News & Stories

REPOWER Energy Development Corp.

(REDC) has started construction of its P6.3-billion hydropower facility in Bukidnon after acquiring a majority stake in the project.

In a disclosure on Tuesday, REDC said its subsidiary Maramag Hydropower Corp. broke ground on the 25-megawatt (MW) Pulangi IV Hydropower Project.

“This groundbreaking represents the start of our second of several hydropower projects here, which will not only contribute clean and reliable energy to the Mindanao grid but also support long-term regional development in line with national energy goals,” REDC President Eric Y. Roxa

s said. REDC

recently acquired a 95% stake in Maramag, the developer of the project. The

facility will use the downstream portion of the Pulangi River, the same river system that powers Repower’s recently commissioned upstream hydropower plant. Once o

perational, the project is expected to boost Mindanao’s renewable energy capacity while providing stable and sustainable power to nearby communities. Repower

has allocated P10.3 billion for the rollout of four hydropower facilities in the pipeline. The comp

any is also developing the 4.5-MW Piapi hydropower project in Quezon province, with commercial operations targeted by the end of 2027. REDC is

THE FIRST-EVER Christmas edition of the Modern and Contemporary Art Festival (MoCAF) has opened, with four galleries and four special exhibitions offering holiday treats for art lovers.

Ongoing until Dec.

14, MoCAF: The Christmas Edit!

presents galleries, artisans, and workshops at Opus Mall in Bridgetowne, Quezon City.

The festival is basically a “more intimate, festive celebration of contemporary art,” designed to blend with the warmth and bustle of the holiday season, MoCAF’s organizers said at the launch on Dec. 3. Mea

nt

to be a cozy version of its annual flagship fair, The Christmas Edit! challe

nges visitors to explore the relatively new, premium lifestyle expanse of Opus Mall. “The J

uly edition remains our grand, main festival, while the Christmas Edition is more festive, relaxed, and community-centered — a smaller but longer 12-day run that’s open to the public and designed for the holiday season,” said Coleen Wong, MoCAF’s festival director, at the opening. The mall’s main

atrium houses most of the local galleries, with a few booths showing special exhibitions by RAKI and brothers Yok and Jek Joaquin. There is also a de

THE Museum at De La Salle University (DLSU) has an exhibit nearing its end: WAWI NAVARROZA: Self & Surrounding, a solo exhibition by visual artist and DLSU alumna Wawi Navarroza, which opened last June.

Mounted in celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the DLSU Department of Communication, the exhibition brings together Ms.

Navarroza’s self-portraits and landscape photographs in a deeply personal yet globally resonant exploration of identity, environment, and representation. He

r works are curated alongside selected works from Filipino National Artists and prominent Filipino artists from The Museum’s Wili and Doreen Fernandez and University art collections. The

exhibit ends on Dec. 11.

DLSU

students, faculty, staff and alumni are granted free admission, while non-DLSU students and visitors have a minimal fee of P25. THE

University of the Philippines Symphony Orchestra (UPSO) celebrates the holiday season with a performance of George Frideric Handel’s timeless oratorio Messiah. It is

set to take place on Dec. 12, 7 p.m., at the University Theater (Villamor Hall) in UP Diliman, Quezon City. Under

the baton of its musical director, Professor Emeritus Josefino Chino Toledo, UPSO will retell the Nativity story via excerpts from Handel’s masterpiece. Four voi

ABS-CBN CORP. said its content supply agreement with Villar-led Advanced Media Broadcasting System Inc.

(ALLTV) remains in effect.

