Author: Nouman Ali

Nickel Asia Corp. (NAC) is venturing into Kazakhstan by acquiring a 20-percent stake in a company with interest in a copper mine, seeking to expand its footprint across Asia.

The listed mining company signed an agreement with Silk Road Resources Ltd., a private entity incorporated under the Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC), a financial hub in Astana and East Copper Production LLP.

NAC did not disclose the acquisition cost when asked for additional information, but only said the deal involved acquiring a 20-percent stake in East Copper, the sole legal and beneficial owner of GRK MLD LLP.

GRK, in turn, holds subsoil use rights for the Karchiga copper mine in Kazakhstan. The copper deposit is situated within the Central Asian Orogenic Belt, a globally recognized highly mineralized metallogenic domain.

GRK has an annual production capacity of 8,500 tons of copper sulfide concentrate and 2,000 tons of copper cathode.

Robust industry

Data from the AIFC showed that Kazakhstan’s mining sector contributed more than 12 percent of the country’s gross domestic product, amounting to 16.1 million Kazakhstani Tenge. It accounted for one-third of exports.

AIFC also noted that Kazakhstan is one of the world’s top 10 copper producers, holding a market share of 3.2 percent.

NAC said the transaction supports a broader goal of diversifying its business and growing its presence across the region.

‘This investment supports the company’s strategy to expand market capitalization and earnings by evolving beyond nickel into a diversified natural resources development platform with a growing presence across Asia,’ the firm said in a disclosure on Wednesday.

Due diligence

The sale is subject to the completion of the due diligence on East Copper and GRK, along with other closing conditions and the necessary regulatory approvals.

NAC reported an attributable net income of P6.27 billion in 2025, a 312 percent surge from a year ago, due to strong export prices and higher sales.

Revenues from saprolite and limonite ore rose by 39 percent to P27.25 billion.

Following a fragile ceasefire in the Middle East, the domestic market has seen a glimmer of relief with two consecutive weeks of substantial fuel price adjustments.

As of Tuesday, April 21, 2026, motorists welcomed another major double-digit rollback on diesel prices, which saw a reduction of P24.94 per liter.

This follows a similar massive cut the previous week, marking a significant, albeit necessary, correction that has brought diesel prices down from their recent peaks and into a more manageable, though still high, range for consumers.

Below are the oil prices monitored and gathered by the INQUIRER team as of April 23, 2026.

A 40-year-old truck driver and three others were arrested by the police on Tuesday for the rape-slay of his 16-year-old daughter almost two weeks ago.

Col. Jay Baybayan, Bulacan police director, identified the arrested father of the victim as Daniel Gallano, of Purok 5, Poblacion, this town.

He and his cohorts, identified as Jeffrey Beluar, 27; brothers Ronel Laurio, 29, and Joel Laurio, 31, all from Poblacion, were arrested in police hot-pursuit operations in their respective houses.

Gallano on Saturday reported to the Bustos police station that he found the body of his missing daughter in a grassy area near Bustos River in the boundary of Poblacion and Barangay San Pedro.

Police Capt. Heherson Zambale, Bustos police chief, said Gallano told them that the victim left their house around 11 p.m. on April 11, after he and his wife scolded her when they caught her kissing her boyfriend near their house.

Authorities found the victim’s body already in the decomposing stage.

The police’s backtracking of closed-circuit television footage and a witness led them to Beluar, who was hiding inside a shanty in a community in Poblacion known as ‘Banana Island’.

According to the witness, the last person he saw with the victim was Beluar. Beluar then pointed to Gallano and the Laurio brothers as his cohorts.

About two hours earlier, Beluar escaped the police who went after him in a piggery farm where he was working.

Zambale told the Inquirer that Gallano bears scratches on his body, which indicate that the victim struggled and resisted.

The chief of police said all four suspects face rape and homicide charges before the Bulacan Prosecutors’ Office.

