Peso Weekly

Philippine lawmakers are pushing for stronger accountability from Meta amid concerns over scams, harmful content and child safety. The DICT said proposals include requiring Meta to establish a corporate office in the Philippines and exploring National ID-based account verification. House deliberations on the DICT’s proposed budget were deferred.

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Before Philippine medicinal plants entered laboratories, they were already part of everyday healing traditions.
People turned to certain local plants for familiar concerns, including fever, pain, wounds, diarrhea, and other symptoms. But Dr. Alfredo C. Santos wanted to go beyond tradition. He wanted to know what chemicals were inside these plants and why they might matter.

Through careful laboratory research, Santos isolated alkaloids from native species, including phaeanthine and phaeantharine from kalimatas. He did not claim quick cures. Instead, he built the evidence that future Filipino researchers could use to study local plants more rigorously.
His work gave Philippine medicinal plants something powerful: scientific attention.

Arturo Alcaraz spent his career studying something the Philippines has in abundance: volcanic heat.

The Filipino geologist and volcanologist helped explore whether heat stored beneath the country could be transformed into electricity.

In 1967, steam from an experimental well in Tiwi, Albay powered a small generator, marking the first use of geothermal steam for electricity in the Philippines.

Alcaraz later helped lead the development of major geothermal fields at Tiwi and Mak-Ban.

His work remains relevant today. The Philippines still relies significantly on imported fuels, leaving electricity prices vulnerable to global fuel movements.

Geothermal cannot solve high power costs on its own. But it gives the country something valuable: an indigenous source of energy beneath its own ground.

In 1982, Alcaraz received the Ramon Magsaysay Award for his contribution.

Grab has agreed to acquire a 60% controlling stake in Atome Financial for $1.49 billion, expanding its lending business across Southeast Asia, including the Philippines. The deal is expected to close by the third quarter of 2027, subject to regulatory approvals, with Grab planning to acquire the remaining 40% later.

Lea Salonga’s Hollywood Walk of Fame star is only the latest milestone in a career that has been making history for decades.

At 17, she auditioned for Miss Saigon and was chosen to originate the role of Kim in London. The performance eventually brought her an Olivier Award and, on Broadway, a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical.

She later broke barriers in Les Misérables, became the singing voice of Disney’s Jasmine and Mulan, and helped bring Broadway’s first all-Filipino cast to the stage with Here Lies Love.

Then on September 4, 2026, Salonga became the first Filipina to receive a Hollywood Walk of Fame star.

The star may be new, but the history behind it spans decades.

Jonathan manages a 7-Eleven branch by day. Now, his love for cosplay is taking him all the way to South Korea– proof that sometimes, the dream you pursue after clocking out can take you places you never imagined.

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📸 : GICOF Philippines | Jonathan Facun | FB

The DILG released new mugshots of former House Speaker Martin Romualdez after he arrived at the New Quezon City Jail Male Dormitory in Payatas on September 14. Romualdez underwent another round of booking procedures before being committed to the facility, where BJMP said he was placed in the infirmary overnight.

📸 : DILG

Pacita Abad once planned to become a lawyer.
She studied political science, received a scholarship to attend law school at UC Berkeley, and could have followed a completely different path.

Instead, travel changed her life.
Abad spent time in more than 60 countries, learning from artists, textiles and traditions she encountered along the way. She developed her signature trapunto paintings and created more than 5,000 works across a 32-year career.

Her art also confronted migration, refugees and communities often pushed outside centres of power.
Even while undergoing cancer treatment, Abad continued creating, helping transform Singapore’s Alkaff Bridge with thousands of colorful circles.

Years after her death, major museums began mounting retrospectives of her work.
For Pacita Abad, the world really did become her art school.

A ₱1,650 pompano has become the center of a wider debate about the cost of visiting Bohol. Architect Dodong Arambala argues that one expensive restaurant meal should not define an entire province, pointing out that cheaper accommodations and eateries remain available.

But several commenters under his post disagreed, saying high food and transport prices are part of a broader affordability problem. Meanwhile, partial government data shows Bohol tourist arrivals fell about 59% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2026. The question remains: isolated pricing issue or a bigger value-for-money problem?

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📸 : Slide 3 screenshot courtesy of Dodong Arambala / FB