The year 2025 was marked by moments of celebration, reckoning, and transformation in Philippine culture and the arts, revealing both the vitality and the fragility of the country’s cultural life. The first part of this article, published on 6 January, surveyed these developments, featuring record-breaking rituals, milestone anniversary, institutional changes, cultural losses, and global engagements, from enduring ritual and the scale of Pasinaya to centenaries, museum openings, auction records, and major recognitions. Building on that overview, this second part turns to other notable developments, major events, and defining moments that also contributed to the enrichment of the nation’s cultural life.

Lost Conversations: retrieving and preserving interviews. On 7 March, art critic and cultural journalist Cid Reyes turned over original cassettes of interviews and conversations with several National Artists and leading figures of Philippine visual art to the National Museum of the Philippines for safeguarding. Long thought lost, this collection of audio interviews conducted over five decades were also restored, digitized and made publicly accessible through the ArticulatePH YouTube channel, marking a milestone in preserving oral histories and cultural documentation.

‘Una Bulaqueña’ at the Louvre Abu Dhabi. Juna Luna’s Una Bulaqueña was loaned to the Louvre Abu Dhabi in United Arab Emirates, marking the first direct collaboration between the Louvre Abu Dhabi and the National Museum of the Philippines. Declared a National Cultural Treasure in 2008, the 1895 painting was unveiled on 17 June 2025 and is on display until June 2026, the first time the painting is exhibited in the Middle East.

International wins for Filipino artists and performers. Several Filipino artists and performers shone on the global stage in 2025 in film, television, and music. At the Asian Academy Creative Awards, Dennis Trillo won Best Actor in a Leading Role for his performance in Green Bones, while Jodi Sta. Maria was named National Winner for Best Actress for Untold. The television series Saving Grace secured the Grand Final Winner award for Best Adaptation of an Existing Format (Scripted), further underscoring the strength of Filipino storytelling.

The year also saw Daniel Padilla awarded as Outstanding Asian Star at the Seoul International Drama Awards for his role in the series Incognito.

At the 2025 ASEAN International Film Festival and Awards, the Philippines secured the Best Cinematography (Some Nights I Feel Like Walking by Petersen Vargas), Best Screenplay (The Gospel of the Beast by Sheron Dayoc), and Best Supporting Actor (Ronnie Lazaro in The Gospel of the Beast). Additionally, filmmaker Lav Diaz was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award.

In music, P-pop groups Bini (International Female Group), BGYO (International Artist on the Rise), and HORI7ON (Song by New International Artist for “Cold”) earned international citations at Brazil’s BreakTudo Awards, while the band Lola Amour received the Special Award for Philippine Popular Music for the hit “Raining in Manila” at the first Music Awards Japan.

The Nueva Ecija Singing Ambassadors won two gold medals at the Taipei Chorale Competition in Taiwan, and young Filipino musicians topped in Music Theory, Piano, Violin and Ensemble categories at the Music Singapore International Competition.

Milestones by artists and performers of Filipino descent were achieved abroad: Filipino-American Jessica Sanchez won America’s Got Talent Season 20; Filipino-American Ruby Ibarra won the 2025 NPR Tiny Desk Contest for her song “Bakunawa”; and Filipino-Austrian singer JJ (Johannes Pietsch) claimed victory for Austria at the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest, becoming the first Eurovision winner of Filipino and Southeast Asian descent.

Sale of ABS-CBN property. The Philippines witnessed the symbolic end of an era with the sale of part of ABS-CBN’s historic Quezon City property, including the iconic Millennium Transmitter. Built in 1969, the tower — long a symbol of national broadcasting and public service — was officially switched off on 9 July 2025, marking a poignant moment for media workers and audiences alike. The sale to Ayala Land Inc. followed ABS-CBN’s continued financial strain after the non-renewal of its broadcast franchise in 2020 brought about by the authoritarian Duterte regime.

Twenty years of Virgin Labfest. In 2025, the Virgin Labfest (VLF), the Cultural Center of the Philippines’s annual Philippine theater festival of “untried, untested, and un-staged” one-act plays, marked 20 years of providing a platform for emerging Filipino playwrights, directors, and actors. It has become one of the most important theater festivals in the country and has produced a number of acclaimed theater practitioners.