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Manny Pacquiao wasn’t even alive when Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier battled nearly to the death in the original ‘Thrilla in Manila’ in 1975. But half a century later, it’s Pacquiao himself leading the 50th anniversary celebration of that iconic heavyweight clash-this time as a promoter.

‘To think I wasn’t even born during the original staging of ‘Thrilla in Manila,” Pacquiao said with a smile during the launch of the fight card. ‘I feel blessed to be the one to bring the 50th celebration to life.’

Presented by Pacquiao and the International Boxing Association, the ‘Thrilla in Manila’ anniversary event happens on Oct. 29 at Smart Araneta Coliseum-the same venue where Ali and Frazier made boxing history.

The card is headlined by the WBC strawweight championship bout between Philippines’ Melvin Jerusalem and South Africa’s Ayanda Kuse. It also features Olympic silver medalist Eumir Marcial against undefeated American Eddy Colmenares in a 10-round middleweight bout.

Pacquiao sees this event not only as a celebration but as a platform to elevate local talent.

‘It’s a big help for our boxers that they get this kind of break in these kinds of international promotions,’ he said.

The fight night also showcases Filipino rising stars, including Marlon Tapales, Carl Jammes Martin and Arvin Magramo in undercard bouts.

Manila Water Company Inc. has completed its acquisition of WawaJVCo Inc., another unit of the Razon Group behind the water supply dam in Rizal province, for P37.8 billion.

The group disclosed to the local bourse on Wednesday that the closing conditions for the deal had been met just this week.

This came three months after its parent Prime Infrastructure Inc. had decided to consolidate its water projects into Manila Water, with the latter taking 100 percent ownership of WawaJVCo.

Trident Water Company Holdings Inc., a subsidiary of Prime Infra, holds 56.91 percent of the outstanding common stock of Manila Water Bulk water supply

Gaining control of the firm allows Manila Water to take charge of both the Tayabasan Weir and the Upper Wawa Dam, which were designed to boost Metro Manila’s water supply.

Tayabasan Weir, which has a capacity of 80 million liters per day (MLD), has been up and running since late 2022.

Upper Wawa Dam, meanwhile, will have a supply capacity of up to 710 MLD once it begins its commercial operations by December. In an earlier statement, Manila Water said the move would ‘provide greater focus and flexibility in water resource allocation, while allowing for more efficient operations and overall cost management of the facility.’

Consolidation

‘By consolidating our assets under Manila Water as our core water infrastructure platform, we are enhancing system integration, operational efficiency and service delivery,’ Prime Infra president and chief executive officer Guillaume Lucci also said in an earlier statement.

Lucci expects this strategy to beef up the group’s status ‘as a leader across the entire water value chain.’

Two more party-list groups – Murang Kuryente and Ang Probinsyano – have been proclaimed as members of the House of Representatives in the 20th Congress, following the disqualification of Duterte Youth party-list.

At the House plenary session on Thursday, Majority Leader Ferdinand Alexander Marcos moved to allow Murang Kuryente party-list Rep. Arthur Yap and Ang Probinsyano Rep. Alfred delos Santos take their oath respectively before Speaker Faustino ‘Bojie’ Dy III.

Marcos made the motion following a Commission on Elections (Comelec) proclamation.

‘Madam Speaker, we are in receipt of the proclamation issued by the Commission on Elections declaring Murang Kuryente party-list as winner under the party-list system in the national and local elections on the 12th of May 2025, and to entitle its nominee, Arthur C. Yap, to sit as its representative in the House of Representatives of the Congress of the Philippines,’ Marcos said.

‘Pursuant to the aforementioned proclamation, I move to allow Arthur C. Yap, representative of Murang Kuryente party-list, to take oath in open session,’ he added. Marcos made a similar motion for delos Santos. Both motions were separately approved by Deputy Speaker Kristine Singson-Meehan; no one objected.

Prior to Murang Kuryente and Ang Probinsyano, Abono party-list Rep. Robert Raymond Estralla also took his oath of office before Dy.

