“Happy birthday, Jesus.”
-Beneath this familiar Christmas greeting lies a demanding idea: God did not address humanity’s deepest failure from a distance. He did not issue instructions from afar or rely on intermediaries alone. He came near. He entered history. He took on flesh. Emmanuel, God with us, was not an abstraction, a slogan, or a policy statement. He was presence made real, authority made visible, and commitment made costly.
-The Gospel of John captures this with stark clarity: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” The Logos, or word, did not remain theoretical. After four centuries of waiting, God did not send another commandment or reform agenda. He sent Himself. Salvation came not only with truth, but with proximity.
-That choice offers a powerful lens for governance in the Philippines today. If the central failure of humanity required God’s incarnate presence, then persistent national failures —weak institutions, uneven growth, recurring corruption, vulnerability to disasters, and political exclusion — cannot be resolved by plans, budgets, and rhetoric alone. They require a government that is likewise with the people: present in execution, visible in accountability, and credible in leadership.
-WAITING, THEN ACTING
-Before Christ’s coming, Israel endured long periods of conquest, decline, and silence. Institutions weakened. Authority was imposed rather than trusted. Hope narrowed. The people waited.
-The waiting ended not with a decree but with action. “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” God entered the constraints of human life — time, space, vulnerability. Presence was not symbolic; it was costly.
-Many Filipinos should recognize a familiar waiting today. Economic growth is reported, budgets expand, and reform programs are announced. Yet for millions, progress feels abstract. It is remote. Prices rise faster than wages. Taxes oppress both households and business. Public services fall short. Disasters expose gaps in project design and execution, as well as in preparedness and response. The recurring question is not philosophical but practical: Where is the government when it matters?
-PRESENCE AS A GOVERNING PRINCIPLE
-In contrast, Jesus’ ministry was defined by proximity. He taught where people gathered, healed where suffering was visible, and confronted abuses of authority directly. He did not operate through distant intermediaries. He bore the costs of engagement — misunderstanding, opposition, and the cross.
-This offers a direct parallel to governance as we know it in the Philippines. Presence is not sentiment; it is a governing principle. It means policies designed with real conditions in mind, leaders accountable for outcomes, and institutions that do not retreat behind procedure when results fall short.
-In the Philippine context, governance often relies on form rather than substance. Development frameworks are comprehensive, but execution is performative and inconsistent. Laws are passed, but enforcement is uneven. Authority exists, yet responsibility is diffused and denied.
-BUDGETS AS INCARNATION OR ITS ABSENCE
-If Emmanuel is truth embodied, then the budget is where government either becomes real — or remains a ghost. A budget should translate intention into action, priorities into programs, and authority into results.
-Yet the national budget increasingly reveals a gap between design and delivery. While the executive proposes the initial expenditure budget, the legislative process introduces extensive dubious insertions that fragment priorities. Projects end up with weak links to agency mandates. Funds are divided into localized items that are politically attractive but administratively difficult to monitor.
-This mirrors a government that speaks but does not dwell, announcing priorities without fully inhabiting their consequences. Implementing agencies are tasked to execute projects they neither planned nor evaluated, blurring accountability when outcomes disappoint. We see these today in the unfolding flood control scandal.
-Unprogrammed appropriations in this country have destroyed the budget process. Intended as contingent spending, they have expanded to levels that effectively create a parallel budget. This weakens fiscal discipline and expands discretion, especially when revenue assumptions prove optimistic. Like authority exercised without presence, spending authority without assured funding or clear safeguards erodes credibility.
-In contrast, an “Emmanuel” approach to budgeting would emphasize clarity of purpose, restraint in discretion, and accountability in execution. It would favor fewer, well-designed programs over many fragmented ones, and outcomes over announcements.
-POLITICAL DYNASTIES AND THE PROBLEM OF DISTANCE
-No discussion of absence and distance in Philippine governance is complete without confronting the role of political dynasties. For decades, power has been concentrated in a narrow set of families that dominate both national and local offices, often across generations.
-Dynastic politics creates a form of representation that is formal but hollow. Officials may occupy office continuously, yet governance remains distant because accountability is internalized within families rather than exercised by institutions or voters. Public office becomes an inherited asset rather than a public trust.
-We are familiar with the story that concentration of power weakens competition, discourages merit, and limits the entry of new leadership. It also helps explain why budget distortions persist. Congressional insertions, discretionary allocations, and localized projects often serve to entrench political networks rather than address systemic needs. In the Philippines, the budget has become a tool of political maintenance rather than national transformation.
-In our system, government presence is selective. It is felt during elections, ribbon-cuttings, or moments of patronage — but absent in sustained service delivery, national calamities, institutional reform, and long-term investment. The poor encounter government episodically, not consistently. At various levels, many public servants transact, but they rarely transform.
-Emmanuel represents the opposite logic. God did not send representatives to act in His place while remaining distant. He came Himself. Dynastic politics, by contrast, multiplies intermediaries while insulating the elected from accountability. Philippine dynasties produce continuity without reform.
