More news about how the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines is being handled by the public and the government.
The Covid-19 pandemic caused a two to three year delay in the implementation of the Universal Health Care program. Health officials are now recalibrating the financing and roadmap toward 2028 to account for that setback.
 |
| https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1283330 |
Health officials are recalibrating the Universal Health Care (UHC) program’s financing and implementation roadmap toward 2028, with PhilHealth targeting a further reduction in Filipinos’ out-of-pocket medical spending and the Department of Health (DOH) working to complete key local health financing mechanisms.
During the Senate Committee on Finance hearing on Friday, PhilHealth President and CEO Beverly Ho said the state insurer is now following the Philippine Development Plan target of bringing household out-of-pocket health spending down to 37 percent by 2028.
“But we agree with you po that we have to recalibrate this, because it changes every three years,” Ho told senators.
Out-of-pocket spending stood at 41.2 percent of total health expenditure in 2025, down from around 55 percent a decade ago.
Ho said projections under the development plan indicate that health spending would need to reach around PHP639 billion to meet the 2028 target.
Acting Health Secretary Edwin Mercado said the recalibration also takes into account the two- to three-year delay in UHC implementation caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
He said universal PhilHealth eligibility has already been achieved, with all Filipinos entitled to coverage regardless of their contribution status.
“If we are talking about universal coverage, we have achieved that because all Filipinos now have immediate eligibility,” Mercado said.
The DOH is now focusing on strengthening the delivery side of the system, particularly the availability of accredited facilities capable of providing more complex procedures covered by PhilHealth.
Mercado cited open-heart surgery, renal transplantation and other treatments under PhilHealth’s Z benefit packages as services that may be covered but are not yet equally available nationwide.
Local governments are also being prepared to take a larger role in managing integrated health systems under the UHC law.
Mercado said around 110 local health systems are progressing in terms of maturity, while the DOH is targeting 2028 for local health units or chief executives to have their respective Special Health Funds.
“By 2028, local health units or local chief executives should have their own Special Health Funds, and we should have a proper financing analysis of how much is really needed to achieve universal healthcare,” Mercado said.
Meanwhile, Sen. Panfilo Lacson questioned the repeated changes in spending plans and financing targets since implementation began.
“So what is the practical purpose of financing strategies if we keep changing the targets or missing them?” Lacson said.
He also sought a clearer accounting of funds earmarked under various laws for UHC implementation, saying Congress could exercise its oversight authority if legally mandated allocations are not fully released.
Despite the delay, universal PhilHealth eligibility for all Filipinos has already been achieved. The focus has shifted to strengthening health facilities and local financing mechanisms that were slowed by the pandemic.
British indie-pop band PREP is set to return to Manila on October 15, 2026, for a headline show at The Filinvest Tent. The concert forms part of their Asia tour and follows earlier visits that were interrupted by pandemic-era restrictions on live events.
 |
| https://mb.com.ph/2026/09/03/prep-to-return-to-manila |
British indie pop band PREP is coming back to Manila and for Filipino fans who have been following the group’s Philippine visits, the upcoming concert marks another chapter in a relationship that has lasted nearly a decade.
The London-based quartet will perform on October 15, 2026 at the Filinvest Tent in Alabang as part of their 2026 Asia tour.
Presented by Karpos Multimedia, the Manila show will be a standing-room-only concert, giving fans another chance to experience PREP’s smooth blend of indie pop, jazz harmonies, R&B grooves and synth-driven production live.
The group has also been using its history with Filipino audiences to build excitement for its return, with PREP’s previous Manila performances offering a reminder of just how often the band has made its way back to the country.
Looking back on their Philippine shows, the band has repeatedly praised the energy of Filipino audiences. PREP described their previous Philippine gigs as some of their loudest and most energetic experiences, recalling how fans sang along to entire songs rather than simply joining in for the choruses.
Formed in London in 2015, PREP is composed of vocalist Tom Havelock, keyboardist Llywelyn ap Myrddin, drummer Guillaume Jambel and producer Daniel Radclyffe (of no relation to Daniel Radcliffe of Harry Potter fame). The band’s sound draws from several musical backgrounds, with classical music, house, hip-hop, R&B and jazz influences coming together in its polished but relaxed arrangements.
Their latest EP, "One Day In The Sun," was released in January 2026 and features the Taiwanese synth-pop band Sunset Rollercoaster on “Do What You Gotta.”
With another Manila show now on the calendar, Filipino fans can expect a set that combines PREP’s older favorites with newer material.
PREP first performed in the Philippines in 2017 in 2018. The band was also part of the Wanderland Music Festival lineup in 2019. Their planned 2020 Asia tour was canceled amid the COVID-19 pandemic, but PREP eventually returned to Manila in November 2022 for a sold-out concert at the Samsung Hall in SM Aura, Taguig.
In 2024, PREP returned to the country yet again, this time for a headlining Karpos Live show at the Filinvest Tent with the 2026 concert bringing the band back to a venue that has already becoming familiar territory.
For a band that has repeatedly made Manila part of its touring history, the October concert is less a first meeting and more another reunion with an audience that has welcomed it back time and again.
While they did return in 2022 this is just more evidence that the Manila concert schedule is getting back on track post-pandemic.
