Here are today’s headlines – the latest news in the Philippines and around the world:
- Amazing Alex Eala stuns world No. 15 to claim historic win in US Open - Office of the President seeks 72% budget increase in 2026 as Manila hosts ASEAN - Marcos slams Kennon Road rockshed, calls it ‘economic sabotage’ - DPWH chief Bonoan will stay; now wants internal cleansing in his agency - Gaza City officially in famine, says global hunger monitor
00:07Alex Ayala makes history again, defeating world number 15 Claire Toson in her US Open debut.
00:25The office of the President wants a 72% increase in its budget for 2026.
00:36President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. slams road projects on Cannon Road.
00:40Public Works Secretary Manuel Bonoan is poised to stay as the department's chief.
00:45And a global hunger monitor says Gaza City is officially experiencing famine.
00:50Filipina tennis ace Alex Ayala makes history again with a big win in a Grand Slam main draw.
00:58Ayala stuns world number 15 Claire Toson of Denmark in the opening round of the US Open in New York,
01:04winning a thrilling match 6-3, 2-6, and 7-6 on Monday, August 25, Manila time.
01:10Down 1-5 in the final set and close to losing, Ayala fought back by winning five games in a row,
01:15then won the nail-biting tiebreak.
01:17With the Filipino crowd behind her, Ayala stayed composed and forced an error to win after 2 hours and 36 minutes.
01:23She became the first Filipino to win a Grand Slam main draw match in the Open era.
01:28Ayala's debut in the US Open main draw felt very much like a home match.
01:32And you know, I don't have a home tournament, so to be able to have this community here at the US Open,
01:38The fans played a big role as their cheers bothered Toson, who complained about being distracted by their noise when the ball was on play.
01:53At one point, the umpire even reminded the fans, please don't be too excited during the point.
01:58The office of the president asks for a 27.28 billion peso budget for 2026,
02:11representing a 72% increase from the current year's 15.8 billion pesos.
02:16About 17.5 billion pesos will be used to host the ASEAN Summit in the Philippines.
02:21Out of the 17.5 billion pesos, 10.7 billion pesos will go directly to the office of the president.
02:28Similar to 2025, the office of the president is requesting 4.5 billion pesos in confidential and intelligence funds.
02:35It is also asking for 1.01 billion pesos for the president's local and foreign trips,
02:40slightly lower than the 1.2 billion pesos it received in 2025.
02:45Meantime, the office of the vice president proposes a 902.8 million peso budget for 2026,
02:51a 20% increase from its 744 million peso allocation in 2025.
02:56Note that the original 2026 budget proposal from the office of the vice president was only 733 million pesos.
03:03The Department of Budget and Management later raised it to 902.8 million pesos.
03:08The 2026 budget does not include any confidential funds for the OVP,
03:13which were one of the issues mentioned in the now-shelved impeachment complaint against Duterte.
03:17President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. inspected two road projects along Cannon Road in Tuba on Sunday, August 24.
03:25He arrives at Camp 6 to assess the 260 million peso rock shed at mill site.
03:29The president says the project had failed to protect the slope it was designed to secure.
03:34The 152-meter rock shed finished in September 2024 after three years of building stayed strong during Typhoon Emong in July 2025.
04:00However, soil erosion at its base caused damage under the road.
04:05Marcos estimates fixing the rock shed would cost over twice its original budget or more than 500 million pesos.
04:11He caused the situation economic sabotage, pointing to wasted government money.
04:16He adds, road closures from the failed project quickly cut off about 35% of the community's economic activity.
04:22Public Works Secretary Manuel Bonoan is poised to stay in his post as he announces an internal cleansing of his department.
04:30This comes as the Public Works Department faces backlash amid back-to-back exposés of corruption in flood control projects.
04:37In an interview with DZBB Radio on Saturday, August 23, Bonoan said he was surprised by reports of ghost projects
04:44and DPWH personnel are unable to validate every project.
04:47He says his agency must now identify personnel involved in anomalous projects, have them prosecuted and sanctioned, to serve as a lesson.
04:55He earlier announced that he had dismissed Bulacan's first district engineer and other officials of the district engineering office.
05:01Many of the allegedly anomalous flood control projects are in Bulacan province.
05:06There was talk last week of Bonoan being replaced amid the flood control corruption scandal.
05:10Aquino Admin Public Works Secretary Rogelio Babesingson earlier told ABS-CBN News he had received feelers about returning to the DPWH.
05:18But Bonoan's statements indicate he will remain in office.
05:22A global hunger monitor says Gaza City is officially in famine.
05:27The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification or IPC system says some 514,000 or nearly one-fourth of Palestinians in Gaza are experiencing famine.
05:37The number is expected to rise to 641,000 by the end of September.
05:42This is the first time the IPC recorded famine outside of Africa.
05:46To be classified as in-famine means 20% of a region's people are suffering extreme food shortages and one in every three children are malnourished.
05:55It also means at least two out of every 10,000 people die daily from starvation, malnutrition and disease.
06:01UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres calls for a ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
06:08Guterres said in a statement, the Gaza famine was a
06:11UN Human Rights Chief Volker Turk says the famine in Gaza is the direct result of Israeli government actions,
06:22warning it could amount to a war crime.
06:24The UN and other advocates say, actions by Israel and lawlessness have impeded the entry and distribution of aid in Gaza.
06:32Israel dismisses the IPC report as false and biased.
06:36And that's today's wrap. I'm JC Gutinga. Thank you for watching.
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