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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.

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.

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.

Revealing details of the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) investigation on the 142 bank accounts of Vice President Jejomar Binay and his associates is replete with criminal acts, and bank officials and media outfits responsible for the leakage could be held liable, according to former Makati Rep. Teddy Locsin Jr., one of the authors of the Anti-Money Laundering Act (Amla).

By Dean dela Paz (Last of two parts) A product of the peculiarities of the political slime they wallow in, the original legislators crafting the seminal anti-money laundering laws tailored, custom-designed and worked into the law safeguards to address their personal circumstances.

By Lito U. Gagni Housing industry leader and 8990 Holdings Chief Executive Officer JJ Atencio provides us in this week’s issue with insights into how the housing startup innovated its game to emerge at the top of the low-cost housing business in the country.

By Luis Leoncio As President Aquino moves toward the homestretch of his six-year term, more and more leaders of the local business sector are coming out to dispute his claimed achievements, citing “missed opportunities” that they say defined his term.

By Dean dela Paz (First of two parts) This commentary is occasioned by recent events where the financial assets and bank deposits of the Vice President and other individuals being linked to him were frozen by the courts.

By Lito U. Gagni Dr. Cezar T. Quiambao is a visionary who has accomplished many firsts in the annals of the country’s economic development.  He set up the country’s first infra Public-Private Partnership project, the $514-million Metro Manila Skyway project  and its companion $57-million Southern Tagalog Arterial Road (STAR) tollway that resulted in an unprecedented  economic boom in areas south of Metro Manila.

Excess liquidity among domestic banks has become a limiting factor for the growth of the local capital markets, making them seem small and obscure compared to the country’s neighbors, the Oxford Business Group (OBG) said in its recent report on the Philippines.