The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business

By Yuri Kageyama / The Associated Press Tokyo—Celebrated Filipino director Brillante Ma. Mendoza, taking center stage at the Tokyo International Film Festival, is pursuing a collaboration with other Asian filmmakers—a cultural connection that might be as simple as rice. 

In 1979, Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now premiered in Hollywood amid much controversy. Shot in a fishing village in Baler town, Aurora province, the Vietnam War film took way too long to shoot and went way over budget. When Coppola, his actors and his crew left the town in 1977, they had no idea their film would have such an …

Review by Ann Levin / The Associated Press Steve Knopper begins his superb biography of Michael Jackson with an anecdote about a protest against school integration in Jackson’s hometown of Gary, Indiana, in 1927, more than three decades before the singer was born. 

John Grisham’s latest novel, Rogue Lawyer (Doubleday), introduces Sebastian Rudd, a criminal defense attorney who takes on cases others want to avoid. 

Looking for thrills that you can enjoy with family and friends on Halloween? You don’t have to go far to get them, because there are thrills and treats aplenty at Richmonde Hotel Ortigas. 

By Lito U. Gagni Jollibee Foods Corp. (JFC) has embarked on an overseas expansion strategy to boost its profitability ratio, which went down when it absorbed higher operating costs and cut its product offerings by up to 10 percent. 

By Luis Leoncio  The sound fiscal reforms that had improved the economic stature of the Philippines started during the term of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Moody’s Investors Service said in its latest report on the country. 

By Jerry Maglunog  A guessing game has started on who would succeed Amando Tetangco Jr. when his second and last term as Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) governor ends on July 3, 2017. 

By Riza Lozada  As is his wont, President Aquino again blamed the Philippines media for sensationalizing and blowing out of proportion much of the country’s problems under his administration. In the “A Meeting of Minds” dialogue with Forbes Media Editor-in-Chief Steve Forbes at the closing of the 15th Forbes Global CEO Conference in Manila, Mr. Aquino was asked about his …

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP or Bangko Sentral) scored a victory in a long legal battle as the Supreme Court (SC) ruled in its favor in its case against Orient Commercial Banking Corp. (OCBC), Jose C. Go and corporations connected with him—Gotesco Properties Inc.; Go Tong Electrical Supply Inc.; Ever Emporium Inc.; Ever Gotesco Resources and Holdings Inc.; Gotesco …