Filipino stars are once again making their mark on the international stage as several local actors earned nominations at the 2026 Seoul International Drama Awards (SDA), one of Asia's most prestigious television awards events.
Among the biggest Filipino names nominated for the Outstanding Asian Star category are Anne Curtis, Paulo Avelino, Kim Chiu, Dingdong Dantes, Joshua Garcia, Gerald Anderson, Carlo Aquino, Angelica Panganiban, Bela Padilla, and Shaina Magdayao.
The nominations come as the SDA announced a record-breaking year, receiving 352 drama entries from 46 countries and regions—the highest number of submissions in the festival's history. The figure surpassed the previous record of 346 entries set in 2024 and is significantly higher than last year's 276 submissions.
For Filipino fans, the spotlight is now on the Outstanding Asian Star voting, which officially opened on June 15 and will run until July 14 through the IdolChamp app.
A total of 23 Filipino actors and actresses are competing in the category, representing some of the country's most talked-about television projects.
The Philippine nominees are:
The Outstanding Asian Star award recognizes performers who have made a significant impact in six participating territories: the Philippines, South Korea, China, Japan, Singapore, and Thailand.
Meanwhile, South Korea's nominees include some of the biggest names in Hallyu today, including Jun Ji-hyun, Gang Dong-won, Kim Seon-ho, Go Youn-jung, Ji Chang-wook, Doh Kyung-soo, Kim Woo-bin, Suzy, Lim Yoon-a, Park Bo-young, and BLACKPINK member Jisoo.
Thailand is also strongly represented with nominees such as Win Metawin, Gemini Norawit, Milk Pansa Vosbein, Love Pattranite Limpatiyakorn, Namtan Tipnaree, Film Rachanun, and Rebecca Patricia Armstrong.
Beyond the fan-voted categories, this year's Seoul International Drama Awards showcases productions from across Asia, Europe, North America, Latin America, Oceania, and Africa. Organizers also noted a growing number of short-form drama submissions and increased participation from African countries, with Algeria, Rwanda, and Togo joining the competition for the first time.
The 21st Seoul International Drama Awards will be held on Oct. 8 at KBS Hall in Seoul, with the official list of nominees for the international competition expected to be announced later.
Published Jun 15, 2026 12:05 pm
Money sent home by overseas Filipinos (OFs) fell to $2.72 billion in April, dropping from the $2.87 billion recorded in March to hit its lowest level since May last year, as tighter budgets constrained cash transfers.
According to the latest data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) released on Monday, June 15, cash remittances in April emerged as the lowest in nearly a year, since hitting $2.66 billion in May 2025. Despite the month-on-month decline, cash remittances increased by 2 percent compared to the $2.66 billion recorded in April last year.
During the month, land-based workers contributed $2.12 billion to the total, a 2.1 percent year-on-year increase, while sea-based workers brought in $590 million, up 1.9 percent. The BSP noted that cash remittances in April remained resilient “amid prevailing global economic conditions.”
Meanwhile, Ruben Carlo O. Asuncion, chief economist at the Union Bank of the Philippines, said the softer April inflows were due to cautious cash transfers driven by “tighter budgets” among overseas workers facing global uncertainty. Asuncion added that news about the looming signing of a peace deal between the US and Iran “could help stabilize employment prospects and support remittance flows from the region, reducing downside risks in the near term.”
“Overall, remittances should remain resilient, but growth is likely to stay modest as elevated inflation continues to constrain both senders and recipients,” Asuncion said.
For SM Investments Corp. Group economist Robert Dan Roces, the month-on-month easing could not necessarily be attributed to the Middle East conflict, as it typically points to seasonality or changes in deployment and transfers.
“One month of softer remittances is usually more about timing effects, seasonality, or fluctuations in deployment and transfers rather than a direct impact from the Middle East conflict,” Roces said, adding that it is too hasty to link a single month’s data to the war. “If anything, the bigger concern is whether a prolonged conflict starts affecting employment, incomes, or the mobility of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in the region.”
Personal remittances—a broader category that includes informal channels and in-kind transfers—reached $3.04 billion during the month, up 2.1 percent from $2.97 billion in the same month last year.
From January to April, cash remittances increased by 2.6 percent to $11.40 billion from $11.11 billion in the same period last year. This year-to-date figure follows a record-breaking performance in 2025, when annual cash inflows reached an all-time high of $35.63 billion.
