January, 2025

• 5 January

  PCG assists 2nd wave of travel exodus

  

  On 30 December 2024, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) monitored a total of 195,644 outbound passengers and 173,712 inbound passengers in all ports nationwide. Moreover, the 3,043 deployed frontline personnel in 16 PCG Districts inspected a total of 1,811 vessels and 2,247 motorbancas. Compared to the consolidated report on 29 December 2024, the number of outbound passengers has decreased by …

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• 5 January

  CAAP provides Malasakit Kits for air passengers

  

  The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) recently provided Malasakit Kits to air travelers passing through CAAP-operated airports commuting for the second wave of holiday rush. Hundreds of Malasakit Kits containing essential items like refreshments and hygiene kits were given to passengers using the airports in Davao, Zamboanga, Dipolog, Pagadian, San Jose, Romblon, Bicol, Virac, Naga, Masbate, Tuguegarao, Tacloban, …

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• 5 January

  MARINA implements sulfur cap on marine fuel oil

  

  The Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA) is implementing the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) 0.50% sulfur cap on marine fuel oil in domestic ships by January 1, 2025, according to MARINA administrator Sonia Malaluan. While compliance to the sulfur cap policy is high, Malaluan said some shipping operators with a higher number of vessels will be granted an extension in consideration for the high …

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• 5 January

  Japan-quality urban mobility

  

  The Marcos administration is championing projects like the EDSA Greenways (elevated pedestrian walkways) and bike lanes already set up in cities like Kalibo, Laoag, and San Fernando-Pampanga. The EDSA Busway and bus rapid transit systems in Cebu and Davao aim to provide commuters with efficient and eco-friendly alternatives to private vehicles. In July 2024, the Marcos government partnered with Japan …

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• 5 January

  Pioneering clean energy and modernization

  

  While cities like Paris, Madrid and Athens plan to ban diesel vehicles, and countries like Norway are phasing out conventional cars in favor of electric vehicles (EVs), the Philippine government is pioneering EV use. Under President Marcos’s directive, at least 10% of government fleets are set to transition to EVs. Current infrastructure includes 384 electric PUVs, 7,515 registered EVs, and …

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• 5 January

  DOTr-SAICT intensifies anti-colorum campaign

  

  The Department of Transportation (DOTr), through its Special Action and Intelligence Committee for Transportation (SAICT), is cracking down on illegal transportation operations in a major push for safer, legitimate public transport this holiday season.  The intensified campaign yielded significant results. Recent operations by SAICT’s Special Operations Group (SOG) netted seven colorum public utility vehicles (PUVs) in Metro Manila’s northern and …

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• 5 January

  What a difference the 50th 2024 MMFF makes

  

  Apparently, the quality component in the current lineup to the 2024 Metro Manila Film Festival has improved compared to the selection in the past editions when critics and non-critics alike—which included this writer as an ordinary moviegoer—would complain about the poor quality of some of the entries. In the present eclectic menu, the films are indeed proudly festival worthy. Not …

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• 5 January

  “It’s still KathDen to beat in 2025…DongYan to dominate the scene as well”

  

  Although Madam Suzette Arandela is a well-known feng shui expert and psychic of well-rounded possibilities in government, economy, ecology, religion, sports etc., she is also a popular seer about the entertainment field. Her multimedia appearances reveal her penchant for predicting events to happen this Year of the Wooden Snake which will commence on January 29, 2025. In showbiz, Madam Suzette …

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• 5 January

  Brillante Ma. Mendoza shoots transgender film in Japan

  

  How is it reimagining in a film the Philippine entertainment export to Japan in the 1980s and 1990s when the Japanese government was open to Filipino entertainers performing in the House of the Rising Sun? And how is it if the narrative involves Filipino transgenders? Internationally acclaimed filmmaker Brillante Ma. Mendoza immediately replied to the query. “Napakakulay ng mga karanasan …

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• 5 January

  Vince Tanada’s “Ang Bangkay” holds a limited pre-Xmas preview

  

  Finally, the Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature Grand Winner in Full-Length Play, “Ang Bangkay” (2012) penned by Vince Tanada is now on the big screen. Aside from initial previews done two years ago, there was a limited special screening of the film held four days before Christmas Day last year at the Blackbox Theater of Philstagers Foundation in Calabash Road …

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