the time the lights came up for intermission after Act 1 of “The Notebook: The Musical,” tears were already flowing among audience members as emotions ran high.

The House prosecution panel has dropped as witnesses two of Vice President Sara Duterte’s former security officers and her alleged former bagman, Ramil Madriaga, saying evidence already presented is sufficient to establish allegations of misuse, misappropriation and irregular liquidation of P612.5 million in confidential funds.

MANILA, Philippines —  Mavic Development Inc., operator of flexible workspace MSpaces, has expanded its portfolio with a second co?working branch in Makati City, part of its push to offer competitively priced offices for professionals. “We thought of expanding a second branch after we saw how there’s still an opportunity, especially in Makati, where we still feel it’s an underserved market,” Mavic Development president Jovie Cochien told The STAR. “We have competition, but I think that the market’s big enough for another player. We are also seeing big companies still coming in, and I think that’s a good sign,” he added. The new 70-seater flexible office space, located in the Rufino Pacific Tower in Makati City, offers co-working spaces, private offices, meeting rooms and virtual offices for private companies and workers. This marks MSpaces’ second branch, following the launch of its Tektite Tower site in Ortigas. Cochien added that MSpaces manages services in?house, unlike operators that lease and outsource, allowing it to offer more competitive rates to clients. “What sets us apart is that since we do everything in-house, we can treat our employees differently, we treat them like family. I think that how we treat them also affects how they treat our clients,” he said. He added that MSpaces also offers its clients business processing, bookkeeping and compliance work to complement their services. Co-working rates at the Makati branch range from P300 for a half-day pass to P500 for a full day or P4,900 per month. Private offices are priced at P10,900 per seat per month. The Makati branch co-working rates are set at P300 for half-day to P500 for whole day and P4,900 per month, while private offices are charged P10,900 on a per-seat, per-month basis. Virtual office packages, meanwhile, are priced from P18,000 to P36,000 per month depending on the chosen service plan. “It’s plug and play. So when you come here, you already have a desk, a seat and internet. We also offer mail service and business registration to make it easy for our clients,” Cochien said.

By calling former speaker Martin Romualdez the “mastermind” of flood control corruption, Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla may have already prejudged the Leyte representative even before evidence could be presented, a legal counsel for the lawmaker said yesterday.

A year into his term, Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Francis Lim has already stirred up the hornet’s nest, drawing the ire of many powerful players in the country’s business environment.