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A government delegation received insights from last week’s three-day learning workshop hosted by Alibaba Group founder Jack Ma in Hangzhou, China will help the Duterte administration understand how to optimize the use of technology to improve governance and prepare Filipinos for the future under a digital economy, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said.

Philippine Airlines is the country’s first certified 4-star airline, joining 42 other 4-star carriers on the list of Skytrax, a London-based international air transport rating organization.

The Philippines is virtually “sitting on a mountain of gold,” with untapped hydrocarbon deposits estimated at US$26.3 trillion, mostly found in the disputed Spratly chain of islands, more than enough to free the country from the shackles of poverty.

The government is considering tapping Chinese technology giant Alibaba’s fintech (financial technology) solutions through its related company Ant Financial to lower remittance costs for the Philippines’ over 10 million migrant workers and offer them other online-based banking and financial management services.

With ordinary Filipinos slowly starting to feel the effects of the recently passed tax reform law, the Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC) criticized the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion or TRAIN Act as “fundamentally anti-poor” and pushed instead for more taxes on the wealthy. “We know that consumption taxes are inherently regressive and will hurt the poor the most.

The government must ensure mitigation measures are in place to cushion the transitory inflationary impact of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) law, following recorded increases in the country’s inflation rate, according to the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda).

Rice prices are expected to trend downonce the amendment of the agricultural tariffication law is enacted, the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) said.

Power grid operator National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) has offered to provide its fiber optic grid which it uses for communication as the backbone for the government’s National Broadband Plan (NBP) for free.

To mitigate the effects in the event, God forbid, the “Big One” would hit Luzon, the Metropolitan Waterworks Sewerage System (MWSS) has undertaken safety measures to secure the Angat Dam, the main source of water for Metro Manila and its environs.

RunRio paid tribute to the runners who diligently finished the entire RunRio Trilogy during the RunRio Trilogy Awards at the Okada Manila Grand Ballroom on Wednesday night.