DoubleDragon Corp., the real estate venture led by tycoons Tony Tan Caktiong and Edgar Sia II, has scheduled its ₱758-million mandatory tender offer for the minority shares of MerryMart Consumer Corp. to begin on May 18, 2026. The tender offer period will run until June 16, 2026, and covers 1.58...
LT Group Inc., the diversified holding company of taipan Lucio Tan, reported a three percent increase in first-quarter profit as growth in its banking and tobacco units offset the slowdown in its beverage segment. In a filing to the Philippine Stock Exchange, the firm said that its attributable net...
ABS-CBN Corp. asked to be excluded from an escalating legal battle within its controlling family, following allegations by board director Federico “Piki” R. Lopez that the media company’s top executives dissipated corporate funds. ABS-CBN issued a statement on Friday, May 8, urging the public...
AVANT GARDENER I’ve been writing interviewing folks from different areas of the agriculture industry on their thoughts on RA12215, also known as the Philippine Agriculturists Act. So far, the folks who are willing to voice their thoughts and those of their colleagues are those who will not be...
ABS-CBN Corp. Board Director Federico R. Lopez is seeking a regulatory investigation into the media company’s top leadership, alleging the “squandering” of corporate assets and a “conscious and intentional design” to siphon funds through exorbitant executive pay despite spiraling losses....
LT Group Inc., the conglomerate controlled by tycoon Lucio Tan, expects its banking division to drive earnings to another record this year, offsetting the impact of elevated commodity costs and strained consumer spending fueled by geopolitical conflicts in the Middle East. In a briefing, Lucio Tan...
AVANT GARDENER We’ve all come across the rescue buy, where a vendor will post about how folks can help farmers in need by buying overproduced harvests that would have gone to waste at a fraction of the price. While the concept started as a sincere desire to help struggling farmers, some entities...
SM Prime Holdings Inc., the integrated property developer led by the Sy family, plans to open its flagship SM Nuvali mall in Santa Rosa, Laguna, in October 2026, marking the start of a multi-year expansion strategy targeting high-growth regional hubs outside Metro Manila. Jeffrey Lim, SM Prime...
SM Prime Holdings Inc., the Philippines’ largest integrated property developer, is signaling a more cautious approach to its expansion plans as geopolitical volatility in the Middle East threatens to disrupt the domestic economy. In a briefing, Jeffrey C. Lim, SM Prime president and chief...
Sy-led top lender BDO Unibank Inc. said the escalating Middle East war is weighing on its outlook, though its chief maintained that the Philippine economy would remain relatively resilient compared with past global crises like the Covid-19 pandemic. BDO President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO)...
AVANT GARDENER I just attended the Dumaguete Literary Festival, where I sat in the panels for fiction and horror writing. I also read an excerpt from Edilberto Tiempo’s short story “Mr. McLure” as part of a literary tour of the city and did a small book signing with a few other authors. I...
Known as “The City of Gentle People,” the City of Dumaguete is recognized for its tourist attractions, lively music scene, and as the home of Silliman University. It also has a deep and longstanding literary history, which came to the fore this April 17-20, 2026. Not only was it the third...
