Supreme Court allows US to continue freeze on USAID funds

February 27, 2025 | 7:35 pm

US SUPREME COURT Chief Justice John Roberts on Wednesday paused a federal judge’s order requiring President Donald Trump’s administration to pay foreign aid funds to contractors and grant recipients.

Mr. Roberts issued an interim order placing on hold Washington-based US District Judge Amir Ali’s action that had imposed a deadline of 11:59 p.m. on Wednesday night.

Mr. Roberts provided no rationale for the order, known as an administrative stay, which will give the court additional time to consider the administration’s more formal request to block Mr. Ali’s ruling.

Mr. Roberts asked for a response from the plaintiffs — organizations that contract with or receive grants from the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the State Department — by noon on Friday.

The order came after Mr. Trump’s administration said in a court filing on Wednesday it had made final decisions terminating most US foreign aid contracts and grants, while maintaining that it cannot meet Mr. Ali’s court-ordered deadline.

The administration is cutting more than 90% of the USAID’s foreign aid contracts and over $58 billion in overall US assistance around the world, a State Department spokesperson said separately, calling the cuts part of Mr. Trump’s “America First agenda.”

The foreign aid funding dispute arose from a pair of lawsuits brought by the aid organizations, alleging that the agencies have illegally frozen all foreign aid payments.

The Trump administration has kept those payments largely frozen despite a Feb. 13 temporary restraining order from Mr. Ali that they be released, and multiple subsequent orders that the administration comply, culminating in the Wednesday night deadline.

Lawyers for the US Justice department have maintained that the administration has a right to suspend its agreements while it reviews them to determine whether they comply with administration policy.

That review is now complete, the administration said in its new filing. It said USAID has made final decisions to cancel nearly 5,800 awards, while keeping more than 500, and that the State Department has canceled about 4,100 awards, while keeping about 2,700.

An administration official said in an earlier court filing that grounds for terminating contracts include that they were related to diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility efforts, or were deemed wasteful.

Mr. Trump has taken a hard line on programs related to diversity, equity and inclusion, signing an executive order in his second day in office last month directing federal agency chiefs to dismantle DEI policies.

The administration said on Wednesday that Secretary of State Marco Rubio had ordered that past-due invoices from the plaintiffs for work before January 24, when the payment freeze began, to be “expedited for payment without the ordinary vetting procedures, in a good-faith effort to comply” with Mr. Ali’s order. It said that while some money would be paid on Wednesday, full payments could take weeks.

Mr. Trump, a Republican, ordered a 90-day pause on all foreign aid on his first day in office last month. That order, and ensuing stop-work orders halting USAID operations around the world, have jeopardized the delivery of life-saving food and medical aid, throwing global humanitarian relief efforts into chaos.

USAID administers some 60% of U.S. foreign assistance and disbursed $43.79 billion in fiscal 2023. According to a Congressional Research Service report this month, its workforce of 10,000, of which about two-thirds serves overseas, assisted about 130 countries.

Trump’s administration on Sunday said it was placing all but leaders and critical staff at USAID on paid administrative leave and eliminating 1,600 positions. Employee unions have sued to challenge the cuts, though a judge last week allowed them to go ahead.

Mr. Ali, who was appointed by Mr. Trump’s Democratic predecessor, former President Joe Biden, issued his temporary restraining order to prevent irreparable harm to the plaintiffs while he considers their claims.

The plaintiffs allege Mr. Trump has exceeded his authority under federal law and the US Constitution by effectively dismantling an independent agency and canceling spending authorized by Congress.

The plaintiffs have said the administration has not done anything to comply with the restraining order, and some have said they will shut down within days if they are not paid.

“The lengths that the government is willing to go to flout a court order, all for the goal of ending life-saving humanitarian assistance, is staggering,” said Allison Zieve, a lawyer representing two plaintiffs, AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition and Journalism Development Network, on Wednesday.

Other plaintiffs include international development company DAI Global and refugee assistance organization HIAS.

