GOVERNANCE MATTERS Former Vice President Jejomar Binay Since April, the government has been making discordant statements on its capacity to fund programs to control the coronavirus pandemic and revive the economy. The national leadership says the funds have run out. And until a vaccine arrives,...
GOVERNANCE MATTERS The government’s communications office has shared, on several media platforms, the contents of the National Action Plan (NAP) against COVID-19. The acronym could not have been badly done. But that is the least of my concerns. The NAP may be diplomatically described as ambitious...
OF TREES AND FOREST Do you remember how you learned about the concept of Bayanihan in elementary school? I clearly recall—just like very adult Filipinos who attended basic education in the country—that image of people in a community helping their neighbor relocate by literally...
OF TREES AND FOREST In my column last week, I discussed the kind of entrepreneurial mindset that will help us get through this pandemic and the economic downturn it has spawned. In this column, I will look at that same entrepreneurial mindset and how it can help us rebuild our economy after the...
GOVERNANCE MATTERS Normally, news of a record-breaking increase in the number of patients who have recovered from the coronavirus would have been greeted with jubilation. Instead, the Department of Health (DOH) found itself fending off criticisms that it was fiddling with the numbers after it...
It is a fact that history is written by winners. Thus it is that victors win because they were in the right and suffered few losses while the losers were totally annihilated. So it has been in Philippine history. Spanish friars, American officials, Japanese soldiers, one President after another...
OF TREES AND FOREST I was fortunate to have been given the opportunity to serve in both government and the private sector. After starting out as an entrepreneur early in life, I ventured into politics in 1992. I built and led my own business from the ground up. I was also able to assume leadership...
President Rodrigo Roa Duterte (Presidential Photo) Sports shared a brief spotlight in President Duterte’s 5th State of the Nation Address on Monday, highlighting the creation of the National Academy of Sports (NAS) and the success of the country’s Southeast Asian Games hosting last year. The...
OF TREES AND FOREST The COVID-19 pandemic is essentially a health crisis. The virus that causes it—severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)—has wreaked havoc on the health of people it has infected. In the Philippines, the number of coronavirus cases is at 65,204 (as of...
GOVERNANCE MATTERS Malacañang has clarified a controversial statement from the Interior Secretary that policemen will be conducting a house-to-house search for persons infected with the coronavirus. No, it will not be a police-led search, but one to be led by health authorities accompanied by the...
OF TREES AND FOREST Aside from the lives lost and the economic growth impeded, the COVID-19 pandemic has also disrupted the grand plans of the Duterte administration to usher in the “Golden Age” of Philippine infrastructure. “Build, Build, Build” was envisioned by President Rodrigo Duterte...
OF TREES AND FOREST Taal Volcano decided to start the new year with a bang. Well, not really a loud bang but a “steam-driven” eruption followed by a “magmatic” eruption. But it has disrupted the lives of our kababayans, especially those living near the picturesque volcano. Philippine...
