Environment

By the TessDrive team The following article constitutes Part 3 (conclusion) of a 3-part deep-dive into Metro Manila’s perennial, destructive, and deadly floods during the monsoon season. If you missed reading Parts 1 and 2, please click on the following links: While geography and climate set the stage, the transformation of Metro Manila’s flood risk […]

By Tessa R. Salazar The Department of Energy (DOE) recently declared that “the Philippines is open for clean energy business. We are positioned to lead in sustainable innovation and we invite you to lead with us.” Addressing investors, partners, and the public during the Energy Smart Forum 2025 in Dusit Thani Manila, DOE Undersecretary Mylene

Part 2 of a series By the TessDrive Team In part 1 of this comprehensive report, we discussed the many factors—man-made and natural—that cause the perennial flooding in Metro Manila during the monsoon season. Now we focus on two natural factors—geographical and climatological—to drive the urgency of responsible action from society and our government. Read

By The TessDrive team Callous, heartless, greedy. That’s the consensus among Philippine netizens after the series of exposes on numerous contractors and politicians and their alleged unholy alliances, excessively profiting from billions of pesos of flood control project funds. Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, during his State of the Nation Address (SONA) last July 28,

Many birds rely on tree cavities, or tree holes, for nesting and raising their young. Woodpeckers, known as primary excavators, can create their own cavities. In contrast, non-excavators—also called secondary cavity nesters—depend on naturally occurring or previously excavated cavities for reproduction. These birds face challenges such as a scarcity of suitable cavities, which can limit

A striking, silver-colored fish commonly kept as an aquarium pet has been hiding in plain sight in the Philippines’ largest freshwater lake, renewing concerns over the unmonitored and unmitigated release of alien species into the country’s already strained ecosystems. Ateneo de Manila University researchers recently undertook a careful morphological analysis of a fish caught in

The world of social media has become an increasingly important source of data for biodiversity and conservation, especially for rare or little-known species such as the Philippine tarsier. However, despite the tarsier’s popularity, there is still limited information about where it lives and how it behaves in the wild. Maria Sabrina Tabeta and Simeon Gabriel

Mindoro is home to a unique bounty of endemic mammalian wildlife found nowhere else on Earth. This includes the famous tamaraw, the Mindoro warty pig, and the humble Mindoro shrew. Now, three more species are added to the list, thanks to the recent discovery of Philippine forest mice—all belonging to the Apomys genus. From 2013

Soft corals, which are members of the class Octocorallia, are major components of marine ecosystems, including coral reefs. They are known to contribute to reef complexity and serve as habitats for many organisms. They also have potential economic benefits, such as being sources of compounds that can be used for making medicine, and due to

Tropical cyclones hundreds of kilometers away from the Philippines are often more responsible for heavy rainfall than those that hit the country directly during the annual “Habagat” or southwest monsoon season from July to September, according to new research. The findings undermine the widely-held public misconception that only tropical cyclones that directly hit the country