Good day. Here are the stories of The Manila Times for Thursday, December 18, 2025. Today’s episode is brought to you by Wilcon Depot, The Philippines’ leading home improvement and construction supplies retailer—your Trusted Building Partner. READ: Class suit vs Romualdez, Zaldy Co, Vargas seeks P1B for flood victims AN anti-corruption civil group on Wednesday filed a P1-billion class suit against former speaker Martin Romualdez, resigned congressman Elizaldy “Zaldy” Co and Quezon City Rep. Patrick Michael Vargas, demanding that they compensate flood victims, especially in Novaliches. The United People Against Corruption (UPAC) filed the civil case before a Quezon City regional trial court. Instead of filing a criminal complaint against the respondents, Inton said they decided to file a civil case as they want them to directly compensate the affected flood victims in the city’s District 5, which covers Novaliches. READ: Malabon files case vs Discaya company for unauthorized demolition, construction THE Malabon City government has filed a complaint against a Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) official and a company owned by couple Pacifico “Curlee” and Cezarah Rowena “Sarah” Discaya over an alleged unauthorized demolition and construction of a building on a local government-owned property. The city government through its Engineering Department lodged the complaint before the City Prosecutor’s Office against engineer Aristotle Ramos, former DPWH Malabon-Navotas Engineering Office district engineer; and Alpha and Omega General Contractor and Development Corp. owned by the Discayas. READ: President Marcos calls for increased police vigilance for Christmas safety AS Christmas approaches, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Wednesday called for heightened vigilance and visible police presence to ensure the safety of citizens and the peaceful holiday celebration. The president asked the PNP to ensure the safety of the public in order for everyone to feel the true spirit of Christmas. READ: La Salle reclaims UAAP men's basketball title DE La Salle University got back at last year’s tormentor University of the Philippines (UP) to reclaim the UAAP men’s basketball title, scoring an 80-72 deciding Game 3 win in their Season 88 finals encounter at the Araneta Coliseum on Wednesday. Emerging on top of their Big Dance trilogy against the Fighting Maroons, the Green Archers seized their second title in the last three years and 11th overall. It couldn’t be sweeter for the La Sallians whom many fans counted out already after injuries to key players Mason Amos and Kean Baclaan near the second round. The Archers also lost three straight games in the eliminations before winning back-to-back to end the preliminaries and enter the playoffs as fourth seed, ousting the top seed and twice-to-beat National University Bulldogs in their Final Four pairing. READ: Triathletes, muay fighters power PH campaign in SEA Games The Philippine triathlon teams boosted the country’s campaign in Day 8 of the 33rd Southeast Asian Games here, sweeping the sport’s three events to win as many gold medals and anchor the Filipino six-gold surge at press time Wednesday afternoon. The women’s relay team struck gold first with Kira Ellis, Kim Mangrobang and Raven Faith Alcoseba clocking one hour and 10:14 in the swim-bike-run race in the Leam Mae Phim, Klaeng district in Rayong. Aki Lorbes, Matthew Hermosa and Fer Casares followed suit in the men’s side and topped their competition after submitting a time of one hour and 4:05 in the tight race, where Singaporeans Luke Li Rong Chua, Bryce Sheng Cher Chong and Yi Jun Tey finished just 10 seconds behind for the silver. Meanwhile, fighters Islay Erika Bomogao and LJ Rafael Yasay added two golds after ruling their respective divisions in muay at the Lumpinee Boxing Stadium. Bomogao defeated home bet Arissara Noon-Eiad in the final to rule the women’s 45-kilogram (kg) class, while Yasa knocked out Malaysian Insyad Rumijam to reign supreme in the men’s 51-kg division. SPORTS: Eala shoots for SEA Games gold Tennis star Alexandra “Alex” Eala shoots for the gold and the Philippines’ first Southeast Asian Games women’s singles title in 26 years at the National Tennis Development Center on Thursday. World No. 53 Eala faces home bet Manachaya Sawangkaew in the final at 11 a.m. (Manila time). Eala advanced to the gold medal round after dispatching another Thai opponent, Thasaporn Naklo, 6-1, 6-4, in the semifinals last Tuesday. The 20-year-old Eala thus became the first Filipino to reach the final after Clarice Patrimonio at the 2017 Kuala Lumpur Games, where she bagged a silver medal. Eala also seeks to become the third Filipina to rule the women’s singles division champion after Pia Tamayo at the 1981 Manila Games and Maricris Fernandez-Gentz at the 1999 Bandar Seri Begawan meet. BUSINESS: Banks' property exposure dips PHILIPPINE banks have cut their exposure to the real estate sector even as non-performing property loans continued to pick up, data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) showed. Real estate loans totaled P3.10 trillion as of end-September, accounting for 19.54 percent of the overall loan portfolio of banks and down from the 19.61 percent recorded three months ago and 19.55 percent a year earlier. Reyes Tacandong & Co. senior adviser Jonathan Ravelas said the decline reflects bank efforts to rationalize their real estate exposure amid rising non-performing loans, with developers also slowing project launches due to weak demand. READ: Opinion and editorial Antonio Contreras and Danton Remoto are today’s front page columnists. Contreras analyzes why anti-dynasty measures are in collision with the Constitution, while Remoto looks at author Zadie Smith. Today’s editorial discusses the economic outlook for next year. Read the full version in the paper’s opinion section or listen to the Voice of the Times. For more news and information, read The Manila Times on print, subscribe to its digital edition or log on to www.manilatimes.net. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok and LinkedIn; and be part of our communities on Viber, Telegram, and Mastodon.