NEWS & ARTICLES

1st of 2 Parts   Background   It has been almost six years since the President issued Executive Order (EO) No. 5 mandating all government agencies to align their respective strategies to AmBisyon Natin 2040, a NEDA-initiated project started in 2015 and completed during the...

The current situation   Let us now take a quick look at our country’s current situation. We are still facing severe and multiple crises, including a health crisis, an economic crisis, an education crisis, an environmental crisis, and a social justice crisis. Given that 2022...

For all the pain and suffering caused by the coronavirus infection, it has also given us reasons for optimism about the future.   A major cause for elation about what is arguably the worst viral scourge in recent memory is how it has hastened the...

The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) has been making deficiency tax assessments on the income payments made by local companies and agencies to non-resident foreign corporations (NFRCs) particularly tech giants like Amazon, Google and Facebook (or Meta). The deficiency tax assessments include non-withholding of final...

I was in a Conference on Slow Food aptly titled “Slow Start” with Cong. Kiko Benitez of Negros Occidental where he talked about the subject. I asked for a copy of his speech because it so resonated with me as a Slow Food advocate and...

For years, women have faced broad, cultural biases and many people still believe that women cannot hold power and ranks. Gender roles and expectations, whether productive, reproductive, community management, or political, are passed down from one generation to another and often deemed as socially acceptable...

International Volunteer Day is celebrated globally every 5th day of December. In the last 2 years, however, the COVID-19 pandemic has forced us to re-shape how we volunteer.   Central to volunteerism are relationships forged from physical interaction among volunteers and beneficiaries, NGO partners, donors...

Our Current Economy and its Main Measures of Progress   Traditionally, our policy and decision makers use three basic measures of economic progress: Gross Domestic Product (GDP), inflation rate, and unemployment rate.   But how useful are these economic measures, especially during this period when...

GDP is Never Enough (2nd of 2 Parts)   In my previous article, Blindsided By The Market, I explained the need for robust institutions and a socially-oriented mindset to counter two side effects of the neoclassical market model – devaluation of the priceless and inequality...