OF SUBSTANCE AND SPIRIT Last week, we concluded the first part of this column by arguing that we are hamstrung by poor governance and weak institutions in our bid to escape the lower middle-income trap. This is not to say that other factors are unimportant and they include demographics, industrial...
OF SUBSTANCE AND SPIRIT If some members of Congress continue to collaborate in undermining the positive role of the national budget in promoting economic growth, we should not be surprised if, in the next five years, we would still be struggling in breaking out of the so-called lower middle-income...
The two refurbished American navy vessels that joined the Philippine fleet on Monday will bring "real" and "strategic" benefits not only to the country, but also to its alliance with Washington and to the region, US Ambassador to the Philippines MaryKay Carlson said. During the Christening and...
OF SUBSTANCE AND SPIRIT In a way, our book 1, Not on Our Watch: Martial Law Really Happened, We Were There, published in 2012, may be likened to Benjamin Franklin’s The Autobiography. Written with interruptions at various points in his colorful life as a writer, publisher, inventor, diplomat,...
USS Chinook (PC 9) is accepted by the Philippine Navy after being decommissioned by the United States Navy in Manama, Bahrain on March 28, 2023. It will be commissioned into service and christened as BRP Ladislao Diwa (PS-178) on Sept. 11, 2023 in Manila. (Courtesy of Philippine Navy) Two patrol...
OF SUBSTANCE AND SPIRIT Yesterday, the broadsheets reported the order of the President to use all available legal tools “to control the prices of rice and ensure that the staple is readily available to the poor” following a sectoral meeting at the Malacañang. Radio Television Malacañang...
OF SUBSTANCE AND SPIRIT No less than a heads-up to the civil society is the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) assessment that the Philippines’ growth targets for the next two to three years may not be attained. While the economy is projected to grow close to its potential capacity this year,...
OF SUBSTANCE AND SPIRIT Five years ago, Yubal Noah Harari wrote his third book 21 Lessons for the 21st Century after his much-acclaimed Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind and Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow. One of the 21 lessons he offered to the world is categorized under technological...
OF SUBSTANCE AND SPIRIT In the spirit of the times, his speech spread like wild fire on social media. Not that he graduated summa cum laude from UP Diliman because he’s only one of the 305 students who received the highest academic honors. Not that he’s poor because every year, we hear...
OF SUBSTANCE AND SPIRIT It’s bound to happen, and some commentaries are beginning to appear even before the Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF) switches on. And they are no different from the fundamental objections against putting up the MIF out of nothing — not from surplus fund, not from windfall...
OF SUBSTANCE AND SPIRIT President Bongbong Marcos’ second State of the Nation (SONA) address was cut and dried, no ad libs of old, no rolled up piña barong sleeves. He adhered to the prompted manuscript to the letter, a delight to notetakers who followed what he had to say about his first year...
OF SUBSTANCE AND SPIRIT There could not have been a better recasting of what to expect from monetary policy in the next few meetings of the BSP Monetary Board than the recent pronouncement of the new BSP Governor Eli Remolona. Contrary to some quarter’s earlier dissonant statement that policy...
