NEWS & ARTICLES

At the Institute for Solidarity in Asia (ISA), we are dedicated to empowering public institutions to help build our “Dream Philippines”. This is our vision of a nation where government institutions deliver effectively, and every citizen participates and prospers. Founded in 2000 by Dr. Jesus...

Have you ever thought about how industry cleans its influent water to make it effluent and finally cleaned and treated so you can use it again as safe water? Influent is what you produce at factories and industries that have water discharge in their operations....

Every day, we hear about Artificial Intelligence (AI) driving disinformation and financial crimes. Political interference, misleading videos during conflicts, AI-powered financial and identity fraud, and troll farms continue to dominate conversations about truth, financial security, governance, and civil discourse. Consider the scale: deepfake videos number...

Decades ago, the invention of the calculator was seen as a disruptive breakthrough, reshaping how calculations were performed and how quickly problems could be solved. Since then, each wave of innovation has pushed boundaries even further, from spreadsheets to automation and now to artificial intelligence....

For years, reformers have spoken of “Open Banking” and “Open Finance.” These are important ideas, but they sound technical and distant. What the Philippines truly needs is something clearer and more ambitious: what I call Full Picture Credit.   We need a system where a...

I was born in the 1960s, and it would be an under-statement to say that the world has undergone a massive change.  We grew up without cell phones, video games, personal computers, email, chat and internet.  I remembered in the early 1980s, after graduating high...

In 2025, the Management Association of the Philippines (MAP), through its Trade, Investments and Tourism Committee, undertook the task of gathering inputs from its various sectoral and industry committees to recommend policy priorities to the government. This goal is to maximize the opportunities presented by...

Summary   Resilience gives organizations a competitive edge. Boards must monitor, anticipate, and respond quickly. Stress testing, once the preserve of banks, is now essential for all large organizations. To turn this urgency into action, Boards can take immediate steps: (1) Request a stress testing...

The crisis in the Middle East may ultimately prove more difficult for business than COVID-19.   During the pandemic, there was at least a clear response. Stay home. Get vaccinated. Shift work and commerce online. Governments, businesses, and households may have struggled, but there was...