News
The Daily Scan – July 29, 2026 (Wed)
Marcos Promised Cheaper Power. The Question Is Who Actually Pays for It
Marcos lifted the Metro Manila IT ecozone freeze and pledged to scrap system loss charges from electricity bills during Monday’s SONA, but the ERC chief says the cost has to land somewhere, and Congress hasn’t touched the law that allows it in years. Meralco dropped 4.66% on the uncertainty. BDO raised P132 billion in sustainability bonds, and BSP admits it wasn’t consulted on the wage hike it now has to price around.
| Meralco Share Price | BDO Sustainability Bond | IT Ecozone Freeze | BSP Policy Rate |
| -4.66% | P132B, 26x target | Lifted, Metro Manila |
4.75%, hike unlikely |
THE SNAPSHOT
President Marcos used Monday’s SONA to lift the six-year freeze on Metro Manila IT ecozones and promise Filipinos relief from system loss charges on their electricity bills, drawing a standing ovation. Two days later, the actual mechanics are murkier: ERC chairman Francis Saturnino Juan says removing the charge requires Congress to amend a law it has left untouched for years, and someone, DUs, gencos, or government, still has to absorb the underlying cost. Meralco investors weren’t waiting for clarity, the stock dropped 4.66% on the news alone. Elsewhere the picture is steadier: BDO raised P132 billion in sustainability bonds, 26 times its target, and BSP Governor Eli Remolona says a bigger rate hike next month is possible but unlikely, even as he admits the central bank wasn’t consulted on the wage increase now feeding into that decision. Today’s brief is about reading a popular promise against the plumbing required to deliver it.
SECTION 1 · Philippines
● If System Loss Charges Are Axed, Who Absorbs the Cost?
WHAT HAPPENED
Marcos earned a standing ovation during Monday’s SONA after calling for system loss charges to be removed from electricity bills. ERC chairman Francis Saturnino Juan told The STAR that removing the charge requires Congress to amend Section 43(f) of EPIRA, a law that has gone untouched for years despite repeated SONA pledges, and someone still has to absorb the underlying cost, whether that’s distribution utilities, generation companies, or a direct government subsidy.
UNCERTAIN
DOE could not give a firm timeline, saying only that relief may arrive before Marcos’s final SONA next year, a maximum window of about one year.
WHY IT MATTERS
Philreca warned that a total ban on system loss recovery without a government subsidy would bankrupt non-profit electric cooperatives, and Juan cautioned that if generation companies absorb the cost instead, they could simply pass it back to consumers through higher generation charges, which already account for more than half of power bills.
RISK
Businesses budgeting around a near-term bill reduction may be planning around relief that takes up to a year and could resurface as a different charge.
NEXT MOVE
Don’t adjust your 2026 power cost projections based on this pledge alone. Wait for the ERC-NEA meeting outcome and any EPIRA amendment before assuming bills actually drop.
● Marcos Lifts Freeze on Metro Manila IT Ecozones
WHAT HAPPENED
Marcos lifted the six-year moratorium on new IT ecozone applications in Metro Manila through Administrative Order 45, which excludes IT centers and IT parks from the AO 18 freeze first imposed in 2019. PEZA is now directed to accept, process, and evaluate all Metro Manila IT ecozone applications. The moratorium on other types of ecozones in the capital region stays in place.
UNCERTAIN
No word yet on processing timelines or whether a backlog of past-frozen applications gets priority once PEZA reopens the pipeline.
WHY IT MATTERS
Trade Secretary Cristina Roque said the move addresses long-standing investor demand and unlocks real estate opportunities in the capital’s IT-BPM sector, reversing a policy that had pushed new ecozone development toward the provinces for six years.
OPPORTUNITY
IT-BPM firms and real estate developers with Metro Manila sites can now pursue PEZA accreditation that was off the table since 2019.
