Philippine inflation in March fell to 1.8 percent, a ''historic low'' since the COVID-19 pandemic in May 2020, but the government will watch out for ''potential implications'' of US President Donald Trump decision to raise tariffs to 17 percent, the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) said Friday.

It went down from 2.1 percent in February as slower inflation in the food index (2.3 percent from 2.6 percent) and non-food items (1.4 percent from 1.6 percent).

The March reading was lower than the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas' estimate of 1.7 percent to 2.5 percent.

“The slow rise in prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages had a 50.2 percent share of the downtrend in inflation,” said Philippine Statistics Authority head Claire Dennis Mapa.

Cereals and cereal products, primarily rice, had a -5.2 percent inflation rate in March compared to -3 percent in February, while meat and other parts of slaughtered animals had an 8.2 percent inflation in March compared to previously recorded 8.8 percent in February

The easing of food inflation was due to faster year-on-year decline in rice which went down to minus 7.7 percent in March from minus 4.9 percent in February.

A decrease in transport index and slower inflation for restaurants and accommodation services also led to the slowing of inflation in March. Yzabela Velez-White/DMS

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Four relatives of victims of Duterte admin's war on drugs seek NBI help on online harassment, fake news

Four relatives of victims of the Duterte administration's war on drugs and their lawyers have filed an affidavit to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Friday due to the fake news and online harassment targeting them.

This fake news campaign to the affiants came after the arrest of the former President by the International Criminal Court (ICC), according to Kathy Panguban, one of their legal counsels from the National Union of People's Lawyers (NUPL).

"After the arrest of former President Duterte, our clients have experienced bashing, intimidation, and vilification, and they were portrayed as liars, paid, and fake victims of the former President's drug war," Panguban said.

One of the affiants, Dahlia Cuartero, did not think they would reach the point of seeking help from the NBI.

"I did not think we would reach this situation of seeking the NBI to help us identify our bashers because we have been waiting for a long time for the justice we aimed for. However, we had a bad experience with our bashers," Cuartero said.

ICC Assistant to Counsel Kristina Conti said this is a vital step for the victims, as their next call would be for the victims to face the International Criminal Court and participate in the hearing, which application will possibly begin in May or June, before the hearing on September 23.

"We expect that throughout the process, we can still apply, and of course, as early as now, we should not belittle and threaten the victims that would participate," Conti said.

Conti said they got a positive response from the NBI.

"They have accepted our complaints...they said, they will assign an agent for this," Conti said.

Panguban hopes the NBI could help them with this matter.

"We hope that NBI could help us to know their identity for the appropriate legal action of the victims of these online bashing after the arrest of former President Duterte," she added. Kate Christian Ravelo/DMS