Wednesday, July 22, 2026

The prosecution's key witness kept swinging on Day 9. NBI Director Melvin Matibag returned to the stand as the defense grilled him under the article covering Vice President Sara Duterte's alleged plot and grave threats against President Marcos, arguing her own words condemned her: her public admission that she had contracted someone to kill Marcos, the First Lady, and then-Speaker Martin Romualdez was, in his telling, a "consummated betrayal of public trust." Five senator-judges filed manifestations objecting to Monday's order subpoenaing the couple's bank, tax, and money-laundering records, though the impeachment court's spokesperson said the reservations do not change the ruling (via GMA News, via Inquirer).

The countdown to Monday's State of the Nation Address is all about crowd control now. The NCRPO said it will deploy more than 20,000 personnel around the Batasan for Marcos's fifth SONA on July 27, while at least four groups have applied for rally permits in Quezon City. The police were quick to note the power to grant those permits rests with the local government, not with them (via PNA, via GMA News).

Say hello to Kiyapo, possibly within the day. PAGASA said the low pressure area east of Luzon, about 1,115 km out as of Wednesday morning, has a high chance of becoming a tropical depression inside 24 hours, which would make it the 11th cyclone to enter Philippine waters this year and the fourth this month. Forecasters expect it to track toward Northern Luzon and possibly make landfall there by Friday or Saturday (via Manila Bulletin, via Philstar).

Even before Kiyapo arrives, the habagat is doing the soaking. The southwest monsoon keeps dumping scattered rains and thunderstorms over western Luzon and parts of the Visayas, with PAGASA flagging the usual flash-flood and landslide risk wherever the downpours turn heavy (via Rappler).

The country's dollar cushion just had its best month in nearly two years. The balance of payments swung to a $3.4 billion surplus in June, the highest since September 2024, cutting the first-half deficit to $3.9 billion from $7.3 billion in the January-to-May stretch, helped by remittances, government borrowing, and foreign investment. Gross international reserves climbed to $104.7 billion (via BusinessWorld).

The government is also trying to fix how it even counts foreign money. The BSP, the SEC, and the Philippine Statistics Authority signed a deal to pool corporate data and plug gaps in the country's foreign direct investment figures, with the PSA named the central repository and the SEC feeding in registration records. The point is to capture foreign-owned firms the old counting method kept missing (via BusinessWorld).

The rally finally ran out of road. The PSEi snapped a four-day winning streak on Tuesday, July 21, sliding 81.92 points, or 1.27 percent, to close at 6,333.80 as investors booked profits and kept one eye on rising oil. Wednesday's close had not been reported as this digest went out (via BusinessWorld).

The peso, meanwhile, is testing dangerous ground. It weakened to P61.745 against the dollar on Tuesday, close to its all-time low, as elevated crude prices and a firmer greenback squeezed the currency. The BSP's warning to banks against speculative forex bets helped keep the slide from getting worse (via BusinessWorld).

Some breathing room at the grocery, at least for now. The DTI said it has received no petitions to raise suggested retail prices on basic goods despite this week's fuel spike, so canned goods, noodles, and other staples should hold steady in the near term (via Philstar).

The bigger question is whether June's relief holds. Inflation cooled to 6.4 percent in June as fuel and some food prices eased, but the pump-price jumps that landed July 21, with diesel up by as much as P10.68 a liter, threaten to reverse that in the next reading (via Rappler, via GMA News).

Two nail-biters lit up the PBA on Tuesday. Meralco edged Blackwater 116-114 behind a balanced attack, while Rain or Shine handed Phoenix a 105-98 loss to snap the Fuel Masters' hot start. The Governors' Cup rolls on Wednesday with San Miguel facing Converge and TNT taking on Titan Ultra (via GMA News, via Inquirer).

Alex Eala is about to start the part of the season that counts most. The world No. 32 opens her North American hardcourt swing at the Mubadala DC Open in Washington, set for July 27 to August 2, where she plays singles and reunites with Venus Williams in the doubles draw before building toward the US Open (via Philstar).

Rita Avila is asking for prayers. The veteran actress said her husband, director FM Reyes, was hurt in an accident and had to undergo surgery, sharing the update with fans as he recovers (via PEP.ph).

A former teen star quietly became a husband. Joshua Dionisio, once a face of GMA's Tween Hearts, married his longtime partner, capping a low-key romance with an equally low-key wedding (via PEP.ph).

The clap-back of the week came from Vice Ganda. The comedian pushed back at Kim Chiu's fans over what was described as toxic online behavior, and Kim herself weighed in, keeping showbiz timelines busy (via PEP.ph).

Atom Araullo took the mic, not the anchor desk. The broadcast journalist headlined a "Speak Easy" session with a cheeky pitch, "Don't Trust Me, I'm a Journalist," turning a talk into a live meditation on trust and the news (via Philstar Life).

File this one under summer office wars. Philstar Life picked up the debate out of Tokyo, where men are wearing shorts to work and some women are raising a "leg hair harassment" complaint, a small culture clash worth a raised eyebrow (via Philstar Life).

The Hilux just went electric, and it is not cheap. Toyota priced its first battery-electric Hilux at P2.99 million in the Philippines, dragging the country's best-selling pickup nameplate into the EV era (via NewsBytes.ph).

The scam crackdown is getting a data upgrade. The BSP agreed to give the Department of Justice access to financial data for scam investigations, a move meant to speed up cases against the online fraud rings draining Filipino accounts (via NewsBytes.ph).