Both Mr. Ali and a Rhode Island federal judge in a separate case over a broader federal payment freeze have castigated the Trump administration for failing to follow their orders. The administration in both cases has maintained it is trying in good faith to interpret and comply with the orders. — Reuters

White House bars AP, Reuters and other media from covering Trump cabinet meeting

February 27, 2025 | 7:34 pm

WASHINGTON — The White House on Wednesday denied reporters from Reuters and other news organizations access to President Donald Trump’s first cabinet meeting in keeping with the administration’s new policy regarding media coverage.

The White House denied access to an Associated Press photographer and three reporters from Reuters, HuffPost and Der Tagesspiegel, a German newspaper.

TV crews from ABC and Newsmax, along with correspondents from Axios, the Blaze, Bloomberg News and NPR were permitted to cover the event.

On Tuesday, the Trump administration announced the White House would determine which media outlets would cover the president in smaller spaces such as the Oval Office.

The White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) has traditionally coordinated the rotation of the presidential press pool. Reuters, an international wire service, has participated in the pool for decades.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that while traditional media organizations would still be permitted to cover Mr. Trump on a day-to-day basis, the administration plans to change who participates in smaller spaces. The pool system, administered by the WHCA, allowed select television, radio, wire, print and photojournalists to cover events and share their reporting with the broader media.

The three wire services that have traditionally served as permanent members of the White House pool, the AP, Bloomberg and Reuters, on Wednesday released a statement in response to the new policy.

The services’ have long worked to ensure that accurate, fair and timely information about the presidency is communicated to a broad audience of all political persuasions, both in the United States and globally. Much of the White House coverage people see in their local news outlets, wherever they are in the world, comes from the wires, the statement from the three organizations said.

“It is essential in a democracy for the public to have access to news about their government from an independent, free press.”

HuffPost called the White House decision a violation of the First Amendment right to freedom of the press.

Der Tagesspiegel did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

On Tuesday, the WHCA also issued a statement protesting the new White House policy.

The move follows the Trump administration’s decision to bar the Associated Press from being in the pool because it has declined to refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America, the name Trump has assigned the body of water, or update its widely followed stylebook to reflect such a change.

Ms. Leavitt said the five major cable and broadcast television networks would continue to hold their rotating seats in the pool while the White House would add streaming services. Rotating print reporters and radio reporters would continue to be included, while new outlets and radio hosts would be added. — Reuters

Cone sticking to Gilas Pilipinas 12 regulars and three alternates

February 27, 2025 | 7:31 pm

CALL HIM “hard headed” but Gilas Pilipinas coach Tim Cone is sticking to his guns.

Amid passionate fans’ online rumblings for additions and/or changes to his small pool after the frustrating February window, Mr. Cone said he isn’t inclined to tinker with what he’s been implementing since Day One.

“At this point, no, we’re not going to add to the pool. We’re not going to subtract from the pool, unless there’s guys out there that don’t want to join us anymore,” said the Gilas mentor of his 12 regulars and three alternates who would embark on the bid to qualify for the 2027 Olympics.

“But as long as these guys want to continue to play and represent, we’re going to let them represent. People are going to get angry about it. They’re going to get angry at me about it. That’s the bottom line. But we came in with a program. We came with an idea and we’re not going to change it at that first point. We’ll see what happens.”

Mr. Cone explained the many intricacies of redoing things as far as the system, team chemistry and the like if new faces keep on coming in.

“It’s not that easy to pull somebody out or add to the pool or get a bigger pool. There’s finances involved. There’s budget. There’s extra travel time, more practice time. It’s not as simple as just saying, okay, now we’re going to go to 15 or 18 or 20 people,” he said.

“We came in with a program, and we’re going to stick to that program as much as we can. We’re not going to be too hard-headed about it, or I guess that’s the way I’m being described now, being hard-headed. But we suffered some failure at this point.

“Hopefully we can learn from it. But you don’t learn from success; you learn from failure. We’re not going to be great all the time and that’s just an impossible thing to do. But we can be better than what we were, that’s for darn sure.”