This means three party-list seats left vacant due to the Duterte Youth party-list’s disqualification are filled up.

Duterte Youth won three seats in the 2025 midterm elections, ranking second with 2.338 million votes. However, the group was disqualified by Comelec based on the following grounds:

Untruthful statements in its petition, particularly on the eligibility of its nominees

No bona fide intention to represent the sector for which the petition has been filed and thus, preventing a faithful determination of the true will of the electorate

It has advocated for violence or unlawful means to achieve its goal

It was established that it is an adjunct or an entity funded or assisted by the National Youth Commission

On Tuesday, Comelec Chairperson George Garcia said the Comelec en banc decided with finality to cancel Duterte Youth’s registration.

‘The clerk of this Commission just issued today a certificate of finality and entry of judgment on the decision of the en banc [regarding the cancellation of Duterte Youth’s registration],’ Comelec Chairperson George Garcia said on Tuesday in an online interview with reporters.

According to him, the poll body en banc will hold a meeting on Wednesday to discuss the effects of the issuance of the certificate, particularly which party list groups will benefit from the three House seats originally allotted to Duterte Youth.

Garcia said the Comelec came out with the certificate of finality after the Supreme Court did not issue a temporary restraining order (TRO) within 30 days after the en banc upheld the cancellation of the party list group’s registration on August 29.

Originally, the House had a total of 317 seats, but the number grew to 318 following Comelec’s decision to allocate 64 seats to party-lists, instead of just 63.

During the canvassing done by the National Board of Canvassers (NBOC) last May 15, a lawyer of the Philreca party-list said their computation shows that there should be 64 party-list seats and not just 63 – asking Garcia to heed their call.

In response, Garcia, sitting as the NBOC head, asked groups to provide their position papers on various issues like the number of seats. After the adjustment, Comelec proclaimed Gabriela Women’s Party as a winner of the party-list race. Last September 23, former Kabataan solon and now Gabriela party-list Rep. Sarah Elago took her oath of office as a member of the House.

After a hard-fought win at the Red Bull Dance Your Style National Finals last May, Cebuana street dancer Sam Rivera known in battles as ‘Nemesis’, is set to represent the Philippines, showcasing Filipino flair, rhythm, and freestyle creativity at the Red Bull Dance Your Style 2025 World Finals happening on October 11 to 12 at the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles, California. The World Stage Awaits

After months of high-energy dance battles across the globe, the world’s best dancers are converging in Los Angeles for the ultimate one-on-one freestyle showdown. Champions from over 50 countries will bring their unique moves, cultural influences, and raw improvisation skills, creating a competition that’s as unpredictable as it is exciting.

The Philippines’ very own Nemesis is more than ready to face off the top dancers from all over the world, proving Filipinos have what it takes to take on the biggest international stage for street dance.

Training for the Battle After competing as a Red Bull Dance Your Style National Finalist in 2024, Nemesis returned this year stronger than ever, securing the crown at the 2025 National Finals in her hometown Cebu. Since that milestone win, Nemesis has been getting ready, refining her Krump freestyle, endurance, and stage presence to prepare for the world spotlight.

‘This year I’m really in it to win, but I also remind myself to have fun on stage when I’m dancing. Just vibe with the music and trust my body’s instincts,’ said Nemesis. ‘I’m the type of freestyle dancer that doesn’t prepare for sets, I just need to condition my body, relying on muscle-memory, as well as drills, also concepts and ideas to generate movements from there.’

The Filipino finalist also shared how mindset is just as important as physical training: ‘Readying myself mentally and emotionally for the pressure, because LA is where the best dancers are. But I take it as an opportunity to learn from them.’

On Nemesis’ approach for the World Final, she shared, ‘My goal is still to just give a good performance. So others will see that ‘Wow! This is what dancers in the Philippines are like!’ It depends on the crowd, but as long as you give a good performance, other people will see that you’re amazing.’Countdown to the Finals in LA

The Red Bull Dance Your Style World Finals will bring together the best of the global street dance scene during the World Finals Week, running from October 7 to 11. The main World Finals competition takes place on October 11 at the Intuit Dome, Los Angeles, where dancers will go head-to-head in freestyle battles, with the twist that the crowd decides who moves forward. Catch the action live on Red bull TV on October 11 at 9 PM (PDT) / October 12 at 12 PM (Philippine time).

