The country can’t afford, in any way, to lose its investment grade status because the price is too stiff. A downgrade is more than just losing a face, but also the additional premium attached to the government and the private sectors’ foreign debt. It means an estimated increase in the...
The attending threats to both the well being of the people and the well being of the economy are but a plenty – from the health aspect, including the psychological dimension as morning exercise that was allowed in the previous ECQ is now prohibited - to economic health. We’re in a catch 22...
Dr. Audrey Sue Cruz is the first Filipino-American physician to become a Barbie role model. Cruz, a 29-year old internal medicine physician from Las Vegas, Nevada, was among the six frontline workers honored with a Barbie doll for their contributions in the fight against COVID-19. PHOTO FROM AUDREY...
A Filipina-Canadian is raising money for people who cannot afford hearing aids by selling hearing aid cuffs inspired by the culture of the Philippines. Screenshot from Ruzzelle Gasmen's video/ Facebook/ MANILA BULLETIN Ruzzelle Gasmen, a speech pathoiogist in Vancouver, suffers from hearing...
Except for frontliners and APORs (authorized persons outside of residence), today, we, in this urban jungle and the nearby provinces, are now back on house arrest. It’s a bitter decision the authorities have to impose to curb the surge in the number of victims caused by the virulence of the Delta...
It has been raining cats and dogs for over a week. What we experienced, based on an old folklore is the proverbial “siyam-siyam” or incessant rain for nine days! This prevented most of us from doing our usual chores with our laundry hamper already brimming. A different kind of turbulent weather...
When the big brother sneezed, we caught a cold. This illustrates exactly how the domestic financial markets – the stock and the foreign exchange – respond to news emanating from Wall Street. Most market watchers and analysts lament that we basically follow the cue from the US. On Monday,...
As my favorite market strategist puts it, the change in the economic outlook to “negative” by credit rating watchdog Fitch Rating is “writing on the wall” and that conditions may go downhill should the leadership continue to be dispassionate, even, oblivious. The Fitch team visited the...
This Sunday marks 24 years since the 1997 Asian financial crisis (AFC) brought the regional economies spinning down in a trance. Former Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Amando “Say” Tetangco, Jr., in my previous exchanges with him, admitted that “it was the most challenging...
I had, occasionally, joined the media delegation to trail President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III or PNoy in one or two of his 40 official and state visit travels to 24 countries. Despite this, I haven’t had the opportunity to interview him one and...
Makati Business Club President Ed Chua and seasoned banker Jose Arnulfo “Wick” Veloso, two well-known personalities in the business community, are film enthusiasts. Mr. Wick, Philippine National Bank president, takes great pleasure in watching Tagalog films in his spare moments. This we –...
For the generation of Baby Boomers, the 1965 American musical drama “Sound of Music” based on the memoir of 1949 “The Story of the Trapp Family Singers” that starred Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer was the music of our youth. Among the array of songs in the musical drama, “So...
