OF TREES AND FOREST Former Senate President Manny Villar The COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdowns we have experienced for more than a year now has crippled our economy but it has also resulted to some positive changes that we can take advantage of. These are transformations that we can fully utilize...
OF TREES AND FOREST Former Senate President Manny Villar This was the word used by the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) to describe the growing gap between the number of vaccines available to rich countries and the measly numbers given to developing countries. The latter rely mainly on...
OF TREES AND FOREST Former Senate President Manny Villar As Filipinos continue to struggle against the COVID-19 pandemic, a different kind of outbreak has caused a shortfall in pork production and subsequently caused a sharp increase in food prices. While the African Swine Fever (ASF), which has...
OF TREES AND FOREST Former Senate President Manny Villar I applaud the decision of President Rodrigo Duterte to allow the private sector to import COVID-19 vaccines “at will”. “No matter the price or how many they want to import, that is fine with me,” the President was quoted as saying...
OF TREES AND FOREST Former Senate President Manny Villar The numbers are disheartening. Last April 2 the country logged a total of 15,310 new COVID-19 cases (3,790 of which were backlogs). The following day the number of new cases was 12,576 which brought our active cases to a staggering 165,715....
OF TREES AND FOREST Former Senate President Manny Villar The COVID-19 pandemic has turned our world upside down. It has changed the way we behave in our world. Walking around with face masks and shields, pouring alcohol on our hands every time we touch something, and our inability to do the most...
OF TREES AND FOREST Former Senate President Manny Villar I received a very uplifting message from my Facebook page last week. It was from Rudy Alquero who recalled that I was the contractor of his family’s house at BF Resort Village in 1977-78. He recalled: “Manny Villar, I could not forget...
OF TREES AND FOREST Former Senate President Manny Villar The first anniversary of the COVID-19 lockdown is upon us. It’s an anniversary that doesn’t inspire any celebration. But it should prod us towards introspection and assessment. Looking back, what were the things we should have done...
OF TREES AND FOREST Former Senate President Manny Villar Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III was quoted last week as saying that “aside from our health-care workers, we will prioritize vaccinating our economic front-line workforce.” Sec. Dominguez, who heads President Rodrigo Duterte’s...
OF TREES AND FOREST Former Senate President Manny Villar The next key step in our battle to fight the COVID-19 pandemic is to ensure that the vaccines can be administered to our people in the safest and fastest way possible. This is very important so that we can reduce infections and deaths due to...
OF TREES AND FOREST Former Senate President Manny Villar I read an interesting interview with Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates over the weekend. A couple of years ago he was asked about work-life balance and this was what he had to say then: "For my particular way of being, it is true that I did not...
OF TREES AND FOREST Former Senate President Manny Villar The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of technologies not only in surviving the lockdown but in navigating the new normal as we start to revive our economy and restart social activities. Some of these technologies were already...
