted Wine Spectator’s “Best of Award of Excellence” for 2025, marking the second consecutive year La Piazza has earned the prestigious honor.
“This recognition solidifies La Piazza’s reputation as a premier destination for wine connoisseurs,” said Andreas Balla, Vice President for Food & Beverage at Okada Manila. “This award belongs to our dedicated team, particularly our Sommelier Jose Carlos Tongco, whose passion and expertise guides our world-class wine program.”
Wine Spectator is the world’s leading authority on wine. Anchored by Wine Spectator magazine, a print publication that reaches around 3 million readers worldwide, the brand
FLX by KMC, the joint venture between KMC Solutions and Filinvest Land Inc., is set to unveil its premium flexible workspace at the 33rd floor of PBCom Tower, one of Makati’s most prestigious business addresses. Scheduled for launch in August 2025, this expansion marks a significant milestone for the company, bringing its innovative office solutions to the heart of the country’s bustling Central Business District (CBD).
As demand for flexible workspace solutions continues to surge across Metro Manila, particularly in Makati, FLX’s new location positions businesses to thrive in a market that’s rapidly shifting towards hybrid work models and cost-conscious expansion strategies. The new 1,400+ square meter facility will accommodate over 300 seats, offering a diverse range of office configurations, including private suites, coworking zones, and multipurpose areas that cater to the evolving needs of today’s workforce.
Makati’s position as the premier office district in Metro Manila continues to strengthen, with vacancy rates in the Makati CBD falling to just 7.2 percent in Q1 2025. Projections suggest a further decline to 5.5 percent by 2026, indicating the increasing scarcity of premium office spaces in the area. This, combined with the rise of hybrid work models, has fueled the demand for flexible workspaces that allow companies to scale efficiently and manage operational costs.
FLX’s expansion into PBCom Tower couldn’t come at a better time. The premium workspace offers businesses not just a location, but a strategic advantage in a market that demands agility and adaptability. According to Michael McCullough, Co-founder of KMC Solutions, “At KMC, our mission has always been to build the kind of workspaces we ourselves would want to grow in—efficient, flexible, and human-centered. FLX takes that same philosophy and applies it at scale.”
The new FLX location will offer a suite of premium amenities designed to foster productivity and collaboration. These include enterprise-grade boardrooms, executive meeting rooms, soundproof phone booths, a wellness area with massage and locker facilities, and collaborative lounges that cater to businesses of all sizes. Additionally, the
facility will feature a sleek reception area, branded pantry, and culture corner aimed at enhancing the overall workplace experience.
The strategic location of the facility provides direct access to transport links, dining options, and major financial institutions, making it an accessible hub for both employees and businesses. With KMC’s end-to-end support model, FLX will provide tenants with 24/7 IT, security, facilities, and administrative services—ensuring smooth operations and enabling businesses to focus on what truly matters.
This new expansion offers tailored solutions for businesses at every stage of growth. Whether it’s a startup looking to establish a foothold or an enterprise firm seeking a flexible satellite hub, FLX by KMC provides workspaces that grow with its clients. With fully managed offices, businesses can enjoy faster move-ins, reduced operational complexities, and scalable solutions that evolve with their needs.
“We don’t just operate space—we reimagine how entire floors can serve a broader range of tenants,” added McCullough. “Whether it’s private offices, proworking, or virtual office options, we bring a diversified mix of workspace offerings into buildings— helping businesses stay relevant and competitive in a fast-changing market.”
This expansion into PBCom Tower is part of FLX’s ongoing commitment to reshaping the future of work in the Philippines. The company already operates flexible workspaces at Filinvest Axis Tower 1 in Alabang and is now bringing its flexible office solutions to Makati’s commercial core.
“These recognitions from Travel + Leisure Southeast Asia reaffirm the world-class service our hotels deliver every day,” said Newport World Resorts Chief Hospitality Officer John Lucas. “They are a testament to the dedication and passion of our teams, whose commitment to thoughtful, seamless hospitality continues to elevate the guest experience across our entire property.” 28-Year-Old Family Man Wins Nearly P1 Billion, Biggest Jackpot in PHL History W HAT started as a quiet holiday turned into the start of a new life for a 28-year-old factory employee from Mandaluyong City, who recently took home a staggering P935,262,012.34, the biggest jackpot in Philippine history, while playing on the trusted online gaming platform BingoPlus.
