The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business

By Leilani S. Junio / Philippines News Agency The Department of Health (DOH) reported last week that the number of Zika cases in the Philippines has risen to 39 after four new cases were confirmed.

In our haste to come up with the best Christmas gift this year, we tend to forget that ev­ery person’s well-being will al­ways be on top of the list, thus, a gift of wellness is something that will be well-received.

Moscow—After examining existing research on the links between depression and active use of social networks, experts have concluded that Facebook has a negative impact on psychological health.

After revisiting the Philippines’ Spanish colonial past with its twin ballets Ibarra and Simoun, which reinterpreted Dr. José P. Rizal’s novels Noli Me Tangere (Touch Me Not) and El Filibusterismo (The Filibus­tering), Ballet Philippines (BP) looked back on a more recent period—the 1970s— with Awitin Mo at Isasayaw Ko (Sing It and I’ll Dance), a (mostly) cheerful dance musical featuring …

By Alvin I. Dacanay Filipino-Australian actress Anne Curtis again ruled Twitter this year after the social-networking site revealed last week that she tops the list of the 10 most followed Filipino accounts, of which eight are owned by fellow celebrities, and that half of its 10 most influential moments of 2016 are enter­tainment-related events.

Bassoon player Adolfo “Pong” Mendoza is the guest solo­ist in the fourth concert of the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra (PPO) under the baton of Maestro Hermin­igildo Ranera that will be held at the Cultural Center of the Philippines’ (CCP) Tanghalang Nicanor Abelardo (Main Theater) on December 16 at 8 p.m.

by The Market Monitor Editorial Team The Market Monitor set out two years ago in a small office on T.M. Kalaw Street in Ermita, Manila, its small but dedicated staff fired with the goal of providing relevant and well-written business reports to its readers without the sometimes incomprehensible jargon that other papers usually write theirs. 

By Luis Leoncio As 2016 closes, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Gov. Amando M. Tetangco Jr. has listed the three “tail risks” to the economy, none of which involves concerns over President Duterte’s statements that his critics said were to blame for the recent weakening of the peso and the local bourse.

It worked.

Local firms are asking the government to simplify the method for tax refunds and to revoke a circular issued by former Internal Revenue Commissioner Kim Henares that made it cumbersome to appeal a denial by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) of an application for refunds.