The “Solar Panel Cleaning Time” photo entry of Noel Eusebio, which was shot in Bais City, Negros Oriental, is among the eight grand winners in the drone category of Pagcor’s 2025 Photography Contest, with the awarding ceremony held at the agency’s corporate office in Pasay City Sept. 23.
With the theme, “Infrastructure for Economic Development”, this year’s nationwide competition drew nearly 4,000 entries from amateur and professional photographers under the conventional, mobile, and drone categories.
The theme highlighted the pivotal role of infrastructure in nation-building.
Eight grand winners in the conventional category each took home P100,000, while the 16 grand winners from the mobile and drone categories received P50,000 each.
Consolation prize winners in the conventional category were awarded P35,000, while finalists from the two other categories received P20,000 each.
Pagcor chairman and CEO Alejandro Tengco lauded the winners and underscored the agency’s continuing support for Filipino creativity.
“Your extraordinary talent shows us that Filipino creativity is world-class,” Tengco said in a statement. “While Pagcor’s primary duty is regulation, revenue generation, and tourism promotion, we are equally proud of advocacies like this that nurture talent and give Filipinos the platform they deserve.”
He added that this year’s photo contest theme “remind us that infrastructure is not just concrete and steel, but lifelines of progress that connect families, fuel industries, and open doors to opportunities.”
This year’s conventional category winners were Maxwell John Bongo (Harvesting Sunshine: Powering Progress); Jerson Flores (Cascading Flow); Victor Kintanar (Link); Zaldy Asama Jr. (Signal Beneath: Unveiling the Birth of Metro Manila’s First Subway); Rolando Entero Jr. (Bridge Bathed in Gold); Rey Johnino Carinugan (Highway to Your Heart); Emman Foronda (The Dual Purpose of Madongan Dam: Farming and Fun); and Janice Tadoyo. (Currents of Progress).
In the mobile category, the winners were Fausto Francis Baraga (Starry Bridge); Mark Louis Balmores (Subway in the Metro); Jose Kent Punay (Shaped by the Sea, Built for the Skies); Christian Paolo Flores (The Iconic Biliran Bridge); Celbert Palaganas (Pillars of Promise); Henzon Estrada (Power from the Wind, Strength from the People); Tiffany Joyce Acod (A Solitary Windmill Above the Restless Sea); and Jenelle Justalero (Bridging Light and Land).
The drone category winners, aside from Eusebio, were Reu Dawner Flores (The Height of Progress); Anthony Into (Where Nature Embraces Progress); Roi Anwar Abarintos (Suspended in Stillness); Jayson Gorme (Earthworks); Marlo Demo-os (Flow of Progress); Aljon Tugaoen (Lighting Up the Future); and Rayzamae Vasquez (Tulay-Tulong).
Tengco also announced that the theme for next year’s photography competition will be “Kids@Play”, which will highlight the unadulterated moments of children at play and how these simple activities shape values such as discipline, persistence, sportsmanship, and resilience. ||