The father of one had been playing casually for over a year, often turning to Baccarat after work to unwind. On his day off, he used his accumulated points to try BingoPlus’ Lucky Spin feature, a reward mechanic that grants players free chances at major jackpots based on ingame activity.
“I saw the number — ₱935 million. I kept refreshing the screen,” the winner said. “I thought it was a glitch. Then BingoPlus called — that’s when it became real.” The jackpot winner lives with his wife,
their daughter, and his parents. Like many working Filipinos, he maintained a full-time job and kept gaming as a light hobby — never expecting anything more than a quick break from work.
“We were okay, but it was always tight. Tuition, daily expenses, it adds up. This win gives us the chance to start fresh.”
His goals after the win remain grounded: buy a home, secure his child’s education, and invest wisely to build a better future. Even in the wake of his historic prize, the winner continues to practice responsible gaming — something BingoPlus actively promotes through its platform.
“I’ve always played with set limits. That’s something BingoPlus helps you stick to — time limits, spending controls, everything. It keeps the fun in it.”
BingoPlus, one of the country’s leading digital gaming platforms, continues to build trust through transparent
mechanics and a strong emphasis on responsible play. Its Lucky Spin feature allows players to earn free spins based on real gameplay activity across BingoPlus games — including Baccarat, the winner’s personal favorite.
“We weren’t chasing anything that day,” the winner added. “I was just relaxing. Then everything changed.”
While the jackpot marks the beginning of a new chapter, the winner says he plans to remain grounded and hopes others are inspired by his story.
“We’ve always been grateful, even before this. Now we just want to live peacefully — and give our daughter the future she deserves.”
He also plans to support an orphanage he visited in the past, saying he wants to share his blessing with others in need.
“Miracles can happen — anytime, anywhere. Even when you’re just playing to unwind.”
As demand for experience-led workspaces continues to rise, FLX by KMC is poised to expand its presence in strategic locations, empowering businesses to scale faster, operate more efficiently, and attract top talent—within spaces that promote both performance and well-being.
Pre-leasing for FLX’s new PBCom Tower location is now underway. Businesses interested in securing their space at this prime Makati address can inquire by visiting kmc.solutions or by contacting info@kmc. solutions.
FLX by KMC Sets Foot in Makati’s PBCom Tower
The almost billionaire 28-year-old factory employee from Mandaluyong City took home the biggest jackpot in Philippine history after taking a Lucky Spin on the BingoPlus app, following a round of Baccarat.
UN at 80: A global vision in crisis as relevance and funding dwindle
By Edith M. Lederer The Associated Press
UNITED NATIONS—The
United Nations, a collaborative global dream built into reality out of the ashes of World War II, marks its 80th anniversary this month. There’s little to celebrate.
Its clout on the world stage is diminished. Facing major funding cuts from the United States and others, it has been forced to shed jobs and start tackling longdelayed reforms. Its longtime credo of “multilateralism” is under siege. Its most powerful body, the Security Council, has been blocked from taking action to end the two major wars in Ukraine and Gaza. And as the latest conflict between Israel, Iran and the United States flared, it watched from the sidelines.
Four generations after its founding, as it tries to chart a new path for its future, a question hangs over the institution and the nearly 150,000 people it employs and oversees: Can the United Nations remain relevant in an increasingly contentious and fragmented world?
With its dream of collaboration drifting, can it even survive?
An act of optimism created it WHEN the United Nations was born in San Francisco on June 26, 1945, the overriding goal of the 50 participants who signed the UN Charter was stated in its first words: “to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war.”
Earlier this year, UN SecretaryGeneral Antonio Guterres sounded that same theme: “Eight decades later, one can draw a direct line between the creation of the United Nations and the prevention of a third world war.”
There has been no such war— thus far. But conflicts still rage. They continue not only in Gaza and Ukraine but Sudan, eastern Congo, Haiti and Myanmar—to name a few—and, most recently, Iran and Israel. The needs of tens of millions of people caught up in fighting and trapped in poverty
have increased even as rich donor nations, not just the United States, are reducing their aid budgets.
The UN General Assembly is planning a commemoration on the 80th anniversary on June 26. This week an exhibition on the San Francisco meeting opened at UN headquarters with a rare centerpiece—the original UN Charter, on loan from the US National Archives in Washington.
But the mood in the halls of the UN headquarters in New York is grim.
