New Voter’s New Year’s Resolutions
EARLIER this week, the voter registration period for 2020 drew to a close with the needle not quite making it to a million registrants, despite roughly three months of voter registration.
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EARLIER this week, the voter registration period for 2020 drew to a close with the needle not quite making it to a million registrants, despite roughly three months of voter registration.
By 2040, the Philippines would have lessened its greenhouse gas emissions by 30% if the draft text of the country’s nationally determined contribution (NDC) — one of the central modules of the Paris climate deal — is implemented to the letter.
The Philippines will likely end 2020 with a record number of shipments of imported meat products due largely to the surge in demand for canned meat and processed meat products (See, “Meat imports seen surpassing 2019 record,” in the BusinessMirror, November 30, 2020). The lockdown imposed in March and the ensuing lack of transportation gave the impetus for consumers to stock up on canned food items, such as corned beef, luncheon meat, and sausages. These food items augmented fresh produce bought by residents from wet markets or groceries during the lockdown.
AS we hope and pray for the coming of a safe and prosperous New Year, I strongly believe, as a Catholic, that sharing is a most hallowed way of celebrating the Advent season. Let me therefore share my thoughts about Ramon S. Ang or RSA as he is fondly called by friends and business associates.
The journey of the soul to the afterlife was closely associated by early Filipinos to maritime culture as represented by the “ship-of-the-dead” burial container called Manunggul Jar.
It’s exactly three days before we welcome 2021! The year 2020 was indeed a very challenging and tough ride for every Filipino. Yes, we started the year with a clear vision and goals and yet, we experienced a drastic start with the Taal Volcano eruption in January, followed by the spread of African Swine Fever in February, and the major outbreak of the coronavirus disease in March, which was followed by a series of enhanced community quarantine until June. In the last quarter of this year, we have been struck by a series of destructive natural calamities in Luzon provinces and Metro Manila brought by Typhoons Rolly, Quinta and Ulysses. By December, a string of hope was unveiled with the discovery of a Covid vaccine and followed by its mass distribution in some European countries.
IT is with the solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord, popularly known as the feast of the Three Kings, that we commemorate the visit of the Magi to the Baby Jesus as the glorious manifestation of God to all the peoples of the world (Matthew 2:1-12). This self-revelation (epiphania in Greek or pagpapakita in Pilipino) of the Savior was already a most important feast in the East, long before Christians in the West introduced the celebration of Christmas.
WE have heard it said that a crisis is like a magnifying glass. It enlarges our understanding of our helplessness and helps us see clearly our need for God.
A number of taxpayers had recently been soliciting advice regarding their entitlement, as well as the procedures and other requirements for availing the tax-sparing provision in the Tax Code. This is triggered in part by the need to declare dividends to avoid the imposition of the improperly accumulated earnings tax (IAET). Our advice was made based on the prevailing rules at that time.
The current year is about to end and we all should look forward to 2021 as a year of hope, healing and quick recovery.
Life is not all about Covid-19. We are done hiding with fear of the novel microscopic enemy that modern science had enough time to now understand and we brace to confront it—and its variants—fearlessly.
Many business moguls have reached a point where accruing material wealth for their own aggrandizement is no longer the end goal of life. After amply providing for one’s financial needs and security of their family, and even future generations, their concerns have shifted outside their households. They become involved in their neighbors’ plight and become more socially conscious of their role in society. Many of them have fully embraced the concept of stewardship as a way of life, a practice of giving back to the less fortunate what God has blessed them with. Nothing is nobler than sharing one’s fortune to the poor and the dispossessed particularly during this Season of giving.
IN the early days of the movie industry, at the end of shooting a scene, the director would say, “That’s a wrap”—supposedly an acronym for “Wind Reel and Print.” All the filmed raw footage was sent to the processing lab. Select cast and crew members viewed the “dailies” to judge performances and technicals.
Image credits: Jimbo Albano
The Covid-19 pandemic has brought suffering and misery to billions of people all over the world, but its impact is not shared equally. In the US, reports said that some of the very wealthy citizens “self-isolated” on their Hamptons estates or luxurious yachts. A Hollywood tycoon, for example, quickly deleted an Instagram post of his $590 million boat after a public outcry. Even the merely well heeled can feel pretty safe working from home via Zoom and Webex Meetings. Many of the most vulnerable have already suffered terribly due to a lack of government investment in health care. Others are living through conflicts, witnessing the erosion of International Humanitarian Law.
With Covid-19 cases reaching almost 78 million worldwide and more than 1.7 million coronavirus-related deaths, it has become even more urgent to come up with clear strategies for recovery this coming 2021.
This can be the year that never was, with many disruptions, casualties and adjustments in our way of life. Among the most affected was the transport and travel sector. Here is my list of the top 10 transport-related news in this year of the pandemic:
Eighth of a series
By Reynaldo A. De Dios
By Gustavo Gonzalez
Image credits: Jimbo Albano
Recent reports on vaccines working effectively make us optimistic about the Philippine economic forecast in 2021. Effective vaccines will help ignite faster economic recovery. Government has said that gross domestic product growth would recover and expand in 2021 by 6.5 percent to 7.5 percent. Global financial giant Morgan Stanley is more bullish about the Philippines’s strong economic rebound next year against a backdrop of low inflation and the government’s infrastructure development push. In a recent report, Morgan Stanley hiked its 2021 GDP growth forecast for the Philippines to 13.5 percent from 13.1 percent.
Christmas is the greatest story of a promise fulfilled. For many Filipinos, it is the embodiment of God’s greatest gift: his only Son becoming mortal, to serve as the instrument of our salvation. By following the example of Jesus Christ, whose life was dedicated to love and service, we all become instruments of salvation as well, for others and ourselves. That is what we should be reminded of during the season—that all of us are called to serve each other, in one way or another.
The dawn Mass on Christmas day used to be referred to as the Shepherds’ Mass, because the Gospel reading narrates the visit of the shepherds to the newborn Jesus (Luke 2:15-20). These shepherds symbolize early on the people who have been transformed into believers and who in the midst of the hardships of life proclaim the glory to God.
The world is waiting the sunrise, And every rose is covered with dew.
Aside from looking for vaccines to inoculate their citizens against the Covid-19 pandemic, governments around the world are busy updating their “Nationally-Determined Contributions” or NDCs under the Paris Agreement of 2015. Roughly, the NDCs are pledges of the UN Member States to help combat global warming by reducing their respective national GHG emissions and preparing their countries against climate change risks through a combination of mitigation, adaptation and related adjustment policies. The Paris Agreement requires the UN Member States to submit progress reports on the NDCs every five years. The ultimate goal of the Paris Agreement is to keep the rise in global temperature below 2.0 degree Celsius above the pre-industrial period; the ideal target: 1.5 degrees Celsius maximum.
As 2020 ends, many of my friends, students and colleagues ask me why is the Philippine economy performing worse than our Asean neighbors. This year, the IMF, ADB and the World Bank project a contraction of the Philippine economy by 7.3% to 9.9%. These were estimates even before three consecutive typhoons hit the country during this last quarter. Our Eaglewatch forecast, which already factored in the typhoons, is a negative 10% for the whole year. This performance definitely will lag behind Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam. Vietnam’s economy will for sure have a positive growth rate for the whole year. The countries’ GDP growth performance as of the third quarter is given below:
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