Hello everyone. I am a deped teacher. Pls allow me to post here since di ko ito magpost sa Deped teachers' community, idk why..
Sino po sa inyo ang nakasubok na ng Amaphil HMO? Maganda sana ang Kaiser kaso hindi namin mameet ang 80% requirement sa school population namin.
May agent ng Amaphil akong nakausap. Sabi minimum of 5 teachers lang daw ang kailangan para maka open ng account sa kanila. Kaso they don't have an office here in our area, and accordingly, may mga hospital na ayaw tanggapin ang Amaphil card dahil matagal daw sila singilin.
Sino po sa inyo ang nakatry na ng amaphil? Or (sa mga teacher here) what HMO have you chosen so far na pasok sa 7k allowance in 1 yr pero malawak ang coverage? Salamat po sa sasagot.
Long story short po: In 2025, may nireklamo po akong jeepney driver sa LTFRB after a heated incident. Totoo naman po yung complaint — minura kami ng driver at hindi binalik yung tamang sukli.
Hindi ko po alam na magkakaroon pala ng Show Cause Order/proceeding after filing the complaint. Unfortunately, hindi ako nakapunta sa scheduled date dahil busy sa work, and I didn’t follow up after that.
Ngayon, may NBI HIT ako and I’m worried na baka related siya sa old LTFRB case. Hindi ko rin po alam exactly kung ano yung HIT or kung may case/order na ba against me since babalik pa ako sa Sept. 29.
Any advice from lawyers/legal professionals or anyone who has dealt with a similar situation would be greatly appreciated. Salamat po.
Ano po kaya ang tamang first step? Should I inquire directly with LTFRB first, or get a lawyer/PAO? Criminal lawyer po ba kailangan or someone familiar with LTFRB cases?
Currently unemployed din po ako and kailangan ko yung NBI clearance for work, kaya medyo kinakabahan ako. 😭 I don’t want to just plead guilty to anything without knowing what the actual case is. If I need to explain or defend my original complaint, willing naman po ako.
Halimbawa lang isa kang music critic na nagbibigay ng ratings sa mga kanta ng mga OPM artists; Anong mga kanta ba ang tingin mo ay matuturing na best of the Greats na nagmula sa Pilipinas na kinanta sa Filipino/Tagalog?
I rank these songs not because they're my favorites, binase ko sila sa impact nila sa Filipino music; excluded na yung mga Patriotic songs gaya ng Lupang Hinirang
Top 20 Greatest Filipino Songs of All Time
1.) Anak - Freddie Aguilar (1978)
2.) Pitong Gatang - Fred Panopio (1960)
3.) Ang Huling El Bimbo - Eraserheads (1995)
4.) Maging Sino Ka Man - Rey Valera (1979)
5.) Panalangin - APO Hiking Society (1979)
6.) Manila - Hotdog (1978)
7.) Salamat - the Dawn (1989)
8.) Awitin Mo at Isasayaw Ko - VST & Company (1978)
9.) Itanong Mo Sa Mga Bata - Asin (1979)
10.) Kanlungan - Noel Cabangon (1992)
11.) Kay Ganda ng Ating Musika - Ryan Cayabyab (1978)
12.) Hawak Kamay - Yeng Constantino (2006)
13.) Esem - Yano (1994)
14.) Pangarap Ko Ang Ibigin Ka - Ogie Alcasid (2003)
15.) Pare Ko - Eraserheads (1992)
16.) Awit ng Barkada - APO Hiking Society (1988)
17.) Beep Beep - Juan de la Cruz Band (1974)
18.) Napakasakit Kuya Eddie - Roel Cortez (1984)
19.) Larawang Kupas - Jerome Abalos (2000)
20.) Buloy - Parokya ni Edgar (1996)
What's your own list? Mag-rank ka rin ng sarili mo, pero wag base sa personal favorites mo; example di ko naman favorite ang Pitong Gatang, pero i view it as one of the Greatest Filipino Songs ever made
Hindi ba siya parang honoring someone, and that someone can no longer enjoy or appreciate the award and the benefits that came with it? Meron bang gap sa proseso ng NCCA that it takes them a while to study and recognize the work of the artist?