After a string of successes in 2024 highlighted by a famous upset of world No. 6 Latvia and No. 22 New Zealand and a 4-0 sweep of the first two windows of the FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers, Gilas stumbled big time in its recent foray.

Though they started with a come-from-behind win against host Qatar, the Nationals lost badly to Lebanon and Egypt in the Doha Invitational Cup then with tired legs, fell to Chinese-Taipei and the Tall Blacks in the Qualifiers on the road.

Mr. Cone admitted their mistake in subjecting the Pinoy dribblers to the rigors of playing three games in three days in Qatar, flying home before packing their bags again for Taiwan and then heading to Auckland immediately after.

Then there’s the difficulty of adjusting to life minus 7-foot-3 Kai Sotto, who’s out on an ACL injury, and trying to fast-track the integration of returning big man AJ Edu into the triangle offense.

“I really don’t have words for what happened there. It was hard. It was tough. We didn’t respond as well as we hoped,” he said. — Olmin Leyba

Quiambao powers Goyang vs Busan in Korean League

February 27, 2025 | 7:31 pm

KEVIN QUIAMBAO stamped his well-known versatility in an emphatic Korean Basketball League return after a stint in the final window of the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers with Gilas Pilipinas.

The Gilas winger flirted with a triple double of 12 points, eight rebounds and career-high 18 assists the Goyang Sono Skygunners stunned the Busan KCC Egis at its homecourt, 95-85, in the homestretch of the KBL regular season on Wednesday night.

It’s the third straight win for the Goyang in the last five games to climb to 13-26 in ninth place.

With Mr. Quiambao’s brilliance, Goyang stayed in the thick of the race for the sixth and last playoff slot, moving within striking distance of Anyang (14-25), Busan (15-25) and Wonju DB Promy (17-21) with still 15 games to spare.

The 23-year-old Mr. Quiambao, a two-time MVP and one-time champion for De La Salle University in the UAAP where he established himself as a point forward, just came off a tough campaign with Gilas last weekend.

The 6-foot-7 young star played limited action as Gilas stumbled to Chinese Taipei, 91-84, and New Zealand, 87-70, on the road.

After a flawless run in the first two windows, Mr. Quiambao and company thus settled for a 4-2 slate at second spot of Group B albeit already qualified for the Asia Cup proper in August in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Meanwhile, UAAP Finals MVP JD Cagulangan bested fellow Maroon Javi Gomez de Liaño with four points, five rebounds and two assists as Suwon KT Sonicboom (22-17) drubbed Anyang Jung Kwan Jang Red Boosters (14-25), 63-56. — John Bryan Ulanday

Lady Altas, Lady Knights remain unbeaten to lead NCAA volleyball

February 27, 2025 | 7:30 pm

Games on Friday
(San Beda Gym)
9 a.m. – EAC vs SSC-R (Men)
11 a.m. – EAC vs SSC-R (Women)
1 p.m. – San Beda vs AU (Women)
3 p.m. – San Beda vs AU (Men)

UNIVERSITY OF PERPETUAL Help fended off Jose Rizal University’s (JRU) late uprising and eked out a 25-17, 22-25, 25-14, 25-22 victory on Thursday to remain unscathed and on top in NCAA Season 100 women’s volleyball at the San Beda Gym.

Shaila Allaine Omipon and Winnie Bedana took turns and uncorked 21 and 20 points, respectively, to help propel the Lady Altas claim their second straight victory and keep their place at the helm.

“It’s a blessing in disguise that we lost a set so that we could learn from it,” said UPHSD coach Sandy Rieta.

Up two sets to one, the Las Piñas-based belles faced a rough challenge from the Lady Bombers in the fourth set when the former couldn’t easily put the latter away and even had to shatter a deadlock at 18.

But the prolific duo of Mses. Omipon and Bedana went to work and came through just in time to seal the deal.

JRU dropped to 0-2.

In the other women’s game, Colegio de San Juan de Letran Lady Knights also posted its second straight win with a 25-21, 32-34, 25-11, 25-21 win over Mapua University Lady Cardinals.

