The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business

The Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival is set to highlight 2016 Cannes Film Festival Best Actress winner Jaclyn Jose by showing three of her earlier movies at the festival’s 12th edition at the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) this week.

By Nikki Garde-Torres  Conclusion In 2005 Rody Vera teamed up with Herbie Go, then the artistic director of Tanghalang Pilipino, the Cultural Center of the Philippines’s (CCP) resident theater company. Together, they conceived of a festival of new works, to be staged as part of the company’s season. Thus, the Virgin Labfest (VLF) was born. 

By Ma. Cristina C. Arayata / Philippines News Agency Are you planning to take a vacation in a country with a cold climate? What better way to make the most of experiencing that climate than to wear fashionable and comfortable clothes? 

After months of speculation and a barrage of teasers, Bondi&Bourke has unveiled its second branch at Forbes Town Center in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig City. 

Samsung and the Yuchengco Museum recently launched Culture Connect: Castrillo@50, an Instagram contest that aims to not only commemorate the works of the late sculptor Eduardo Castrillo, but also inspire Filipinos to embrace patriotism and express it on social media. 

BDO Foundation, the cor porate social responsibility arm of BDO Unibank, has rehabilitated Pastrana Rural Health Unit in Leyte in partnership with US-Philippines Society.

By Luis Leoncio  A government study has confirmed that proceeds from the controversial road-users tax or the motor vehicle users charge (MVUC), considered the third-biggest source of tax revenue for the government that some legislators have long wanted to review since these were “prone to corruption,” are, indeed, not being efficiently used.

The once-impoverished sectors of the economy are fast catching up, with the economy of the Bicol provinces, which used to be among the poorest in the country, recording the fastest growth among the regions last year, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority. 

The tax reforms that eluded the nation during the term of former President Benigno S. Aquino III are expected to be realized within the early part of the Duterte administration, according to the Tax Management Association of the Philippines (TMAP), which has spearheaded the campaign to reform the tax system.

By Luis Leoncio  The push for a shift to a federal system of government “is more of an economic than a political necessity,” according to former Senate President Aquilino Pimentel Jr., a strong advocate of the move supported by President Duterte, which has gained traction in Congress.