Diplomats are anxious about the immediate future, especially the outcome expected in August of a US review of the United Nations and other multilateral institutions ordered by President Donald Trump. And UN staff here and in more than 60 offices, agencies and operations that get money from its regular operating budget are facing 20% job cuts, part of Guterres’ reform effort and reaction to already announced Trump funding cuts.
“It’s not something to celebrate,” Kazakhstan’s UN Ambassador Kairat Umarov said of the upcoming anniversary.
“This should be united nations—not disunited,” he said. “Collectively, we can do a lot,” but today “we cannot agree on many things, so we agree to disagree.”
A changing world accommodated a changing UN IN a different world of landline telephones, radios and propeller planes, the UN Charter was signed by just 50 nations—mainly from Latin America and Europe, with half a dozen from the Mideast, and just a few from Asia and Africa.
Over the decades, its membership has nearly quadrupled to 193 member nations, with 54 African
countries now the largest bloc followed by the 54 from Asia and the Pacific. And the world has changed dramatically with the advent of computers and satellites, becoming what the late former Secretary-General Kofi Annan called a “global village.”
The UN system has also expanded enormously from its origins, which focused on peace and security, economic and social issues, justice and trusteeships for colonies.
Today, the map of the UN system looks like a multi-headed octopus with many tentacles—and miniature tentacles sprouting from those. In 2023, its secretariat and numerous funds, agencies and entities dealing with everything from children and refugees to peacekeeping and human rights had over 133,000 staff worldwide.
Kishore Mahbubani, who served twice as Singapore’s UN ambassador, credited the United Nations with thus far preventing World War III. While there are still wars, deaths have continued a long-term decline “and the world is still, overall, a much more peaceful place,” he said.
“And many small states still live in peace, not having to worry about the neighbors occupying them,” said Mahbubani, a respected geopolitical analyst.
Mahbubani and others also point to successes in the 71 UN peacekeeping operations since 1948, including in Angola, Cambodia, Sierra Leone (which is currently a member of the Security Council) and Liberia (which will join in January).
There is also wide praise for specialized UN agencies, especially those dealing with hunger, refugees and children as well as the International Atomic Energy Agency, which is the UN’s nuclear watchdog, and the International Telecommunications Union. Among numerous responsibilities, it allocates the global radio spectrum and satellite orbits and brings digital connectivity to millions.
As Guterres told the Security Council earlier this year, “The United Nations remains the essential, one-of-a-kind meeting ground to advance peace, sustainable development and human rights.”
What actually gets done at the UN?
EVERY September, world leaders get a global platform at the General Assembly. And every day their ambassadors and diplomats meet to debate issues from conflicts to climate change to the fight for gender equality and quality education. Sometimes, such talks produce little or no results. At others, achievements get overlooked or ignored by the broader world community, far from the hubs of diplomacy.
And the Security Council is the only place where Russia and Ukraine regularly face off over the ongoing war following Russia’s 2022 invasion—and where the Palestinian and Israeli ambassadors frequently confront each other.
Despite its successes and achievements over past decades, Singapore’s Mahbubani called the UN today “a very sad place,” lamenting that Guterres had failed “to inspire humanity” as the late Pope Francis did. “But,” Mahbubani said, “it should celebrate the fact it is alive and not dead.”
John Bolton, a former US ambassador to the United Nations who was national security adviser during Trump’s first term, was also critical of the state of the UN in 2025. “It’s probably in the worst shape it’s been in since it was founded,” said Bolton, now an outspoken Trump critic.
He pointed to gridlock in the Security Council on key issues. He blames rising international tensions that divide the council’s five veto-wielding powers—with Russia and China facing off against
US, Britain and France on many global challenges.
Richard Gowan, UN director of the International Crisis Group, a think tank, said the United Nations has bounced from crisis to crisis since the 1990s. With the gloomy geopolitical picture and US funding cuts impacting humanitarian operations, he said this “is not just another blow-up that will blow over.”
“Everyone seems to be resigned to the fact that you’re going to have a smaller UN in a few years’ time,” Gowan said. “And that is partially because virtually every member state has other priorities.”
What happens in the UN’s next chapter?
GUTERRES has launched several major reform efforts, getting approval from UN member nations last September for a “Pact for the Future”—a blueprint to bring the world together to tackle 21st-century challenges. Gowan said Guterres’ successor, who will be elected next year and take over in 2027, will have to shrink the organization. But many cuts, consolidations and changes will require approval of the divided UN membership. Possible radical reforms include merging UN aid and development agencies to avoid duplication.
