Wishes for the New Year
We have a New Year ahead of us, with new opportunities, beginnings and second chances. Filipinos are big believers in starting the year right, and we should all support each other’s wishes for a better, brighter future.
`
Posts by author
We have a New Year ahead of us, with new opportunities, beginnings and second chances. Filipinos are big believers in starting the year right, and we should all support each other’s wishes for a better, brighter future.
The Korean negotiation produced an initial breakthrough agreement. Asians usually carry on a dialogue through symbolism without having to verbalize. The Asian way is called a Dialogue of Silence.
A 2016 University of Asia and the Pacific (UA&P) study found that the country will have a housing need of 12.3 million by 2030—given a backlog of 6.7 million from 2001 to 2015, and a projected housing demand of 5.6 million from 2016 to 2030.
Last year the Philippines exported to the European Union (EU) up to P486 billion ($9.3 billion) worth of goods. That volume makes the EU the second-largest market for Philippine-made office and telecommunications equipment, machinery and food products.
April 13 last week marked the 26th year the Consumer Act (Republic Act 7394) of the Philippines was signed into law. And since the law’s passage in 1992, comprehensive guidelines have been laid down in order to promote and protect consumer rights, namely—the right to basic needs, the right to safety, the right to information, among others.
Much like Boracay, several favorite tourist destinations in other countries were shut down by their government due to polluted waters, overcrowding, or untreated waste disposal.
THE Philippines has had the longest representative government in Asia. In 1902 the Philippine Bill established an elected unicameral national assembly. And in 1916, the Jones Act created a Senate composed of senators elected from senatorial districts. That representative system continued to this day, with the exception of four years of Japanese occupation during World War II.
Of the structural reforms being discussed today, the Bangsamoro basic law (BBL) and the shift to federalism are the most significant. Both will profoundly alter political structure and behavior when passed.
Malala Yousafzai, a staunch advocate of women and children’s rights, courageously promoted education in sharp contrast to highly ultraconservative policies of her native province in Pakistan. She publicly expressed her advocacies despite a grave attempt on her life by the Taliban. Malala was awarded the Nobel Prize—the youngest to win the laureate —and became a catalyst for outlawing discrimination against girls and advancing their right to education.
IN January President Duterte signed Republic Act 10968, establishing the Philippine Qualifications Framework, a nationwide system of educational standards outlining specific levels of qualifications (or educational attainment) to match particular skills, competencies and knowledge (“learning outcomes”) that graduates should possess.
A June 2017 Forbes article said that, out of the country’s 72 Filipinos who were included in the magazine’s billionaires’ list, a handful owned universities, which they had acquired within the last two decades.
Five hundred years ago, Ming Emperor Wan Mui Li (1573-1615) sent a special delegation to the Philippines who brought back kamote for Fujian farmers who were dying by the millions because of famine caused by severe drought. Fujian survived the drought and millions were saved from death on account of that Filipino humanitarian aid.
The Duterte administration recently revoked all permits given to foreign entities conducting scientific research in Philippine Rise (formerly known as Benham Rise). The Philippine Navy and the Air Force were ordered to regularly monitor—and chase away if needed—any foreign fishing or research vessel sailing in the area.
The World Bank recently released its report, The Changing Wealth of Nations 2018, where it suggested that GDP was an incomplete indicator of a nation’s economic health and development. Instead, the report argues, a nation’s development should be seen as the astute management of its broad portfolio of assets or its “wealth,” which includes produced, human, and natural capital. Similar to how a company judges its prospects via its income statement and balance sheet, a nation should therefore monitor its GDP (“its income”) alongside its management of its wealth (“its balance sheet”).
Yesterday, I attended the groundbreaking of New Clark City, an upcoming 9,000-hectare development in Central Luzon that is a joint venture between the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) and the Japanese government through the Japan Overseas Infrastructure Investment Corporation for Transport and Urban Development (JOIN).
