Zoilo ‘Bingo’ Dejaresco III

BASIC to understanding the national budget are the facts that the “power of the purse” solely lies entirely in hands of Congress and that “specific line items have replaced lump sum” items to get rid of the abominable “pork barrel” entirely, in principle.

FOR their own sakes, China and the Republic of the Philippines (RP) had to come to the table recently: the 6th Bilateral Consultation initiated in 2016 by President Duterte and Chinese President Xi Jinping. It had to come to this.

HERETOFORE, the Philippine stock market was largely influenced by foreign players who would quickly opt out even by the mere rise in the interest rates by the Fed. Looming large, locally, were the institutional and employed workforce who were, by a huge measure, not too aggressive in their investment risk taking.

MAKE no mistake about it, the next World War will be fought between drones (an air force without men), hand-to-hand combat between robots and terminators and, of course, the ballistic nuclear bombs.

“Health is wealth” is a satirical parody popular in social media these days. It means if one wants to be rich—fitchy rich—be a senior Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) official.

Attending a forum in late 2017 organized by a major business group, we were shocked to be told by the speaker, Truly Savvy, or T.S. that the world was at the edge of a monumental meltdown “the likes we may not have seen in our lifetimes.”

TODAY there are 10 million rice farmers in the Philippines. Extrapolating their number of dependents, they constitute a big portion of the over 100 million Filipinos today, and they are in trouble.

The parable is spoken in business that the First Generation provides the vision and the stability of the enterprise; the Second Generation develops it to its full blooming and the Third Generation sends it to its grievous ruins or sells it to strangers not having the same love for the mission of the enterprise.

INDEED, we live in the 4th industrial revolution today. Many changes will occur in the way we do things because of technology.

NOT too long ago, the Philippines outflanked India and became the No. 1 darling country of choice for business-process outsourcing (BPO) more popularly known as call centers.

PRESIDENT Duterte had sound reasons for trying to anchor his presidential campaign on three fronts: a war on drugs, the fight versus corruption and conversion into a federal system of government.

Hopefully, President Duterte would sign into law the Secured Transactions Systems bill soon enough to be able to trumpet two business-friendly laws during the forthcoming State of the Nation (Sona) in July.

Is federalism the panacea for the many troubles that beset our nation? Globally, a majority, or 166 of the 199 nations of the United Nations (including the Philippines) are unitary in form and only 27 are federalized although they comprise 40 percent of the world population. One may also peruse a very recent study made by the Ateneo de Manila on the comparisons, based on empirical evidence between the federal and the unitary governments of the world. For instance, it says in the Asean, the Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand are unitary, while Malaysia is federalized. Further, the Ateneo study says among the three, the Philippines is the most decentralized. Shocking of all, it turns out that federalized Malaysia was judged the most centralized in real terms.

It is generally agreed that in the years 2000 to 2007 the banks focused the most on growth, on increasing volume and profits.

Now on second reading in the Senate is Senate Bill 1450, known as The Financial Inclusion Act/Personal Property Act, which had already passed third reading in the Lower House under House Bill 6907.

THERE were grim years  in the past when many poor Filipinos died without getting the right medication, much less having seen a doctor, at all.  If the sick one is the breadwinner, the entire family is hard up answering for his medical costs.

There were fears politics would put an end to the highly popular Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) tournaments a few weeks ago over a controversial trade involving franchise player Christian Standhardinger.

There have been real triumphs during the Association of Southeast Asian Nations meetings in Manila. Sometimes, as concerned Filipinos, we ask ourselves if these successes are, indeed, sustainable.

The world observed Mental Health Day on October 10. It was apt that the Lower House approved House Bill 6452 or the Comprehensive Mental Health Act on second reading and earlier the Senate unanimously approved Senate Bill 1354, or the Philippine Mental Health Act, in May 2017 on third and final reading. Boy, does this country need that.

The World Wildlife Fund and the United Nations agree that 70 percent of the world’s oceans have been fished to the limit. The World Fish Center concurs fish have been hunted 30 percent above its ability to replenish.

More important than the State of the Nation Address (Sona) is, perhaps, tracking down the fulfillment of the five most important promises President Duterte made to the Filipino people.

THE picturesque province of Bohol was almost written off from the tourism map in 2013, after the devastation caused by a 7.3-magnitude earthquake.

The US, the most powerful nation on earth but with a terrible president in Donald J. Trump has just abdicated its global leadership role by opting out of the Paris Agreement.

THE Philippines is not the only country suffering from the tremendous cost to individuals and the nation as a result of the drug problem.

Among other reasons, the Philippines receives the least foreign direct investments (FDI) among the Asean nations mainly because of the high cost of electricity.

PEOPLE no longer laugh when we claim the Philippines can become a first-world country in 20 years. We are so used to being the basket case in Asia, courtesy of martial law, we sometimes die laughing at the thought.

AS the war against drugs escalates, birth pains have been noted as prevailing in the new Duterte administration.

Growth under President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo averaged only 4 percent, net of a galloping population growth of 2 percent. Per-capita income growth was a miniscule. Poverty levels remained high.

Despite being the “Poster  Boy” in  Asian GDP growth, the Philippines ironically appears to be the least attractive Asean member in drawing  foreign  direct investments. What gives?

It could just be a case of a beginner’s nerves—but the knee-jerk reaction of the Duterte administration to be a copycat of the Aquino era’s basic macroeconomic policies means we will have more of what we have seen.

The Philippine GDP growth story is primarily consumer-driven. It is rated as second only to China in Asia for some years now.  Many other expanding economies, however, rely on the manufacturing sector.

After the 7.2-magnitude killer earthquake hit Bohol in 2013, tourism in the province stood still. Tourists hastily left, scared of the aftershocks. Resorts and hotels had to endure power outages when the underwater electricity cables from the geothermal source in Leyte were damaged. To top it all, many centuries-old churches were also destroyed.

It is scary the Philippines is ranked No. 3 in the World Risk Report for Environmental Danger.

ONE of the top seven reasons foreign business investors still skip the Philippines is partly because of our slow, incompetent and corrupt justice system. It is a pity because these are the kind of investments that boost the economy, create jobs and make growth inclusive.