In men’s play, five-peat feat-seeking UPHSD clobbered JRU, 25-20, 25-21, 25-19, to likewise roll to a second win in a row.

Kobe Brian Tabuga and skipper Jefferson Marapoc were at the center of the storm after unloading 15 and 13 hits, respectively, for the Altas, who are still grieving the demise of their coach Sammy Acaylar just a little over a month ago. — Joey Villar

TNT, Gin Kings eye second win in Commissioner’s Cup semis

February 27, 2025 | 7:29 pm

Games on Friday
(PhilSports Arena)
5 p.m. – NorthPort vs Ginebra
7:30 p.m. – Rain or Shine vs TNT
*Ginebra, TNT lead series, 1-0

THE ONES who landed the first blow aren’t at ease. The ones on the receiving end aren’t in panic mode.

The protagonists in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup semifinals know all too well they’re in for what can be a war of attrition.

“It’s going to be a grind the whole way through,” said TNT coach Chot Reyes, whose troops seek a followup to their 88-84 opening nail-biter against Rain or Shine (ROS) in Friday’s Game 2 at the PhilSports Arena.

“We have no illusions that this will be easy by any means. They’re a very well-balanced, well-constructed, well-coached team. They’re very versatile. They have a great import with them. So we really have to be at our best.”

Holding a 1-0 lead like his pal Mr. Reyes, Tim Cone and his Barangay Ginebra charges refused to feel too good about themselves following their emphatic 115-93 beating of NorthPort.

“It’s only one game. We’ll see how this thing evolves over seven games. We didn’t win anything here,” said Mr. Cone.

“We won big (in Game 1) and we just had a really good shooting night and they had an off night. And those things have a tendency to turn around so we’re just going to put this one away and try to focus on Game 2. You know it takes four games to win this series.”

The results of Wednesday’s opening matches did little to shake the confidence of both ROS and NorthPort.

“We’re still good for now. We just have to watch the tape and then do the necessary adjustments,” said Batang Pier star Arvin Tolentino ahead of their 5 p.m. strike-back bid against the Gin Kings.

“This is not the time to feel down. I know, it’s a blowout loss and all, but we have to really stay positive because it’s a long series. Forget about this, tomorrow’s another day, another game.”

The Elasto Painters had a good opportunity to seal Game 1 but were doomed by turnovers in the stretch.

“We’re disappointed but we feel we have this big chance of getting back. We’re anticipating a long series and the more games we play, the better for us,” said ROS mentor Yeng Guiao, displaying the team’s outlook for the 7:30 p.m. second match. — Olmin Leyba

Thunder escape 18-point deficit, race past Nets

February 27, 2025 | 7:29 pm

CHET HOLMGREN scored nine of his 22 points in the fourth quarter for the Oklahoma City Thunder, who rallied from an 18-point deficit and pulled away for a 129-121 victory over the Brooklyn Nets on Wednesday in New York.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the Thunder with 27 points but was on the bench for Oklahoma City’s decisive 18-0 run. The rally occurred two nights after the Thunder blew a 25-point lead and allowed the final 16 points of the fourth quarter in an overtime loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Aaron Wiggins added 24 off the bench and Jalen Williams contributed 22 for the Thunder, who shot 53.3% and won for the 10^th time in 12 games. Holmgren pulled down a game-high 17 rebounds.

Oklahoma City scored 18 straight points in a span of 3:11 to turn a 103-99 deficit into a 117-103 advantage with 5:13 left as the trio of Holmgren, Williams and Cason Wallace combined for all of 16 points.

The Thunder took the lead for good with 7:38 remaining when Williams was credited with a layup as Keon Johnson was called for goaltending. Oklahoma City held a 117-103 edge after a Williams basket capped the spree.

Brooklyn’s Day’Ron Sharpe started for Nic Claxton (suspended due to flagrant-foul accumulation) and scored a career-high 25 points while collecting 16 rebounds. He scored 18 in Brooklyn’s 76-point first half, but the Nets lost for the third time in four games, were outscored 68-45 in the second half and 68-28 in the paint on the night.