The local government of Calanasan in Apayao province was placed under a state of calamity on Wednesday due to the worsening socioeconomic effects of the ongoing energy crisis.In a statement, the local government said the town council has passed a resolution on the calamity declaration, and Mayor Shamir Bulut approved it.The resolution came as an offshoot of the recommendation from the Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (MDRRMC), which found that the current situation has ‘significantly disrupted local livelihoods, transportation, and the delivery of basic goods and services.’The crisis, driven by global oil supply disruptions linked to tensions in the Middle East, has caused fuel prices to surge to unprecedented levels, the statement added.

Community journalist RJ Nichole Ledesma was among 19 people killed in a clash between government soldiers and suspected New People’s Army (NPA) rebels in Negros Occidental province on Sunday, Altermidya Network confirmed on Wednesday.

The Philippine Army earlier reported that Sunday’s series of armed encounters with supposed NPA remnants resulted in 19 rebels slain, but it has yet to release the full list of fatalities.

Altermidya, in a statement on Wednesday, said it mourns the killing of Ledesma, writer and editor of Paghimutad Negros Island Alternative Media and its coordinator in the region, from Sunday’s incident.

Ledesma, 30, was killed in a supposed military operation at Barangay Salamanca in Toboso town, but he was in the area doing community work and immersion, reporting on the effects of renewable energy projects on farming communities, Altermidya said.

It identified Ledesma as a community journalist, editor and poet, a career path he chose after his stint as student leader and campus writer.

He served as editor in chief of Spectrum, the student publication of the University of St. La Salle in Bacolod, where he graduated with a degree in psychology. Since 2020, he led Paghimutad Negros, an alternative media outfit focused on human rights reporting and grassroots storytelling.

He later joined Altermidya as coordinator for the Negros Island Region.

‘Highest honor’

Ledesma’s recent work documented the struggles of communities facing displacement due to large-scale renewable energy projects, including the expansion of solar farms, windmill installations, and hydropower ventures, Altermidya said.

He also reported on reclamation projects in Bacolod City, the expansion of a palm oil plantation in Candoni, and the conditions of ‘sakada’ (farm laborers) and sugar farmworkers, it added.

Paghimutad Negros, the community media outfit that Ledesma led, had long been subjected to Red-tagging and vilification, the group said.

Human Rights Advocates Negros said Ledesma was not in the initial clash site at Sitio Sinugmawan in Barangay Salamanca. He was attacked in a separate community at Sitio Plariding during a pursuit operation by government troops also on Sunday.

‘We give the highest honor to our colleague RJ, who until his last breath served marginalized communities by immersing and reporting on their stories. Together with his family and colleagues, we demand justice for RJ Ledesma,’ Altermidya said.

Ledesma was the seventh nominee of the Kabataan party list in the 2022 elections.

The Inquirer on Wednesday reached out to the Army but had yet to receive a response.

In October 2022, the Facebook page of the Philippine Army’s 303rd Brigade called one of Paghimutad’s human rights reports as ‘propaganda’ and linked it to the National Democratic Front of the Philippines. The post circulated across police and military platforms, including the Regional Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict in Western Visayas, Altermidya said.

Paghimutad also reported on coordinated attacks against the radio program ‘Kaling Kag Tugda,’ as well as cases of journalists in Negros being profiled or followed by suspected government intelligence agents. It stressed that these efforts aimed to hide from the public the worsening human rights violations in their communities, it added.

Fans were quick to react after Kaila Estrada’s half-brother, Luigi Muhlach, casually referred to Daniel Padilla as his ‘bayaw’ (brother-in-law), sparking buzz among supporters of the actress and actor, collectively known as ‘KaiNiel.’

In an Instagram post on April 21, Muhlach shared photos and videos from his 39th birthday celebration. Padilla left a friendly greeting in the comments, writing, ‘Happy kaarawan, tol!!! FORE!!!’ Luigi then replied, ‘Maraming salamat, bayaw! April boys, let’s go!!’

