Redempto D. Anda

We wrote about ₱81.9 million in unrecouped contractor advances, based on solid COA findings. Nonchalant. We reported on ₱2.5 million paid to 462 dead senior citizens, just repeating what COA said. Nonchalant. We detailed how one contractor failed three times and walked away with ₱29.5 million in advances, just like how COA described it. Silence. It’s beginning to feel less like investigative journalism and more like shouting into the void.

• PPC has the highest number of uncompleted projects funded by the 20 percent development fund • Kalayaan has weakest utilization rate of its 20% development fund • Quezon has the longest project backlog, going back at least 13 years • A significant slice of Palawan province’s 20% development fund went to debt servicing instead of new projects • Brooke’s Point is best performer in development fund utilization Local governments are mandated by law to set aside at least 20% of their annual...

As 2025 draws to a close, we take a look at a year that defined Palawan, from the indigenous communities of Mariahangin defending their ancestral lands to fishermen navigating the hostile West Philippine Sea, from a historic provincial mining moratorium to critical infrastructure failures, from the destructive force of Typhoon Tino to a national corruption scandal touching local projects.