“ABS-CBN has an existing content supply partnership with ALLTV which commenced on May 13, 2024. Th

is partnership remains in effect,” the listed media company told the stock exchange on Tuesday. The

confirmation comes after reports that ABS-CBN is looking at expanding content cooperation with ALLTV. The

media company previously said the arrangement, announced in 2024, was designed to widen access to its programs and news by making selected shows available on ALLTV’s free-to-air platform. Since

May 13, 2024, ALLTV has carried a lineup of popular Kapamilya teleseryes at various time slots and has also aired news programming from TV Patrol. The pa

rtnership is intended to provide viewers nationwide with additional entertainment and news choices on ALLTV, which can be received on free TV, cable and satellite. TV Pat

rol and TV Patrol Weekend began broadcasting on ALLTV on April 15, 2024. Separa

tely, ABS-CBN last week confirmed that TV5 Network, Inc. has served a notice ending their five-year content supply agreement signed in 2023. ABS-CB

PRESIDENT Ferdinand R.

Marcos, Jr. said the Court of Appeals has issued more freeze orders covering bank accounts, properties and aircraft linked to the alleged multibillion-peso fraud in government flood control projects, as he pushes to have key suspects jailed before Christmas.

In a video statement on Facebook, Mr.

Marcos said the freeze covers assets of Silverwolves Construction Corp. and Sky Yard Aviation Corp., as well as the personal accounts of Benguet Rep.

Eric G.

Yap, Party-list Rep.

Edvic G.

Yap and several others under investigation.

More than P16 billion in transactions passed through Silverwolves from 2022 to 2025, mostly tied to Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) flood control contracts, he said.

Authorities also froze 280 bank accounts, 22 insurance policies, three securities accounts and eight aircraft linked to Sky Yard Aviation.

THE International Criminal Court’s (ICC) prosecution has asked the Appeals Chamber to throw out former Philippine President Rodrigo R. Du

terte’s challenge to the court’s jurisdiction, saying Manila’s 2019 withdrawal from the Rome Statute can’t shield officials from accountability for crimes committed while the country was still a member. In a 22-pa

ge filing dated Dec. 8, Deputy

Prosecutor Mame Mandiaye Niang said the court has affirmed its jurisdiction several times in the Philippine situation — through prior arrest-warrant rulings, Pre-Trial Chamber decisions and an earlier ruling by the Appeals Chamber. The prosecut

ion argued that these decisions consistently establish that withdrawal does not erase obligations incurred during membership. The case cen

ters on whether Mr. Duterte, as

Davao City mayor and later as President, bears responsibility for thousands of alleged extrajudicial killings tied to anti-drug operations that prosecutors describe as a “widespread and systematic attack” against civilians. Such allegations

fall squarely under crimes against humanity, the prosecution said. Mr. Duterte star

ted

the withdrawal process days after then-ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda announced a preliminary examination into the drug war deaths, according to the filing. “Allowing withdr

PHILIPPINE President Ferdinand R.

Marcos, Jr. on Tuesday urged Congress to prioritize four major political reform measures, signaling a renewed push to curb entrenched practices in campaign finance, party representation and political dynasties.

During a meeting of the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC), Mr.

Marcos called for swift action on the proposed Anti-Dynasty Law, Independent People’s Commission Act, Party-list System Reform Act and Citizens Access and Disclosure of Expenditures for National Accountability (CADENA) Act. “I

n a LEDAC meeting this morning, the President instructed both houses to take a closer look at the four bills and prioritize their passage as soon as possible,” Palace Press Officer Clarissa A. Castro

told reporters. She cl

arified that Mr. Marcos

did not certify the bills as urgent, meaning they must still follow the standard three-day interval between congressional readings. The co

uncil also discussed the timeline for the 2026 national budget. Mr. Ma

rcos

THE Philippine Navy on Tuesday confirmed the presence of 101 Chinese maritime militia vessels in the South China Sea (SCS), following reports of Beijing’s buildup across the contested waterway. “T

he reports by the coast guard during their maritime domain awareness flight revealed that there were 101 maritime militia vessels,” Rear Admiral Roy Vincent T. Trinid

ad, Navy spokesman for the South China Sea, told a news briefing. The fi

gure falls below the usual range of 300 to 350 militia vessels typically operating in the area. “It is

not unusual to have this number in our different features in the West Philippine Sea. These ar

e maritime militias, not coast guard or People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLA-N) ships,” he added. In the first

week of December, the Navy tracked at least 20 Chinese vessels near Scarborough Shoal, Second Thomas Shoal and Sabina Shoal, including five coast guard ships and two PLA-N warships near Scarborough, one PLA-N and six coast guard vessels at Second Thomas Shoal and one PLA-N and two coast guard ships at Sabina. Two PLA-N wa

rships and one coast guard vessel were also monitored near Thitu Island or Pag-asa Island, about 528 kilometers off Palawan province. Scarborough