With global champions, rising stars, and local heroes in the mix, the competition promises to be an explosive display of creativity and artistry. Only one dancer will walk away as the 2025 Red Bull Dance Your Style World Champion.

Cheer On Nemesis’ World Finals Journey On October 7 to 11 show your support for Nemesis as she represents the Philippines on the world stage in Los Angeles. Follow Red Bull PH and Red Bull Dance on social media for the latest updates.

For more information and updates, visit the official Red Bull website and the following social media pages (Facebook | Instagram | Tiktok )

RJ Abarrientos and Ange Kouame joined Quentin Millora-Brown as new additions to the Gilas Pilipinas pool of coach Tim Cone.

The Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas made the announcement on Tuesday as the pool was expanded to a total of 16 for the 2027 Fiba World Cup Asian Qualifiers, which start late next month. Gilas will be facing Guam twice in the first window of the first qualification phase.

Kai Sotto is also part of the pool, and could likely see action for the November window if he fully recovers from an ACL injury.

Cone has retained the 12 players he had during the Fiba Asia Cup in Saudi Arabia, namely naturalized player Justin Brownlee, Dwight Ramos, Kevin Quiambao, AJ Edu, June Mar Fajardo, Scottie Thompson, Chris Newsome, CJ Perez, Calvin Oftana, Japeth Aguilar, Jamie Malonzo and Carl Tamayo. Millora-Brown was confirmed by Cone to be available for his Gilas debut after his appeal to be a local player was approved by Fiba.

Kouame will be a second option as naturalized player in case Brownlee isn’t available, while Abarrientos was among those cut from the Asia Cup pool.

Gilas will have a longer preparation for the upcoming window after the PBA decided not to hold games in the Philippine Cup for the period of Nov. 17 to Dec. 4.

Right before I discuss everything I know about ‘The Guyver: Bio-Boosted Armor’, I want to give a brief background on how I first got to watch this Japanese manga series. It was in the mid-90s when my cousin from the States visited us, and he brought over various anime VHS tapes, and some of them were of this classic anime series. And from that moment on, when I put in that first tape in the VHS player, my young mind was blown away with what I was seeing.

Why is that?

Simply put, because it was like nothing I have ever seen before, and as a fan of anime like Dragon Ball Z, Ranma 1/2, Yu Yu Hakusho, Samurai X, Slam Dunk, and many others. ‘The Guyver: Bio-Booster Armor’ was in an entirely different classification of its own because it was insanely violent, hard-hitting, and almost alien-horror-like in nature, which, with those three characteristics alone, did set it apart from every other anime series I have mentioned. For me, ‘The Guyver: Bio-Boosted Armor’ was a revelation of its time for everyone into anime, no doubt. That is why I still hold this classic anime series in high regard, because despite watching a lot of modern anime, this one still left a mark in my mind for everything it is all about.

I will discuss them below for all of you.

In an era dominated by slick, overly polished, high-budget superhero franchises and endless reboots, there is a certain undeniable raw, visceral, and chaotic energy found only in the cult classics of yesteryear, and certain anime are included in my favorites list. Enter ‘The Guyver: Bio-Booster Armor.’ To be clear, I am referring to the 1989 Original Video Animation (OVA) and not previous or later adaptations. It became a favorite of hardcore anime fans, anime VHS tape traders, and late-night cable viewers. Now, in 2025, this treasured classic anime series, I believe, is primed for a resurgence, offering everyone an antidote to the glossy, predictable anime content cycle. This one will break you out of that. All you have to do is watch it.