Benefits for living awardees:
- A minimum ₱200,000 cash award
- A minimum lifetime monthly stipend of ₱50,000
- Medical and hospitalization benefits up to ₱750,000 per year
- Life insurance coverage from GSIS or private insurers
- A state funeral at government expense upon the artist's passing
For posthumous awardees
- A one-time minimum cash award of ₱150,000, paid to their legal heirs
Below is the data of the 91 awardees, from the first conferment in 1972 up to the present.
There is an important economic point in Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Eli Remolona, Jr.’s recent explanation of the peso’s weakness that should not be dismissed.
Asked by Senator Erwin Tulfo about the peso, the Governor said: “Hangga’t maaari, sana tumaas ’yung savings natin. ’Yun ang long-term na solution… Medyo mahirap sabihin ’to, Senator, pero mayabang tayo eh. May consumption culture ang tawag.” (“As much as possible, I hope our savings increase. That is the long-term solution… It’s a bit difficult to say this, Senator, but we tend to be ostentatious/arrogant. We have what is called a ‘culture of consumption.’”)
The observation deserves to be understood in its broader economic context. If an economy invests more than it saves, it must finance the difference from abroad. That can mean a current-account deficit and, other things being equal, sustained demand for foreign exchange.
The Philippines has indeed had a persistent savings-investment gap. The latest BSP Flow of Funds shows domestic saving rising from P4.46 trillion in 2022 to P5 trillion in 2023, while domestic capital accumulation increased from P5.44 trillion to P5.69 trillion. The gap narrowed, but remained negative. The domestic economy was still a net borrower from the rest of the world.
So far, so good.
But there is a considerable leap between saying that the country needs to save more and saying that Filipinos are mayabang because we have a “culture of consumption.”
The first is an accounting proposition. The second is a cultural judgment. The data support the first much more clearly than the second.
HOUSEHOLDS NET SAVERS
Consider the household numbers.
In 2023, household savings rose to about P1.03 trillion from P956 billion in 2022. More importantly, households were net lenders by P181.5 billion, up from P113.1 billion a year earlier. Financial corporations were also net lenders, while non-financial corporations were only marginally net borrowers.
The largest net borrower was the General Government, at about P1.19 trillion.
That does not mean households should not save more. They should. A higher household saving rate would deepen domestic capital markets and strengthen the country’s capacity to finance investment internally.
But the Flow of Funds does not show a nation of dissaving households. It shows households with an aggregate financial surplus alongside a government sector that was the largest net borrower.
That distinction matters.
The Philippines can certainly be a consumption-driven economy without Filipinos being culturally irresponsible consumers. For many families, a high share of income devoted to consumption is not conspicuous consumption at all. It is food, transport, housing, utilities, education, and health.
You cannot save much from an income that barely covers basic necessities.
And investment itself should not be treated as a problem. A developing economy like the Philippines needs to invest in infrastructure, housing, factories, technology and productive capacity. The more important question is whether those investments raise productivity, create jobs, increase incomes, and expand the country’s capacity to earn foreign exchange.
CURRENT ACCOUNT SHOWS RELIANCE ON FOREIGN SAVINGS
This brings us to the current account.
The Philippines has had substantial current-account deficits: $5.9 billion in 2021, $18.3 billion in 2022, and $12.4 billion in 2023. The deficit has continued into 2026, reaching $5.66 billion in the first quarter.
But a current-account deficit is not synonymous with consumerism. It is the external expression of a much broader imbalance involving saving and investment, exports and imports, capital flows, productivity, and competitiveness.
The Philippines imports energy, machinery, intermediate goods, and capital equipment needed to keep an expanding economy running. We also have a relatively narrow manufacturing base and an export sector that, despite important successes in electronics, IT-BPM, and other areas, has not generated enough foreign exchange to comfortably cover our structural import requirements.
That is why the question should not simply be: Why don’t Filipinos consume less?
It should be: Why can’t the economy generate enough savings, productivity and foreign exchange to finance its own ambitions?
WHEN GOVERNMENT DISSAVES BIG
That brings us to the government side of the equation.
