Nation
Politics, governance and communities across the Philippines.
Nation Page 3 of 60
62,000 Manila schoolchildren now drink fresh milk three times a week under Isko Moreno’s ‘YorMilk’ program
Six months after launching with 21,000 daycare children, Manila City Mayor Francisco “Isko” Moreno Domagoso’s YorMilk program now reaches 62,000 public school students who receive fresh milk three times a week. The program now forms a complete farm-to-city ecosystem that benefits dairy farmers…
Isko Moreno explains why every building he puts up in Manila is a high-rise
Every school, hospital, and housing project Mayor Francisco “Isko” Moreno Domagoso builds in Manila is a high-rise. The maverick mayor said this was not out of architectural preference but out of necessity, fiscal logic, and a deliberate effort to anticipate the city’s needs 15 years into the…
How Isko Moreno funded Manila’s ambitious infrastructure push during the worst possible time
At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when economies worldwide had ground to a halt and most governments were cutting spending, Manila City Mayor Francisco “Isko” Moreno Domagoso made a counterintuitive decision. The maverick mayor borrowed money and built—simultaneously funding vertical housing…
BARMM election ran entirely on Starlink satellite internet, says COMELEC
Every single precinct and headquarters in the first Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao parliamentary elections used Starlink satellite internet for the transmission of results, with no traditional telecommunications provider involved, COMELEC Commissioner Rey Bulay said Monday. Bulay…
Viral post claiming BARMM votes were switched is fake news, says COMELEC
The Commission on Elections (COMELEC) has declared a viral Facebook post claiming that a voter’s receipt showed a different political party from what was actually voted a malicious and baseless falsehood. COMELEC Commissioner Rey Bulay warned that those who spread false information that undermines…
COMELEC working with BSP, e-wallets, online payment platforms to catch digital vote buyers in real time
The Commission on Elections (COMELEC) has coordinated with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and online payment platforms to automatically flag and report suspicious single transactions above a threshold amount sent to the same individual during election periods. This is new mechanism designed…
COMELEC ready to hold Barangay, SK elections this year if BBM vetoes postponement bill
The Commission on Elections (COMELEC) is fully prepared to administer the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections or BSKE this year if President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. vetoes the bill passed by both houses of Congress postponing the polls. The ballots are already printed, materials already in…
COMELEC: BARMM elections generally peaceful, incidents addressed quickly, no failure of election
The Commission on Elections (COMELEC) said the first Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) parliamentary elections generally peaceful, saying isolated incidents were addressed quickly and that the commission’s sworn commitment—as in the 2025 national elections—of no failure of…
64% of Filipinos say congressmen are ‘doing a good job’ — OCTA
An OCTA Research survey showed that a majority of Filipinos said their district representative is doing a good job, while 27% disagreed and 9% said they could not say. The Tugon ng Masa survey, conducted from July 4 to 11, 2026, found that 64% of respondents expressed approval of their district…
Filipino women projected to outlive men — PSA
Life expectancy among Filipinos — or the average number of years a person is expected to live — continues to rise from 2020 through 2025, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA). PSA data showed that in 2020, males had an average life expectancy of 66.17 years, while females lived…
Outsiders involved? Cotabato mayor says those who caused election day violence were people he had never seen in his city before
Cotabato City Mayor Mohammad Ali “Bruce” Matabalao said Monday he personally witnessed a disturbance on election day and noticed that most of those involved were people he had never before seen in his city—raising the possibility that the election day violence was carried out by outsiders rather…
Cotabato’s five-year economic rise is bigger than one day of election violence, says mayor
Cotabato City’s five years of steady economic growth and improving reputation with both the national and international community are more than strong enough to withstand one day of election-related violence, and the city will recover quickly, Mayor Mohammad Ali “Bruce” Matabalao said Monday.…
Cotabato mayor urges incoming BARMM parliament: do not just pass priority bills, pass laws for the whole region
Cotabato City Mayor Mohammad Ali “Bruce” Matabalao called on the incoming members of the Bangsamoro Parliament to look beyond their own parties’ priority legislation and pass laws that promote broad development, progress, and advancement for the entire Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim…
Employment, education, social services: Maranao leader lays out what the BARMM parliament must deliver first
The incoming Bangsamoro parliament’s top three priorities must be employment, education, and social services—including services for the more than 5 million Bangsamoro people living outside the BARMM who feel underserved by their own homeland’s government, Maranao leader Samira Gutoc said Monday.…
Samira Gutoc: BARMM parliament is a governance prototype the rest of the Philippines should study
The Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao’s (BARMM) parliamentary system of government is a governance prototype that the rest of the Philippines should study and learn from, because it is the only system in the country where department heads are both duly elected legislators and members…