The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) expressed gratitude to President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. for signing the P6.32-trillion national budget as it assured responsible use of its allocation under the 2025 General Appropriations Act. Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla acknowledged the DILG’s substantial budget of P279.1 billion, the fourth-largest allocation among government agencies. “As the Department with the …

Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) Secretary Hans Leo Cacdac assured last week that the Philippine government is committed to pursuing justice for the slain overseas Filipino worker (OFW) in Kuwait. Cacdac said the case is under close monitoring, with Kuwaiti authorities having the prime suspect in custody. Legal support is being provided by a lawyer on the ground to ensure …

The government’s subsidy programs for private schools will prioritize the poorest learners in selecting beneficiaries for fiscal year 2025, Senator Sherwin Gatchalian announced on Thursday. The 2025 national budget includes Gatchalian’s proposed amendments to the special provisions on Government Assistance and Subsidies within the Department of Education’s (DepEd) budget. These amendments emphasize prioritizing learners from low-income households in the Senior …

In an age where information spreads at lightning speed, social media posts about a supposed new health crisis in China have sparked global attention and anxiety.  Claims of a surge in respiratory illnesses, including human metapneumovirus (HMPV), Influenza A, Mycoplasma pneumoniae, and Covid-19, have made their rounds online. Allegations that hospitals and crematoriums in China are overwhelmed and that a …

By Rose de la Cruz First, the Marcos administration clinched a five-year rice supply deal with Vietnam, now our top supplier of the staple, last January Next the Department of Agriculture negotiated for a rice deal with India and Cambodia and now with Pakistan, which it hopes to finalize by June next year. The message is clear:  the DA is …

Beyond EllipticalBy Rose Marie de la Cruz The legacy of agrarian reform– breaking down farms into smaller sizes of initially 3 to 5 hectares– have forced farmers to sell or pawn their landholdings as they found farming to be not viable and unsustainable. In worse times, like previous decades, they offered their small landholdings to land conversion for easy cash, …

The bangus industry is grappling with several challenges that have prevented it from achieving its full potential. University of Asia and Pacific Center for Food and Agribusiness (CFA) Agribusiness Specialist Joy Kristel Orzales said one of the main issues confronting the sector is its continued reliance on imported fry, Business Mirror noted. Orzales noted that high dependence on imported fry tends …

The massive destruction caused by recent typhoons on corn farms of the country and the high cost of production would necessitate higher imports of corn for animal feeds  by 7.2 percent or 1.63 million metric tons for 2024-2025, according to the USDA-Foreign Agricultural Service in Manila. The USDA also sees corn production only growing by 0.4 percent to 8.15 MMT …

Blame it on high rice prices– both local and imports– Pinoys are now shifting to bread and noodles for their regular diet. The Philippines is expected to import more wheat in the 2024-2025 marketing year as the demand for various products such as bread, cakes and noodles increased along with population growth, said the US Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural …

After 20 years of robust growth and successes, the Gateway Group of Companies, the country’s largest and trusted automotive dealership, is aiming to serve their rapidly expanding customers with highly-efficient and service-oriented personnel for another 20 years. This is emphasized by Michael Goho, the executive vice president of the Gateway Group of Companies, as the company embarks on another year …