#MINDANAO John Tria The recent meeting between the Mindanao Development Authority and the Department of Transportation is welcome news for many like me who travel and trade around the island. There was a time when airports in Mindanao were limited by the sunset regulation which barred night...
#MINDANAO John Tria The last two months have seen the first face-to-face business conferences in two years. In the face-to- face Davao Agri Trade Expo, the Mindanao Food Congress in Cagayan de Oro, our exchanges were three dimensional, cultivating realizations from a more thorough experience which...
#MINDANAO John Tria The good news of a robust 7.6 percent growth in the third quarter was dampened a bit by a headline story about higher inflation at 7.7 percent for October, pushing year-to-date inflation at 5.4 percent. As expected, higher food and fuel prices, which are key components of Pinoy...
#MINDANAO John Tria If you, like me, spent much time online during the height of the pandemic, you likely came across Filipino chef video bloggers, or “vloggers” who have shared their recipes and commentary on cooking techniques and food culture through popular free online platforms. I thus...
#MINDANAO John Tria Twenty-seven years ago, during the administration of President Fidel V. Ramos, the concept of the Brunei Indonesia Malaysia Philippines East Asean Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA) economic group was born. Its intention was to spur economic exchange between the proximate regions of these...
#MINDANAO John Tria Flying through the Mactan Cebu International Airport in Cebu is both nostalgic and inspiring for many reasons. Nostalgic because Mactan is a historic airport of transit for many Mindanaoans flying to the capital. For many of them, it is their first airplane ride. I remember the...
#MINDANAO John Tria As July ends the festival season begins in Mindanao. Kadayawan in Davao City in mid-August, Cagayan de Oro's Higalaay Festival in late August, Adlaw hong Butuan in the first week of August, the Tuna Festival of General Santos and the Zamboanga Hermosa Festival in September....
#MINDANAO John Tria There is a lot of discussion about agribusiness, particularly the supposed lack of competitiveness and how many of our neighbors have been able to build competitive agribusiness sectors. The concern is how some sectors of our local population cannot afford many of our own local...
#MINDANAO John Tria As I sip another cup of rich tableya on this rainy evening in the chocolate capital of Davao, I reflect on the last decade within which we, as a business community, have been promoting the production of chocolate and its many products. Recent reflections tell us that meeting...
#MINDANAO John Tria Social media came alive last week with the hashtag #salamatPRRD, a call that encouraged thousands to post their message of thanks to former President Rodrigo Duterte on various platforms. Likewise, Sunday’s concert at the Quirino grandstand in Manila, and the June 30 concert...
#MINDANAO John Tria Contrary to the belief of many, the coconut industry is the country’s largest agriculture subsector in terms of number of farmers. It provides livelihood to 2.5 million farmers with 3.6 million hectares planted to the crop. At the moment, Philippine Coconut Authority data show...
#MINDANAO John Tria Two weeks ago I wrote about some reforms passed during the Duterte administration that we did not hear much about. A few of you commented on my social media posts about the personal property security act. You can read about them here:...