NEXT MOVE
If you’ve been holding a Metro Manila IT ecozone application or considering one, start the PEZA process now, before demand from six years of pent-up applications creates a backlog.
● PSEi Dips as Investors Take Profits Late in Session
WHAT HAPPENED
The PSEi edged down 0.17% to 6,304.03 on last-minute selling, with investors still cautious over US-Iran tensions. Meralco was the index’s main laggard, plunging 4.66% to P562 per share after Marcos’s SONA remarks on EPIRA amendments and system loss charge removal. Foreigners were still net buyers, at P115.12 million.
UNCERTAIN
AB Capital Securities said it sees tighter loss caps and stronger efficiency incentives as more likely than a full ban on cost recovery, but that’s a house view, not confirmed policy.
WHY IT MATTERS
A single presidential speech moved a utility’s share price nearly 5% in one session, a sign investors are pricing regulatory uncertainty into power sector stocks well before any actual EPIRA amendment passes.
RISK
Power and utility-adjacent stocks may see continued volatility until the system loss charge mechanics are clarified.
NEXT MOVE
If you hold or advise on power sector positions, treat this as a live regulatory risk story, not a one-day dip. Track the ERC-NEA meeting for the next real signal.
● BDO’s Sustainability Bond Offering Hits P132 Billion
WHAT HAPPENED
BDO Unibank raised P132 billion from its sixth peso-denominated ASEAN Sustainability Bond issuance, more than 26 times its P5-billion minimum offer size. Strong demand from retail and institutional investors pushed BDO to close the offer nearly two weeks early. The bonds carry a 6.26% coupon over an 18-month tenor, bringing BDO’s cumulative sustainability bond total to P518.7 billion.
UNCERTAIN
BDO didn’t break down the retail-versus-institutional investor split, so it’s unclear how much of the oversubscription reflects broad public appetite versus large institutional orders.
WHY IT MATTERS
A 26x oversubscription on a sustainability-labeled bond, in the same week utility stocks are getting hit by policy uncertainty, shows fixed-income investors still have strong appetite for well-structured peso debt even when equities are jumpy.
OPPORTUNITY
SMEs and projects with a genuine sustainability angle may find banks more willing to extend financing sourced from this kind of oversubscribed issuance.
NEXT MOVE
If your business has a sustainability or green angle, ask your bank whether sustainability-linked loan products are available now that issuers like BDO have this much fresh capital to deploy.
SECTION 2 · Worth Knowing
● BSP Open to Larger Rate Hike if Needed, Says Remolona
WHAT HAPPENED
BSP Governor Eli Remolona said a 50-basis-point hike at the Aug. 27 policy meeting is possible but unlikely, calling it “a small chance.” The BSP has already raised rates 50 basis points this year to 4.75%. Remolona also disclosed the central bank was not consulted during the tripartite process that set the P60 Metro Manila wage increase, and is still estimating its inflation impact.
UNCERTAIN
Remolona didn’t give a specific estimate for how much the wage hike adds to inflation, only that the BSP is still working through it ahead of the August meeting.
WHY IT MATTERS
Core inflation accelerated to 4.4% from 4.1%, and headline inflation sits at 6.4%, well above the BSP’s 3% target, meaning the central bank is now pricing in a wage decision it had no seat at the table for.
RISK
Businesses planning around a rate pause should note the door to a bigger hike is explicitly still open, not closed.
NEXT MOVE
Build your August and September financing plans around the possibility of a 50-bp hike, not just the more likely 25-bp move. Remolona said the door is open, and that’s the number that matters for risk planning.
● Higher Fuel Surcharge Leads to Increased AirAsia PH Fees
WHAT HAPPENED
The Civil Aeronautics Board raised the interim fuel surcharge matrix from Level 8 to Level 13 for August 1 to 15, pushing domestic surcharges to between P423 and P1,237, and international surcharges as high as P10,385.42. AirAsia Philippines confirmed global jet fuel prices have more than doubled versus 2025 levels.