Don’t forget, says Gowan, that a huge amount of diplomatic business—much of it having nothing to do with the United Nations—gets done because it is in New York, a place to have those conversations.
“If you were to close the UN, there would also be a lot of intelligence people and spies who would
be deeply disappointed. Because it’s a wonderful place to cultivate your contacts,” Gowan said. “Americans may not realize that having the UN in New York is a bonanza for us spying on other nations. So, we shouldn’t let that go.”
Ian Bremmer, who heads the Eurasia Group, a political risk and consulting firm, said the Trump administration’s attempts to undermine the United Nations— which the United States conceived in 1945—will make China more important. With Trump exiting from the World Health Organization, the UN agency helping Palestinian refugees known as UNRWA and cutting humanitarian funding, he said, China will become “the most influential and the most deep-pocketed” in those agencies.
Bremmer, who calls himself a close adviser to Guterres, insisted the United Nations remains relevant—“with no caveats.”
“It’s a relatively poorly resourced organization. It has no military capabilities. It has no autonomous foreign policy,” Bremmer said. “But its legitimacy and its credibility in speaking for 8 billion people on this little planet of ours is unique.” He added: “The important thing is that as long as the great powers decide not to leave the United Nations, every day that they stay is a vote of confidence in the UN” Expansion of the UN Security Council is probably the most fertile area for potential change. Decades of discussions have failed to agree on how to enlarge the 15-member council to reflect the global realities of the 21st century, though there is wide agreement that Africa and Latin America deserve permanent seats.
Singapore’s Mahbubani said he believes the United Nations “will definitely survive.” The “genius” of its founders, he said, was to give the big powers after World War II a veto in the Security Council, preventing the global body from dying as its predecessor, the League of Nations, did. That survival, Mahbubani believes, will continue: “It will,” he said, “outlast us all.”
Edith M. Lederer, chief correspondent at the United Nations, has been covering international affairs for more than half a century.
Foreign investors defy tariff fears, continue to buy US corporate debt
By Caleb Mutua
PRESIDENT Donald Trump’s proposed tariffs in April stirred fears that the era of US exceptionalism was over, and European and Asian money managers would cut back on buying US corporate debt. So far, it’s not happening, and foreign investors are buying more American debt than they have in months. Overseas investors bought about $45 billion of US corporate notes in April, the most in six months, according to the latest Treasury Department data analyzed this week by Citigroup Inc. strategists including Daniel Sorid and Mathew Jacob. The robust demand underscores how powerful the status quo is. There are few other debt markets that are as deep as the US’s. There’s about $7.5 trillion of highgrade US corporate bonds outstanding, according to Bloomberg index data, more than double the size of its eurodenominated counterpart. The US corporate bond market plays too important of a role in global investment portfolios for the turmoil of April to make a significant dent in demand,” said Citigroup’s Sorid in an interview. Even if investors do look to shift money out of the US, it will take time for them to find and buy the securities they need. There is extraordinary diversification by sector, quality and duration available in the US, Sorid said. On top of that, liquidity in the credit market has improved since the Federal Reserve stepped in as the lender of last resort at the height of the 2020 pandemic.
T hat made credit an attractive option for investors that were looking to scale back from Treasuries, Sorid said. Foreign demand for US Treasuries declined sharply in April, with foreign holdings of long-term US government bonds decreasing by $111 billion on a valuation adjusted basis and their T-bill holdings falling by $10 billion, according to Citi. Mortgage bonds took a hit too. Still, some overseas buyers pulled back in April. Canada was a net seller of $1.4 billion of US corporate notes in April, according to Treasury data analyzed by Citi. And Europe is a plausible alternative for many investors, according to Amanda Lynam, head of macro credit research at BlackRock Inc. After many years of negative interest rates, European debt markets are finally seeing better yields and there’s a lot of optimism that government spending for areas including defense can help support growth over the medium to long term, said Lynam on UBS’s Market Moves podcast.
In addition, the European Central Bank still owns a decent portion of bonds that it bought during the pandemic, she said. That in some way forces investors to move down the quality spectrum because there’s just a lack of bonds available to buy.
“The marginal dollar has a higher chance of being allocated at home as opposed to in the US now that there’s a return of yield support in that market,” said Lynam, referring to the European market. She added that even if Europe is attractive at the margin, US exceptionalism isn’t generally fading among investors.
