What’s topping the Filipino holiday list this year? At SM Supermalls, the country’s retail giant, it is less sparkle and more sense.

Some 3.2 million Filipino workers received assistance through Pag-IBIG Fund’s short-term loan (STL) programs from January to October this year, a 28 percent jump from the 2.5 million borrowers recorded in the same period last year, agency officials announced Monday, December 1.

The Philippine Competition Commission has approved the Thunder Consortium’s planned acquisition of the Caliraya-Botocan-Kalayaan (CBK) hydroelectric power complex, Aboitiz Power Corp. announced in a disclosure on Monday.