Mindanao’s growth triangle – Cagayan de Oro, Davao and General Santos
Three major urban areas serve as magnets for Mindanao’s economic heartland: Cagayan de Oro, Davao, and General Santos. These magnetos collectively provide transport logistics and the industrial and commercial support to the growth of Mindanao’s economy.
It isn’t incompetence, it’s the budget and procurement laws.’ Seriously?
Here’s the new tack of the underachieving Aquino III administration: don’t blame my men for the high and increasing underspending in government; blame the bad budget and procurement laws. My men are great; it’s the laws that need fixing.
‘The poor and the fragility of the planet’
It was really only a matter of time before Pope Francis would weigh in on issues surrounding the environment. His chosen namesake, St. Francis of Assisi, after all, was a lover of nature,
Philippine economic history since the 1930s in perspective
In 1946, our flag was raised at the Luneta to announce the formal start of our status as an independent republic. That was 59 years ago, six decades of independence. Our economic history presents a mirror of our growth as a nation.
As train of growth chugs forward, is everyone getting pulled along?
The Aquino III administration is supposedly committed to the lofty goal of strong, sustainable, inclusive growth. But does it really know the meaning of inclusiveness? What does the evidence show about the state of economic, social and environmental inclusiveness of the Philippine economy?
Working for peanuts
Fructuosa Llana of Frux Food Products is a progressive entrepreneur. She recently started a promising line of snacks made from cassava flour and fortified with malunggay and other vegetables (grown in her own small garden). But her main business is still the peanut butter line she has been producing for more than a decade now....
The crime has to be plunder
The Pimentel Report deserves more attention than it has received, particularly because Vice President Jejomar Binay, who is one of those recommended to be charged with plunder, wants to be president of the Philippines.
Davao’s Duterte: On law and order, BBL, the federal option, and what makes a leader
There’s no doubt that Rodrigo Duterte wants to be president. But he flatly denies all claims to candidacy if asked. He is spritely and does not act his 70 years.
Agriculture has been left behind
The next President should prioritize agriculture. It’s one solid way of giving meat and substance to the lofty goal of strong, sustainable and inclusive growth.
Rodrigo Duterte demonstrates the public safety and emergency citizen’s support system in Davao City
Much is heard about Rodrigo Duterte these days in the national political scene. Mayor of Davao City for almost 24 years, his leadership has been substantially credited with the quiet progress of the Davao region’s economy.
Losing ground in the war vs. poverty
So what’s the bad news? That the Philippines is apparently losing ground in its war against poverty.
Daunting challenges for the next president
Philippine authorities boast that the Philippines is the fastest growing country in ASEAN-5. True, but the reality is that it is easier to grow rapidly when one is starting from a low base. And the inconvenient truth is that the Philippines was, and remains, the poorest among its ASEAN-5 peers.
