The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business

Top telecommunications and digital-services provider Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) and mobile leader Smart Communications, together with broadcast station TV5, bring the much anticipated 65th Miss Universe Pageant closer to Filipinos everywhere through the digital and social-media services running on the country’s most extensive and robust fixed-line and wireless networks. 

Los Angeles—Hollywood A-listers, including Academy Award winners Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks, recently participated in a farewell video honoring outgoing United States President Barack Obama.

Violinist Diomedes Sazara Jr. is set to join the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra (PPO), under the baton of Maestro Yoshikazu Fukumura, in its first concert of the new year, which will be held at the Cultural Center of the Philippines’ (CCP) Tanghalang Nicanor Abelardo (Main Theater) on January 20 at 8 p.m. 

One of the most exclusive events that are part of the run-up to the 65th Miss Universe Competition will happen at the SMX Convention Center in Pasay City on January 16, and it’s called the Governor’s Ball. 

National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) OIC Executive Director Marichu Tellano and National Youth Commission (NYC) Chairman Aiza Y. Seguerra recently signed a memorandum of agreement to strengthen the partnership between the sectors they represent. 

To begin the new year, the Ayala Museum’s ArtistSpace will present Panata (Vow), the solo exhibition of Cebu-based artist Jun Impas that is scheduled to run from January 22 to February 2. 

By Luis Leoncio  As if to stress its fierce opposition to the move in Congress to grant an across-the-board pension increase for Social Security System (SSS) retirees without a corresponding increase in member contributions, the Department of Finance (DOF) is now citing the proposal, and an earlier recommendation for a two-year moratorium on land conversion, as the biggest threats to …

A shutdown for almost three weeks of the Malampaya natural-gas facility off Palawan next month will result in higher electricity prices on top of a likely power shortage in February, simulations at the Department of Energy (DOE) showed. 

By Riza Lozada  The Supreme Court (SC) has left to corporate regulator Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) the nationality question that has long hounded telecommunications giant Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT), despite clearing an SEC memorandum that applied the 60:40 rule only on voting shares. 

Here’s a first for the Philippines: the administration is considering the use of drones, among other measures, to monitor the progress—or lack of it—of its infrastructure-buildup strategy and to keep such public works projects free from graft and corruption.