Social media users, particularly the supporters of Padilla and Estrada, flooded the comments with reactions, many saying they were ‘kilig’ (excited) and surprised by the exchange.

Luigi is the son of actors Aga Muhlach and Janice de Belen, making him the half-brother of Kaila, who is Janice’s daughter with former partner John Estrada.

While Padilla and Kaila have yet to directly confirm their relationship, the pair have been seen together on several occasions. The actor attended and delivered a song performance at the actress’ recent 30th birthday party.

Padilla also attended the recent family event of the Estradas and De Belens. The actor’s youngest sister, Leila Ford, also expressed her support for her brother and Kaila’s growing romance.

‘Masaya lang po talaga ako for them. I’m so happy that she makes my brother happy,’ Ford said at the time.

Kaila’s mother, Janice, and Padilla’s mother, Karla Estrada, likewise showed support for the pair’s relationship.

Padilla was previously in an 11-year relationship with actress Kathryn Bernardo, who is now rumored to be dating Lucena Mayor Mark Alcala.

The House of Representatives committee on justice is set to tackle one of the most explosive charges in the impeachment complaints against Vice President Sara Duterte – her alleged grave threats against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, and former Speaker Martin Romualdez – at what could be its final hearing on probable cause on April 29.

Justice committee chairperson Rep. Gerville Luistro of Batangas said Thursday that the next hearing will delve into the National Bureau of Investigation’s (NBI) probe and documentary evidence on the alleged death threats Duterte made in November 2024.

‘We are inclined to proceed to the presentation of evidence in support of the allegations of threat. As a matter of fact, yesterday (Wednesday), we issued a subpoena to the NBI, as well as duces tecum to bring all digital and documentary evidence pertaining to the allegations of threat,’ Luistro told ANC Headstart.

‘That is because we are really intending to conduct a clarificatory hearing on the allegations of threat. This will be happening on April 29,’ she added.

Before suspending the April 22 hearing, the justice committee granted a motion to issue subpoenas for the NBI to present its findings on the vice president’s alleged threats.

Unlike the first two hearings, the April 29 session will only have the NBI as its sole resource person, Luistro said. Since there would be a less packed agenda, she mentioned that the committee is likely to vote that same day on whether probable cause exists for each allegation in the two impeachment complaints.

‘So we anticipate that at the end of the hearing on April 29, the justice members will proceed to vote on the determination of probable cause,’ Luistro said.

She further stressed that the grave threats allegation is the last of the charges in the impeachment complaints to be examined, noting that no justice committee member has so far requested additional hearing dates – which she believes suggests the panel is satisfied with the three sessions scheduled.

Before voting, however, Luistro also said that the committee will first need to decide whether to unseal the tax records of Duterte and her husband, Atty. Manases Carpio, as submitted by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR).

‘We need to vote whether or not we will open [the sealed box] because we cannot terminate the proceedings of the Justice committee with a matter left pending,’ she said.

Should the committee vote to keep the BIR records sealed, Luistro said she would suggest transmitting them to the Senate as is, leaving it to the upper chamber to determine whether it has the jurisdiction and legal authority to open them as an impeachment court. This, she stressed, would only apply if the committee first votes in favor of probable cause.

‘But in the event that we will not open the sealed box, I think I will be suggesting to the committee that we just transmit it to the Senate even if it is sealed. So we will leave it up to the Senate what their position will be about that. That is on the assumption that the justice members will vote in favor of the probable cause,’ she said.

The committee on justice deferred on Wednesday the disclosure of Duterte and Carpio’s income tax returns after encountering a legal obstacle where the tax code specifically limits the release of such records to Congress only upon request during inquiries in aid of legislation and in executive session.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) expects the country’s inflation rate to breach its 4 percent target until next year due to consumer price shocks from the Middle East war.

‘The inflation outlook has deteriorated amid the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. Higher global oil and fertilizer prices have begun feeding through to domestic fuel and food prices. At the same time, core inflation has continued to rise, pointing to a broadening of underlying price pressures,’ the BSP said on Thursday.

