From our Business Section

 

From our Business Section

Philippine Commission on Women (PCW) Commissioner and Airspeed Group of Companies Founder Rosemarie Rafael (left), PCW Co-Chair and Richprime Global Inc. CEO Myrna Yao (center), and Dr. Karen De Asis (right), founder of MKS Marketing Consulting and 2025 ASEAN Women Entrepreneur awardee.

11 ASEAN member states and partner countries in one immersive exhibition in Manila, Nov. 10–12, 2026

“Way of the Weave,” the central theme of the ASEAN Trade Expo 2026, will bring together the cultures, craftsmanship, and enterprises of ASEAN countries and Southeast Asian partners at Okada Manila from November 10 to 12, 2026, as one of the flagship events of the Philippines’ ASEAN Chairship. Read more

Warning: What every family business needs to know about AI

 

BY TOM OLIVER

OCTOBER 26, 2026

My competitors aren’t doing much about artificial intelligence (AI). We’re already ahead of them. Why should I hurry?”

A family business owner said this when I raised the urgency of transforming his company around AI. Think of a US logistics business, well positioned in its market, but operating on very tight margins.

My team and I help businesses make this transition to becoming fully “AI-native.” What does this mean? Becoming AI-native means building AI into the everyday running of your business—how work gets done, how information is shared and how decisions are made.

I explained where AI could improve his operations and offered to help. He shrugged off the urgency. He believed his competitors were moving slowly, if at all.

His conclusion was that he had time. This is wrong. I encounter this problem repeatedly in family businesses: There is no structured approach to AI because the owner has not made it a priority.

Your greatest strength = often your greatest weakness

An owner-led business has an enormous advantage. Decisions can be made quickly. But the reverse is equally powerful. If the owner overlooks a threat, the business remains exposed. If the owner sees no urgency, everyone else learns that there is no urgency.

The owner’s blind spots become the company’s blind spots. This is especially dangerous with AI. You can have talented people experimenting in individual departments while the company as a whole continues operating much as it did before. Employees write emails and produce presentations faster. Yet the underlying business has barely changed.

The owner does not need to become an AI engineer. But the owner must understand enough to recognize what is at stake, develop a vision for the business and bring in people who can deliver it. You can delegate the technical work. You cannot delegate the responsibility for giving the business direction.

‘My competitors are slow’ is no reassurance

There are three problems with the logistics owner’s argument. First, if your competitors really are moving slowly, you have an opportunity to get ahead. Why treat their inaction as permission to waste your advantage? In a business with thin margins, even a modest improvement in operating costs can make a meaningful difference to profitability.

Second, how much do you really know about what your competitors are doing? You do not sit in their internal meetings. You cannot see every project they are testing. A competitor has little reason to announce an advantage before it is ready.

By the time its lower prices, faster responses or better service become visible, you may be seeing the outcome of months of work. Starting then means beginning from behind.

Third, your next serious competitor may be a company you do not currently regard as a competitor. A new entrant can build around AI from the start, without having to defend the systems and habits your business has accumulated over decades.

The pace will differ across industries. But assuming that tomorrow’s competition will look like yesterday’s is a poor basis for protecting a family enterprise.

ILLUSTRATION BY RUTH MACAPAGAL

What does ‘AI-native’ actually mean?

It means designing the business so that AI is part of how work gets done, information moves and decisions are supported. Buying subscriptions for employees is only a beginning.

Think about how information travels through a traditional company. A customer raises an issue. Someone writes a report. A manager summarizes it. Another manager presents it. Eventually, the person with authority hears a filtered version and makes a decision.

An AI-native approach asks how much of that delay can be removed. Can relevant information reach the right people sooner? Can routine work happen automatically? Can a team act within clear limits without waiting for every decision to climb the management ladder?

Leaders and human judgment remain essential. But layers that exist mainly to collect, summarize and pass on information deserve a hard look.

This also requires making company knowledge usable by AI. Knowledge trapped in filing cabinets, scattered inboxes or the founder’s head cannot support the whole enterprise. Records need to be accurate, organized and accessible to the appropriate people and systems.

Where appropriate, record and transcribe meetings with participants’ permission and suitable confidentiality controls. Capture decisions, responsibilities and deadlines so they can be found and acted on. Stop valuable knowledge disappearing when a meeting ends.

For a logistics company, opportunities might include checking invoices, flagging suspicious transactions, reducing repetitive back-office work and responding faster to customers. Better information can also support decisions about vehicles, warehouses and other capital spending.