That may change over time. Barings, the $442 billion asset manager, believes demand for European corporate debt will rise.
US exceptionalism is a little bit more questioned, investors are increasingly concerned about US economic policy,”
Mike Best, a high-yield and senior loan portfolio manager at the firm, said on the Bloomberg Intelligence Credit Edge podcast.
But talk of foreign investors losing interest in the US has been brewing for years, and little has come of it. The swift recovery across credit, equities and the rates markets since April underscores the resilience of the US economy, according to Jim Zelter, President of Apollo Global Management.
“ The market has moved on,” Zelter said on Bloomberg TV this week.
Week in review COMPANIES in the US and Europe cautiously waded into credit markets, launching a series of debt sales as they looked to lock in relatively low borrowing costs before macroeconomic and geopolitical stress jolt bond yields.
French payments processor Worldline SA seized on the momentum, issuing a €550 million ($645 million) bond sale to refinance debt, but the bonds have since dropped in value due to news reports alleging the company covered up fraud by some of its customers.
Bondholders sought to sell more than $30 billion of notes back to Warner Bros. Discovery Inc., well above the amount of
debt the company said it would repurchase, as the media giant prepares to overhaul its liabilities and split in two.
Distressed Hong Kong builder New World Development Co. has secured written commitments from banks on a HK$87.5 billion ($11.1 billion) loan refinancing, bringing it closer to finalizing a critical lifeline just days before a deadline.
A group of bondholders of defaulted developer China South City Holdings Ltd. is considering asking the court to move up the date of a wind-up hearing, now scheduled for August.
EchoStar Corp. and its pay-TV unit Dish DBS Corp. is paying overdue interest on four bonds while skipping coupons owed next week amid a standoff with a US regulator over its wireless and satellite spectrum rights.
Money managers are raising red flags about a planned $300 million bond sale by one of the world’s largest uranium miners, citing the company’s reliance on Russian transport routes.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. is sounding out investors for a potential $1.46 billion debt deal for internet security platform KnowBe4.
Skechers USA Inc. priced more than $6 billion in debt to support its buyout by 3G Capital.
Bankers are vying to play a part in the debt financing backing Advent International’s potential acquisition of a suite of Reckitt Benckiser Group Plc’s homecare brands. Armaments maker Czechoslovak Group
AS raised $2.16 billion through a junk bond sale, more than double its original intention, highlighting the relentless clamor for the defense sector among credit money managers. Banks are looking to revive a sale for a $2.35 billion financing for Patient Square Capital’s acquisition of Patterson Cos., a little over two months after they were forced to fund the debt.
Saks Global Enterprises reached a $600 million debt deal with a number of its existing investors that would force some creditors to accept losses and push them back in the repayment priority line. Bain Capital raised about $1 billion of term loans and bonds for its acquisition of Sizzling Platter. The market for Additional Tier 1 bonds is so overheated that
FLAGPOLES line in rows in front of a building of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, June 14, 2021. AP/MARKUS SCHREIBER
Tagaytay hosts
2026 Asian track races in new velo
THE Asian Cycling Confederation (ACC) confirmed the Philippine hosting of the 2026 ACC Track Championships at the brandnew Tagaytay City Velodrome from March 25 to 31. ACC president Dato’ Amarjit Singh Gill made the confirmation as the continental body recently released its first official Newsletter.
I leave with a deep sense of fulfillment–Bachmann
“I t’s an honor and a privilege, but it’s equally a challenge,” said Philippine Olympic Committee president Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino, also head of the national cycling federation, PhilCycling.
“The tough task is up ahead because it’s been a while since we hosted a championships of such magnitude,” said Tolentino, adding that the last time the country hosted an ACC championships was in 1995—both road and track—at the now demolished Amoranto Velodrome in Quezon City and Subic in Zambales. Tolentino thanked Gill for fully supporting Philippine cycling—the ACC president flew from Kuala Lumpur to lead the inauguration ceremony for the new velodrome last June 23, the same day the POC celebrated the Olympic Day.
“The ACC has provided details for the hosting where we expect to welcome some 300 track cyclists—including our very own national team—from no less than 30 Asian countries,” Tolentino said.