During the first four months of 2026, the United States (US) remained the primary source of cash remittances, accounting for 39.7 percent of the total. This was followed by Singapore at 7.3 percent, Saudi Arabia at 6.4 percent, Japan at 5.1 percent, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at 4.6 percent.
Cumulative personal remittances for the first four months reached $12.70 billion, a 2.7 percent increase from the $12.37 billion recorded a year earlier.
According to the BSP, the US’s dominance as a source is partly due to the common practice of remittance centers abroad routing funds through US-based correspondent banks. Additionally, several money couriers are headquartered in the US, leading banks to attribute the origin of funds to the most immediate source rather than the actual country where the worker is located.
Cash remittances, which serve as a major economic growth engine, accounted for 7.4 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) in the first quarter of 2026. They accounted for 7.3 percent of GDP in 2025, a slight decline from 7.5 percent in 2024 and 7.7 percent in 2023.
For the full year of 2026, the BSP forecasts cash remittances to reach $36.7 billion, representing a 3 percent growth rate from the actual 2025 figure. However, this expansion is expected to ease from the
Cheap ₱50 fuel could return, but will take 6 to 12 months — DOE | ||
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Petroleum prices may return to normal within six months to one year as the United States (US) and Iran move closer to a deal that could end the war in the Middle East, according to the Department of Energy (DOE). Price adjustments on fuel will also take effect this week: a maximum price rollback of ₱5.71 per liter for diesel and ₱2.50 per liter for kerosene this week. Gasoline prices, meanwhile, may either see a rollback of ₱0.32 per liter or increase by up to ₱1.68 per liter. Read more |
During my time as a radio host at different radio stations in the Philippines, this song was requested innumerable times. “Those Were the Days” is a song credited to Gene Raskin, who put new English lyrics to the Russian romance song “Дорогой длинною” — literally, “By the Long Road” — composed by Boris Fomin (1900–1948), with words by the poet Konstantin Podrevsky. It deals with reminiscence about youth and romantic idealism. It also deals with tavern activities, which include drinking, singing, and dancing.
Mary Hopkin’s 1968 debut single, “Those Were the Days,” which was produced by Paul McCartney of the Beatles and arranged by Richard Hewson, became a No. 1 hit on the UK Singles Chart and the Canadian RPM Magazine charts. The song also reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, behind “Hey Jude” by the Beatles.
McCartney also recorded Hopkin singing “Those Were the Days” in other languages for release in their respective countries: In Spain, “Qué tiempo tan feliz”; in West Germany, “An jenem Tag”; in Italy, “Quelli erano giorni”; and in France, “Le temps des fleurs.”
Yes, time flies by. I think about sitting in a jet plane. Almost November 2024 again. Wow!
Do you always count the days until the next legal holiday when you are not on duty? Or do you start longing for Christmas as early as September? And do you hope the weeks or months pass quickly until the next possible salary increase?
Many times, we are really in too much of a hurry and feel uncomfortable when we notice how time flies. We have no time for someone or something, or even for ourselves.
When I was still a teenager, I longed to be an adult already. Later, I enjoyed listening to my grandmother’s stories, such as “Once upon a time” or “When I was young,” from her “yesterday’s life.”
After a couple of years, especially while observing that time really flies like a rocket to the moon, I also have the same question in mind: Are the present hours and days less valuable?
Of course, each day has its own set of happiness and trials. But it also holds great possibilities for us to take the initiative to do or to move something, if … !
Many of us retreat into the past and forget their present existence. A possible topsy-turvy world of golden youth makes us forget that the past also had its share of disappointments, pains, tears, darkness, tricky and desperate days — yes, lost days and irretrievable time.
Without having achieved anything, we dream our impossible dreams from past to future and vice versa. We forget that between yesterday and tomorrow is our valuable present. Well, now, well then — if we know just how to fulfill this period.
“Once upon a time there was a tavern
Where we used to raise a glass or two
Remember how we laughed away the hours
Think of all the great things we would do?
Those were the days, my friend
We thought they’d never end
We’d sing and dance forever and a day
We’d live the life we choose
We’d fight and never lose
For we were young and sure to have our way…”
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Email: doringklaus@gmail.com or follow me on Facebook, LinkedIn or X – Twitter or visit my www.germanexpatinthephilippines.blogspot.com or www.klausdoringsclassicalmusic.blogspot.com .
