Sunday, 11 January 2026
5 days ago
INSIDER VIEW | The Maduro lesson for PH: Power without pretense
On Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026, the United States seized Venezuela's sitting president, flew him to New York, and paraded him in handcuffs into a DEA office. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced charges including narco-terrorism and possession of machine guns in violation of a 1934 American statute.
6 days ago
INSIDER VIEW | Beyond contracts: Five virtues to guide PPPs
By: Alberto Agra
As 2026 begins, public-private partnerships (PPPs) stand at a critical juncture. In many jurisdictions, including the Philippines, PPPs are no longer evaluated solely by the kilometers of roads built, classrooms delivered, or facilities constructed.
29 Dec 2025
7:40AM
INSIDER VIEW | ERC backlog shrinks, but grid bottlenecks remain
I’ve been hearing in the industry that the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) has been acting promptly on petitions and manifestations, and it has significantly reduced its backlog.
26 Dec 2025
5:44AM
INSIDER VIEW | ERC circular undermines electricity market competition
For over 20 years, the Philippines has pursued the development of a competitive electricity market to deliver lower costs to consumers. The Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001 (EPIRA) unequivocally mandates that retail competition, consumer choice, and private contracting—not government control—drive efficiency.
24 Dec 2025
4:17AM
INSIDER VIEW | Why PPPs matter in education
Public-private partnerships (PPPs) offer a pathway for better governance in the Department of Education’s (DepEd) infrastructure build-up for classrooms and connectivity.
22 Dec 2025
12:06PM
INSIDER VIEW | PPPs unlock development potential of reclaimed land
By: Alberto Agra
Reclaimed land has emerged as one of the Philippines’ most strategic platforms for growth, urban expansion, and climate-resilient development, with public-private partnerships (PPPs) playing a central role in unlocking its full potential.
17 Dec 2025
11:04AM
INSIDER VIEW | Mining’s fortunes shaped beyond markets and metrics
As the year winds down, it’s worth pausing amid the steady drumbeat of headlines on mines, moratoriums, and mineral prices to ask a basic question: what did 2025 really look like for Philippine mining—and how was that story told?
10 Dec 2025
10:18AM
INSIDER VIEW | Modernizing National Defense through strategic PPPs
By: Alberto Agra
The evolving security landscape—and the modernization agenda of the Department of National Defense (DND) and Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP)—show that defense institutions can also harness PPPs to strengthen readiness, improve facilities, and optimize resources, all without privatizing core military functions.
2 Dec 2025
4:16PM
INSIDER VIEW | Enhancing results through co-grantorship in PPPs
By: Alberto Agra
Co-grantorship— or inter-agency arrangements in Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) — has emerged as a strategic approach to infrastructure and service delivery, allowing two or more public entities to jointly participate as grantors in a single PPP project.
Advertisement