These are opportunities to test, rather than savings to assume. AI requires investment, reliable information and people who understand the business. Its value must show up in performance.

Give urgency a structure

Announcing “we need more AI” will achieve little. Neither will appointing a younger family member simply because he or she uses the latest tools. Knowing the tools does not qualify someone to lead the transformation.

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Start by asking where your business loses the most time, money or customers. Where do people repeatedly enter the same information? Which decisions are delayed because nobody has a clear picture?

Choose an important, manageable process. Put a capable person in charge, give that person access to the relevant expertise and agree what success looks like. Measure the starting point: time taken, cost, errors or customer response. Then compare results after the change, including the cost of implementation.

Train the people doing the work. Explain how their roles will change and involve them in improving the process. Their practical knowledge can help prevent an impressive demonstration from becoming an expensive disappointment.

Set clear boundaries as well. Decide which information can be shared, who can access it and which actions require human approval. AI can produce confident mistakes. Faster work is valuable only when the business can trust the result.

Keep the wider vision in view. Use the first project to learn how to improve the next and connect it to the wider business. A collection of isolated experiments is no substitute for a company moving in a clear direction.

Family businesses can move remarkably fast once the owner commits. Use that strength while you still have room to choose the pace.

The three to thrive

1. Lead the urgency. Make AI transformation an owner-level priority. Learn enough to set the direction, then secure the expertise to execute it.

2. Set your own pace. Assess your opportunities and vulnerabilities. A competitor’s apparent inaction is no reason to postpone your own progress.

3. Give ambition a structure. Start with a measurable business problem, appoint an accountable leader, train your people and build toward a connected, AI-native enterprise.

******

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Indigenous Peoples deserve more than a month of recognition

By Manila Bulletin Newsroom

Published Oct 25, 2026 12:05 am | Updated Oct 24, 2026 05:18 pm

October is drawing to a close. Soon, November will arrive, followed by the final month of the year. Amid the many issues occupying the country’s attention, one important observance risks passing with little notice: National Indigenous Peoples Month.

Declared through Presidential Proclamation No. 1906 in 2009, the month-long observance with the theme, “Empowering Indigenous Peoples: Strengthening Rights, Culture, and Ancestral Domains,” deserves more than ceremonial recognition. It should remind us that Indigenous Peoples are an essential part of our history, culture, and national identity. Their concerns must be our concerns, too.

Indigenous communities are not simply figures in history books or participants in cultural festivals. They are living communities whose languages, traditions, knowledge, and practices have been passed down through generations. Their understanding of the land, traditional livelihoods, and stewardship of natural resources form part of the heritage that has shaped our nation.

When their ancestral lands are threatened, their traditions disappear. When their voices are ignored, the loss is not theirs alone. It is a loss for the entire country.

This October also marks the 29th anniversary of Republic Act No. 8371, or the Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act (IPRA) of 1997. The law recognizes and protects their rights, including those involving ancestral domains, cultural identity, and participation in decisions affecting their communities.

Yet nearly three decades after its enactment, considerable challenges remain.

The Commission on Human Rights (CHR), citing World Bank data, noted that as of early 2023, only 55 of 257 ancestral domains with approved Certificates of Ancestral Domain Title had been fully registered. Meanwhile, Philippine Statistics Authority figures showed that poverty incidence among Indigenous Peoples reached 32.4 percent in 2023, affecting approximately 2.93 million people.

These figures represent communities confronting difficulties in securing their lands, accessing education and healthcare, and obtaining basic government services. They also raise questions about how development is pursued, particularly when projects affect ancestral domains.

During this year's celebration in Cotabato, National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) Secretary Nancy Catamco emphasized that Indigenous communities must actively participate in decisions affecting their lands and development.

“Our role should go beyond being beneficiaries,” she said.

Her statement deserves attention. Indigenous Peoples should not merely receive the benefits of development. They must have a meaningful voice in determining how development takes place in their communities.

This responsibility does not belong to the government alone.

The media must also provide space for Indigenous Peoples' concerns in the national conversation. Coverage should go beyond cultural celebrations, traditional costumes, and colorful festivals. Issues involving ancestral lands, education, poverty, displacement, and cultural preservation deserve sustained attention in news reports, features, documentaries, and opinion pages.

Their stories must be told, and more importantly, they must be given opportunities to tell these stories themselves.

The same responsibility extends to our schools and universities. Young Filipinos must understand that Indigenous Peoples are not separate from our national history. Their contributions, experiences, and present-day struggles are part of the Filipino story. Learning about them should extend beyond textbooks and occasional school celebrations.