Cameron Johnson added 19 for the Nets, as did Killian Hayes, who started for D’Angelo Russell (sprained right ankle). Ziaire Williams contributed 18 points and 10 rebounds and Keon Johnson finished with 16 points for the Nets, who shot 40.9% and sank 15 of their season-high 23 treys in the opening half.

Brooklyn wound up 23 of 61 (37.7%) from long distance.

The Nets led 30-12 after a dunk by Jalen Wilson and held a 40-29 edge after the opening quarter.

The Thunder sliced the gap to 52-50 on a 3 by Alex Caruso with 6:18 left in the half. Brooklyn countered Oklahoma City’s comeback try by ending the second quarter on a 24-11 run to take a 76-61 lead in the locker room following a 3-pointer by Cameron Johnson.

The Nets held a 13-point lead with 3:32 left in the third quarter and settled for a 96-90 edge entering the fourth.

PISTONS EXTEND WIN STREAK WITH IMPRESSIVE OUTING VS CELTICS
Malik Beasley scored 26 points in 22 minutes off the bench and the host Detroit Pistons extended their winning streak to eight games by cooling off the Boston Celtics 117-97 on Wednesday.

Detroit now has its longest winning streak in 17 years. The last time the Pistons won eight or more consecutive games came in 2008, when they strung together 10 victories from Jan. 23-Feb. 13.

Cade Cunningham had 21 points and 11 assists for Detroit, and Tobias Harris tossed in 16 points while grabbing nine rebounds. Jalen Duren added 13 points and 11 rebounds.

Jayson Tatum led the Celtics, who saw their six-game winning streak snapped, with 27 points. Derrick White and Payton Pritchard had 18 points apiece, while Kristaps Porzingis chipped in 11 points. Al Horford logged nine points and 10 rebounds.

The Pistons led by nine points after the first quarter and pushed the advantage early in the second. Boston rallied to tie it at 55-apiece entering halftime by making 11 3-pointers in the second quarter.

Tatum led the Celtics at the break with 15 points, while White and Pritchard had 12 apiece. Beasley led the Pistons with 12 points. — Reuters

Liverpool opens 13-point gap as Arsenal held by Nottingham Forest

February 27, 2025 | 7:28 pm

LONDON — Liverpool opened up a 13-point lead in the Premier League with a 2-0 victory over Newcastle United as closest pursuers Arsenal played out a 0-0 stalemate at Nottingham Forest on Wednesday.

If the weekend’s results appeared to have given Liverpool one hand on the trophy, Arne Slot’s team now seem unstoppable.

Goals in each half by Dominik Szoboszlai and Alexis Mac Allister were enough for Liverpool to see off Newcastle who slipped one place in the table to sixth.

Szoboszlai struck in the 11^th minute when Luis Diaz cut the ball back for the Hungarian whose shot beat Nick Pope.

Mac Allister doubled the home side’s lead in the 63^rdminute after Mohamed Salah picked him out.

Liverpool has 67 points from 28 games with Arsenal on 54, albeit having one game in hand. Forest has 48 points. — Reuters

Taurasi legacy

February 27, 2025 | 7:28 pm

“One more year!” The chants from the 11,333-strong crowd reverberated at the Footprint Center as the buzzer sounded to mark the end of the Mercury’s 2024 regular season. Considering that they spotted the visiting Storm 21 points in the first quarter alone, the fans in the arena could have left much earlier. Instead, they stayed on, bent on convincing the cornerstone of the purple and orange for the last two decades to keep plodding on. Needless to say, Diana Taurasi was noncommittal. “If it is the last time, it felt like the first time” was all she volunteered.

Certainly, Taurasi knew she didn’t have anything left to prove in and for the sport she thrived in since donning the colors of the University of Connecticut at the turn of the millennium. Three national championships, three WNBA titles, six Olympic gold medals, and six Euroleague crowns punctuated her hoops history. And that wasn’t even counting the individual honors she had been bestowed en route. The only question was whether she had already felt her heart to be full, never mind the prolonged valedictory the Mercury feted her within the week leading up to the homestand against the Storm.

