Philippine justice and legislative officials are pushing for a new law to confront what they describe as “nihilistic violent extremism,” or NVE, amid mounting concern over online grooming of children and a deadly school shooting in Tacloban City. Senate President Sherwin T. Gatchalian and the Department of Justice (DoJ) have both called for a dedicated legal framework targeting the exploitation of minors by groups that allegedly encourage them to commit violent acts.

In separate statements and briefings, officials said existing statutes on terrorism, obscenity and online sexual exploitation are not designed to fully capture the pattern of behavior they are seeing, particularly when children are groomed digitally to escalate from minor offenses to serious violence. Justice Undersecretary Nicholas Felix L. Ty said the Tacloban shooting, which left three students dead and injured around 20 others, is being examined as potentially part of an NVE pattern rather than a standalone case of bullying.

Ty described NVE as involving the manipulation of children or young adults to carry out crimes that may start with break-ins, self-harm or cruelty to animals and can culminate in mass casualty events. He said perpetrators often use the internet to exploit young people’s need for friendship and belonging, then pressure them to maintain those relationships by “doing all sorts of bad things.” A Senate inquiry into the Tacloban attack heard indications that an online extremist group based overseas, identified in one hearing as “764,” may have been involved in grooming minors to commit violence.

Gatchalian said he is open to working with the DoJ through the Senate Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations and Gender Equality to draft a law that explicitly defines NVE and addresses online grooming and so-called brainwashing of minors. He cited social media and online games as key channels allegedly used by groomers, recalling that a gaming platform was linked to a planned school attack in Laguna in early 2026. Ty, for his part, urged lawmakers in both chambers to prioritize a measure that would designate a lead agency, bolster child protection, enhance international coordination and adopt a whole-of-government or “whole-of-nation” approach, arguing that a comprehensive statute is needed when current laws’ specific legal elements do not neatly apply.

Taipei is doubling down on efforts to cut consumption of single-use beverage cups, rolling out a city-backed discount that rewards customers for bringing their own containers to popular hand-shaken drink chains. From July 2 through Dec. 31, consumers who visit participating Taipei outlets of Milksha (迷客夏) and TEA TOP on Thursdays will receive a NT$10 discount per drink when they use a reusable cup, up from the standard NT$5 required by national rules.

The program, jointly launched by the Taipei Environmental Protection Department and the two chains, covers 46 Taipei stores and is capped at 50 discounted drinks per outlet each Thursday. The NT$10 reduction combines the existing NT$5 price difference that chains must offer under the "Restrictions on the Use of Disposable Beverage Cups" with an additional NT$5 subsidy from the city. The offer does not apply to prepaid or stored-value orders, and outlets in other municipalities continue to provide only the basic NT$5 discount.

Taipei officials say the initiative builds on a smaller 2023 pilot with five brands and 18 outlets that generated 4,385 instances of reusable-container use between Sept. 18 and Oct. 9. By expanding the scope and duration and partnering with high-traffic milk tea brands, the city estimates the latest round could spur about 50,000 drinks served in personal cups, cutting a similar number of disposable cups from the waste stream. Authorities argue that as more people adjust their daily purchasing habits, the cumulative impact on waste reduction, resource use and environmental pressure will become increasingly significant.

The city is also tying the push to its digital payments ecosystem. Consumers who register for the "Plastic Reduction EasyLife" (減塑EasyLife) campaign in the EasyCard Pay (悠遊付) app and link a mobile barcode can earn additional rewards when they buy drinks in reusable cups and opt for cloud invoices, on top of the price discount offered at the counter. Taipei officials frame the effort as a public–private partnership designed to make environmentally friendly behavior financially attractive, positioning the weekly rebate as both a way to trim beverage costs and a step toward a longer-term shift away from disposable cups in one of the world’s most beverage-focused urban markets.