PH ranks 3rd fastest in intangible investment growth—WIPO

PH ranks 3rd fastest in intangible investment growth—WIPO

Logan Kal-El M. Zapanta 
Inquirer.net
08 July 2026

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines ranked as the world’s third-fastest-growing market for intangible investments in its first appearance in a World Intellectual Property Organization (Wipo) report, making it the only Southeast Asian economy included.

In its World Intangible Investment Highlights 2026, Wipo said the Philippines’ intangible investments grew by 4.6 percent from 2021 to 2022, following only India (7.9 percent) and Japan (4.8 percent) among the 29 economies covered.

From 2012 to 2022, the country’s intangible investments grew at a compound annual growth rate of 3.9 percent, expanding the global average of 3.5 percent.

According to Teodoro Pascua, director general of the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines, the findings showed the country’s growing investment in knowledge-based assets as it enters upper-middle-income status.

“As the Philippines enters upper-middle-income status, our rapid gains in R&D, software and brands show that we are paving the way toward that future,” Pascua said during the report’s launch on Wednesday. 

Valued at $49.1B

Wipo estimated the Philippines’ intangible investments at $49.1 billion in 2022.

Among the different asset classes, research and development (R&D) posted the fastest growth, growing at a compound annual rate of 20.1 percent from 2012 to 2022.

Software and databases followed at 18.3 percent, making the Philippines the fastest-growing economy in that category.

Wipo Assistant Director General Marco Alemán said the country’s investment in software and data, which averaged more than 80 percent annual growth over the past decade, reflected a shift “from an economy of things to an economy of ideas.”

Although R&D and software accounted for only about 15 percent of the country’s total intangible investments, spending on R&D increased more than sixfold during the period, while investment in software and databases grew more than fivefold.

Organizational capital remained the country’s largest intangible asset, accounting for 48.3 percent of total intangible investments, followed by brands at 28.9 percent.

Brand investments reached $14.2 billion, placing the Philippines among the world’s 12 largest investors in the category.

Despite the strong growth, intangible assets accounted for only 4.4 percent of GDP in 2022, compared with 20 percent for tangible investments, WIPO said. 

The report, now in its third edition, covers 29 economies representing about 57 percent of global GDP. Global intangible investments surpassed $10 trillion in 2025 for the first time, an all-time high. /pai INQ

Filipino is the first K-culture master's degree recipient

First K-culture master's degree to go to Filipino student

The Korea Herald
July 8, 2026

A Filipino student at Sungshin Women’s University is expected to become the first person in Korea to receive a master’s degree specifically in K-culture, the university said Wednesday.

Abigail Jazmine Llamo, 29, recently passed her thesis defense for the university’s master’s program in K-Culture and Entertainment and is awaiting final approval for graduation. If approved, she will receive the degree in August.

Although Korean cultural content, including films, television dramas, music and fashion, has long been studied under broader disciplines such as media studies, business administration and cultural industries, the university said Llamo would be the first student in Korea to earn a master’s degree specifically in K-culture.

Her dissertation examined ways to expand K-pop’s overseas popularity by comparing concert ticket prices and consumer behavior in Korea and the Philippines.

Based on surveys of 200 K-pop fans and 20 industry experts in both countries, she argued that ticket prices should be set at levels that allow local concert promoters to make reasonable profits without placing an excessive financial burden on audiences.

She said the price of a single concert ticket can amount to a month’s salary for some people in the Philippines.

“Now that K-pop is enjoyed around the world, I hope it will continue to distinguish itself by showcasing uniquely Korean culture. I hope it never loses those Korean elements,” she said in an interview with local media.

She also said K-pop idols should receive cultural sensitivity training to better communicate with people from diverse cultural backgrounds, as they interact with fans around the world every day.

forestjs@heraldcorp.com

Michelin-rated Filipino Restos around the World

16 Michelin-recognized Filipino restaurants around the world

JC Cailles Lo
ABS-CBN News
July 04, 2026

There's no doubt that the Philippines is home to many world-class restaurants recognized by the Michelin Guide — 108 to be exact. But for those living abroad who crave Filipino food or are looking to experience Filipino cuisine for the first time, here's a list of award-winning Filipino restaurants featured in the Michelin Guide and where to find them.