Five months later, Taurasi gave a definitive answer. Not that anybody was shocked that she opted to formally put a period to her playing career the other day. At 42, she found the daily grind too taxing to be worth the opportunity cost. No doubt, she loved burning rubber; it was the intense preparation prior to doing so that finally ate at her resolve. Her advancing age, increasing susceptibility to injury, and, yes, her overcrowded mantel all signaled to her that it was time to exit stage left. “There’s still days where I’m like: I can still do this, I can still want to play basketball,” she said then. “But then there’s days where I can barely crawl out of bed. That’s the struggle when you’re at this point in your career; you have to do so much you have to do to get back on the court.”

Taurasi is embracing retirement as the WNBA’s undisputed leading scorer of all time, but she knows records are meant to be broken. For one year, at least, she got to see the significant strides the WNBA had made. A geometric progression in follower volume, charter flights, a new collective bargaining agreement on the horizon, expansion — all these, and more, made her beam with pride as she pondered on her invaluable contributions along the way. And so she looks ahead to better things, knowing full well the legacy she leaves behind.

Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994. He is a consultant on strategic planning, operations and human resources management, corporate communications, and business development.

PLDT eyes KKR stake to take control of Philippines fintech unit

February 27, 2025 | 7:07 pm

Bloomberg-PLDT headquarters — PLDT Inc. headquarters — BLOOMBERG

PLDT Inc. is interested in acquiring KKR & Co.’s stake in its fintech affiliate in a move that could allow the top Philippine telecom company retake control of the now-profitable business.

“It looks like Maya is starting to turn the corner. We’d be keen to increase our stake,” PLDT Chairman and CEO Manuel Pangilinan told reporters on Thursday.

PLDT reported its 2024 net income rose 21% to P32.3 billion ($558 million) as Maya Innovations Holdings became profitable in December, backed by the strong performance of its digital banking arm.

PLDT founded Maya — formerly called Voyager Innovations — in 2013 and owns about 38% of the company. KKR holds a stake of around 30%.

The global fund, which first invested in the fintech group in 2018, is “scanning the market for values for Maya,” Pangilinan said. “We’d be a buyer of whatever might be available,” he said.

Retaking control of Maya would allow PLDT to have more say in the company that’s facing growing competition with bigger rival GCash. Backed by Jack Ma’s Ant Group, GCash has dominated mobile payments in the Philippines and is working to build its banking business, an area of focus for Maya.

Along with PLDT and KKR, other investors in Maya include PLDT parent First Pacific Co., Chinese technology giant Tencent Holdings Ltd. and the World Bank’s International Finance Corp.

Mr. Pangilinan also said PLDT is in talks with a foreign investor for the sale of a minority stake in its data center unit after negotiations with CVC Capital Partners ended without a deal. He declined to identify the prospective buyer.

He earlier valued PLDT’s data center business at over $1 billion and a partial sale would help the group cut its debt. The company may sell some property assets if efforts to find an investor for the data center business fail.

“Compared to data centers around the region, we’re modest sized. We want to grow that so that we achieve the right timing for the right valuation for our data centers and not pre-sell it ahead of its time,” he said. — Bloomberg

Hope and light: DigiPlus, BingoPlus Foundation deliver resilience in action in South Luzon

February 27, 2025 | 6:41 pm

DigiPlus and BingoPlus Foundation delivers solar solutions in remote communities and recovery assistance to disaster-stricken families, as part of its KabuhayanPLUS resilience program.

DigiPlus Interactive, through its social development arm, BingoPlus Foundation, continued efforts in promoting resilience in vulnerable communities by bringing its KabuhayanPLUS program in South Luzon regions. Anchoring on disaster response and sustainable livelihood, the Foundation delivered solar solutions in Mangyan Indigenous People (IP) communities in Mindoro and financial assistance to typhoon victims in the Bicol Region as part of post-disaster recovery initiatives.

