00:01Senator Loren Legarda and her son, Batangas Congressman Leandro Leviste, face plunder and graft complaints over Leviste's solar energy projects.
00:10The anti-graft court Sandigan Bayan grants the bail request of former Senator Bong Revilla.
00:15George and Amal Clooney evacuate their home in France due to wildfires.
00:20A movie producer sues Netflix after an unreleased Nicolas Cage movie was allegedly stolen from the streaming platform studio.
00:26And B-Pop Boy Group SB19 makes history as the first Filipino act to perform at Lollapalooza.
00:41The Office of the Ombudsman announces plunder and graft complaints are pending against Senator Loren Legarda and her son, Batangas
00:481st District Representative Leandro Leviste.
00:50This over Leviste's solar energy projects.
00:53Apart from Legarda and Leviste, the Ombudsman also includes Duterte Time Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi in the complaints.
01:00They supposedly conspired to, quote,
01:02secure exclusive government rights over the country's solar energy resources through legislative and regulatory actions.
01:09Ombudsman Boying Ramulia says on Friday, July 31, the complaints are currently under preliminary investigation.
01:15This is the final step of the probe and prosecutors will decide whether these complaints will be filed before the
01:20courts.
01:21Remulia says the charges may include plunder and violation of RA-3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act,
01:28specifically Sections 3E, 3H, and 3I.
01:32He adds, quote,
01:33Conflict of interest is one of them.
01:35Last January, Remulia said Leviste was being investigated for flipping his solar firm to Tycoon Manipangilinan.
01:41Former President Rodrigo Duterte signed Republic Act 11357 into law on July 31, 2019,
01:48granting a franchise to Leviste Solar Parasabayan Corporation to put up solar microgrids in select provinces nationwide.
01:55Leviste denied in January 2026 that he took advantage of the franchise given to his company for personal gain,
02:01claiming he did not sell any franchise where he earned a profit.
02:04In a radio interview last January, Remulia explained that a national franchise like renewable energy is critical to national life.
02:12Addressing Leviste directly, Remulia said,
02:15and then you sell, flip it, just like that, and your mother's even a senator.
02:20The Anti-Graft Court Sandigan Bayan grants the bail request of former Senator Ramon Bong Revilla Jr.
02:26The case against Revilla involves a ghost flood control project in Pandi, Bulacan that cost 92.8 million pesos,
02:32which the DPWH had tagged as 95% completed.
02:36Contractor Sim's trading was paid 76.9 million pesos,
02:40despite the absence of a visible slope structure in the area.
02:43The court's third division says the bail was granted to Revilla for, quote,
02:46failure of the prosecution to establish strong evidence of guilt.
02:50Revilla posted a cash bond of 1 million pesos.
02:52Prior to the indictment, state witness and former DPWH district engineer Henry Alcantara claimed
02:58that Revilla had 300 million pesos in budget insertions in 2024.
03:02Another state witness, former DPWH Undersecretary Roberto Bernardo,
03:06alleged he personally delivered money to Revilla's residence in Cavite,
03:09adding that Revilla's alleged kickback was at 25%.
03:12While the court granted Revilla's petition,
03:15it denied bail to Bryce Hernandez, JP Mendoza, and four others from the Public Works Department,
03:20saying it found strong evidence of guilt against the rest of the accused.
03:24Third Division Chair Associate Justice Carl Miranda was the sole justice who voted to deny bail to Revilla.
03:30Miranda says in his dissenting opinion,
03:32Revilla's alleged acts may only be appreciated when contextualized
03:35in the kalakaran or corruption practices inside the DPWH.
03:41Hollywood actor George Clooney and his wife, human rights lawyer Amal,
03:45evacuate their luxury homes in Briño after wildfires blaze through the southern French region.
03:49Clooney's publicist says the actor sent a letter to mayor of Briño,
03:53Didi Bremont, expressing his concerns over the wildfires.
03:57Clooney writes,
03:58Dear Didi,
03:58At this point, we have no idea whether our beautiful home makes it through this terrible moment
04:03and as we evacuate Briño, we want to emphasize two things.
04:06He says Amal and himself are, quote,
04:08committed to making sure that whatever happens to our village,
04:11we are part of this community and we'll be part of making it whole.
04:14The couple bought their Briño home in 2021 and along with their nine-year-old twins,
04:19obtained French citizenship in 2025.
04:23A movie producer sues Netflix for at least $105 million,
04:27claiming a copy of his unreleased Nicolas Cage movie was supposedly stolen from the streaming services studios in Hollywood.
04:33Producer Simon Afram's lawyers say the filmmaker delivered an unencrypted master copy of the World War II drama
04:39Fortitude to Netflix at the company's request.
04:41After investing more than $45 million in the production,
04:45Afram was in the process of selling the movie to Netflix or another distributor.
04:49The lawsuit says the plaintiffs were informed through a Netflix email nine days later
04:53that someone stole a good amount of drives, including the one containing Fortitude.
04:58The producer argues the film's value has been destroyed
05:01because distributors are unlikely to buy a film that could appear on piracy sites.
05:05He adds, Netflix should have secured the hard drive.
05:07In a statement, Netflix says it, quote,
05:09disputes any claim that it bears the risk of loss for a film
05:13delivered without the proper industry standards safeguards.
05:16The company adds,
05:17we take content security seriously and have taken extra measures to support the filmmaker and his team.
05:24E-pop boy group SB19 performs their hit song,
05:27Damn, at the Lollapalooza Music Festival.
05:29The group makes history as the first homegrown Filipino act to perform at the music festival.
05:34Pablo, Stel, Ken, Josh, and Justin also bring to the stage hits like
05:38Gento, Mapa, Dunka, and their latest drop, Lawless.
06:02After their performance, SB19 writes,
06:04What an unforgettable experience.
06:06We hope we made an impact and we're beyond proud to represent the Philippines at Lollapalooza.
06:11Maraming salamat.
06:14And that's today's wrap.
06:15I'm JC Gutinga.
06:17Click the link below for the full story.
06:19For more updates, download the Rappler app.
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