FROM THE FRINGES: Retrospection, September 2026

FROM THE FRINGES: Retrospection, September 2026

By Jerome Aning | September 25, 2026

As part of our arrangement with this news website’s publisher, the fourth column of every month will be a retrospection of the three previous columns, devoting space for updates, addenda, and epilogues, as well as feedback or comments from readers, clarifications, and corrections. New topics may also be introduced, subject to space constraints.

Libri amici sempiterni

The Manila International Book Fair (MIBF), as I wrote in my Sept. 4 column, is the country’s longest-running book fair. Held from Sept. 9 to 13 at the SMX Convention Center in Pasay City, the organizers reported a record-breaking number of 235,000 visitors. I and a friend visited the fair on Sept. 11. I brought back home three of the four books that I’ve been intending to buy; the fourth was not yet available as the stocks will be sold after the book is launched at the fair two days later. So I purchased it online the following week. There were booths of foreign publishers from Thailand, Sweden, United Arab Emirates, and Fujian, China. I was pleased to see a booth by Wattpad, the free online social storytelling and reading platform where users can read, write, and share original stories chapter by chapter. Wattpad also publishes physical books, mostly by authors of the popular “web-novels” on the site.

On social media, there were the usual complaints about over-crowding but based on my past experiences, the crowds are often larger during the weekend when there is no work and school, and families and friends can go together to the fair. Also, the organizers and the venue host are expected to impose crowd limits for safety and security management purposes. I think another contributing factor is the weather, which only cleared up somewhat by the weekend. We were supposed to go to the fair in the middle of the week but had to postpone because the rains make commuting harder. About a third of the total visitors went to the fair on Saturday, Sept. 12.

There were also fierce criticisms about book-hoarding, which some booksellers tried to curb by limiting the number of copies per title that each person can buy. Buying books in bulk from the fair and reselling them online are conducted by enterprising, mostly individual booksellers looking for extra income, their customers being those who live outside Metro Manila or who wanted to avoid the crowd and other hassles of going to the fair. We must remember that the MIBF is, first and foremost, a commercial venture and one with a good publicity campaign. Visitors not only get to meet their favorite authors and participate in other book-related activities but, more importantly, get discounts on purchases. At the fair, old stocks are usually cheaper while new books and reprints are costlier. The real problem is the pricing of the books peddled by resellers. A netizen complained on social media that the book he’s was not able to buy at the fair is being resold online at three times the retail price. Buyers should simply not patronize these scalpers. Supplies of in-demand and popular titles often run out at the fair so publishers would give assurance that more copies will be available soon in in their online and physical outlets.

During and after the MIBF, I encountered healthy discussions on social media about the fair being Manila-centric and dominated by the “bigtime” publishing companies. There are calls on independent publishers and the government agencies such as the National Book Development Board to organize regional book fairs so that sellers and authors, as well as book lovers, from the provinces would not have to go all the way to Manila, assuming they they could afford to do so, for such an “international” fair. Local fairs are expected to not only offer less expensive books but also provide a venue to promote regional and provincial literary works.

The BARMM Parliamentary Elections

The 2026 BARMM Parliamentary Elections (BPE) proceeded as scheduled last Sept. 14, with the winners proclaimed two days later by the regional board of canvassers. The Commission on Elections (COMELEC) reported an 84.34 percent voter turnout from among the 2.39 million registered voters in BARMM. As the election period concludes on Sept. 29, the COMELEC is currently finishing its random manual audit of election results in selected clustered precincts. The last election-related activity is the mandatory submission by candidates and parties of their statements of campaign expenditures on or before Oct. 14.

Of the 40 party, 32 district and six sectoral seats in the 80-member parliament, the Bangsamoro Federalist Party (BFP), headed by Interim Chief Minister Abdulraof Macacua, secured 31 total seats, followed by the United Bangsamoro Justice Party (UBJP), headed by Macacua’s predecessor, Ahod “Al Hajj Murad” Ebrahim, with 30 seats. The BARMM Grand Coalition (BGC), an alliance of three parties, secured 15 seats, while the Raayat Democratic Party (RDP) and Progresibong Bangsamoro Party (PBP) secured one each. This writer was unaware that, in accordance with the Bangsamoro Electoral Code, the Regional Inter-Tribal Convention was held in Cotabato City last Aug. 26 to select the rotating members for the two sectoral seats allotted to non-Moro indigenous peoples (NMIP).

