Context Dispatch

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has appointed economist and former Albay governor Joey Sarte Salceda as Secretary of the Presidential Legislative Liaison Office, bringing back to the Cabinet a veteran policymaker with deep experience in markets, fiscal policy and Congress. A former top analyst at global investment firms and six-term lawmaker, Salceda is expected to help advance the administration's priority measures ahead of the State of the Nation Address and national budget deliberations. He said his mandate is to transform the PLLO into a genuine policy office and accelerate the passage of the President's remaining legislative agenda.

The Senate, sitting as an impeachment court, on Monday ordered banks to produce the peso account records of Vice President Sara Duterte and her husband, Manases Reyes Carpio, from 2007 to 2021, as House prosecutors seek to use these documents to prove whether she amassed alleged ill-gotten wealth. The court also subpoenaed the financial records of 19 corporations and one partnership linked to the couple, along with relevant documents from the Anti-Money Laundering Council, all to be submitted by July 30. It likewise allowed the production of the couple's income tax returns for the same period to establish their financial baseline, a key issue in one of the Articles of Impeachment. The ruling, issued by presiding officer Senator Francis Escudero, appeared to stem from an earlier caucus. But no vote tally was disclosed, and it remained unclear whether the senator-judges formally voted on the subpoenas.

Two Filipino seafarers have been killed, 12 injured and one remains missing following separate drone attacks on commercial vessels in the northern Black Sea, prompting renewed calls for shipping companies to avoid the high-risk route. Department of Migrant Workers Secretary Hans Cacdac said one Filipino died in a July 6 attack and another on July 19, with efforts underway to recover the missing seafarer and repatriate the victims. Since the attacks began, nine ships carrying Filipino crew have been hit. Four injured seafarers have returned home, while eight remain under medical and psychological care. The other 124 Filipino crew members are safe. (Marjohara Tucay)

Buying a house? Settling an estate? Transferring shares? All of it just got a little less confusing. 

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has expanded the government's Unified Package for Livelihood, Industry, Food, and Transport (UPLIFT) program to cover 7.5 million households as it moves to cushion families from higher fuel and living costs triggered by tensions in the Middle East. The new financial assistance will cost at least P25 billion until the end of 2026. The expanded package provides a one-time P2,000 cash aid to 3.5 million beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program and Walang Gutom program, a P2,000 monthly subsidy from July to December for 1.5 million low-income Social Security System members, and extended assistance to 2.5 million poor and near-poor households identified under the 2024 Community-Based Monitoring System. The administration is also seeking the swift passage of the proposed UPLIFT law.