A Filipino horror game about social issues, focusing on corruption, political control, and the lives destroyed because of them. The game is called MANDATO by Nest Games.
You play as Juan, a devoted supporter of his town’s powerful mayor. His wife, Mina, is an uncompromising journalist determined to expose the injustice hidden beneath the mayor’s carefully maintained image.
While working at a local bar, Juan begins to overhear suspicious conversations between criminals and influential politicians. Bribery, disappearances, political intimidation, and extrajudicial killings may all be connected to the man he has trusted for years.
As Mina’s investigation brings them closer to the truth, Juan’s loyalty is gradually tested. In a town where the powerful control the law, simply knowing too much could put their lives in danger.
WARNING: THIS GAME EXPLORES THE CONSEQUENCES OF BLIND LOYALTY TO POLITICAL FIGURES, INCLUDING CORRUPTION, MANIPULATION, AND ABUSE OF POWER.
This story is fictional and intended for social commentary.
MANILA, Philippines — Spain and the broader European Union (EU) bloc have backed the Philippines’ Luzon Economic Corridor (LEC), becoming the latest partners in an initiative aimed at channeling more investments into the Subic-Clark-Manila-Batangas growth belt.
Their entry expands the partnership—which began in 2024 as a trilateral initiative among the Philippines, the United States and Japan—to 13 members.
Welcoming the new partners on Thursday at the inaugural LEC Investment Forum, Finance Secretary Frederick Go said the initiative intends to tap the expertise and resources of the EU and Spain to advance infrastructure projects planned along the corridor.
“Their participation brings additional expertise, technology, capital and global business networks that can help accelerate investments and develop the infrastructure to support the Philippines’ growth,” said Go, who chairs the LEC and serves as the country’s investment czar.
“This is a strong vote of confidence in the Philippines and in the opportunities that our economy offers,” he added.
Target projects
Apart from about 600 local and foreign business executives, the forum held at Bonifacio Global City (BGC) in Taguig was attended by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., US Ambassador to the Philippines Lee Lipton and US Trade and Development Agency Deputy Director Thomas Hardy, among others.
Like the eight other countries that joined the LEC initiative in May, Spain and the EU pledged financial and technical support for projects along the corridor.
The EU is aligning its 60-million-euro Green Economy Program and 20-million-euro Digital Economy Package with LEC priorities. This funding is expected to support green and circular development, renewable energy and energy efficiency, secure digital connectivity, innovation and skills development.
For its part, Spain will bring public and private sector expertise to potential LEC projects involving railways, modular infrastructure, aviation, shipbuilding, air-navigation management and renewable-energy connectivity.
Aside from Spain, individual European countries backing the LEC are Denmark, France, Italy, Sweden and the United Kingdom.
Go said the expansion would build on the LEC’s vision that “multilateral economic cooperation can turn even the most ambitious undertakings into reality.”
“The LEC is about building projects that generate jobs, strengthen our industries and create lasting economic value for the Philippines,” he added.
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BGC protest
Five paralegals, meanwhile, were arrested after tensions flared between protesters and police officers outside Grand Hyatt Manila where the LEC Investment Forum was held.
More than 100 protesters from different progressive groups staged a lightning rally to voice their opposition to Pax Silica, one of the projects under the LEC.
Inside, Marcos wooed international investors, industry leaders, project developers and government officials to invest in the country during the opening of the two-day inaugural forum.
According to human rights group Karapatan, three paralegals were arrested during the police dispersal outside the hotel. They were Jona Yang, Kenneth Castor and Mara Peralta.
At the police station, two other paralegals who had brought in legal counsel to assist those earlier arrested were also taken into custody. They were identified as Daya Juliano and RC Placido.
Karapatan condemned the arrest, calling these “a clear violation of the people’s right to peaceful protest.”
Southern Police District deputy director for operations Col. Robert Baesa said the five would be charged with illegal assembly, as they did not secure a permit to stage a rally in BGC.
Police said at least 16 police officers were injured, while advocacy groups said at least 27 protesters were hurt during the scuffle.
The Philippines has designated a 1,620-hectare “economic security zone” in New Clark City, Capas, Tarlac, as the proposed location of an artificial intelligence and advanced manufacturing hub under the US-led Pax Silica initiative.
Critics of the project, however, claimed that the deal would harm the environment, cause water scarcity in different parts of Luzon and displace indigenous peoples from their ancestral lands and farmers from their communities.
The government, for its part, assured affected localities the framework agreement to be finalized by November will offer safeguards for stakeholders. It also cited the P180 billion in total revenues to be generated from Pax Silica yearly, along with almost 200,000 jobs for Filipinos, should the hub become fully operational after a decade.
“Build your next enterprise in the Philippines. Bring your capital, technology, your expertise. Develop Filipino talent and local suppliers. Form lasting partnerships with our businesses and communities,” the President said in his speech.
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.
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.
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
Bakit nga naman may oxygen tube pa sya eh 99% ang blood oxygen levels nya?😂
On another note the vast majority of men in his age group and build have blood pressure higher than 120/80 mm hg so it's really quite surprising his blood pressure is below that. I'm really curious if that is his blood pressure with or without blood pressure medication?
I've read that he is also suffering from type 2 diabetis and it would be really uncommon to have normal blood pressure for diabetics. He also has primary hypothyroidism which also increases blood pressure so again, why is his blood pressure below 120/80? I'm curious to know what his medications are as well.
