Top News

Marcos clears new investment roadmap for AI, data centers

President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. has approved the 2026 Strategic Investment Priority Plan (SIPP), a revamped roadmap that expands tax incentives for high-value industries ranging from artificial intelligence and cybersecurity to electric vehicle infrastructure and critical minerals processing.

Just in

Context Dispatch

Exclusive

Visayas roots, Singapore routes: Top Line redraws its map

Singapore is no longer just a distant dot on Top Line Business Development Corp.’s growth chart. It has become a very literal marker of how far the company has travelled in 12 years, from a Visayas-based real estate developer to an emerging energy player now thinking in global supply routes.

Agriculture

Compliance with imported rice price cap hits 47% amid stricter DA checks

The Department of Agriculture (DA) has expanded market monitoring nationwide to strictly enforce the P50 per kilogram price ceiling for imported rice with 5 percent broken grains. In a statement Tuesday, the agency reported that compliance has steadily improved since the measure took effect, reaching 47.42 percent in the latest round of simultaneous inspections across Metro Manila and other regions. The increase is credited to more frequent checks and stronger presence of law enforcement in public markets.

Corporate

Healthcare distributors get financing from Security Bank, AC Health units

Security Bank has partnered with AC Health subsidiaries I.E. Medica and MedEthix to offer financing support to their nationwide dealer and distributor network via the bank’s dealer financing program. Accredited partners gain access to short-term credit lines and inventory financing, helping them manage working capital, raise purchasing power, and improve cash flow. This support is designed to strengthen the country’s healthcare supply chain by enabling better inventory management and faster response to demand.

Banking & Insurance

SM Prime hits pause on P18B bond sale

SM Prime Holdings Inc. has put the brakes on a planned bond offering of up to P18 billion, opting to wait for more favorable market conditions as it seeks funding for an ambitious expansion and redevelopment program across the country. 
spot_img

Markets

Investors seek shelter as risks crowd horizon

A growing list of economic and geopolitical concerns is pushing investors into defensive mode, with the Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) struggling to regain momentum after slipping below a key support level.

Travel

VietJet opens Cebu gateway to Vietnam

VietJet Air plans to launch direct flights between Cebu and Ho Chi Minh City in the fourth quarter of 2026, giving the Philippines its first nonstop air link between Cebu and Vietnam’s commercial capital and strengthening tourism, trade, and investment flows between the two Southeast Asian economies.
spot_img

Energy

Saudi energy giant ACWA Power invests in Clark

Saudi Arabia-based ACWA Power has signed a lease agreement with the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) for a 500-hectare site in New Clark City, paving the way for a utility-scale solar and battery storage project that could attract up to USD200 million in investments and supply clean power to emerging industries in Central Luzon.

Transport & Communications

PNB fuels Green GSM’s nationwide EV expansion

Green GSM Philippines has secured a P2-billion credit facility from Philippine National Bank (PNB), providing a major financial boost to the expansion of the country’s all-electric ride-hailing network as demand for sustainable urban transport gains momentum.
spot_img

Property

SM Prime hits pause on P18B bond sale

SM Prime Holdings Inc. has put the brakes on a planned bond offering of up to P18 billion, opting to wait for more favorable market conditions as it seeks funding for an ambitious expansion and redevelopment program across the country. 

Environment

Girlie: The eagle that defined Philippine conservation partnership

Girlie, a Philippine eagle rescued in 1982 as a juvenile with a permanent injury and blindness in one eye, has spent over 40 years in human care and is now in her mid‑40s — well beyond the species’ usual lifespan. Living at the Ninoy Aquino Parks and Wildlife Center since 2009, she stands as the living symbol of the long‑running partnership between the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the Philippine Eagle Foundation (PEF).
spot_img

Technology

Oracle’s surge bolsters fortune of Larry Ellison

Oracle shares surged nearly 8 percent on Monday as investors doubled down on a powerful Wall Street wager that the artificial intelligence boom will require vast amounts of cloud capacity and computing power. 

Health & Science

spot_img

Opinion

Silent senators forfeit democracy’s mantle

The Senate has been regarded as the last bastion of democratic dissent—a chamber where statesmen stood their ground, challenged power, and refused to let their voices be drowned out by political pressure or executive overreach. It was where difficult questions were asked, unpopular truths were spoken, and silence was treated not as a virtue but as a surrender.

Senate descends to institutional absurdity

If anyone still believed the Philippine Senate had reached rock bottom, the May 25 session suggested there was, in fact, a trapdoor beneath the floor.

Senate power shift risks Estrada-style backlash

The sudden leadership shake-up in the Senate ahead of the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Dutertel may yet prove a poisoned chalice—a glittering prize that offers control today but threatens political liability tomorrow.

A house divided: Lopez family rift tests corporate governance

“Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every house divided against itself will not stand.” In the Lopez corporate universe, the verse now reads less like scripture and more like a live governance case file—complete with injunctions, contested boardrooms, and competing versions of who nearly switched off the lights.