-AUTHORITY THAT ACCEPTS COST
-After the resurrection, Scripture tells us that Jesus declared that all authority had been given to Him. He then delegated it, sending others to preach, disciple, and baptize. The call is to teach and serve. Authority, in this model, is inseparable from cost and accountability.
-This stands in tension with contemporary governance shaped by dynastic protection. Filipino politics dictates authority should expand, but risk is socialized and responsibility diluted. Oversight institutions struggle to penetrate entrenched networks. Audit findings recur — overpricing, delays, weak procurement — yet sanctions are uneven and slow. Worse, as in the flood control anomaly, audit could be compromised.
-The parallel is instructive. Emmanuel did not avoid the cost of engagement. Philippines-style governance avoids cost and inevitably retreats into distance and defensiveness.
-INSTITUTIONS REFLECT COMMITMENT
-Jesus’ parable of the soils offers another parallel. Systems, like hearts, fail when commitment is shallow or divided. Reform collapses when resistance carries no cost and integrity no protection.
-Institutions weakened by political accommodation lose their capacity to deliver. Budgets distorted by narrow interests cannot produce inclusive growth. And when enforcement is selective, trust declines, raising the economic cost of compliance, investment, and reform.
-An Emmanuel-centered governance framework demands institutions that are present where rules are tested: procurement, regulation, taxation, and justice. Presence here means consistency, not perfection.
-EMMANUEL AS A TEST OF ECONOMIC LEADERSHIP
-The prophet Isaiah spoke of light breaking into darkness. Apostle Paul described power that chose restraint and service. Emmanuel is not sentiment; it is a standard.
-Applied to economic leadership, the test is straightforward. Does government show up where risks are highest and returns politically lowest? Does the budget protect long-term capacity or merely accommodate dynastic bargaining? Do institutions correct failure or normalize it?
-Just as salvation required God’s presence, development requires leadership that resists distortion, disciplines discretion, and accepts accountability. It’s about time that the Filipinos experienced government not through speeches but through stable prices, robust growth, efficient services, more jobs, and institutionalized fairness.
-CHRISTMAS WITHOUT DISTANCE
-Christmas, then, is not about comfort. It is about proximity and responsibility. Emmanuel challenges our leaders to govern without distance — budgets that reflect priorities rather than bargaining power, institutions that enforce rules rather than negotiate them, and political systems that open space for merit, renewal, and accountability.
-For Filipinos, the implication is equally direct. Distance, dynastic dominance, impunity, and indifference persist because they are tolerated. The Philippines will therefore be shaped less by ideals than by what they accept as normal.
-Jesus’ promise — “I am with you always” — offers assurance, but it also establishes a standard for public leadership. Isaiah makes the implication explicit: with Emmanuel, “the government shall be upon His shoulder.” Authority, in this vision, is not distant or delegated away. It is borne personally, tested in crisis, and exercised in full view of the people. Presence matters most in times of calamity. Leadership matters when institutions falter and citizens are disillusioned and angry. And integrity matters because the Philippines today is in urgent need of clear, credible moral purpose.
-With Emmanuel, the challenge is not symbolic. Rising to it means building a government that is with the people. It is the difference between policy that exists on paper and governance that works in practice.
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-Diwa C. Guinigundo is the former deputy governor for the Monetary and Economics Sector, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP). He served the BSP for 41 years. In 2001-2003, he was alternate executive director at the International Monetary Fund in Washington, DC. He is the senior pastor of the Fullness of Christ International Ministries in Mandaluyong.
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+ By Adrian H. Halili, Reporter
+CONGRESS on Monday ratified the bicameral conference committee report on the P6.793-trillion national budget for 2026, marking the end of contentious deliberations that unfolded against the backdrop of a multibillion-peso corruption scandal.
+Senator Sherwin T. Gatchalian, who heads the Senate Finance Committee, said next year’s budget is mainly focused on improving education, health, and agriculture.
+“These highlights illustrate our commitment to strengthening the services that carry the most significant impact on the daily lives of our fellow Filipinos — better education for our children, adequate healthcare for those in need, and long-term food security for our communities,” he told plenary before the Senate ratified the report through a voice vote.
+At the same time, the House of Representatives approved the ratification of the 2026 General Appropriations Act (GAA) in under two minutes, also through a voice vote.
+After Congress’ ratification, the GAA will be sent to Malacañang for President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr.’s signature.
+Mr. Marcos is expected to sign the 2026 national budget on Jan. 5.
+Mr. Gatchalian said the bicameral panel had also enforced safeguards that would ensure transparency and accountability during budget process.
+“The bicameral conference committee was also very deliberate in ensuring that equal attention was given to protecting the management of public funds — through safeguards that are anchored on transparency and accountability,” he said.
+Reforms include the uploading of budget documents online, the livestreaming of bicameral proceedings, and the involvement of civil society in budget deliberations.
+This year, several transparency initiatives were implemented during budget deliberations, amid public outrage over congressional insertions and opaque allocations in the 2025 national budget.
+Government officials, lawmakers and contractors allegedly colluded to siphon off billions from funds meant for flood control projects.
+During deliberations, the bicameral panel raised funding for the education sector to P1.35 trillion, which Mr. Gatchalian said was equivalent to 4.4% of economic output.
