The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business
The Duterte administration’s declaration of martial law in Mindanao increases political instability in the country, research group IBON said, and will not help the economy, which is already slowing as it is. While the 1987 Constitution provides for such a declaration, its indiscriminate use gives the impression of an authoritarian government arbitrarily using power for self-serving ends. According to IBON, …
Points of View & Perspectives
May, 2017
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21 May
Why are DOTr and Transco competing with the private sector?
Has the “contractor mentality” syndrome overcome certain quarters in the Administration? Has the syndrome driven government to ease out key private sector participants in infrastructure development?
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21 May
A burdensome statistic: The graying population
Fragile as falling feather to my mind, that is, I had once offered to help lift her cart when it sank into a mound of softened snow on a curb, but she declined graciously, telling me she had done this countless of times since her husband died two decades ago—a rueful smile lighting up her side-upturned face from the crook …
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14 May
When beauty can be hazardous
Swans, for me, would have remained the images I conjured from art and literature—early on in the fairy tale, “Ugly Duckling”, and later, “Swan Lake”, the ballet (my first at the CCP in the 70’s with Russian prima ballerina, Maya Plisetskaya)—if a friend and I hadn’t chanced upon a herd by the entrance of Stanley Park on my first visit …
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14 May
Mall war heats up in CDO
The “war” among shopping malls in Cagayan de Oro City (CDO), which is the trading capital of Northern Mindanao, intensified with the recent opening of the 15.2-hectare Shoe Mart (SM) in the city’s downtown area along Claro M. Recto Avenue.
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7 May
Much valued beginnings
I had squealed childlike at a cock’s midday crow— fortunately, a friend and I had sauntered to a rather isolated bend in Centre Island along the banks of Lake Ontario from across Toronto’s skyline, or else, recognizing an elderly Filipina that I am, selfie-driven millennials, who crowded scenic nooks like a willow-draped bridge, would have smirked, understandably, at my inappropriate, …
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7 May
Agriculture sector remains an economic laggard
Despite the government’s attempt to develop other industries as economic drivers, the agriculture sector remains central to the Philippine economy.
April, 2017
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23 April
Fool’s gold and fake claims
The pale brass yellow sheen of iron pyrite has earned it the colloquial monicker “fool’s gold” and for the overly reckless miner wildly screaming “Thar’s gold in them hills!”, its discovery could very well have led to premature claims more deservingly a tall tale than the genuine thing.
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23 April
Is government still concerned with the safety of commuters?
Much have been said about the sad state of our public utility buses and the dangers they pose to the lives of the riding public. However, it appears government is not doing anything to ensure the safety of commuters.