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By Luis Leoncio The unholy alliance between a huge freight/cargo forwarding firm and a multinational tobacco company has been defrauding the government of billions of pesos in taxes, but despite documents detailing the collusion, the government has not lifted a finger to stop it, Deputy Speaker Sergio Apostol has told The Market Monitor in an interview.

A paradox awaits the next administration: How to raise more money to fund government programs while heeding the public clamor to make the tax system equitable by lowering individual income-tax rates? Former Budget Secretary Banjamin Diokno, now a faculty member of the University of the Philippines (UP) School of Economics, said the “harsh reality” is that the next administration would …

American boxer Floyd “Money” Mayweather Jr. proved that conditioning, speed and determination to win are not enough anymore to win in a modern-day boxing match where guile now is a necessity, a fact that Filipino icon Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao learned the hard way.

By Edwin O. Fernandez and Noel Y. Punzalan / Philippines News Agency Cotabato City—The country’s most wanted bomber who has long eluded arrest by government forces was killed in a clash with members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in Maguindanao as the country was busy watching the Manny Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather Jr. boxing match on Sunday, a ranking police …

By Luis Leoncio The Senate hopes to lower individual tax payments before the end of President Aquino’s term amid criticisms that services rendered by the government were not commensurate with the increase in tax collections.

Alarm bells are being sounded over the efforts of the Aquino administration to institutionalize in the 2016 budget the Bottom-up Budgeting (BuB) scheme, which administration critics call a clone of the controversial Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) that was alloted P20.8 billion in this year’s budget.

The Philippines, although still enjoying investment-grade status, may face a downgrade contingent on the results of the last elections. Standard & Poor’s (S&P) issued the warning due to inherent defects in the country, such as the lack of infrastructure support and deficient energy outlook and low export volumes.

Malacañang said on Saturday it is confident the Bureau of Customs (BOC) would do its part effectively as the country becomes part of a more integrated Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).

The Aquino administration is shortchanging Filipinos in terms of services rendered as compared to taxes collected, according to a study conducted by Prof. Benjamin Diokno of the University of the Philippines School of Economics (UPSE).

By Riza Lozada Foreign trade groups are seeking a serious government review of the Omnibus Investment Code, particularly on ways to relax foreign-ownership rules outside of the Constitution; and the policy to limit tax incentives granted to new projects.