Shoal lies within the Philippines’ 200-nautical mile (370 kilometer) exclusive economic zone and has been under Chinese control since 2012 after a standoff with Philippine forces. Mr. Trinidad d

escr

THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Tuesday said delays in passing a districting law could jeopardize the first regular parliamentary elections in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).

In a statement, Comelec Chairman George Erwin M.

Garcia said the election body is “in a quandary” as it seeks to comply with a Supreme Court order mandating elections by March 31, 2026. The

commission has tentatively set March 30, 2026 as election day. “We

admit that the Comelec is really in a quandary regarding what will happen with the Bangsamoro parliamentary elections,” he said in Filipino. He added

that if the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) passes a districting law in time, the commission will explore holding the vote as scheduled. The BTA

Parliament missed its Nov. 30 deadline and said it aims to finalize the required law by December. — E.M.P. Sinaking v

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THE Social Security System (SSS) had released P18.8 billion in 13th month pension payments to 3.66 million pensioners as of Dec.

4.

“This is our way of giving back to our pensioners who have contributed to the System during their productive years,” SSS President and Chief Executive Officer Robert Joseph M. de Claro said in a statement on Tuesday. The

annual cash gift was distributed in two batches: P10.5 billion to 2.13 million pensioners on Dec. 1, and P8.3 billion to 1.53 million pensioners on Dec. 4. T

he

amount is higher than last year due to the Pension Reform Program, implemented in September 2025, which provides annual increases until 2027. Reti

rement and disability pensions rise by 10% each September, while survivor pensions increase by 5%. Abou

t 3.8 million pensioners, including 2.6 million retirement/disability and 1.2 million survivor pensioners, will benefit under the reform. — Aaron Michael C. Sy var

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SECURITIES and Exchange Commission (SEC) Commissioner Rogelio V.

Quevedo urged Filipinos to be cautious of scams, warning that “if you did not join anything, do not expect that out of the blue, you would have won something.” Spea

king at a memorandum of understanding ceremony on Tuesday, he stressed that scammers exploit people’s hopes for miracles or unexpected windfalls, leading them to send money repeatedly or take on debt. Under

the partnership, SEC and TikTok will produce #ThinkTwice videos to teach users how to spot scams, verify sources and protect their finances. The fi

rst video will explain Ponzi schemes, showing how scammers promise guaranteed returns and manipulate language to deceive victims. Yves G

onzalez, TikTok head of public policy for the Philippines, said the platform prioritizes user safety and is committed to expanding the campaign as new threats emerge. The vi

deos will appear on TikTok and the SEC’s social media channels. — Alexandria Grace C. Magno var

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THE Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI) on Tuesday said it could not release the video of House Majority Leader Ferdinand Alexander “Sandro” A. Marc

os III’s testimony without a written authorization, even if the congressman earlier said he was open to its publication. The la

wmaker had declared under oath that he was not amenable to livestreaming or public broadcasting of his testimony, ICI Executive Director Brian Keith F. Hosaka

, citing Chairman Andres B. Reyes,

Jr., said. “Until

the commission receives a written authority from Congressman Marcos allowing the release, we are constrained from releasing the video,” he added. Mr. Marcos

ear

lier told reporters he had given ICI “full authority” to release the recording if needed. Meanwhile, res

idents of Surigao del Norte’s second district filed a complaint with ICI alleging delays, substandard work and unfinished infrastructure projects worth about P2 billion, including flood control structures, bridges and access roads. Local officials

cited discrepancies between official completion reports and actual site conditions. — Erika Mae P. Sinaking var bwDfp