Tourism has remained a sturdy pillar of the country’s development. Together with the overseas Filipino workers’ remittances, the two have consistently and strongly supported the nation’s socioeconomic progress.
THE year 2017 was a good year for the global economy. The US growth rate was nearly explosive, equities boomed, unemployment rate reduced and inflation tamed. The European Union’s big economies—Germany, France, the Netherlands, Italy and Spain—chalked up the fastest recovery among the regional blocs from the 2010 meltdown. Asian economic giants— China, Japan, India and the Asean—didn’t cease being innovative and dynamic. Except for Latin America and Africa, which were plagued by autocratic rulers, drug lords and civil wars, the world in 2017 seems satisfied and contented with itself.
The year 2017 comes to a close with news of the Philippine economy GDP growth projections higher and Filipinos’ sentiment regarding next year’s prospects generally optimistic.
For Christians around the world, Christmas is a joyous occasion to celebrate the blessed nativity of Jesus Christ. Some say that gift-giving became integral to the holiday to commemorate the gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh the Three Wise Men offered the Baby Jesus sleeping in the manger. Yet the greatest generosity to celebrate and emulate—and not just during the Christmas holiday—was that of God the Father, offering His only Son for all of mankind’s salvation.
The Philippines improved its rankings for the World Talent Competitiveness Index compiled by the Institute for Management Development (IMD)—rising to 45th out of 63 countries this year, from 51st out of 61 in 2016. According to the report, this points to a jump equivalent of 10 spots.
In 2015 the University of Maryland Carey School of Law and the University of Baltimore School of Law partnered to launch the “Legal Entrepreneurs for Access Program” (LEAP). This is a start-up incubator scheme aimed at recent law-school graduates who want to start their own firms.
AT the recent 13th National Biotechnology Week (NBW) celebration, where I was awarded as one of seven Filipino Faces of Biotechnology, I spoke about the Philippines’s demographic “sweet spot,” which began in 2015 and would run until 2053. This is the demographic state where the size of a country’s working-age population is relatively larger than its dependents (or those who are too young or too old to work). At this point, a country holds immense potential to achieve breakthrough growth through greater productivity, higher savings rate and increased creativity.
The world’s carbon emissions could increase by 2 percent this year, according to a new three-part report from the Global Carbon Project (GCP) released at the recent United Nations Climate Change Conference (or COP 23) in Bonn, Germany. This means atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) levels could go up to as high as 405.5 ppm (parts per million)—or some 5.5 points higher than the 400-ppm threshold scientists say hasn’t been exceeded in 800,000 years.
AT the recent Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Da Nang, Vietnam, President Donald J. Trump repeated his “America First” campaign rhetoric and said that the United States would no longer tolerate “chronic trade abuses.” For some, this clearly demonstrates the US’s decision to turn its focus inward and cede global leadership.
By Wednesday United States President Donald J. Trump would be on the fourth day of his long 10-day trip to Japan, South Korea, Vietnam and the Philippines—the longest any sitting US president has made to the region in a quarter century.
PRESIDENT Duterte hosted the Asean Law Association (ALA) commemorative session at Malacañan Palace last Wednesday, October 25. The President exhorted the Association of Southeast Asian Nation (Asean) community of lawyers to continue exchanging best practices among its members, and expressed the hope that ALA would help address the regional scourge of poverty, transnational crimes and terrorism.
In January 2016 Oxfam released a report saying that the huge gap between the rich and the poor has reached new extremes with the world’s top 1 percent already owning more wealth than the remaining 99 percent combined. Last January the World Economic Forum reported the income and wealth inequality is one of the top risks faced by the global economy.
The world is getting smaller and increasingly interconnected on account of technology. Profound changes are taking place on how people and even states relate with each other. Two vital areas of change are privacy (related to how individuals interact) and sovereignty (related to how states interact).
IN December 2015 Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his pediatrician wife Priscilla announced they would found their own philanthropic project called the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI), by donating 99 percent of their earnings from Facebook shares (roughly $45 billion at the time).
Input your search keywords and press Enter.