Why so? ‘The Guyver: Bio-Booster Armor’ will make you forget what you know about sanitized superhero origin stories. The Guyver is brutally honest, unpolished, and intensely uncompromising in its storytelling. This isn’t your average anime program, or what’s more, a kid’s Saturday morning cartoon. Haha.. This is an in-your-face body horror adventure that grapples with themes of power, greed, and merciless corruption-(almost like what is still happening in our side of the world) all told with a level of gruesome, ultra-violent, and monster-filled action that makes it feel uniquely fresh even decades later and not dated at all in some respects.

For me, this would be an ideal kind of anime for the current young generation, who have grown up watching the superhero boom, so it would not be a surprise if they get drawn to complex, morally ambiguous anti-heroes that blur the line between superhero and supervillain, because that is the ‘in’ thing now for them. The Guyver’s protagonist, Sho Fukamachi, is a reluctant hero at first. A regular high school kid who accidentally stumbles upon one of the missing ‘alien Guyver Units,’ he is forcefully and painfully merged with a powerful biomechanical armor that has its own built-in defense and offense systems, making him a living weapon of alien origin.

But Sho’s transformation is not a triumphant moment nor a sight to behold, but a hideously grotesque one. The ‘alien Guyver Unit’ latches onto him like an anaconda, and its immense power is as much a curse as it is a gift, constantly threatening to consume him if he loses control of it. Doesn’t this concept tap into the modern anxieties of losing oneself to an external force, making Sho’s accidental anti-hero journey relatable to the current young generation now, despite its monstrous exterior? Long before the internet, social media, news programs, documentaries, whistle blowers, mutants with telepathic abilities, and snail mail, of course, I am kidding about the last two, which all fully exposed corporate and governmental wrongdoings, there was The Guyver’s villainous Chronos Corporation. This mega-company hides its true nature as a global conspiracy of genetically engineered human-monster hybrids, known as ‘Zoanoids.’ Their global quest to retrieve the missing ‘alien Guyver units’ is not just a standard villain plot, but a clandestine, high-stakes hunt and race against time that pre-dates the paranoia of futuristic, apocalyptic, and wasteland movies like ‘The Matrix’, ‘Dark City’, ‘Riddick’, and even the complexities of modern whistleblower stories that can be drama-based, action-oriented, or a mix of both in some cases.

The point is, The Guyver had traits, characteristics, and qualities of everything, and for an anime series from the late 80s, that found its modern audience back in the ’90s, that is not bad at all. It is true that sometimes, it takes time to be appreciated and valued, as The Guyver has begun to re-experience in popular culture.

There is another point that I want to mention, that you will discover an unexpected, deep resonating philosophical quality about this classic anime series that also taps into humanity’s (us) oldest fears about our origins. As the story unfolds, the ‘alien Guyver units’ and ‘Zoanoids’ are revealed to be part of an ancient alien experiment that seeded life on Earth. That right there is a cosmic horror element-the idea that our existence is merely a science project gone wrong by aliens-is a theme for the all too familiar term ‘Gen Z’ or I would prefer to call them the young ones now, they will find this captivating, particularly in a cultural moment in time that is fascinated with ancient mysteries, religious themes, and alien theories. Seriously, they love this sort of stuff. Haha..

However, the only downside is that there are not a lot of episodes; with only 12 episodes in the original OVA series, ‘The Guyver: Bio-Booster Armor’ may not be enough episodes for most, but on the upside, you would be able to watch all of them over the coming weekend. At least the number of episodes created based on the manga is not like 100 episodes or something that insane. Haha..Trust me when I say, these episodes are worth it. It is contained, it does not go off the rails, and it does not become overly complicated at all. It is a streamlined, focused story that delves into high-octane action without the different fillers common in a much longer series, and that is why I ended up believing that a dozen episodes are enough. Hey, it has always been about the quality and not the quantity, I believe.

Although I have to say, and this is not a major spoiler, the ending is notoriously abrupt-it is because the manga it’s based on remains unfinished to this day-the journey is well worth the ride, leaving a lasting impression with its originality, visceral nature, intensity, unforgettable action sequences, and violent imagery done with a purpose in mind. And it’s not done for no reason, which has been a far too common situation with many modern anime series that use blood, violence, sex, and other excesses that border on being ridiculous. You guys know what I mean by that statement. Simply put, there are modern anime that are worth all the praise, and some are all mere hype, which constitutes a nothing-burger. Haha..

