Q2 growth: Old or New Normal
The 6% GDP growth in Q2 is a three-year low and has renewed the conversation of revert to the old. Not because the 6% growth is to be sneezed at but because by mid-2018 the rain clouds are starting to gather.
Impeaching justices the right thing to do
It may be a “suntok sa buwan” (hitting the moon—a useless effort) on their part, but, Reader, it is nevertheless the right thing to do. No matter how hard.
The fiscal cost of shifting to a federal structure
The draft federal constitution of the ConCom (Constitutional Committee) submitted to the Congress for adoption has huge budgetary implications on government operations which may likely cause a fiscal crisis.
Prayer for our country
On the 24 potential senatorial candidates of the PDP-Laban as presented to the President by Senator Koko Pimentel, I am concerned because: 1) out of the 24 potentials, 10 belong to political dynasties, six of whom are more than likely to be chosen as part of the final 12 candidates. What does this augur for...
The draft federal constitution: the case against a long, complex constitution
The draft federal constitution for the Philippines presented by the Constitutional Commission is a long, 82-page document, presented in single-spaced typed text, coming to a total of 30,516 words. Just for perspective, the document is 6.7 times longer than the original US Constitution that went into effect in 1789
Governance failure across the board
Get real Philippine Daily Inquirer, 11 August 2018 Undeniable fact: Philippine economic growth is slowing down. Growth rates last year were on the order of 6.7 percent. For the first half of 2018, it is 6.3 percent (6.6 percent in Q1 and 6.0 in Q2). Now, the target for 2018 under President Duterte’s Philippine...
The President is not above the law
The President’s firing of Overall Deputy Ombudsman Melchor Arthur Carandang has gotten in the way, and I must express outrage at this latest abuse of presidential power.
The Duterte administration after two years: assessing prospects for higher growth
In conjunction with this year’s State of the Nation Address, which is the third for the Duterte presidency, we focus our commentary today on the administration’s accomplishments during the first two years that are critical to the nation’s economic and social development.
