Chito Lozada

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That sinking feeling

And what have investors watched all year? A pork barrel scandal worth over a trillion pesos. A parade of officials named and renamed in hearing after hearing.

2 September 20262 MIN READ

Public patience’s limit Speaking from experience in two defining impeachment trials in the past, public service veteran Franklin Drilon warned that if the trial of Vice President Sara Duterte is dragged out too long, public opinion will turn, not due to weak evidence but because the wait wears people down.

Hard lessons: Two trials, one Frank

Drilon is the rare public figure people still turn to for procedural common sense, because he has been on both sides of the bench — the senator who broke from…

31 August 20266 MIN READ

Vultures circle P15-B road tax

Fund turned into 2027 lump sum

30 August 20264 MIN READ

Carpio: Signing CoC will validate encroachment

Antonio Carpio warns that a South China Sea Code of Conduct without the 2016 arbitral ruling could legitimize China’s artificial islands and military…

29 August 20262 MIN READ

No other way but slay UA

The Supreme Court killed the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), the old pork barrel, in 2013.

26 August 20263 MIN READ

AN electric utility worker tends to a tangle of meters beneath a transformer, where every stolen watt ultimately finds its way onto someone’s bill. Electric cooperatives were among the most inefficient in minimizing so-called system losses, senators were told this week.

Power theft costsconsumers P6.82B: 36 co-ops found breaching ERC system loss cap

They argued that the analogy does not hold because, unlike a retailer absorbing shrinkage, distribution utilities are shielded by law from bearing the cost…

21 August 20265 MIN READ

A confrontation between Chinese and the Philippine Coast Guard at Ayungin Shoal on Monday, 20 July.

Traitorous deal

The absence of conflict is proof that the arrangement is working exactly as Beijing designed it to work.

19 August 20263 MIN READ

ENERGY consumption is measured by electric meters such these seen in Sta. Mesa, Manila. Energy officials estimate the complete removal of system loss charges may take up to a year, targeting full execution by 2027. The policy requires legal amendments to the EPIRA law, extensive infrastructure planning and regulatory adjustments by the Energy Regulatory Commission before implementation.

Albay co-ops top system loss list

ERC data showed several Philippine electric cooperatives exceeding allowable system loss caps, as President Marcos called for reforms to stop consumers from…

14 August 20262 MIN READ

A box labeled “confidential funds” was presented to the impeachment court on Wednesday, 5 August, containing documents concerning the confidential funds of the OVP and DepEd from 2022 to 2023, as part of the prosecution’s evidence for the first impeachment article against Vice President Sara Duterte.

That’s why it’s confidential

The prosecution treats this as a scandal — which it is not — since it is the system working as designed.

12 August 20263 MIN READ

Track record, capital key to Meralco bid

Meralco is pushing partnerships with rural electric cooperatives to improve power reliability, attract industries and spur economic growth outside Metro Manila.

11 August 20263 MIN READ