I mentioned in my Sept. 11 column that parliamentary model for the BARMM legislature is more or less the Westminster system which is derived from United Kingdom parliament and also applied in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, among others. The BARMM’s wali, like the UK monarch, is the symbolic head of the region and performs ceremonial duties such as opening and dissolving parliament, and calling for new elections. The current wali is Sheikh Muslim Guiamaden who, according to his official Facebook page, bears the style “His Eminence”. In BARMM, the executive branch is the cabinet headed by the chief minister. The chief minister, who is required to appoint a majority of cabinet members from parliament, is accountable to the body and may be removed from office anytime through a no-confidence vote by the majority of members of parliament.

Journalists covering the BARMM legislature and regional politics should, by now, be familiarizing themselves with the terminologies applied in parliamentary models. It remains to be seen if the BARMM government will adopt specific or unique terms for political positions and procedures. For example, I would prefer all members of the Bangsamoro Parliament be known with the acronyms MBPs or MPs for easy writing. The currently official nomenclatures used by the Bangsamoro government and COMELEC for members of parliament are “District Representatives”, “Sectoral Representatives” and, for party representatives, the rather lengthy “Regional Parliamentary Political Party Representatives”.

With no party securing the absolute majority of 41 seats, the BARMM parliament could end up being what is called a “hung parliament”, which is generally regarded as undesirable, politics-wise. The BFP and the UBJP, which are led by rival factions of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, are expected to court the BGC, RDP, PBP and the NMIP sectoral representatives for support and enter into an alliance with them to establish a “coalition government” when parliament sits on Oct. 30. A coalition is essentially a power-sharing arrangement wherein the parties or members or parliament have to compromise on their political agendas and campaign promises to come up with a common legislative agenda and set up a united executive. This will be reflected in the appointment coalition members to top Cabinet posts. It should be noted that Bangsamoro Organic Law only states that the chief minister shall be elected by a majority vote of all the members of the parliament. While this means any district, sectoral or party representative can be elected to the position, the Westminster system dictates that the chief minister is basically the one who leads the majority party or coalition in parliament.

The Westminster system also allows BARMM to be governed by a “minority government”, a setup looser than a formal coalition. The minority government will enter into what is called a “confidence and supply” arrangement with other parties and members of parliament. Here, the party initiating the minority government will obtain the support of other parties and other members of parliament but only to survive a no-confidence vote and to secure prioritization in appropriation or supply bills. Such partners of the minority government are not bound to support the initiating party’s legislative agenda or political programs.

The inaugural session of the elected parliament on Oct. 30 begins a new era in BARMM where leaders chosen by the people themselves are given the opportunity to implement programs and policies for the well-being of their constituents and progress of their homeland.

Tourism and Statistics

The United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) celebrates World Tourism Day on Sept. 27 amid a mere 0.4 percent growth in tourism travel during the first semester of the current year. Geopolitical tensions caused by the crisis in the Middle East and the resulting oil price hikes that increased travel costs and tourism services contributed to the decline, the Madrid-based UNWTO said in a statement last Sept. 17. Because of this, the UNWTO projected international tourist arrivals to grow between just one and two percent globally in 2026, compared to its forecast last January of three to four percent. “However, this will depend on the conflict’s actual duration and its effect on oil prices and overall inflation,” the UNWTO said, adding that international travelers “are expected to continue to seek value for money and travel either closer to home or domestically, again in response to elevated prices and uncertainty.”

I wrote in my Sept. 18 column that the 2026 WTD theme, “Digital Agenda and Artificial Intelligence to Redesign Tourism” explores how AI can help create smarter, more inclusive and sustainable tourism by enhancing decision-making, strengthening skills, and improving the way destinations are experienced and managed. More and more travelers are planning their trips using digital platforms and asking AI for assistance as to where to go, where to stay, and what to see and do, at the most convenient time and affordable price. “This year’s theme is a force already redesigning the sector while the day is observed: for the first time, the technology under discussion is deciding, daily, which destinations travelers see,” the UNWTO said. “AI answers are becoming commercial space, and once visibility can be bought, the largest brands will buy it. The window in which the rules are set is open now, and it will not reopen.” The challenge for tourism enterprises and regulators in the Philippines and elsewhere is to be able to also use AI to respond to the travelers’ desires and create profitable tourism activities, and at the same time saving on costs and increasing or maintaining their workforce.

—————-

Comments are welcome on my page

<https://www.facebook.com/fromthefringesph/>