The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business

The Beta Epsilon Sigma (BES) Fraternity and the Hiyas ng Silangan (HNS) Sorority, honor societies of the University of the East (UE), celebrate their 50th year since their creation in January 1966. These two elite organizations were founded by Joe-Santos Bisquera and Jeanette Lim-Evangelista, respectively. 

Budget Secretary Florencio B. Abad disclosed that the government has appropriated P6.5 billion in the 2016 Genaral Appropriations Act (GAA) for the rehabilitation and upgrading of provincial roads in 73 provinces all over the country in a project called Konkreto at Ayos na Lansangan at Daan Tungo sa Pangkalahatang Kaunlaran (Kalsada). 

The Department of Transportation and Communications (DoTC) is inviting interested local and international groups to participate in the bidding of the P65.09 billion Light Rail Transit (LRT) Line 6 project under the Philippine Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Program. 

The World Bank (WB) has approved a new contingent line of credit to support the Philippines’s efforts to manage the risks posed by natural disasters. 

By Daryl Rose Virtudazo  The National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) board has approved the unsolicited proposal of Metro Pacific Group for the NLEx-SLEx Connector Road project under Public-Private Partnership (PPP) scheme. 

Brisbane, Australia—Roger Federer and Milos Raonic will meet again in the Brisbane International final in a reprise of the 2015 decider at the Australian Open warm-up tournament.

By John Leicester / The Associated Press Paris—Underdogs had their days, plenty of them, in 2015: Leicester City snapping at the heels of England’s Premier League giants, Japan beating South Africa at the rugby World Cup, Roberta Vinci derailing Serena Williams’s drive for a calendar-year Grand Slam. 

By Anick Jesdanun / The Associated Press New York—This past year brought lots of new products, services and features, including a few that even managed to improve everyday life. 

Advanced Persistent Threats, or APTs, will cease to exist in 2016, but they will be replaced by deeper, embedded attacks that are harder to detect and trace back to the perpetrators, experts from leading software-security company Kaspersky Lab say. 

First, she won the Miss Universe 2015 crown over 79 candidates from around the world. Now, it looks like Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach has won over the American broadcast media.