All in all, for anyone who has grown tired of cinematic universes (the MCU and DCEU), long-drawn programs, and predictable character arcs from stale onscreen characters that resemble something that came out of a cookie factory, making them as generic as they appear, then The Guyver is your break from that, a reprieve, and a must-watch. It may be a relic of a bygone era, particularly my time, when anime began to push boundaries, reveled in its alien-monster-filled madness, and left a lasting, indelible mark on its specific anime genre that, in return, would become hallmarks for future anime series to get inspiration from.

But, in the end, The Guyver from ‘The Guyver: Bio-Booster Armor’ became their blueprint. It was that influential to everyone who watched it for the first time during that era, and that is exactly why I am talking about it now to all of you.

Holding firm A. Soriano Corp. (Anscor) has sold its 22-percent stake in casual dining chain operator The Bistro Group to the Cheng family for P1.91 billion.

In a regulatory filing on Thursday, Anscor said it had sold its shareholding in TBG Food Holdings Inc. to Inoza Business Holdings Inc., a newly established holding firm affiliated with Progeny Global Holdings Inc.

Progeny, owned by the Cheng family, owns integrated poultry producer Bounty Fresh and limited-service food retailer like Chooks-to-Go and Uling Roasters. The transaction represents value realization by Anscor of its investment in TBG, Anscor said in its disclosure.

New principal

Anscor had acquired a minority stake in the casual dining group in 2024 while the Chengs gained majority control this year. ‘Anscor extends its best wishes to the Bistro and Inoza teams. We are confident they will continue delighting Filipino consumers with their quality dining experiences for many years to come, and we look forward to seeing their continued success,’ it added.

The Philippine Competition Commission approved Inoza’s plan to acquire a majority stake in TBG in August. This was after considering the impact of the deal on the nationwide supply of chicken meat, table eggs, pork and beef. TBG’s brands include Italianni’s, TGI Fridays and Texas Roadhouse. /dda

Jeongyeon of TWICE will be unable to participate in the group’s upcoming concert at the Philippine Arena in Bulacan this Saturday, Oct. 4, due to health reasons.

‘It is with deep regret that we inform you that TWICE member Jeongyeon will be unable to participate in the TWICE World Tour in Bulacan concert due to health reasons,’ JYP Entertainment wrote in a statement on Thursday, Oct. 2.

The talent agency noted that Jeongyeon’s absence was decided after careful consideration to prioritize the ‘artist’s health and recovery.’

‘We sincerely apologize to all the fans who have been waiting for this concert and are truly sorry to deliver such disappointing news. We are always grateful for the tremendous love and support you give to TWICE,’ continued the statement. This marked the second time for the Korean girl group to not have all members join a concert in the Philippines after member Chaeyoung was absent at the 2023 show due to health concerns as well.

The remaining eight members, Jihyo, Nayeon, Momo, Sana, Mina, Dahyun, Chaeyoung and Tzuyu, will perform at the Bulacan venue for the group’s ‘This Is for’ tour on Saturday.

TWICE, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary this month, is also set to release a special album, ‘TEN: The Story Goes On,’ on Oct. 10, in addition to their ongoing tour.

The nation’s girl group is also set to release their 10th anniversary documentary film ‘TWICE: One in a Million’ in local cinemas on Oct. 20.

TWICE , which debuted in 2015, is known for their chart-topping hits ‘Fancy,’ ‘TT,’ ‘What Is Love?’ and ‘Feel Special,’ among others. /ra

It’s been eight years since Daniel Day-Lewis announced his retirement from acting and said he wanted to ‘explore the world in a different way.’

But the big-screen absence of the actor many would peg as the greatest one alive ends with ‘Anemone,’ a new film directed by his son, Ronan Day-Lewis. The two of them wrote it together. What began as something small, with no real ambition, grew until a full feature film and Day-Lewis’ long-awaited return to movies.