NEW ZEALAND | Bar Magda (Auckland)

Fresh from its win at the inaugural Michelin Guide New Zealand 2026 ceremony held on June 30, this hidden bar and restaurant in Auckland, helmed by Davao-born Carlo Buenaventura, is the sole dining destination to make the list. Now part of the Michelin-selected distinction, expect dishes inspired by the chef’s Mindanaoan heritage, including a new take on Chavacano-style Paella.

SINGAPORE | Hayop ni Manam (Singapore)

Among the 302 restaurants in the Michelin Guide Singapore, Hayop is the only Filipino restaurant on the list. Created by the team behind the Michelin Bib Gourmand Manam, Hayop offers a more elevated take on Filipino cuisine, featuring premium versions of its signature dishes like the iconic Watermelon Sinigang, but this time uses Australian Wagyu short ribs.

UNITED KINGDOM | Belly (Kentish)

Located in Kentish Town, a vibrant neighborhood in Northwest London, this Michelin-selected restaurant is a modern Filipino-inspired French bistro known for its fresh interpretations of classic dishes and its warm, welcoming atmosphere. Expect offerings such as Seafood Caldereta, Chargrilled Scallop Bicol Express, and Ube Tiramisu.

UNITED KINGDOM | Donia (London)

This modern Filipino restaurant made history as the first and only Filipino restaurant in the UK to earn a Michelin Bib Gourmand, a distinction recognizing restaurants that offer high-quality food at great value. The sharing style menu pays homage to the chef’s Filipino roots while showcasing the best of British seasonal produce. Standout dishes include Sea Bream Kinilaw, Lamb Shoulder Caldereta Pie, and Adobo Mushroom Croquetas.

IRELAND | Kaldero (Dublin)

Named after the Filipino word for cooking pot, this is the only Filipino restaurant recognized by the Michelin Guide Ireland. Inspired by the Filipino tradition of communal dining, the Dublin-based restaurant serves pulutan-style snacks, generous sharing plates, and fire-cooked dishes. Diners can choose from a curated à la carte menu or a generous sharing set featuring ulams such as Bistek, Kare Kare, and Squid Adobo.

 

FRANCE | Maison Nipa (Fillé)

Just about 2.5 hours from Paris by car, or accessible by train and bus, Fillé is a charming, peaceful village in the Pays de la Loire region of western France. Helmed by a Franco-Filipino couple, the sole Filipino Michelin-selected restaurant in France serves surprise seasonal five or seven-course menus, along with shorter lunch menus that change every eight weeks.

CANADA | BB’s (Toronto)

Bright and filled with natural light, the only Michelin Bib Gourmand-awarded Filipino diner in Toronto and the whole of Canada serves a straightforward menu for brunch and dinner. Expect Filipino breakfast staples like Silog meals with your choice of protein, while the dinner menu features favorites like Lechon Kawali, Pork Sinigang, and fast-food-inspired Spaghetti.

USA | Kasama (Chicago)

The highest-ranked restaurant on this list, Kasama holds two Michelin Stars, a distinction recognizing excellent cooking worth a detour. Kasama is also arguably the first and so far the only two-Michelin-Star restaurant in the world serving Filipino cuisine. Located in Chicago, it is both a bakery and a modern Filipino restaurant, offering a casual à la carte daytime menu and a seasonal tasting menu for dinner.

USA | Naides (San Francisco)

This San Francisco-based restaurant earned its first Michelin star in June 2026, just over six months after opening. The distinction recognizes restaurants with high-quality cooking that is worth a stop. Named after the chef's mother, Naides serves modern interpretations of Filipino cuisine with a strong focus on preservation and fermentation in an intimate dining room.

USA | Kaya (Orlando)

This Filipino neighborhood restaurant and bar in Orlando, Florida, is built on the Filipino phrase "kaya natin," reflecting a steadfast belief that we can create and do things on our own terms. It is also the only restaurant on this list to earn a Michelin Green Star, recognizing its strong commitment to sustainable gastronomy. As a farm-to-table restaurant, it works closely with local suppliers and creatively uses by-products to minimize waste.

USA | Boonie's (Chicago)

A Michelin Bib Gourmand restaurant in Chicago, Boonie’s describes itself as a cozy Filipino eatery. Its name is inspired by the surname of chef’s grandmother — Bondoc. What began as a pop-up has grown into a full-fledged restaurant with a loyal following, serving timeless Filipino favorites such as Longsilog, Lumpiang Shanghai, and Crispy Pata. The restaurant also offers seasonal menus for catering and private events.

