The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business
China has sought to allay fears in the Philippines of a possible armed conflict over the growing tensions related to the territorial dispute in the South China Sea (West Philippine Sea).
Points of View & Perspectives
July, 2015
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6 July
Qualities of the next president
In our advocacy for voter education, one of the default tasks is to identify the leadership qualities we want. Oftentimes, those are dictated by the qualities of the incumbent, rather than what we might consider the ideal. And whether we are conscious of it or not, in our highly charged political arena, the tendency is to seek the opposite or …
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6 July
Lessons from Divo
Divo gazes at me, his marble eyes translucent as still water with no obvious thought in them. I am scooping teaspoons of his tuna meal from a can, crooning, “Wait, Divo. Good boy.” When I scrape bits of the meal stuck in the can, he knows I’m about ready to take his plate to his feeding corner.
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6 July
Binay battles the Ombudsman
Vice President Jejomar Binay’s accusation of “selective justice” against the Aquino administration flies in the face of recent directives by the Office of the Ombudsman involving various personalities of different political stripes.
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6 July
8990 Holdings’ bond float
The move of 8990 Holdings, now the No. 1 low-cost housing developer in the country, to issue bonds is something worth emulating for other listed shares, as it would result in increased business growth.
June, 2015
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29 June
Economic development as a presidential platform
The cliché derogatory line about the importance of the economy to political realities and to fiscal governance was once eloquently encompassed in the single, rather crude declaration, “It’s the economy, stupid!” The term, uncouth and rather degrading to those it is addressed, those being a government official on one end, and the public on the other, in a good number …
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29 June
Mirroring histories and losses
Picked during a meeting of Women Elders in Action (WE*ACT), the defunct organization to which I belonged, to attend a video presentation on the Alberta Tar (Oil) Sands development, I had acquiesced but added that I didn’t know how to find Coast Salish territory, where it would be held.
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29 June
Will Binay’s anti-Aquino stance work?
Finally, it has dawned on Vice President Jejomar Binay that he can never be “The One,” as far as President Aquino is concerned. He was just deluding himself thinking the President would eventually choose him over Interior Secretary Mar Roxas due to his close ties with the Aquino family.
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29 June
NFA and the rice problem
There is something wrong with the way the government is handling the country’s rice problem. There is the problem of two overlords in the agriculture department, Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala and ex-Sen. Kiko Pangilinan. Their functions overlap and this includes even the matter of who should be the “issuing authority” on the imports of rice.
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22 June
Petty power ploys
When we last heard talk about a power crisis, we heard it from the secretary of the Department of Energy (DOE). As such, what talk should have behind it the credibility of a Cabinet official and the backing of a whole department to which billions are entrusted. Had the talk been substantiated, it might have been believed. It wasn’t.