Sports & Entertainment

Congress must treat funding for the creative industries as an investment—not an expense—because it will return billions of pesos in future dividends, Negros Occidental Rep. Javier Miguel “Javi” Benitez said, pressing lawmakers to rethink budget priorities for one of the country’s strongest economic performers.

If awards nights are meant to reflect the times, then the 2025 Gabi ng Parangal didn’t just hold up a mirror—it shattered it, swept the glass aside, and rewrote the reflection. 

Team Philippines turned the penultimate day of the 33rd Southeast Asian Games into a full-blown medal rush. It was a fitting reminder that when the stakes spike, Filipino teams don’t just rise, they soar and roar.

Under the merciless noon sun of Bangkok, Alex Eala didn’t just play tennis—she settled unfinished business 26 years in the making. The 20-year-old Filipino star dismantled Thailand’s Mananchaya Sawangkaew, 6–1, 6–2, to end the Philippines’ long gold-medal drought in women’s singles at the Southeast Asian Games.

Olivia McDaniel was likely bargaining with the football gods as she lunged to her left, body angled, hands stretching just far enough to meet a ball that slipped from her grasp for a split second—then stayed. When she collapsed in front of goal, clutching salvation, a long-awaited chapter in Philippine football history finally turned its page.