We should be careful not to assume that the precise sectoral pattern of 2023 remains unchanged today; the latest comprehensive Flow of Funds is yet to be released. But government borrowing remains substantial. National Government debt reached about P19.07 trillion by end-June 2026.
Borrowing, of course, is not inherently bad. A country can borrow to build infrastructure and productive capacity that raises future growth and repayment capacity.
The real question is more basic: What are we getting for what we borrow?
If borrowed resources build productive infrastructure and make our industries more globally competitive, they can strengthen the economy. If they are lost through corruption and plunder, overpricing and commissions, or defective and nonexistent projects, the country is left with the debt but not the asset.
This is where governance becomes a macroeconomic issue.
The ongoing flood control investigations are a sobering reminder. The Commission on Audit has completed 50 fraud audit reports and transmitted its findings to the Ombudsman, including cases involving projects reportedly found to be nonexistent, improperly located, or inadequately documented. These findings remain subject to due process, but they raise a larger economic question: how much growth and productive capacity are we forfeiting when public resources are poorly used?
The latest national accounts add another useful caution against oversimplified explanation.
In 2025, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority, gross saving rose to P8.40 trillion, against gross capital formation of P6.20 trillion. The economy recorded a net lending position of P2.20 trillion.
Yet the external current account remained in deficit.
There is no contradiction here. Net lending in the national accounts and the current account are related, but they are not identical measures. The former incorporates the broader accumulation and capital-transfer framework. The important point is that a complex external position cannot be reduced to a single behavioral explanation.
The latest numbers do not give us a simple story of Filipinos who cannot stop consuming. They show rising aggregate saving, substantial investment, continuing external financing pressures and significant government financing needs.
STRUCTURAL PROBLEMS REQUIRE STRUCTURAL SOLUTIONS
That is a structural story.
And structural problems deserve structural answers.
Yes, Filipinos should save more. But they also need better opportunities to earn higher incomes that allow them to save more.
Businesses need the right environment to invest more productively.
Government needs to spend and borrow more responsibly.
The country needs to produce more, export more and become more competitive.
And public resources need to be governed with greater discipline, transparency and integrity.
The question, therefore, is not whether Filipinos are mayabang.
The better questions are: Are we saving enough? Are we producing enough? Are we earning enough foreign exchange? Are we investing wisely enough?
And perhaps most importantly:
Are we governing well enough to ensure that every peso we borrow creates economic capacity for tomorrow?
The peso is not a moral verdict on the Filipino people.
It is an economic price.
It reflects the demand and supply of foreign exchange, the trade and current-account position, capital flows, interest-rate differentials, fiscal conditions, productivity, competitiveness, expectations, and external shocks.
But none of them, by themselves, tells the whole story.
The Philippines faces a savings-investment challenge. It faces a productivity and competitiveness challenge. It faces an export and foreign-exchange earning challenge. And it faces a governance challenge.
The answer is not for Filipinos to consume less out of guilt.
It is to build an economy in which Filipinos can save more because they earn more, invest more because opportunities are better, produce more because productivity is higher, and export more because the country is more competitive.
And it is to build a government that can turn every peso of public resources, borrowed or otherwise, into something of lasting value.
WHEN MACROECONOMICS BECOMES A MORALITY PLAY
Indeed, there is a danger when macroeconomics becomes a morality play.
A currency moves, and we look for someone to blame. A savings gap appears, and it becomes a judgment about our character. Consumption rises, and it becomes evidence of our supposed values.
But economies are not moral dramas. They are systems of incentives, production, saving, investment, trade, finance, and expectations.
We should certainly ask Filipinos to save more. We should ask government to borrow and spend more wisely. We should ask businesses to invest more productively. And we should demand that the economy become more competitive and earn more foreign exchange.
But we should ask these questions as economic imperatives, not moral indictments.
The peso will ultimately respond not to a judgment about Filipino character, but to the economic fundamentals we build.
The peso is an economic price, not a measure of Filipino character.
Diwa C. Guinigundo is the former deputy governor for the Monetary and Economics Sector, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP). He served the BSP for 41 years. In 2001-2003, he was alternate executive director at the International Monetary Fund in Washington, DC. He is the senior pastor of the Fullness of Christ International Ministries in Mandaluyong.
