OpenPinas: Weekly Review

On September 8 the House prosecution ended its evidence on the confidential-funds article, dropping 15 remaining witnesses in the allegation that Vice President Sara Duterte misused ₱612.5 million. It advanced the unexplained-wealth article instead, and the impeachment court gave the defense a non-extendable 15 days to answer 104 requests for admission. The court scheduled September 23 to argue how many Senate votes are required to convict, so the week closed with the first article resting and that arithmetic still unresolved.

The Ombudsman on September 7 filed a non-bailable plunder case accusing former House Speaker Martin Romualdez and co-accused, including Zaldy Co, of receiving at least ₱7.4 billion tied to flood-control and other projects funded from 2022 to 2025. Sandiganbayan sheriffs served the warrant that evening at Cardinal Santos Medical Center, where Romualdez was confined, and he remained in hospital under custody. The filing moves the flood-control investigation into court; the amounts are accusations, not a finding that the money was received.

The Philippine Coast Guard said Chinese forces fired flares on September 7 at an unarmed patrol plane over the Kalayaan Island Group, first near Zamora (Subi) Reef and again near Panganiban (Mischief) Reef, before the aircraft landed on Pag-asa Island. On September 11 the Department of Foreign Affairs called on China to stop what Manila called the illegal occupation of both features and to abide by the 2016 arbitral award. The exchange put flight safety and the status of two occupied reefs back into the public argument over the West Philippine Sea.

Finance Secretary Frederick Go and U.S. Ambassador Lee Lipton signed a $60 million Millennium Challenge Corporation threshold-program grant on September 10 at the Luzon Economic Corridor Investment Forum in Manila. The Department of Finance put the grant at about ₱3.68 billion over four years and nine months, for energy permitting, electric-cooperative digitalization, and preparing projects for private investment. The signing starts a program the MCC board approved in June; it does not by itself lower electricity bills.

DOLE said on September 12 that Wage Order No. NCR-28, published the day before after the Metro Manila wage board approved it on September 7, grants a ₱60 daily increase effective September 26. The order raises the non-agricultural minimum from ₱695 to ₱755 and the rate for agriculture and listed small establishments from ₱658 to ₱718, covering about 1.1 million daily wage earners. Publication fixed the rates workers were told to expect; paychecks did not change during this week.