All roads lead to the Muntinlupa Sports Complex as some of the top badminton players in Asia will converge there this week as the said arena will be the site of the Smart Badminton Asia Championships (BAC). According to Philippine Badminton Association vice president Jude Turcuato and Badminton Asia secretary-general Mousa Nashid, some 276 shuttlers all across the continent will collide in the Level 2 event, which will run from April 26 to May 1. Turcuato said the BAC is one way for the Filipino badminton stars to get international experience as they gear up for the bigger wars ahead,

At least three passengers were hurt after a powerful blast rocked a unit of the Rural Tours Bus parked along the national highway here on Sunday morning. The explosion occurred at about 8:45 a.m. at the back portion of the bus while some of its passengers, driver and conductor were having breakfast at a roadside eatery in Barangay Making. The blast was about a kilometer away from the regional headquarters of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (PRO-BARMM) situated in this town. “Bomb experts are still at the scene,” Lt. Colonel Joseph D. Macatangay, town police chief,

Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Acting Secretary Jim O. Sampulna has urged businesses to step up efforts in switching to sustainable actions to combat the effects of climate change and environmental destruction in celebration of the Earth Day on April 22. With this year’s theme “#InvestInOurPlanet,” Sampulna encouraged manufacturing companies, food businesses, and market vendors to join efforts to minimize the use of non-biodegradable and single-use plastics for packaging, which are the major contributor to the country’s residual and solid waste. In a statement on Saturday, Sampulna emphasized that small actions, such as recycling and re-using materials, are

A private firm has rolled out a youth development program focusing on children of disadvantaged families near its planned development sites nationwide as part of its advocacy to help improve learning outcomes and increase their life chances. San Miguel Corporation (SMC) president Ramon S. Ang said the SMC Educational Assistance Program will benefit some 292 elementary, junior high, senior high and college students around the communities it serves in Bulacan, Quezon province, Batangas, and General Santos City. “Sustainability is a big part of not just our new projects, but all of San Miguel’s operations. For our communities, it is even

The National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) on Sunday condemned the multiple flagging of social media giant Facebook (Meta) of its official posts and shared stories of government media agencies. In a statement, NTF-ELCAC spokesperson and Presidential Communications Undersecretary Lorraine Badoy described Facebook’s move as “pathetic, cowardly, desperate, and lutang (floating)”. Even the government’s good governance posts and articles highlighting economic recovery programs and delivery of basic social services as well as “infrastructure projects to our communities, IP (Indigenous Peoples) areas, and the hinterland barangays” were also flagged as violative of Facebook community standards, it added.