‘It saddened me that I had perhaps ruled myself out of that when I decided to work on something else for a while,’ Day-Lewis said in an interview alongside his son. ‘As we progressed through it, and it seemed less and less possible to contain it, like two fellas in a shed, it began to alarm me slightly. I understood that this was going to involve the full paraphernalia of a film production, and that wasn’t something I was eager to get back into.’

‘But we just kept moving forward to see what would happen,’ he added. ‘And this is what happened.’

‘Anemone,’ which recently premiered at the New York Film Festival and which Focus Features releases Friday in theaters, finds Day-Lewis, now 68, not even slightly less intense or magnetic a performer. It’s a father-son story, though not an autobiographical one. Day-Lewis stars as Ray Stoker, a solitary hermit living in a remote cabin. His brother, Jem (Sean Bean), arrives and tries to convince him to return to his teenage son.

Since 2017’s ‘Phantom Thread,’ Day-Lewis has, among other things, studied violin making in Boston. But he has also come to think of his declaration of retirement as a mistake, or not quite what he intended. At least, it wasn’t enough to stand in the way of him making a movie with his son.

‘I know it’s been imagined on my behalf by numerous commentators, people that don’t know me, that somehow the way I work has left me so debilitated I can barely open my eyes in the morning. This then requires a period of five or six years recovery!’ Day-Lewis says. ‘That was never the case. The work itself was always nourishing to me.’

Yet after making ‘Phantom Thread,’ Paul Thomas Anderson’s London-set portrait of a perfectionist couturier, Day-Lewis was uncertain that he would ever regenerate the appetite to tackle another role.

‘I definitely was brought low after I finished shooting ‘Phantom Thread’ more than for any other reason because I anticipated being back in the public arena again,’ he says. ‘And this is where I find myself now. And it’s something I never found a solution to from the day I started doing this work until now. The public aspect of my life I’ve always been baffled by.’

The spotlight and a ‘stark reminder’

The most meaningful gesture Day-Lewis is offering his son might not be making a movie with him, but returning to the spotlight for it. At the New York Film Festival, Day-Lewis has been a happy, humble presence, calling himself a fool for his professed retirement and dutifully accepting a glare of attention that he’s largely avoided for the last decade.

‘It’s been a stark reminder for me of: Oh, yeah, that’s what it’s like,’ he said, chuckling.

But Day-Lewis greeted a reporter warmly, urging him to pull a chair – a Churchill, noted Day-Lewis, a craftsman and furniture maker – and spoke candidly and thoughtfully about the mystique that has often surrounded his work, an aura he disdains.

‘I knew to survive in this world that that would probably be the way I’d do it, by creating other worlds and escaping into them and living through them for a period of time,’ he said. ‘And that remains the same. It never changed. I love that work, otherwise I wouldn’t do it. I don’t do it as an act of self-flagellation.’

Day-Lewis’ Method-acting immersion in a character has long been the stuff of legend. Jim Sheridan, who directed him in three films, including ‘My Left Foot,’ once remarked, ‘Daniel hates acting.’ But the idea that Day-Lewis somehow makes himself into a martyr for his art has long chafed with him.

‘That’s something that’s weighed heavily over the years, this sort of misconception which has now become so ludicrous about Method acting, which is a very bad name in the business now,’ says Day-Lewis. ‘We all find a different way of approaching the same problems. And when we’re on the set, it makes no goddamn difference what system you train under, Meisner or Method or Stanislavski or whatever it might be. You’re just there trying to live in those moments, to burn yourself up trying to find that truth as well as you can.’

Day-Lewis has sensed some of the same all-consuming imagination in Ronan, a 27-year-old painter making his directorial debut. He’s one of two sons Day-Lewis has with his wife, filmmaker Rebecca Miller. (He also has an older son, Gabriel-Kane Day-Lewis, from his past relationship with Isabelle Adjani.) From a young age, Day-Lewis saw how invested his son was in creating imagery. Ronan, meanwhile, grew up marveling from a distance at his father’s work.