Campus journalists, educators, and student organizations can help bring these concerns into classrooms and public discussions. Through education and meaningful exchanges, the younger generation can develop greater appreciation for the cultures and communities that form part of our shared heritage.

As National Indigenous Peoples Month comes to a close, we must remember that recognizing Indigenous Peoples should not be confined to October. Their rights deserve protection throughout the year, their cultures deserve preservation, and their concerns deserve a place in every discussion about the nation's future.

After all, Indigenous Peoples are not merely part of our past. They are part of our present and future. Their history is our history. Their heritage is our heritage. And their concerns must be our concerns, too.

Popular Ilocano singer killed in motorcycle crash in Ilocos Sur

By Freddie Lazaro

MAGSINGAL, Ilocos Sur – Singer Wilma Pando Valencia, whose recordings of popular love songs helped promote Ilocano music, was killed in a vehicular accident on Sunday, Oct. 11.

Investigation said Valencia, 56, of Santo Domingo, Ilocos Sur, was traveling southbound at around 2:30 a.m. when a vehicle sideswiped her motorcycle in Barangay Panay Norte here.

She was taken to a hospital where she was declared dead.

Police said the incident was initially reported as a single-vehicle accident but follow-up investigation led to the arrest of the driver of the vehicle allegedly involved in the crash.

Valencia was popular for her renditions of popular songs, including “Narigat Iti Manglipat” (It is Difficult to Forget) and “Gapu Ken Ayat” (Because of Love), which gained radio airplay and following in Ilocano-speaking communities.

A fellow musician in a social media tribute said Valencia recorded hundreds of Ilocano songs and contributed to the “40 Non-Stop Ilocano Disco Medley” produced by Alfonso Lao. Music listings also credit her as the composer of “Gapu Ken Ayat.”

Fellow musicians and listeners mourned and paid tribute to her for her contributions to the preservation and promotion of Ilocano music.

Valencia was a project development officer for the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) of the Department of Social Welfare and Development in Region 1 (Ilocos).

 

Guests and community members during the launch of the new weaving training center in Bukidnon which provides a dedicated community space for weaving, skills development, knowledge transfer, and production.

Maybank Women Eco-Weavers (MWEW) launches second Weaving Training Center in the Philippines

Maybank Foundation, the social impact arm of Maybank Group, and ANTHILL Fabric Gallery, together with the Daraghuyan Bukidnon Tribe, officially launched the Daraghuyan Bukidnon Balay Hu Paglala Ha Abaka – Maybank Women Eco-Weavers (MWEW) ANTHILL Abaca Weaving Training Centre at the Daraghuyan Tribal Housing Village in Barangay Dalwangan, Malaybalay City, Bukidnon. Read more

HOW TO BE ALWAYS HAPPY IN LIFE

1. There is no problem that has no solution. There are solutions to the pains you are passing through.
2. The way you picture yourself in your mind can affect your happiness. Picture yourself as a valuable and beautiful person. Avoid low self-esteem and inferiority complex.
3. Do not mind about what people say about you. Some people are sadists. They can just say things just to make you feel sad.
4. Make friends with reasonable people who make you happy. Do not make friends with people who make jest of you or laugh at you over your challenges.
5. At your leisure time, keep yourself busy with your favorite hobbies like sports, games, watching movies, surfing the internet, playing computer games, etc.
6. Do not allow anyone to intimidate you with money and material things. A poor man today can become rich tomorrow. Change is constant.
7. No matter what you are passing through today, do not give up. As long as there is life, there is hope.
8. Be very prayerful. Pray without ceasing. Prayer is a catalyst that can speed up your blessings to come to you on time.
9. Be courageous to go for what you want. Life is all about risk. If you don't take a risk, you will not get the desires of your heart.
10. Surround yourself with positive and supportive people.
11. Practice gratitude daily to appreciate what you have.
12. Focus on your goals and work diligently towards them.

Philippine Peso Forecast to Reach ₱64 Against US Dollar by End of October

The Philippine peso is projected to weaken further against the US dollar, with exchange rate forecasts indicating a possible ₱64.14 per dollar by October 30, 2026.

Based on the projected figures, the exchange rate could reach ₱64.10 on October 28 and ₱64.12 on October 29.

A weaker peso could increase the peso value of dollar-denominated remittances from overseas Filipino workers and seafarers. However, it may also raise the cost of imported fuel, food, and other essential commodities.

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