UNCERTAIN
CAB adjusts the matrix every 15 days based on global oil trends, so the Level 13 rate is explicitly temporary and could move again by mid-August.
WHY IT MATTERS
This is the same Middle East-driven oil volatility showing up in a completely different cost line, airfare, on top of the peso and power stories already in play this month, confirming the pattern isn’t confined to one sector.
RISK
Businesses with regular domestic or international travel costs face another 15-day cycle of unpredictable surcharge swings.
NEXT MOVE
If travel is a recurring cost for your business, book further ahead where possible and watch the CAB’s mid-August adjustment rather than assuming Level 13 holds.
SECTION 3 · THE OPPORTUNITY BEHIND THE NEWS
A Popular Promise and an Unwritten Bill
Marcos got his standing ovation for pledging to remove system loss charges from electricity bills. Read next to ERC chairman Francis Saturnino Juan’s comments to The STAR, a different picture forms: the law that allows the charge, EPIRA Section 43(f), needs a congressional amendment government has promised and failed to deliver in previous SONAs, and even if it passes, the underlying cost doesn’t disappear, it just moves to whoever absorbs it, distribution utilities, generation companies, or the national government through a subsidy.
The market read this correctly before most consumers did. Meralco dropped 4.66% in a single session, not because the policy is bad for the company necessarily, but because nobody yet knows which of three very different cost-absorption scenarios will actually happen. Founders in energy, utilities, or anything power-cost sensitive should treat the SONA pledge itself as noise and the ERC-NEA meeting outcome as the actual signal. The gap between a popular announcement and its enacted mechanics is exactly where informed positioning beats reacting to headlines.
SECTION 4 · FOUNDER’S LESSON
If You Weren’t in the Room, Say So
BSP Governor Eli Remolona did something unusual for a policymaker under pressure to explain a fast-moving inflation number: he admitted the central bank wasn’t consulted when the tripartite wage board set the P60 Metro Manila increase. “There was a tripartite group talking about it. We weren’t included in that,” he told reporters, plainly, without spin, even though the wage hike is now a live input into his own rate decision.
That’s a harder thing to say out loud than it sounds. The easier move is to speak as though you had full visibility into a decision that’s now landing on your desk, because admitting you didn’t can look like a loss of control. But Remolona’s version builds more credibility, not less, because it separates what he actually knows from what he’s now estimating. Founders face this constantly: a vendor changes terms without warning, a partner makes a call that reshapes your roadmap, a client shifts scope after the contract’s signed. The instinct is to act like you saw it coming. The better move, the one that keeps your own credibility intact for the next decision, is Remolona’s: say plainly you weren’t consulted, then show your work on how you’re adjusting anyway.
SECTION 5 · ONE REAL SIGNAL
4.66% Is What Regulatory Uncertainty Costs in One Trading Session
Meralco’s share price fell 4.66% to P562 on Wednesday, and the cause wasn’t an earnings miss, a downgrade, or a competitive threat. It was a presidential speech two days earlier calling for a charge to be removed from electricity bills, a policy that hasn’t been drafted, let alone passed. Nothing about Meralco’s actual business changed between Monday and Wednesday. What changed was how much uncertainty the market is now pricing into the stock.
That’s worth sitting with regardless of whether you hold Meralco shares. The number that matters here isn’t the percentage drop, it’s the speed. A single unscripted policy comment moved a major utility’s valuation before any legislation existed to act on it, which tells you how thin the buffer is between a popular SONA line and a market reaction with real financial consequences for shareholders, employees, and anyone whose costs are tied to the sector. If you’re in energy, utilities, or any regulated industry, the lesson isn’t about Meralco specifically. It’s that in this political environment, a speech is now a market-moving event on its own, well before it becomes policy. Plan your own sector exposure with that gap in mind.
Summarized in our own words with links to every source. We don’t reproduce full articles or bypass paywalls. Interpretation is labeled as such and kept separate from reported fact.