USA | Estrellita (Atlanta)

A Michelin Bib Gourmand restaurant in Atlanta since 2023, Estrellita is named after the Spanish word for little star and aims to be exactly that in their Grant Park neighborhood. The restaurant welcomes guests in a warm, cozy setting that feels "like walking through the front door of a classic Filipino home." The menu showcases family recipes passed down from the chef's mother, including classics like Beef Nilaga, Pork Adobo, and Filipino Chicken BBQ.

USA | FOB Kitchen (Oakland)

A Michelin Bib Gourmand restaurant in Oakland, California, FOB Kitchen believes in making every guest feel like family. The chef and owner is also a proud advocate for people of color, women, and the LGBTQIA+ community. Inspired by recipes she learned from her mother and grandmother during a 2015 visit to the Philippines, the menu focuses on comforting Filipino home cooking.

USA | Bayan Ko (Chicago)

The Michelin-selected restaurant in Chicago currently offers a unique six-course Surf & Turf tasting menu inspired by Filipino and Cuban cuisines, reflecting the personal backgrounds of its owners — a Filipino husband and a Cuban wife. The new menu includes Filipino dishes such as Pancit Luglug and Kare-Kare, alongside Cuban classics like Croquetas and Tamales.

USA | Kamayan ATL (Doraville)

The Michelin-selected restaurant is located in Doraville, Georgia, near Atlanta. It offers an extensive à la carte menu and prides itself on serving authentic Filipino cuisine guided by the Filipino value of Bayanihan. The highlight for first-time guests is the Kamayan feast, which must be pre-booked. This communal dining experience features dishes served on banana leaves and eaten by hand.

USA | Abaca (San Francisco)

Widely regarded as San Francisco's premier Filipino-Californian restaurant, this contemporary establishment offers three distinct menus: weekday breakfast, weekend brunch, and dinner, including a family-style menu. It blends traditional Filipino flavors with the freshest ingredients from Northern California, resulting in standout dishes such as Tortang Talong, Lobster Arroz Caldo, and Bistek American Wagyu Wellington.

Rare plant rediscovered in Mount Apo park

Rare plant rediscovered in Mount Apo park

Josiah Antonio

Philstar Global

02 July 2026

MANILA, Philippines —  A rare plant has been rediscovered in Mount Apo Natural Park after 122 years, according to field reports by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources-Davao Region yesterday.

The discovery was made by the Protected Area Management Office (PAMO) team during routine wildlife monitoring activities.

While retrieving camera traps along a forest trail, the team spotted a tiny flowering plant that caught their attention despite its minute size.

After careful examination, the specimen was identified as Ophiorrhiza biflora, a Philippine endemic species first collected in Mount Apo in October 1904 by American botanist Edwin Bingham Copeland.

Belonging to the Rubiaceae family, which includes coffee, gardenia, mussaenda and santan, O. biflora has also been recorded in Benguet and Negros.

However, the Mount Apo specimen represents the first successful photographic documentation of the species, marking a significant milestone in Philippine botanical research.

The DENR-Davao Region said the rediscovery is highly significant as it confirms the continued survival of a Philippine endemic species that had not been documented in Mount Apo for over a century.

This also reinforces Mount Apo Natural Park’s status as one of the country’s important biodiversity hotspots and further strengthens its bid for UNESCO Global Geopark recognition, the regional office said.

Philippines hits upper-middle income status - World Bank

Philippines achieves upper-middle-income ambition

Ben Arnold de Vera
Manila Bulletin
July 1, 2026

The Philippines achieved its long-standing goal of attaining upper-middle-income-country (UMIC) status with a record-high gross national income (GNI) per capita in 2025, even as neighboring Vietnam made a bigger stride toward the same World Bank classification.

The World Bank announced on Wednesday night, July 1 (Manila time), that the Philippines, Jordan, Micronesia, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam had joined the ranks of UMICs, with their respective GNI per capita ranging from $4,636 to $14,375 in 2025. This is the income range for UMICs for fiscal year (FY) 2027, covering the period from July 1, 2026, to June 30, 2027.

Manila Bulletin reported earlier that the Philippines’ GNI per capita rose to a record $4,850 in 2025 from $4,470 in 2024, based on World Bank documents published earlier this week.

GNI measures the total income earned by a country’s residents, both domestically and abroad, making it a broader measure of economic performance than gross domestic product (GDP), which accounts only for domestic output.

Based on separate World Bank Group (WBG) DataBank figures seen by Manila Bulletin, the Philippines’ GNI, using the Atlas method, rose to $566.8 billion in 2025 from over $518 billion in 2024.

