The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business

Driven by their passion and desire to make their time worthwhile this summer, 20 volunteers—mostly millennials—from across the Philippines gathered recently for a three-day outreach program, called “I am MAD (Making A Difference) Camp”, in Magdiwang municipality on Romblon province’s Sibuyan Island. 

Oceana Philippines, together with its allies in the government and private sector, is urgently pushing for the legal protection of Benham Rise, now renamed Philippine Rise, as a marine protected area, and for the declaration of Benham Bank—the shallowest portion of the rise—as a no-take zone, where human activity is not allowed. 

To commemorate the Philippine High School for the Arts’ (PHSA) history and legacy of art education for the Filipino youth, the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP), in cooperation with the PHSA and the PHSA Ibarang Alumni Association, will present a multidisciplinary production, titled PHSA@40: Ibarang Alumni at the Forefront of Arts Education, at the Tanghalang Aurelio Tolentino (CCP Little …

Filipino pianist Dr. Hiyas A. Hila plays with the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra (PPO) under the baton of Maestro Yoshikazu Fukumura at the Cultural Center of the Philippines’ Tanghalang Nicanor Abelardo (CCP Main Theater) on June 11, 2017, at 4 p.m. 

The Japan Foundation Manila and the Embassy of Japan in the Philippines are teaming up to present the international traveling exhibition Manga Hokusai Manga: Approaching the Master’s Compendium from the Perspective of Contemporary Comics at the Ateneo Art Gallery of the Ateneo de Manila University in Quezon City this month.

By Luis Leoncio  While economic managers said the economy has enough buffers to blunt the effect of the current crisis in Mindanao, the long-term effect would largely depend on how “things pan out.” 

By Riza Lozada  Key fiscal indicators improved in the first three months as a result of increasing revenue collections, which now outpaces the yearly economic growth rate, while the national government’s budget gap and outstanding debt remained very well managed, Department of Finance (DOF) figures showed. 

The Duterte administration has lined up three options to finance the massive P8 trillion to P9 trillion in financing needed for the most ambitious infrastructure program in recent Philippine history, dubbed “Build, Build, Build”. 

Russian businessmen got a glimpse of “Dutertenomics” and business opportunities in the Philippines in a business forum held during the recent state visit of President Duterte to Moscow.