(Part 5) Philippine society should rejoice that many of those in their twenties and early thirties went out of their way during the election period to work for the common good. They saw in VP Leni Robredo a symbol of good governance, integrity, truthfulness and real concern for the...
As more strict lockdowns hang over the Philippines like a sword of Damocles because of the appearance of more deadly variants of COVID-19, It is not only the economy that is in danger of tanking. There is also a serious danger that one of the human virtues of Filipinos appreciated by...
What will be the shape of the Philippine economy during the next six to twelve months? Unfortunately, my answer will be far from the usual optimistic forecast to which my readers have gotten accustomed. In the next six to twelve months, the Philippine economy will be the...
It is well known that the Achilles heel of the Philippine economy is the very low productivity of its agricultural sector, especially compared to its ASEAN neighbors like Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam. Accounting for about a quarter of the labor force, the agricultural sector contributes...
Despite the anemic growth the Philippine economy is expected to post in the next 12 to 18 months because of the government’s poor management of the pandemic, Philippine society as a whole has enough strengths, resources and resilience to be able to attain the status of an upper-middle income...
The GDP growth for the whole of 2021 will be lackluster at 4.0 percent, lower than government’s expectations. Gross Domestic Product (GDP), however, is an average of the growth prospects of the different sectors and industries of the national economy. For example, the latest breakdown we have...
No matter how I try to be the usual optimist I have always been about the Philippine economy, I cannot see the Philippine GDP recovering to its pre-pandemic level (2019) till the first semester of 2023. Even worse, I do not see the poverty...
Once the Philippine GDP starts growing again at a rate of 6 to 8 percent after the pandemic is put under reasonable control in 2023, the demand for economic housing (units that are priced at P1 to 5 million each) will experience the greatest rise. There are two major reasons for this. First,...
Pope Francis is very clear about preserving what is good in our local culture and not swallowing hook, line and sinker everything that comes from abroad. There is such a thing as “ideological colonization.” The worst part of the culture prevailing in some developed countries is the...
One aspect of “re-envisaging” the social function of property is the way we apply this principle to the globalization and anti-globalization issues that characterize our era. In Paragraphs 121 of Fratelli Tutti, he asserts: “No one then can remain excluded because of his or her place of...
In Fratelli Tutti, Pope Francis clearly states that the common good cannot be defined in terms of majority opinion. This would be tantamount to moral relativism. He writes: “The solution is not relativism. Under the guise of tolerance, relativism ultimately leaves the interpretation of...
I have to apologize for the sensationalist tone of the title. I just want to highlight the fact that some ultra-conservative Catholics in the US and elsewhere have developed the bad habit common to some of our military and police of red tagging anyone who is speaking and acting for the poorer...
