An efficient VAT refund system: Will it see the light of day?
ON January 4, 2019, the Bureau of Internal Revenue issued a revenue memorandum circular (RMC 3-2019) publishing the joint circular issued by six government...
The people want globalism, not populism
The headline was intriguing: “Majority of World Population Supports Globalism, Survey Finds.” The first sentence read: “Maybe populist political movements don’t have as much...
Reenacted budget per se is not bad
The Philippine government is effectively operating on a reenacted budget in January 2019 after the House of Representatives and the Senate failed to pass the...
Courage and Mr. Sy
ON Saturday, Mr. Henry Sy Sr. died at the remarkable age of 94. We offer our condolences and prayers on his passing.
Over the next...
Remembering a prayerful leader
When we think about great men and women who have passed on, we usually think of the lessons that we gain from studying their...
Telecommuting Act
President Rodrigo Duterte on December 20, 2018, signed into law Republic Act 11165 known as the “Telecommuting Act” also referred to as the “Work...
Moving forward with Cipag
Part One
ON August 14, 2018, I turned over my chairmanship of the Professional Regulatory Board of Accountancy (BOA) of the Philippines to the appointed...
Timings and delays
Most airlines are measured by their on-time performance. And, to a large extent, Customer Satisfaction Score is directly proportional to OTP. Obviously, passengers are...
Talking without Thinking
WE live in a time when there is great concern about individual privacy. The stories of identity theft are frightening. Nowadays, a person’s life...
‘Justice for a few?’
MY brothers and sisters, “life has become so cheap.”
This is a message from House Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo after the murder of her fellow congressman,...
‘Gloomy Sunday,’ or the song that kills
Sunday is gloomy
My hours are slumberless
Dearest the shadows
I live with are numberless
Little white flowers
Will never awaken you
Not where the black coach
Of sorrow has taken...
VAT-free medicines
Just before 2018 ended, the Department of Finance, the Department of Health (DOH), the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and the Food and Drug Administration...
Bloodier
It’s a disturbing development. Starting from the 2010 elections, all the way to the 2018 barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections, we’d been seeing a...
Enhancing human capital
THE most significant investments that people, firms and governments can make in the changing nature of work are in enhancing human capital, the World...
A sea of tranquility
Usually reading several gazillion web sites every day, I am not inclined to look at Asean regional newspapers. I decided to on Wednesday.
The front...
The unsinkable Catholic Church
President Rodrigo Duterte’s denigration of the Catholic Church is but a part of his idiotic ambition to destroy this 1,900-year-old institution.
I would not debate...
The boy as the model
Every year on the third Sunday of January, we have a Filipino liturgical celebration of our own—“extending” the Christmas season—the Feast of the Santo...
Wanted: A Labor Code for all workers, not just for a segment of...
President Duterte recently signed into law the bill on “telecommuting”. Republic Act No. 11165 recognizes the legitimacy of work from home that is voluntarily...
