MCT DAILY BRIEF

DIZON SAYS NO GHOST PROJECTS IN TAGUIG; LACSON POINTS TO DPWH’S OWN RECORDS

During the September 25 Senate budget hearing, DPWH Secretary Vince Dizon told Senator Alan Peter Cayetano that the department’s ongoing investigation had found no ghost projects in Taguig. DPWH Undersecretary Ricardo Bernabe III said the agency had listed 107 projects in the city, all with reported accomplishments.

Senator Ping Lacson challenged that statement. His office said DPWH inspection reports described projects declared completed whose physical presence inspectors could not conclusively establish. Lacson also cited an agency analysis flagging potentially similar billing photographs across different contracts.

That qualification needs to stay in the reporting. An inspection that cannot establish a project’s physical presence leaves a serious verification question; it does not, by itself, conclusively establish that the project never existed.

But Dizon’s assurance also needs a documented explanation. How does DPWH reconcile reported accomplishments with the unresolved inspection findings Lacson describes?

Residents paying taxes and living with flooding deserve a project-by-project answer. A list showing accomplishment figures cannot explain, on its own, whether inspectors located the work, whether it matched the contract, or whether the government paid correctly.

DUTERTE’S DEFENSE WANTS THE ICC PROSECUTION TO CUT ITS EVIDENCE SUBMISSIONS

Rodrigo Duterte’s defense team has asked ICC Trial Chamber III to limit the prosecution’s evidence to 10,000 items. According to reporting on the September 25 motion, defense counsel Peter Haynes said disclosures had grown from 5,275 items during the confirmation phase to 62,130.

The defense argues that reviewing more than 320,000 pages and over 1,000 audiovisual materials leaves insufficient preparation time before the scheduled November 30 trial. It also alleges duplicate documents, inaccurate descriptions, unreadable files and recordings without translations or transcripts. These are the defense’s objections, rather than findings already accepted by the judges.

For families following the case over alleged drug-war killings, the request concerns how evidence will be organized, reviewed and presented. It does not establish Duterte’s guilt or innocence.

The number of disclosed items cannot tell readers how many are relevant, reliable or ultimately admissible. Equally, the defense’s complaint about volume does not establish that the prosecution’s case is defective. Those questions require examination of the material and the court’s decisions.

CHED IS OPEN TO RECOGNIZING STUDENTS’ LIVED NAMES

CHED’s readiness to issue a policy recognizing LGBTQIA+ students’ lived names was relayed during House budget deliberations. A lived name is the name a person uses, which may differ from the name recorded on their birth certificate.

The discussion cited Polytechnic University of the Philippines’ recognition of lived names during graduation ceremonies. Official records remain an issue because schools match identifying information with Philippine Statistics Authority records.

For students, the practical questions concern classroom introductions, school systems and graduation announcements. A usable policy would need to explain where a lived name can appear and how the school will maintain consistent official records.

The reported willingness to issue a policy does not mean a nationwide rule has already taken effect.

COMELEC EXPECTS VOTER REGISTRATION TO REOPEN IN NOVEMBER

Comelec says voter registration for the May 2028 national and local elections is expected to reopen in November, with an eight-month registration period. Chairperson George Garcia said the commission expects more Filipinos to register during that window.

For someone registering for the first time or checking a registration concern, advance notice gives time to prepare. It also helps families avoid treating registration as something to do only when election campaigning begins.

However, an announcement of the coming period is not a complete instruction sheet. Applicants still need the official schedule, requirements and information from their local election office.

THE PHILIPPINES’ ASIAN GAMES MEDAL COUNT REACHES TEN

The Philippines had collected ten medals as of September 26 after weightlifter Albert Ian Delos Santos added a bronze. The tally also includes Karl Eldrew Yulo’s horizontal-bar bronze. That count is a dated snapshot, rather than a prediction of where the team will finish.

The men’s volleyball team is scheduled to begin its Asian Games campaign against South Korea on Sunday.

For supporters following several sports, event-specific results are more useful than a medal total circulating without a date. A team can still be competing even when it has not appeared in the medal table.