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Lighting Up IP Communities of Mindoro

Bright lights and bright smiles spread across the Mangyan Indigenous People (IP) community as BingoPlus Foundation trekked the mountains of Manalansay, Oriental Mindoro to provide solar lights and solar generators in response to Samahan ng Magbubukid ng Manaul or SaMa Manaul’s request for assistance to solve their electricity problems.

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According to IP residents of Manaul, the lack of electricity has impacted their ability to maximize hours to produce their handicraft and other forms of livelihood. Children must also study despite the dark, reading by the furnace or with only a flashlight.

Communications is also dependent on the ability to travel to the town proper to charge mobile phones.

“Even if I want to finish my work, I can’t because I can only work until there is light. As a mother, it really pains me to see my kids not being able to accomplish their requirements in school because it’s too dark to work at night,” said Liza Gayot, who’s been a long-time resident of Manaul. “I’m thankful for BingoPlus Foundation because you are the light of our life and home,” said Gayot. “After 20 years, we finally have lights in our own homes,” she added.

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Bringing Hope to Typhoon Victims in Bicol Region

Meanwhile, BingoPlus Foundation concluded its commitment to provide financial assistance to bereaved families of Super-Typhoon Kristine, as part of a P37-million pledge initiated since November 2024. From January to February 2025, the Foundation collaborated with the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Field Office V in Bicol Region to provide financial aid to 74 affected families from Camarines Sur, Albay, Sorsogon, Catanduanes and Masbate.

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The DSWD also donated family food packs, drinking water, hygiene supplies and first aid kits. The turnover ceremony held in Pili, Camarines Sur was joined by DSWD Assistant Secretary for Regional Operations Paul Ledesma and DSWD Bicol Regional Director Norman Laurio.

“Our hearts go out to all the families affected by Typhoon Kristine,” said Angela Camins-Wieneke, Executive Director of BingoPlus Foundation. “While the typhoon has since passed, the loss of loved ones — many of whom were breadwinners — is an additional burden to bear in the journey to recovery.” According to beneficiaries, the financial assistance of P250,000 will be used not only for house repairs, but also to sustain the education of orphaned children and daily household needs of families left behind.

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Noodle maker Nissin plans big investments, eyes pickup in demand

February 27, 2025 | 6:24 pm

Bloomberg-Nissin Food instant noodles — Packets of Nissin Food instant noodles sit on a shelf at a store in Hong Kong. — BLOOMBERG/CALVIN SIT

Nissin Foods Holdings Co., one of the world’s largest instant noodle makers, plans to invest “many hundreds of millions of dollars” in the next several years for expansion in Japan and elsewhere, according to its chief executive officer.

Nissin Foods expects continued demand for cheap precooked noodles even as the industry works to shed its image of being an unhealthy staple, President and CEO Koki Ando said in an interview on the sidelines of the World Instant Noodles Association summit in Manila on Wednesday.

“We are planning to increase our investments,” said Mr. Ando, who also heads the association. The Tokyo-based company expects to boost capital expenditure up until 2030, devoting “many hundreds of millions of dollars” in Japan and other countries, Mr. Ando added.

Instant noodles, originally from Japan and now a global staple, are undergoing a change as producers create healthier variations of the meal. They aim to revive interest in the product after consumption dropped in 2023 for the first time in four years. That followed a 14% increase between 2019 and 2022.

Global consumption of instant noodles dipped nearly 1% to 120.2 billion servings in 2023, based on the latest industry data. Last year’s number “slightly exceeded” 2023, Ando said, adding that the industry group sees at least 120 billion servings this year.

Demand grew during the coronavirus pandemic with families holed up in homes. But consumption eased in 2023 as economies reopened and noodle prices rose in many countries, he said. China, Indonesia and India are the world’s top instant noodle markets.

Nissin Foods reduced salt in its Udon noodle by a third between 2005 to 2024, company data show. It also launched products fortified with various nutrients, such as protein, vitamins and minerals. —Bloomberg/Neil Jerome Morales