‘It always held a huge amount of mystery to me what he was doing,’ says Ronan, who has vivid memories of being on set for films like ‘There Will Be Blood’ and ‘The Ballad of Jack and Rose.’ ‘To be inside this realm that I had always been watching curiously from the outside was so intriguing. But there were aspects of his process that still remained a mystery to me, which I think helped, actually.’

More sardines

For Day-Lewis, building the character of Ray was a step-by-step process that included everything in his woodland world, right down to the expired tin cans of sardines that line his shelves. (‘There were never enough sardines for me,’ he says, smiling.) ‘Anemone’ unfolds in fits and starts, with several glorious, improvised monologues surrounded with strikingly lush imagery by Ronan. Day-Lewis so relishes pushing the boundaries of such a fictional world that, once in it, he tends to not want to let go.

‘You hope to create a world, an illusion. And when somebody says to you, ‘That was the last shot. Go home now,’ that was so bewildering to me because I’m still invested in that world,’ he says. ‘It’s not I have trouble letting go of it. The trouble I have is that I want to still splash around in that illusion.’

Still, it seems Day-Lewis has in ‘Anemone’ avoided the kind of post-film feeling that followed ‘Phantom Thread.’ The actor hasn’t yet announced a forthcoming project, but he acknowledges feeling the capacity for more. While he doesn’t say he missed acting during the last eight years, he appears to have come to some self-acceptance of its fundamental, irrevocable place in his life.

‘It has been my primary form of self-expression for my entire life, since I was a child,’ he says. ‘And therefore, I don’t know if I experience it as a sense of missing if I’m not doing it. But the need to express myself in that way, even at a subterranean level, that is still there.’

But just as it’s time to go, Day-Lewis offers ‘an appendix’ to his answer. If ‘Anemone’ has left him still hungry for more, that fact is owed partly to the nature of its making. Not just that it was done with Ronan, but that they made it, themselves. It’s Day-Lewis’ first screenwriting credit.

Maynilad Water Services Inc. has reduced the maximum price for its initial public offering (IPO) to P15 per share, valuing its stock market debut at P34.33 billion from as much as P45.8 billion previously.

Maynilad president Ramoncito Fernandez told reporters on Wednesday they opted to trim their maximum offer price from P20 initially after the company had secured the commitment of two cornerstone investors.

These are International Finance Corp. and Asian Development Bank, both of which committed to invest up to $245 million combined at a subscription price of up to P15 per share. Fernandez said there were other cornerstone investors, although he stayed mum on the details.

Maynilad, which is jointly owned by Manuel Pangilinan-led Metro Pacific Investments Corp., Consunji-led DMCI Holdings Inc. and Japan’s Marubeni Corp., will announce its final offer price on Oct. 20.

Oct. 23-29 offer period

The offer period will run from Oct. 23 to Oct. 29 before these are listed on the main board of the Philippine Stock Exchange on or before Nov. 7 under the ticker ‘MYNLD.’

This is the second time that Maynilad has adjusted its IPO timetable, citing the need to give investors more time to assess its business model in order to make ‘informed investment decisions.’

Fernandez likewise said this would be their final adjustment. The West Zone concessionaire is required to offer to the public at least 30 percent of its outstanding capital stock on or before January 2027 as part of its agreement with the government.

Pioneering mark

This development also comes alongside Maynilad’s receipt of the country’s first Philippine Green Equity label.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) wrote to Maynilad on Sept. 26, saying it had ‘sufficiently established and demonstrated’ its compliance with the regulator’s newly issued guidelines.

Last week, the SEC launched Southeast Asia’s first Green Equity Guidelines, in a bid to attract more capital toward businesses that champion sustainability. The SEC said the distinction would ‘enhance the visibility and attractiveness’ of companies that actively engage in green activities.

Companies interested in this mark need to be listed on the PSE or are preparing to go public. More than 50 percent of their revenues and investments must be earned or directed toward green activities, while fossil fuel-related revenues must make up less than 5 percent of their top line.