Good Morning.

Another week down. If you made it here, well done for pushing through work, noise, and deadlines. This issue looks at a rare energy win for the country, a Filipino founder who built a pizza giant without hype, and how AI rules are changing in South Korea, and a blood test that could spot Crohn’s years early.

Stay sharp,
Team PesoWeekly

Big picture: President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. ordered tight security around Malampaya East-1 after a major natural gas discovery that could reshape the country’s energy future.

What’s new: Initial tests show about 98 billion cubic feet of gas, with strong flow rates similar to the original Malampaya wells. That is enough to help power millions of homes and ease reliance on imported fuel.

Security move: The Philippine Coast Guard has deployed patrol ships and aerial assets to guard the site, signaling how strategic the find is.

Why it matters: Led by Prime Energy, the discovery could extend Malampaya’s life by up to 30% and stabilize Luzon’s power supply. After a decade without new gas finds, this is a rare energy win for the Philippines.

Cresida Tueres started with a small over‑the‑counter pizza store in Greenhills in 1971, a hole‑in‑the‑wall shop serving affordable pizza to students and families. Her edge was simple: home‑style recipes tuned to Filipino tastes and prices that budget‑conscious barkadas could manage.

Big idea: focus on taste, price, and people who already loved the food. Friends and customers pushed her into franchising, not the other way around.

As word spread, friends and customers asked to open their own branches, pulling her into franchising instead of a top‑down expansion plan. By 1994, Greenwich had grown to about 50 stores, enough for Jollibee Foods Corporation to acquire an 80% stake and scale it into a national chain.

Lesson: prove the product first, grow with demand, then partner big when the foundation is solid.

The government is upgrading transmission lines to handle more renewable energy as it now makes up about 25 percent of the power mix, TransCo said in Manila. Delays remain due to right-of-way and approvals, but a Smart and Green Grid Plan is set for completion before midyear.

Cebu Pacific will complete the transfer of all turboprop flights from NAIA to Clark by March 29 to reduce congestion. The move covers Cebgo and AirSwift routes and will free up slots at NAIA, allowing more flights from Manila to key domestic and international destinations.

The Philippine government raised $2.75 billion from a triple-tranche dollar bond sale, its first return to global markets in a year. The issuance exceeded the $1.5 billion target and drew strong investor demand despite volatile markets, with proceeds to fund the national budget deficit.

The Philippines resumed rice imports this month after a ban ended in 2025 to support farmers. The government capped imports at 300,000 metric tons until February, required arrivals before harvest peak, and opened more ports to ease congestion, while aiming to keep rice prices stable.

The inaugural casting Oscar features mostly female nominees, while major 2026 nominations include Benicio Del Toro, Elle Fanning, Sean Penn, and films like Frankenstein, Sinners, and KPop Demon Hunters. (Read More)

The Philippines will send 180 athletes to the Asian Beach Games in Sanya this April, competing in 15 disciplines as the event returns after a 10-year hiatus across Asia. (Read more)

Taylor Swift became the youngest woman inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, joining the 2026 class after record-breaking albums, major awards, and reclaiming ownership of her early music catalog. (Read More)

Apple is reportedly creating an AI pin with cameras and microphones, potentially launching in 2027 with 20 million units, aiming to compete with OpenAI amid growing AI hardware interest. (Read More)

South Korea will start its AI Act on Jan. 22, setting global safety rules for high-performance AI while supporting innovation, offering a grace period, and focusing on compliance over penalties. (Read more)

Snap launched new Family Center features allowing parents to track teens’ screen time and see how new friends are connected, aiming to improve safety after settling a social media addiction lawsuit. (Read more)

Ex-Google employees created Sparkli, an AI-powered interactive app for children aged 5-12, offering immersive lessons, quizzes, and games, with a school pilot reaching over 100,000 students globally. (Read more)

Scientists are studying apes, parrots, and dolphins to measure happiness through play, treats, and social cues, aiming to better understand positive emotions in animals.

Researchers at Sinai Health found a blood test that detects immune reactions to gut bacteria protein flagellin, predicting Crohn’s disease years before symptoms in high-risk relatives.

Researchers at Yale found that how quickly nasal cells release antiviral interferons determines how sick someone gets from rhinovirus, the main cause of colds, with faster responses limiting infection and symptoms.

A year of regular aerobic exercise, about 150 minutes weekly, was linked to brains that appeared nearly a year younger in adults aged 26 to 58, suggesting midlife activity supports long-term brain health.

President Marcos said he is fine after brief hospitalization for diverticulitis, assuring Filipinos it is not life-threatening and urged rest. (Read more)

A Filipino American nurse couple joined New York’s largest nurses’ strike, losing health insurance weeks before childbirth, to demand safe staffing and fair benefits. (Read more)

Davao City ranked the Philippines’ most congested city and 12th globally in 2025, with drivers losing about seven days yearly to traffic delays. (Read more)

DOLE warned employers to release final pay and certificates within 30 days, noting delayed pay was the top labor complaint in 2025. (Read more)

Cebu City police recovered 154 suspected stolen phones from a repair shop, many linked to Sinulog Festival losses, and arrested one suspect. (Read more)

A Seoul court sentenced former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo to 23 years for rebellion over President Yoon Suk Yeol’s December 2024 martial law, a precedent for trials against Yoon ahead.

Japan sentenced Tetsuya Yamagami to life imprisonment for assassinating former prime minister Shinzo Abe in Nara in 2022, ending a trial that exposed risks and links to the Unification Church.

The UN warns many regions face water shortages as lakes and wetlands vanish, leaving four billion people short of water yearly and raising risks to food, economies, and social stability.

📝 Kimpro tops YouTube 2025 with 77.53 billion views.

📝 Podcast says liver naturally detoxes, making most detox trends unnecessary. (Watch)

📝 Scientists make the first synthetic virus to fight antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

📝 New eye injection restores vision in rare low-pressure conditions, study shows.

📝 Global Ocean Treaty enters force, setting goal to protect 30% of oceans by 2030.