The remains of Filipino seafarer Sam Dela Cruz, who died in Somalia in 2018, have still not been returned to the Philippines after more than eight years. The Department of Foreign Affairs cited the COVID-19 pandemic as one of the factors that stalled repatriation efforts. Diplomatic requests sent since 2018 through the Philippine embassy in Nairobi went unanswered.
 |
| https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2026/09/04/2553797/8-years-on-philippines-yet-claim-filipino-seafarers-remains-somalia |
The Department of Foreign Affairs has vowed to send fresh instructions to the Philippine embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, to press Somali authorities to return the remains of a Filipino seafarer who died more than eight years ago, after its latest request went unanswered.
Sam Dela Cruz, a 25-year-old seafarer registered with manning agency GMM Global Maritime, died of cardiopulmonary arrest in Somalia on July 28, 2018. His remains have yet to be brought back to the Philippines.
The issue was brought up during Thursday's House deliberations on the DFA's proposed 2027 budget, when Rep. Brian Poe Llamanzares (FPJ Panday Bayanihan), vice chair of the House appropriations committee, asked the department what progress had been made to repatriate Dela Cruz' remains.
The DFA said its attempts since 2018 to return Dela Cruz' remains have stalled in the absence of a Philippine mission in Somalia and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dela Cruz' burial was carried out immediately under Somalia's Islamic Sharia law before the family could weigh in.
Context reported in 2025 that a burial request was filed with a Somali court the day after Dela Cruz's death. The agency he was under, GMM Global maritime, no longer appears in a Singapore online business directory, "which can mean it has ceased operations or changed names," the report stated.
"We understand the immense difficulty and emotional pain the family continues to endure during this prolonged process," Undersecretary Ezzedin Tago, DFA's officer in charge of migrant affairs told House lawmakers. "The DFA remains committed to supporting the Dela Cruz family."
Because the Philippines has no mission in Somalia, the case has been handled through the Philippine embassy in Nairobi, which holds jurisdiction over the country.
The DFA official said the embassy has a record of diplomatic notes sent to the Somali government since 2018, none of which drew an official reply.
GMM Global Maritime reached out to Somali authorities in November 2018 and located Dela Cruz's burial site in Bosaso, roughly 1,000 kilometers from the capital, Mogadishu, according to the DFA.
The manning agency secured permits and funding for exhumation and reached a "preliminary agreement with local officials," but negotiations stalled and the exhumation never happened.
In 2025, the DFA asked the Nairobi embassy to raise the case again with the Somali embassy there, to relay the department's and family's request to the Somalian government. That, too, went unanswered, Tago said.
"With that update, we will reinstruct or send the instructions again to our embassy in Nairobi to meet with the Somali embassy in Nairobi to revive this issue," the DFA official said.
Llamanzares said Somalia's non-response was "not our fault," but said the government should continue to "try its best to bring home the body of our kababayan."
"We should not stop knocking at their door to ask for the body back," Llamanzares said.
The DFA has now vowed to renew instructions to press Somali authorities once more for the return of the body.
Philippine business confidence in July fell below the levels recorded during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas index dropped to -20.3%, weaker than the readings seen in the third quarters of 2020 and 2021.
 |
| https://bilyonaryo.com/worse-than-covid-era-levels-ph-businesses-turn-gloomier/ |
Philippine businesses turned sharply pessimistic in July, with confidence falling below levels recorded in published surveys during the COVID-19 pandemic as Middle East tensions, higher oil prices and persistent inflation weighed on sentiment.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ business confidence index plunged to -20.3% in July from zero in June, meaning pessimists outnumbered optimists.
The reading was weaker than the -5.3% recorded in the third quarter of 2020 and -5.6% during the Delta-driven surge in the third quarter of 2021.
The BSP canceled its survey during the nationwide lockdown in the second quarter of 2020, when economic disruption was most severe. The survey was also conducted quarterly at the time, compared with its current monthly frequency.
Among firms that reported a weaker outlook, nearly 20% cited renewed tensions in the Middle East, while 15.1% pointed to higher oil prices stemming from disruptions to fuel shipments through the Strait of Hormuz. Another 11.3% blamed persistent inflation.
Sentiment also deteriorated for the months ahead. The confidence index for October dropped to 3.7% from 18.8%, while the outlook for the next 12 months fell to 29.4% from 42.4%.
Businesses said a prolonged Middle East conflict and elevated energy prices could weigh on economic growth, while governance concerns could undermine investor confidence.
The business activity index fell to minus 0.1% from 8.3%, while total orders declined to -0.7% from 5.4%.
Firms also reported tighter financial conditions and access to credit. Average capacity utilization in the industry and construction sectors dropped to 68.6% from 73.9%.
Hiring expectations weakened, with the 12-month employment outlook falling to 9% from 20.2%. The share of industrial firms planning to expand, however, increased to 20.8% from 18.7%.
Businesses expected inflation and borrowing costs to rise and the peso to weaken over the next 12 months.
Their year-ahead inflation forecast remained at 5.6%, above the BSP's 2%-4% target range, reflecting expectations of further oil price increases and a prolonged Middle East conflict.
The July survey covered 506 companies nationwide and had a response rate of 48.8%.
Surveyors note the comparison is imperfect because the central bank suspended its survey during the strictest nationwide lockdown in 2020. Current pessimism is driven by Middle East tensions and higher oil prices rather than pandemic-related disruptions.
No comments:
Post a Comment