+The budget of the Department of Education was increased by P47.18 billion to P961.32 billion, which would mainly be used for the construction of 34,000 new classrooms.
+Funds would also be used to support the school feeding program with P25.7 billion aimed at covering 180 days and the procurement of textbooks at P19.51 billion.
+“There will be clear and meaningful steps to reduce the shortage of classrooms. Millions of malnourished students will benefit from the School-Based Feeding Program. And we will ensure that every student has their own textbook,” Mr. Gatchalian said.
+The budget of state universities and colleges was also raised by P6.22 billion to P137.9 billion under the 2026 national spending plan.
+Funding under the health sector now stands at P447.6 billion, after lawmakers raised the Department of Health’s budget by P14.68 billion to P297.85 billion.
+The budget of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) was increased by P16.52 billion to P129.78 billion as the additional funds were rechanneled from the Public Works department.
+Mr. Gatchalian said the panel also hiked funding for Zero-Balance Billing program for government hospitals to P1 billion, and expanded the program to include selected local government units.
+The panel had also raised the Agriculture department’s budget by P5.48 billion to P185.77 billion to fund the construction of farm-to-market roads, post-harvest facilities, and support its modernization program.
+“Programs that will help our farmers’ income and our country’s food security, such as credit insurance and direct market access, will now be properly funded,” the senator said.
+The bicameral committee has slashed the Department of Public Works and Highway’s (DPWH) budget by P94.89 billion to P529.595 billion, mainly from the P52.3-billion cut for foreign-assisted projects.
+Unprogrammed allocations are now set at P243.4 billion, close to the P250 billion under the National Expenditure Plan. These include P4.32 billion to support Fiscal Support Arrearages for Comprehensive Automotive Resurgence Strategy Program, and P250 million for the Revitalizing the Automotive Industry for Competitiveness Enhancement Program.
+Unprogrammed appropriations are standby funds for pre-planned government projects or emergency contingencies, which are sourced from revenues or new collections.
+Adolfo Jose A. Montesa, an adviser for the People’s Budget Coalition, said that delays in the bicameral conference could have been avoided if lawmakers had finalized the funding for infrastructure projects before the start of proceedings.
+“The delays could have been avoided if the finalization of the projects of the DPWH, farm-to-market roads, etc. came earlier than the bicam, which it should have,” he said in a Viber message.
+Mr. Montesa said there were improvements in the budget process “but there has been a clear crisis of trust in the budget process, which requires more than just piecemeal or incremental reforms.”
+“Full transparency is necessary, but not sufficient,” he said. “Declaring that the budget is ‘corruption-proof’ or ‘pork-free’ should be up to the people, not the politicians.”
+John Paolo R. Rivera, a senior research fellow at the Philippine Institute for Development Studies, said that delays in the budget proceedings indicated a week institutional capacity and coordination.
+“Compared with 2025, the budget process showed greater emphasis on transparency, but the persistence of delays suggests that institutional capacity and coordination still lags,” he said in a Viber message.
+He said that transparency measures must translate into timely approval and faster execution that should support growth.
+“A reenacted budget in the first week of 2026 would have limited but noticeable short-term effects. Day-to-day government operations continue, but new projects, capital outlays, and program expansions are delayed, which can soften economic momentum early in the year especially for infrastructure, procurement, and employment linked to public spending,” Mr. Rivera said.
+“Growth may see a temporary drag in Q1 as agencies wait for authority to release new funds. This can be recovered later if catch-up spending is executed well,” he added.
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- https://www.bworldonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/flood-control–themed-300x200.jpg 
As the demand for ube-based products grew due to the crop’s seasonal availability, Astoria-ACES recognized the need for a versatile and shelf-stable ingredient that preserved the authentic taste of real Philippine ube. This became the foundation for developing an innovative product: Astoria Philippine Ube Powder.
Made from 100% real, locally sourced ube, this premium powder was crafted by Astoria’s team of chefs, agricultural specialists, food scientists, and quality control specialists. The meticulous process developed by the team ensures the preservation of ube’s natural flavor, color, and aroma. The result is a highly adaptable ingredient that can be used for baking, cooking, and beverage creation.
New Ube Desserts Crafted
Dig in to every bite of ube chiffon and taste the sweet blend of custard cream, light ube mousse, ube halaya, and caramelized sugar with the Ube Crème Brûlée Cake.
To satisfy your sweet tooth, indulge in the crunch of ube cashew clusters while binge-watching your favorite series during your movie marathon nights.
A typical treat taken home to your family turns into a much more aesthetic and mouthwatering dessert. Enjoy the rich blend of flavors from ube, buko, and langka in pie form. Share a slice or two with family and friends and bond over this melt-in-your-mouth baked goodie.
Looking for a snack to pair with your cup of hot coffee or chocolate? Grab an ube macapuno ensaymada. Let this new take on the ever-popular pastry bring you on a brand-new dessert adventure.
Enjoy the nutty taste of ube in this classic sweet and chewy espasol snack that is a local favorite. Be awestruck with the nostalgic taste of this snack and bring it back home to family in the province when you travel for the holidays.