This was as the central bank announced a 25-basis point increase in its policy interest.

‘The latest BSP projections now indicate a higher inflation path. Average headline inflation is seen to breach the 4-percent tolerance ceiling in both 2026 and 2027,’ it said.

‘Inflation expectations have also risen further, heightening the risk of de-anchoring from the target due to more persistent inflationary pressures.’

In March, Philippine inflation already surged to 4.1 percent, from 2.4 percent in February, as the Middle East war caused oil price shocks and unprecedented local currency depreciation.

United Airlines has implemented broad-based fare hikes of 15 to 20 percent as it seeks to offset the surge in gasoline prices while protecting profits, executives said Wednesday.

The big US carrier, which has also trimmed its 2026 flying capacity by 5 percent, aims to recover 100 percent of the added costs from the jet fuel price spike due to the Middle East war.

Chief Executive Scott Kirby described oil prices as ‘incredibly volatile,’ but said the company’s plan is based on the assumption that ‘fuel may remain higher for longer.’

While the airline has yet to see pullback from customers due to high fares, United may cut back additional flights in 2027 if demand ebbs, Kirby said.

United on Tuesday reported higher first-quarter profits but lowered its full-year profit forecast due to jet fuel costs. United expects fuel prices to average $4.30 per gallon in the second quarter, up 55 percent from the average in the first quarter.

Other carriers too

Other airlines have also announced fare increases and capacity curtailments in response to the surge in oil prices since the US-Israel siege on Iran launched on Feb. 28.

The head of the International Air Transport Association on April 17 called on authorities to put ‘well-coordinated plans in place’ in case of jet fuel rationing.

Worries about jet fuel availability are more acute in Asia and Europe compared with the United States, said United Chief Financial Officer Michael Leskinen.

‘We don’t see a lack of availability being an issue at all in the US. It’s a price issue,’ Leskinen said.

‘However, even in Europe and Asia, as we sit here today, we think it’s a price issue not an availability issue,’ said Leskinen adding that ‘spot outages’ could happen in Europe and Asia if the conflict drags on.

Nickel Asia Corp. (NAC) is venturing into Kazakhstan by acquiring a 20-percent stake in a company with interest in a copper mine, seeking to expand its footprint across Asia.

The listed mining company signed an agreement with Silk Road Resources Ltd., a private entity incorporated under the Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC), a financial hub in Astana and East Copper Production LLP.

NAC did not disclose the acquisition cost when asked for additional information, but only said the deal involved acquiring a 20-percent stake in East Copper, the sole legal and beneficial owner of GRK MLD LLP.

GRK, in turn, holds subsoil use rights for the Karchiga copper mine in Kazakhstan. The copper deposit is situated within the Central Asian Orogenic Belt, a globally recognized highly mineralized metallogenic domain.

GRK has an annual production capacity of 8,500 tons of copper sulfide concentrate and 2,000 tons of copper cathode.

Robust industry

Data from the AIFC showed that Kazakhstan’s mining sector contributed more than 12 percent of the country’s gross domestic product, amounting to 16.1 million Kazakhstani Tenge. It accounted for one-third of exports.

AIFC also noted that Kazakhstan is one of the world’s top 10 copper producers, holding a market share of 3.2 percent.

NAC said the transaction supports a broader goal of diversifying its business and growing its presence across the region.

‘This investment supports the company’s strategy to expand market capitalization and earnings by evolving beyond nickel into a diversified natural resources development platform with a growing presence across Asia,’ the firm said in a disclosure on Wednesday.

Due diligence

The sale is subject to the completion of the due diligence on East Copper and GRK, along with other closing conditions and the necessary regulatory approvals.

NAC reported an attributable net income of P6.27 billion in 2025, a 312 percent surge from a year ago, due to strong export prices and higher sales.

Revenues from saprolite and limonite ore rose by 39 percent to P27.25 billion.