The ceasefire lasted 26 days. On June 9, the Lopez family majority — three branches holding 71% of Lopez Inc., the family's private holding company — issued a press release calling Federico "Piki" Lopez's signature hydropower deal "horrible" and demanding regulators force full disclosure of where the money went.

They alleged that Piki agreed to pay Prime Infrastructure P50 billion as a "transaction premium" — essentially an entry fee for the right to join Prime Infra's hydropower business. Only P25 billion of the original P75 billion was "construction equity," or genuine money for actually building the dams.

"In effect, Piki funded the whole project that is yet to be built, has no cash flow for years, and faces multiple completion risks," the majority said. "This is a horrible deal for First Gen."

They also asked a question no public document has answered: "Did Prime [Infrastructure of tycoon Enrique Razon] pay a premium for getting full control of the hydropower company? If so, how much and who got it?"

The majority's latest public statement landed 26 days after they'd announced a ceasefire. On May 14, they'd withdrawn the February board resolution that fired Piki as president and CEO of Lopez Inc. They called it an opening for discussions and said they were "open to a ceasefire" subject to fair compromise and access to information.

A day later, Piki welcomed the gesture as "a possible first step for all parties to finally resolve the issues dividing the family." At the May 28 First Gen annual stockholders' meeting, Piki mentioned it in three careful sentences, called it a "peace overture," and moved on to discuss energy projects. The window, such as it was, had closed.

The P50 billion allegation is the most specific financial claim the majority cousins have made in the past three months of public warfare. It rests on internal board documents they say they recently accessed, but which haven't been made publicly available or disclosed.

First Gen initially didn't address the specific breakdown. But on June 10, following a prompt from the stock exchange to clarify the news reports, First Gen pushed back. It countered that the premium paid to Prime Infra was standard practice, reflecting at least five years of development work already completed before First Gen came in.

Then came the hard push back: Piki's camp called the majority's characterization "erroneous, malicious, and shows an utter lack of understanding of basic M&A (mergers and acquisitions) transactions."

What the public was told

First Gen Corporation is the listed energy company of the Lopez group. "Listed" means its shares are traded on the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE), so ordinary investors, pension funds, and global institutions can buy and sell a piece of it. As a listed company, it's legally required to disclose material information to the exchange immediately after they arise.

The hydro deal unfolded in stages, each generating a new mandatory filing. On February 13, First Gen's board approved a Binding Heads of Terms Agreement with Prime Infra — think of it as a detailed letter of intent before the actual contract for a 40% stake in Prime Infra's pumped storage hydroelectric portfolio.

Pumped storage works like a giant rechargeable battery for the power grid: when there's excess electricity, it pumps water uphill into a reservoir; when the grid needs power, it releases the water downhill through turbines.

The two projects involved are the 600-megawatt Wawa project in Rizal and the 1,400-megawatt Pakil project in Laguna. The price for that 40% stake: P75 billion, of which First Gen had said P62.5 billion "will be used to directly fund construction and the equity requirements of the projects."

Meaning, it told investors the bulk of the money was going to physically build the dams and cover the company's share of funding obligations along the way. Neither dam is operational yet. Both are scheduled for completion by 2030, making this a long-duration bet on infrastructure. No income will come out of this investment for years, before 2031.

The question regulators must answer

The gap between what First Gen told the stock market and what the majority says the internal records show is the question regulators — the PSE and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) — are now being pressed to resolve. The majority's allegation rests on board documents not yet made public. First Gen's counter rests on standard M&A practice. The stock exchange has already asked for clarification.

For ordinary Filipinos, this isn't just a family drama. First Gen is a major energy player, and the Wawa and Pakil projects are meant to add 2,000 megawatts of pumped storage capacity to the grid by 2030 — critical for stabilizing the power supply as the country shifts to more intermittent renewable sources like solar and wind. If the deal is as bad as the majority claims, it could mean higher electricity costs or project delays down the line.

The Lopez family feud is now in its third month of public warfare. The February board resolution that fired Piki as president and CEO of Lopez Inc. started it. The ceasefire in May paused it. Now the P50 billion allegation has blown it wide open again.