About the Author

Mr. Lucas has been a journalist since 1999, having covered banking and finance, telecommunications, transportation, energy, capital markets and the presidential palace beats.

He has worked for The Business Daily, BusinessWorld, The Manila Times, Today and the Manila Standard Today. He spent 18 years at the Philippine Daily Inquirer, starting as a reporter in 2005 before becoming its business news editor until Dec. 31, 2023.

He earned a business management degree from the Ateneo de Manila University in 1994.

Latest from the Author

30 Jan 2025

10:23AM

JG Summit shuts down petrochemical unit ‘indefinitely’ due to weak market

By: Daxim L. Lucas

JG Summit Holdings Corp. chair Lance Gokongwei said the JG Summit Olefins Corp. (JGSOC) “is now on indefinite commercial shutdown” due to “persisting unfavorable market conditions in the global petrochemical industry.”

28 Jan 2025

9:52AM

INSIDER VIEW: Spock’s logic in banning turboprops from Manila’s congested airport

By: Daxim L. Lucas

“Logic dictates that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few,” Spock said in the 1982 Star Trek movie “The Wrath of Khan”. By this measure, our aviation regulators made a logical choice — the right choice.

17 Jan 2025

8:15AM

INSIDER INFO: Deal for Maharlika’s 10% NGCP buy-in via Synergy shares ‘imminent’

By: Daxim L. Lucas

According to deal insiders, talks between the leadership of the Maharlika Fund and National Grid Corporation of the Philippines are just about complete, with a purchase price set to be agreed in principle.

16 Jan 2025

4:32PM

INSIDER INFO: St. Luke’s not negligent but told to pay damages in patient’s 2010 death

By: Daxim L. Lucas

While the court exonerated the defendants from negligence charges — finding that the complainants failed to establish a breach of the standard of care — it nonetheless directed the defendants to compensate the plaintiffs for damages arising from a breach of duty in facilitating timely surgical intervention.

12 Dec 2024

2:02PM

INSIDER INFO: MAP's incoming chief withdraws, haunted by ‘ghosts of Christmas past'

By: Daxim L. Lucas

Noel Bonoan – a certified public accountant and a lawyer, a former Undersecretary of the Department of Finance, a 2004 TOYM awardee, and the current head of KPMG R.G. Manabat – had withdrawn from the MAP's presidency in a bid to insulate the group from his “personal issues”.

3 Dec 2024

8:23AM

INSIDER INFO: How San Miguel came into possession of Busguk Island in Palawan

By: Daxim L. Lucas

When some of Danding Cojuangco’s plantations were put under land reform, he asked government to compensate him with idle, non-agricultural property in some far off place that he could develop in the distant future. That place is Bugsuk Island, which became the subject of a land swap deal between Cojuangco and the government.

28 Nov 2024

4:08PM

Bold move: GCash ditches dual listing plan; IPO to be a purely PSE affair in 2025

By: Daxim L. Lucas

A ranking company official told InsiderPH on Thursday, Nov. 28, 2024, that the IPO is tentatively scheduled for the second half of 2025, confirming a Bloomberg News report.

15 Nov 2024

6:30AM

INSIDER INFO: Norman Foster-designed BDO head office in Makati finished by 2028

By: Daxim L. Lucas

The same visual and architectural style has been used for Foster's other projects including the HSBC headquarters in Hong Kong, the Gherkin building in London, and Hearst Tower in New York, among others.

29 Oct 2024

1:09PM

Romulo law firm names corporate and tax law expert Buenaventura as new chair

By: Daxim L. Lucas

Romulo Mabanta Buenaventura Sayoc & de los Angeles, one of the most prominent law firms in the Philippine business landscape, has appointed Jose “Chito” Buenaventura as its new chair, effective Oct. 26, 2024.