I’VE never heard of such blatant disregard of our justice system as that undertaken by Metro Clark Waste Management Corp. (Metro Clark).

It has insisted that the government cannot terminate, as it did two weeks ago, its 25-year garbage collection and disposal contract with government firms owning the 100-hectare landfill in Kalangitan in Capas, Tarlac.

(The landfill serves 121 municipalities in eight provinces, namely Pangasinan, Nueva Ecija, Tarlac, Pampanga, Bulacan, Zambales, Bataan and Benguet.)

This is pure garbage, and so were its moves to keep its 25-year-old monopoly.

On June 21, 2024, Metro Clark filed a case against the two government firms, the Clark Development Corp. (CDC) and its supervising agency, the Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA), at the Angeles City Regional Trial Court, contesting the termination of its contract.

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THE US-backed Marcos administration’s plot to demonize former president Rodrigo Duterte by regurgitating allegations that there were widespread extrajudicial killings (EJK) in his war against illegal drugs six years ago has totally backfired.

The hearing last week by the Senate — which has again proven to be independent of the incumbent administration as it should be, in contrast to the shameless servility of the House of Representatives — reminded Filipinos that in contrast to the incumbent, Duterte was a strong, true leader, willing to take risks to wage an uncompromising stand against the drug lords, who could have made the country worse than several Latin American nations as a narco-state.

Social media — now the equivalent of the “mosquito press” that helped topple the Marcos dictatorship — was deluged with such posts as “Millions love PRRD… that is enough …”; “This is the PRRD that we miss … my president, salamat po”; and even sarcasm directed at Sen. Risa Hontiveros: “Good job talaga ma’am Risa Hotier, proud kaming mga adik sa’yo.”

FERDINAND Marcos Jr.’s all-out political and propaganda attack against Vice President Sara Duterte, planned early this year and made public when she resigned as education secretary in October, will be the accidental president’s biggest political error. It may seem a good move in the future, when the Dutertes’ political star has faded — but not now.

Marcos kicked out former president Rodrigo Duterte, the most popular Philippine president in the post-war era, from his huge political tent. Duterte had developed such charisma with the masses as we have not seen in this era. Thrown out with him was his daughter, Sara, whose popularity ratings have beaten Marcos in every legitimate and honest poll before the incumbent president launched an intense propaganda campaign against her.

To further weaken Sara, Marcos ordered his cousin, House Speaker Martin Romualdez, to pass a budget bill that allocated not a single centavo in confidential funds to Sara’s office as vice president, which in practice limits an office’s flexibility to undertake its tasks. The original proposal was for P500 million.

THE lack of urgency from the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) regarding the transition to renewable energy is evident in the prolonged process of determining prices, a key factor that renewable energy (RE) investors are eagerly awaiting.

Why is the pricing mechanism so vital for the burgeoning renewable energy sector in the Philippines? Because it would just be chaotic without it.

There are two primary objectives in the shift to renewable energy: reliability and affordability. Although it is a complex process, achieving these two goals simultaneously should not be an insurmountable challenge, regardless of how daunting the technical issues may seem.

During a recent Senate hearing on the Department of Energy (DoE) budget, several senators questioned the ERC on the delay in formulating a pricing mechanism. However, they received only excuses, not answers.

Sen. Pia Cayetano, chairman of the Senate Energy Committee, expressed confusion over the apparent lack of urgency from the ERC in establishing a mechanism that could open the doors for investors keen on pollution-free energy.