Top News

House OKs bill promoting fair competition in business

The House of Representatives has ratified Fair Competition Act, otherwise known as Cojuangco Law before Congress adjourned last week.

Read More »

New conflict-of-interest case filed vs BOC’s Lina

By Luis Leoncio Another multimillion-peso conflict-of-interest case has surfaced against Customs Commissioner Alberto Lina. The case, which involves the cancellation of a vital contract, could reportedly delay the Philippines’s integration into the single Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) market.

Read More »

Tzu Chi as global charity game-changer (Conclusion)

By Lito U. Gagni Indeed, there is something unique about Tzu Chi volunteers around the globe: It is their sense of duty to serve their fellow men. And they all point to the teachings of Master Cheng, whose thoughts were immortalized as Jing Si aphorisms.

Read More »

Budget misuse taking its toll on Philippine growth

The government’s economic officials have admitted that the effect of massive underspending under the Aquino administration had a lot to do with the disappointing 5.2-percent growth in the first quarter, despite earlier claims this year that it was ramping up its expenditures through frontloading.

Read More »

Government, Usaid to speed up power-plant contracts

By Riza Lozada The United States Agency for International Development (Usaid) and the Department of Energy (DOE) have joined hands to spur investments in renewable-energy projects by cutting red tape.

Read More »

Underspending does it again

By Luis Leoncio Despite repeated warnings from economists and other experts, the Aquino administration continues to underspend and as a result, the gross domestic product (GDP) expanded a disappointing 5.2 percent in the first quarter, the slowest pace in three years.

Read More »

Suit eyed on AMLC report leakage

Lawyers of Vice President Jejomar Binay are reported to be mulling over the possible of filing cases against media outfits that published or aired the report of the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) on his alleged multibillion-peso accounts, which was the basis of a Court of Appeals freeze order on his assets. The Binay camp had described the AMLC report “erroneous” and …

Read More »

Tzu Chi as global charity game-changer (First part)

By Lito U. Gagni I first learned about Tzu Chi and its charity work in the aftermath of Supertyphoon Yolanda (international code name: Haiyan) that devastated Eastern Visayas when I read the news about its cash-for-relief program that cleaned Tacloban and its environs of tons of mud, heaps of garbage and washed-out clothes.

Read More »

IMF against Senate bid to lower income tax

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has effectively rejected proposals in Congress to lower individual income-tax payments through a bill updating the tax schedules, as the multilateral lender is requiring a counterpart measure that would offset the revenue losses.

Read More »

Budget misuse hounds Aquino

By Luis Leoncio The inefficient use of the budget, which economists have identified as a major cause for the Philippines economy’s failure to achieve its full potential, has become an international concern, with even a United States think tank saying that the Aquino administration, aside from misusing the budget, has also been remiss in reporting government expenditures.

Read More »