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The Philippines on Saturday welcomed Japan’s landmark legislation that would allow its military to fight overseas for the first time in 70 years and respond to threats against its allies.

By Luis Leoncio  The much-awaited proposed tax cuts may not come about, after all, despite earlier assurances that Malacañang was open to them. 

The monstrous daily traffic snarls have apparently pushed many motorists to desperation, and some are now demanding that President Aquino declare a state of national emergency in Metro Manila to stop the anarchy on the streets that the problem has spawned. 

The Supreme Court (SC) has ordered the Executive and Legislative branches to explain not later than Friday allegations by watchdogs of public funds that certain provisions in the 2015 national budget resurrected the already outlawed Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) and the voided practices under the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP). 

By Riza Lozada  The government continues to use huge allocations for state workers in the 2015 budget to raise savings for the future use of the Executive as “discretionary funds.” 

Trade Secretary Gregory Domingo has resigned from the Cabinet, Malacañang confirmed, but President Aquino has yet to act on the resignation. 

By Riza Lozada  Budget watchdogs and anti-pork advocates have banded together and asked the Supreme Court (SC) to remove parts of the 2015 budget law that allowed President Aquino to have almost unlimited discretionary funds through the juggling of budgetary items. 

By Luis Leoncio  All eyes will be on the Philippine National Police (PNP) Highway Patrol Group (HPG) starting Monday as it carries out its new mandate: to try solving Metro Manila’s monstrous traffic problem. 

If all goes well, the bill lowering individual and corporate income-tax rates is scheduled for plenary deliberations by the House of Representatives this week, following its approval on first reading by the House Committee on Appropriations, Marikina City Rep. Romero Quimbo, chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means and one of the authors of the measure, said. 

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the Philippines, despite being critical drivers of growth and employment, have the least access to bank financing among the major economies in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), according to a joint report of the British financial advisory firm Deloitte and the global credit card firm Visa.