The Tagaytay City Velodrome sits majestically along Crisanto de los Santos Avenue at the Tagaytay City Atrium and lies adjacent to a similarly International Cycling Union (UCI)-standard and roofed BMX racing track—the only covered BMX track in Asia—that hosted the 30th Southeast Asian Games in 2019 and the Asian championships in 2023.
I’m confident on ‘Pató’ as PSC chair–Vargas
FBy Josef Ramos
Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) president Ricky Vargas praised Malacañang’s appointment of Patrick Gregorio as the new chairman of the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) saying sports have always been very close to his heart.
“I’m confident Pató [Gregorio] will work well with the bureaucracy for Philippine sports to prosper with the athletes’ welfare because sports have always close to his heart,” Vargas told BusinessMirror on Monday.
G regorio was Vargas’s secretarygeneral when he was the president of the Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines and at the POC from 2018 to 2019.
Vargas said that Gregorio’s experience in the corporate world in the Manuel V. Pangilinan Group—among them Maynilad, Metro Pacific Tollways Corp., Landco Pacific Corp. and the MVP Sports Foundation—would help Philippine sports achieve its goals in years to come.
“I extend my heartfelt wishes for your success and I express unwavering support,” said Vargas as he thanked outgoing PSC chairman Dicky Bachmann for his two years of service to the athletes.
“Mabuhay Ka. Chair Dickie, thank you for your sacrifices and service. Cheers!” Vargas said.
Vinny Marcos: A rare privilege to host FIVB worlds
TTransgender women in sports
the FIVB MWCH Local Organizing Committee during Saturday night’s
“Spike For A Cause” Fund Raising Dinner and Fashion Show organized by First Lady Liza Araneta Marcos at the Foro de Intramuros in Intramuros, Manila.
“It is a rare privilege to host such a world event especially the country’s popular sports—volleyball—and I am happy to see a lot of people who are very interested in volleyball,” the young Marcos added. “I am very thankful to all of you, for all your all-out support.”
Senators Alan Peter Cayetano, Pia Cayetano and Mark Villar and Department of Science and Technology
Secretary Renato Solidum graced the event where renowned fashion designer showcased his masterpiece designs.
The men’s national team, Alas Pilipinas, which will compete in the world championship the country is
Transgender women in women’s sports is as complicated as it is complex. It is constantly evolving and there are a lot of moving parts.
Both sides present valid arguments and valid concerns and Dr. Cheung and I discussed the myths surrounding both the inclusion and unfortunate exclusion of transgender women in women’s sports.
T he inclusion of transgender women in women’s sports is a complex and evolving issue, touching on fairness, safety, science and human rights.
A dvocates argue that transgender women should be allowed to compete in line with their gender identity, as excluding them may violate principles of equality and nondiscrimination.
T here are policy guidelines in organizations like the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and some national sports associations have created guidelines and regulations like hormone level thresholds to govern allowing transgender women to compete.
Some scientists and athletes opine that athletic ability varies widely even within cisgender categories, and that fairness cannot be entirely reduced to biology alone.
Opponents and critics argue that transgender women,
RICHARD “DICKIE” BACHMANN on Monday bade goodbye to the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) where he served as the agency’s 12th chairman since his appointment in December 2022.
“I l eave the Philippine Sports Commission with a deep sense of fulfillment,” said Bachmann in a statement sent to media organizations and posted on the PSC’s online page.
“I thank the hardworking men and women of the PSC, our national athletes and coaches, the Philippine Olympic Committee [POC], and everyone who has contributed to uplifting Philippine sports.”
Bachmann was appointed on December 28, 2022, replacing former Philippine Basketball Association commissioner Noli Eala.
On Saturday, Malacañang, through Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, announced the appointment of Patrick “Pató” Gregorio as his replacement.
Gregorio, 57, and a product of the University of the Philippines, was the president of the Philippine Rowing Association prior to his appointment and once served sports as PBA chairman, executive director or secretary-general of the POC and basketball and boxing federations, executive director of Smart Sports and chef de mission to the Paris 2024 Olympics.
In the business industry, Gregorio served as one of Manuel V. Pangilinan’s top executives at Maynilad, MVP Sports Foundations and Landco Pacific Corp. and was the chairman of DuckWorld PH, the organizer of the highly-successful “Great Revival” of the Tour of Luzon last summer.