The country had been stuck in lower-middle-income-country (LMIC) status since at least FY 1989.

“The Philippines achieved its reclassification through broad-based expansion. GDP grew at an average of 5.8 percent per year over five years, reflecting gains across all major industries, not a single sector boom, but an economy-wide shift,” the World Bank said in a blog post.

However, the Philippines’ 2025 GNI per capita remained below Vietnam’s, which climbed to $4,970 from $4,490 a year ago. As a result, the income gap between the two countries widened sixfold—from just $20 in 2024 to $120 in 2025.

“Vietnam tells a story of growth. Powered by an export-led model, the country saw exports surge by more than 15 percent in both 2024 and 2025, with its GDP growing at seven percent and eight percent, respectively. GNI expanded at an average of 10 percent annually between 2021 and 2025—one of the strongest sustained runs in the region,” the World Bank said.

Based on the June 18 World Bank board report seen by Manila Bulletin, Vietnam’s GDP per capita grew by a faster 7.4 percent in 2025, compared with the Philippines’ 3.6 percent.

To recall, Philippine economic growth slowed to a post-pandemic low of 4.4 percent last year in the aftermath of the multibillion-peso flood-control infrastructure corruption scandal, which tempered investor appetite as well as public and private consumption.

Among the other new UMICs, documents showed that Jordan posted a 2025 GNI per capita of $5,260, Micronesia recorded $4,760, and Sri Lanka reached $4,670.

Meanwhile, Togo moved up from low-income to LMIC status, with a 2025 GNI per capita of $1,350, documents showed.

For FY 2027, the LMIC income range covers economies with a 2025 GNI per capita of $1,176 to $4,635.

With its newly attained UMIC status, the Philippines will eventually lose access to the most concessional official development assistance (ODA), or low-interest loans, extended by bilateral development partners as well as multilateral lenders such as the World Bank, the Manila-based Asian Development Bank (ADB), and the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).

In his inaugural State of the Nation Address (SONA) in 2022, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. said the Philippines aspired to attain UMIC status by 2024—a target that was postponed multiple times as economic growth fell short of expectations in recent years.

During the previous Duterte administration, its economic team had targeted UMIC status by 2020, a goal that was derailed by the socioeconomic crises inflicted by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Alex Eala made history as the first Filipino tennis player to win a Wimbledon singles match in the "Open Era"

Eala becomes first Filipino to win Wimbledon singles match in Open Era, downs Zarazua

Niel Victor C. Masoy

The manila Times 

01 July 2026

MANILA, Philippines — In front of a loud de facto home crowd, Alex Eala made history as the first Filipino tennis player to win a Wimbledon singles match in the "Open Era" as she dominated Mexican Renata Zarazua, 6-1, 6-2, at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club Court 12 early Wednesday in Manila.

The Open Era began in 1968 when professional players were finally allowed to compete in Grand Slams.

The late Felicisimo Ampon and Raymundo Dero were the lone Filipino netters to win Wimbledon singles matches before the Open Era.

Treat Huey won multiple Wimbledon matches in the Open Era albeit he did it in men's doubles.

With the win, Eala also avenged her 6-3, 4-6, 3-6 loss to Zarazua in the 2024 W100 Cary Tennis Classic quarterfinals.

Eala advanced to the second round (round of 64) where she faces either the returning women's tennis GOAT Serena Williams or Aussie Maya Joint.

Billy Crawford wins 'Mask Singer France' Season 9

Billy Crawford wins 'Mask Singer France' Season 9

GMA News
30 June 2026

Billy Crawford is the winner of "Mask Singer France" Season 9!

The Filipino entertainer portrayed The Donkey or L'Ane throughout the show. Billy performed "Beat It" by Michael Jackson in the finale.

"This was an absolutely amazing experience!" Billy said on Instagram.

He thanked "The Masked Singer" family for keeping him a secret for a whole month, as well as the costume designers for their patience and the adjustments they made.

Billy also thanked everyone who voted for him.

"L'Ane was a very special character to me because I chose it with my son Amari in mind. I figured if he loved it, everyone else would too!" Billy said.

"Most of all, thank You, Lord God, for giving me the courage, strength, and opportunity to compete—and on top of that, to win!" he added.

"Mask Singer" is a competition show in which celebrities sing in costume and hide their identities.

Billy previously won "Dancing With The Stars France" in 2022.

He was previously a judge on "The Voice Kids Philippines."