House hearing was an embarrassment
What a complete embarrassment that House committee hearing on Thursday was to the country, which had to suffer through so much drivel. The House members seemed to appear only for their five minutes in the glare of the TV camera. Pathetic.
Sustaining high growth, domestic push factors and external headwinds
A year-on-year growth rate of 7.1 percent for the third quarter of 2016 assures the Philippine economy is on a high growth path. This, however, is happening during a time when adverse short term developments are enveloping the economy.
Ending ‘endo’ — larger issues
The call to end “contractualization” is but a continuation of the opposition led by organized labor against the practice of employing workers on a non-regular basis. Costly regulation or not, there are real economic reasons for the variety of contractual arrangements observed in the Philippine labor market.
Marcos’ penchant for thievery
Like a thief in the night, the burial of the dictator Ferdinand Marcos took us all by surprise. Even the people in Ilocos Norte, or at least the correspondent I heard on TV, said the first inkling that something may be happening was that a helicopter or helicopters had landed near or at Imee...
Trump, the world economic order, and our future
It is an understatement to say that Donald Trump’s presidential victory in the United States took much of the world by surprise. The American presidency is the most powerful job in the world. It has immense responsibility and it could help tilt the way the world goes.
Triple whammy
Reader, the past seven days produced a triple whammy (defined as an event with a powerful and unpleasant effect), which left yours truly, and I think most right-thinking Filipinos, reeling against the ropes.
Justice, not technalities
On Nov. 8, the Supreme Court will hand down its decision on whether Ferdinand Marcos’ remains are to be buried in the Libingan ng mga Bayani. The justices heard oral arguments on the issue for two whole days over two months ago. I thought, and still think, that the issue is straightforward.
The macroeconomy and foreign policy rebalancing
Some signs of increased volatility can be found in several short term indicators. We see this from the nervousness of investors as they begin to hesitate to look at the country favorably, because they hear of negative news.
