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A unanimous ruling grants a writ of mandamus compelling the Senate and House to finally enact the constitutional ban on political dynasties — the same Congress that passed a widely criticized "watered-down" version in June and then let it stall in the Senate.
Francisco Comendador III faces up to six months without pay after a rival port operator accused him of letting vessels dock at a private terminal in violation of rules meant to protect the state port authority's own facilities.
Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan says unemployment's climb to a four-year high and growth stuck below target show that how the country picks its leaders is holding back the economy, days after former House Speaker Martin Romualdez's arrest on a ₱7-billion plunder case.
Rep. Antonio Tinio says DOLE's ballooning Tupad emergency-jobs fund — potentially climbing to ₱24.5 billion in 2027 — is turning the labor department into an "aid-distributing agency" at the expense of its core worker-protection mandate.
More than 1.1 million minimum-wage earners in the National Capital Region remain without the first ₱60 tranche of Wage Order No. NCR-27 after the Pasig Regional Trial Court issued a preliminary injunction the same day its original restraining order was set to expire.
Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong, sponsor of House Bill 8389, insisted the chamber's anti-political dynasty measure is a "positive development" that breaks a family's monopoly of power in a locality — but business and civil society groups counter that the bill lets relatives beyond the second degree hold office across every level of government simultaneously and permits unlimited succession and position-switching.
Four lawyers have filed a falsification complaint against Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro at the Pasay City prosecutor's office, alleging that declarations in his 2017 Philippine passport application were inconsistent with a Maltese passport recorded as valid from 2016 to 2026 — a case the Department of National Defense pre-empts by maintaining Teodoro renounced his Maltese citizenship before running for senator in 2022.
Executive Secretary Ralph Recto announced that the government will give pre-packed school bags and supplies to 2 million kindergarten-to-Grade 3 pupils this school year, drawn from the Office of the Executive Secretary's Socio-Civic Projects Fund — a discretionary account whose size, criteria and per-bag cost the Palace did not disclose.
The Department of Budget and Management has set the 2027 National Tax Allotment for local governments at ₱1.32 trillion — a 10.9% increase — with municipalities cornering the largest share at ₱448.74 billion, even as it reminds local chief executives that responsibility for how the funds are spent rests on them.
The 2026 Chandler Good Government Index ranked the Philippines four spots lower than last year, with analysts pointing to corruption scandals, institutional weaponization, and policy drift as the drivers — while the country scored near the bottom globally on ethical leadership, rule of law, and budget surplus.
