The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business

Ay, Pilipino pa rin, Ate,” says, Florie, with sister, Daisy, who have lived in the same Vancouver rental apartment for the past 15 years. Theirs turn out to be the status of most caregiver-friends, too, or in stores working behind cash registers, at food courts, picking up your tray for cleaning and stacking, and in supermarkets, assisting you in self-serve …

Not much has been heard from outgoing President Noynoy Aquino these past few days. Most of the attention of the media has been focused on the incoming Chief Executive – on his person and his pronouncements. To a large extent, the public has opted to give back to the daily grind of life and simply wait for Aquino to pack …

Arianwen Ledesma Rollan, a 17-year-old Filipino student from Cebu City, has won the “First Award” given by the Qatar Foundation, Research and Development in Medical Science, for her research on the antitumor properties of malunggay (Moringa oleifera), according to Intel Corp. 

Business confidence is up, based on the quarterly Business Expectation Survey (BES) of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

A total of 219,478 households or 1,318,868 people are now benefitting from 396 potable water projects in waterless municipalities that have been completed for the first four months of 2016 through the Sagana at Ligtas ng Tubig sa Lahat (Salintubig) Program, according to the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG).

The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) has released P1,165,085,751 to the Social Housing Finance Corp. (SHFC) to fund housing projects for three groups of squatter families (informal settlers) residing along danger areas in Metro Manila. 

By Weng Ocfemia Incoming Public Works Secretary Mark Villar has vowed to make all transactions at the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) transparent to allay fears of conflict of interest due to the real-estate business of his family. 

By Daryl Rose Virtudazo The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) is all laid out to exploit more than P3 billion for five years or 1,800 calendar days for asset preservation and maintenance of the Daang Maharlika which stretches from Lipata, Surigao City, Surigao del Norte, to Boundary Agusan del Norte Section in Caraga Region. 

Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chairman Emerson Carlos has proposed that traffic education, including road-safety principles, should be included in the curriculum in all schools, particularly high schools. 

Real-estate developer DMCI Homes recently partnered with student advocacy group UP Bike Share to promote the growing bike-sharing community at the University of the Philippines in Quezon City.