“I am deeply grateful to have been part of remarkable milestones in Philippine sports. Our collective efforts have brought joy, inspiration and strength to the Filipino people,” said Bachmann, referring to Carlos Yulo’s two gymnastics gold medal and Nesthy Petecio and Aira Villegas’s bronze medals at the Paris 2024 Olympics, the
country’s first gold—men’s curling—at the 9th Asian Winter Games in Harbin and the successes at the 2023 Hangzhou Asian where the country retained the men’s basketball gold medals.
We have built a strong foundation to optimize the country’s sports landscape and the proactive participation of Filipino youth in programs like Batang Pinoy and the Philippine National Games fills us with hope for a brighter future for Philippine sports,” he said.
B achmann wished Gregorio good luck as chairman.
“I am e xcited to see the Philippines continue to achieve even greater milestones in the future,” Bachmann said. I wish my successor, Mr. John Patrick “Pato” Gregorio, all the best in continuing the mission we all deeply believe in.”
B achmann will formally endorse the PSC leadership to Gregorio in a formal turnover ceremony on Tuesday morning at the sports agency’s offices inside the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex in Manila.
Stakes go higher, challenges go stronger in JPGT Pueblo de Oro
Thosting from September 12 to 28 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum and SM Mall of Asia, as well as Rebisco Corp. president Geronimo Kamus Jr. and Honda representative Hiroaki Nakamura, chief client officer of Dentsu Philippines.
“Hosting the world championship is a perfect fit for nation building, for a better community, and hosting leads to discipline, sacrifice and teamwork,” said Senator Alan Peter Cayetano in the event where Rebisco and Honda were honored for their support to the world championship that features the top 32 volleyball nations.
HE stakes are higher, the field deeper and the course far more challenging as the International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) Junior Philippine Golf Tour (JPGT) Pueblo de Oro Championship fires off Tuesday in Cagayan de Oro City. H ometown bet James Rolida is eyeing redemption on a familiar terrain—a winner in last year’s South Pacific leg, Rolida has since struggled to
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especially those who transitioned after puberty, retain physical advantages like bone density muscle mass for example, that might not be fully mitigated by hormone therapy, raising concerns about fairness to cisgender women.
In contact sports like rugby or boxing, concerns about injury risks to cisgender women are sometimes raised due to strength and size differentials.
Will strict guidelines and regulations level the playing field? Will testosterone testing for transgender women ease fears and anxiety for cisgender women?
There are those who argue that while inclusion in recreational or amateur sport should be broadly allowed, elite or competitive levels might require stricter guidelines.
Dr. Cheung is of the opinion that in elite or competitive sports, only transgender women should be tested for testosterone levels because lower testosterone levels are expected in biological females.
We ask ourselves, I ask myself, do transgender women athletes go through all the scrutiny, criticism, unfair prejudice and discrimination to win?
S ome sports governing bodies require transgender women to suppress testosterone below a certain threshold for a set period.
and finally return to the winner’s circle in the boys’ 7-10 division set over 36 holes. But Rolida will be up against Jamie Barnes, the breakout performer who dominated the Del Monte leg with a fiveshot victory on his JPGT debut, along with fellow local contenders Shaqeeq Tanog and Liam Bonilla. Bukidnon’s Ian Langamin and Simon Apilat and rising talents from across Mindanao and the Visayas, including Inigo Montalban, Lucas Revilleza and Tobias Tiongko, are also in the mix. In the girls’ 7-10 division, another fiery battle looms as Cagayan de Oro’s Francesca Geroy looks to build on her podium finish at Del Monte. She’ll go head-to-head with Bukidnon’s Claren Quiño and Jilliane Namocatcat, Cebu’s Skye Yocte, Misamis Oriental’s Althea Yasay and fellow Cagayan de Oro bets Sistine Yu and Abby Qiu. In the boys’ 11-14 division, Ken Guillermo returns brimming with confidence after a runaway triumph in Del Monte—he seeks back-to-back wins on his home turf but faces stiff opposition from Marcus Dueñas, Mico Woo, Gideon Namocatcat, Blademer Estologo, Guio Pasquil and Anthony Juanico.
RICHARD “DICKIE” BACHMANN formally exits as the 12th chairman of the Philippine Sports Commission on Tuesday.
ORMER
WILLIAM VINCENT “VINNY” ARANETA MARCOS
(second from left) with (from left) Philippine National Volleyball Federation and Asian Volleyball Confederation president Ramon “Tats” Suzara, Senator Pia Cayetano, Rebisco Corp. president
