OF SUBSTANCE AND SPIRIT Diwa C. Guinigundo (Part I) Credit rating agencies (CRAs) are usually behind the curve. From the time of their on-site assessment and actual rating action, significant events such as market-moving policy reforms could come out of the legislative mill. Thus, the assigned...
Diwa C. Guinigundo OF SUBSTANCE AND SPIRIT In the 24 years that Boy Noriega created dramatic characters and plots, he was also engaged in economic planning and public policy. In government bureaucracy, then and now, patience, tenacity, and perseverance are prerequisites. Having worked for...
Diwa C. Guinigundo OF SUBSTANCE AND SPIRIT Boy Noriega was fulfilled as a literary person because writing drama was more demanding. The muse required him to exceed his imagination. Economics, on the other hand, to him was like a most understanding wife. “I am able to cope with the...
Diwa C. Guinigundo OF SUBSTANCE AND SPIRIT (First of three parts) A technocrat as a Filipino National Artist? In theater arts, and in the person of Bienvenido M. Noriega, Jr, why not? The Order of National Artist— Order ng Pambansang Alagad ng Sining — is awarded to individuals who have made...
OF SUBSTANCE AND SPIRIT Diwa C. Guinigundo In dealing with the pandemic and attempting economic recovery, the government has displayed very weak public communication. Information itself has been locked down. Of course, in social media, photos, even those that serve as “proof of life” or...
OF SUBSTANCE AND SPIRIT Diwa C. Guinigundo V ery recently, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra was quoted as saying that the IATF is alarmed by the country’s rising suicide rate. He urged religious leaders to help address this increase which is linked to the pandemic and the havoc it has...
OF SUBSTANCE AND SPIRIT Diwa C. Guinigundo T he President intimated that we are running on empty. “Wala ng pera.” The Government has no more funds even as the battle with COVID-19 continues to threaten Filipino lives and economic activities. It doesn’t help that new strains of the...
OF SUBSTANCE AND SPIRIT Diwa C. Guinigundo Hell has no fury like a virus that is tested but not traced. And from all indications, we have not seen the worst. Last Monday’s new cases stood at a high of 6,958 pushing the total confirmed cases to 136,638. We are now Southeast Asia’s COVID-19...
OF SUBSTANCE AND SPIRIT J uly ended with our medical practitioners calling for the National Capital Regionto be quarantined again for at least two weeks. Among other pleas, our frontliners asked that the facilities of the Ospital ng Maynila and Dr. Fabella Memorial Hospital be...
OF SUBSTANCE AND SPIRIT Traditionally, a State of the Nation Address (SONA) serves to rally the nation to the cause of the government. It is meant to update the country on government policies as well as report on the social fabric and the economy. When the elected president addresses the...
OF SUBSTANCE AND SPIRIT Diwa C. Guinigundo “Perhaps our number one problem today is COVID. ” – President Rodrigo Duterte 21 July, 2020 Many factors have been cited to explain the fall of the Roman Empire. For many historians, the Caesars’ over expansion was the most dominant factor. The...
OF SUBSTANCE AND SPIRIT With unrelenting viral transmission and expected deeper economic recession, how far back in the broadsheets and newsfeeds should we go to identify the cause of our current woes? What is the story of the Philippines’ fight against COVID-19? In January,...