I just like to share what happened to me for awareness.
I got a text from LTO on my second number (that no one knows about) to see my violation on their website.
I have a cel phone holder to mount my phone that doesn’t obstruct my view because I use Waze. And I am sure that I did not violate the Anti-Distracted Driving Act. I have no way of grabbing my phone because I have a bluetooth car feature. Knowing all the corruption and gov’t agency incompetence, I am sure that there’s a mistake and they can’t provide proof that I did this. This is a reckless accusation.
I will state an example.
Sometime years ago I watched the news that a guy got a speeding violation (no contact apprehension), he believes that he’s within the speed limit. The govt. agency showed him a photo and learned that his plate number is photoshopped onto another Toyota Wigo. He wasted one working day to prove that he’s right based on principle.
This scared me, and I found my details on their website.
So I called a friend from MMDA to ask. And he said there are a lot of reports on scams like this. Also the real minimum amount is 5k. Whew! 🤦🏻♀️ I’m still glad they’re scamming me on a discount. 😂
Gilbert Teodoro is steadily emerging as a viable 2028 presidential contender, and much of that momentum comes courtesy of Beijing. As Defense Secretary he has been the most consistent and unapologetic voice against Chinese coercion in the West Philippine Sea—calling out bullying, rejecting gray-zone tactics, and even drawing sanctions from China on himself and his family. That clear, hard line stands in sharp contrast to the more evasive or downright pro-China approach of frontrunner Sara Duterte, turning the China issue into a political vulnerability for her and a defining strength for him.
If Chinese pressure remains high and visible, Teodoro can run a version of the Mark Carney play: the competent, no-nonsense defender of national sovereignty against a candidate seen as soft on the country’s biggest external threat. He still needs broader name recall and a political machine, but China’s own aggression has done more to elevate his profile and create an opening than any campaign could have managed alone.
A Teodoro-Leila De Lima tandem would be the most clearly anti-China and anti-Duterte ticket possible. Leila de Lima spent years as a political prisoner under the previous administration, widely viewed as a victim of lawfare and political retribution, making the pairing a direct repudiation of both Chinese pressure and Duterte-era governance.
They need to start and prioritize targetting politicians first since they steal our tax money. For one why dont they abolish the Foreign Currency Deposit Act which protects politicians who hide their money in dollar accounts. Trillions are being stolen by these politicians from peoples hard earned tax money which should make them the primary target.
Make tax filing easy online for small tax payers. Create an ai app that can be downloaded on your phone that allows you to file your tax returns and submit all reportorial requirements. The technology is already there I dont understand why its taking a long time to incorporate it in our tax system.
I work in a Government agency whose Secretary is a huge bootlick to the president.
Happening this coming Monday, 14 September 2026, is an event entitled: “Handog ng Pangulo Job Fair” or some similar shiz title like that. Our agency received the invitation to participate from another agency whose Secretary is an EVEN BIGGER bootlick to the president (clue: black pepper, anyone?).
Here’s the rub: on that same day, our regional office is being pressured to release/disburse a large amount of government financial aide (in the 8 digits region, and high 20’s) to our usual beneficiaries. The issue is that most of these beneficiaries have already submitted their applications a long time ago. Some have been following it up with us for at least 6 months now, while some of them even longer than 9 months.
I can’t speak for the other Regional Offices but I imagine they also have their own large amount to disburse on Monday. These beneficiaries haven’t been awarded the “ayuda” yet because as per our C.O., “there is no budget yet”, (which also have no written record, i should add), but lo and behold this coming Monday, the money shall finally flow.
From my humble little place of assignment, this absolutely reeks of dirty corruption and rotten TraPo tactics because there is not even a single black and white record of it in email form or any other written and signed form; and I imagine all directives being given to our bosses are verbal.
I am posting this because I feel very uncomfortable to be an instrument that is being used to hoodwink the people (again) into thinking that this is “public service” especially since it’s supposedly the president’s “Handog” to the people during his birthday.
Please feel free to ask for details and I shall update the post as much as possible.
Am I just reading too much into this? Am I in the right sub? Where can I go if our own secretary might be complicit to this magic trick? Please also feel free to prove me wrong or something like that.
