SGS had it both ways

The increasingly rampant smuggling of all kinds of highly dutiable products—luxury cars, agricultural produce, electronics, race-horses (you name it)—has lately made the government launch a search for a foolproof system of handling and evaluating imports based on our tariff code.

Editorial: Home Sweet Home

AN air of bullishness pervaded Thursday’s opening of the Philippine Real-Estate Festival at the SMX Convention Center, billed by organizers as the biggest such event of the year. All the big guns of the property and construction sector were there, ready to tackle pressing issues on shelter: government policy for housing finance, incentives for developers, concerns over rising cost of construction and weakened consumer power, issues of energy and the environment, among other concerns.

Through the Looking Glass: Harper’s war

If someone had suggested getting back at Bambi Harper for all of the critical fiscalizing that she had done to preserve Filipino heritage, the cruelest might be to appoint her to head the Intramuros Administration (IA).

Servant Leader: Abortion rights, reproductive education, safe sex and informed consent—III

The right to abortion was defined and acknowledged for the first time in the ruling of the US Supreme Court in the Roe v. Wade case—giving women the free choice to interrupt pregnancy because the right to do so is a fundamental element of the right to privacy. Previously, abortion was allowed, in some cases, as an exception to the norm on the defense of human life. After this ruling, the law ceased to be interested in the conceived child as a victim, and shifted its interest to the mother.

Omerta: SGS had it both ways

The increasingly rampant smuggling of all kinds of highly dutiable products—luxury cars, agricultural produce, electronics, race-horses (you name it)—has lately made the government launch a search for a foolproof system of handling and evaluating imports based on our tariff code.

Sway: Public service = good customer service

The concept is easy enough to comprehend: taxpayers pay public officials’ salaries much like customers paying for storekeepers’ upkeep. Hereabouts, however, it is rare to hear one insist on his or her rights as a taxpayer, and actually demand to be immediately served by bureaucrats. People usually approach the government initially with awe and intimidation, and later with mistrust and disdain, but rarely with the feeling of accommodation, security and total satisfaction.

The Essential Thing: It’s business as usual in the office

The column today addresses recent newspaper reports decrying the lowered conviction rate of the Ombudsman’s Office and the alleged widespread demoralization of the Ombudsman staff.

Oil below $120 will reverse ‘BRIC’ fortunes

Merrill Lynch & Co. strategist Mark Matthews has a checklist for investors in India and China.