Category: Economy

Opposition prefers a Philippine sellout to the US over working with China

July 17, 2021 Ramon Ortoll 5 Comments

Appeasement or rapprochement? How it it exactly that you deal with a regional superpower like China? Among Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member countries, only Vietnam has fought a land and sea conflict against China. But among ASEAN also, Vietnam has the most battle-seasoned military. The Vietnam War ended relatively recently in 1975. In…

Business, Economy, Environment, History

COVID-19 Delta Variant a bigger threat than “downgraded” credit ratings

July 14, 2021 Ramon Ortoll 3 Comments

The opposition will surely make a mountain out of a molehill about this issue of the Philippines’ “downgraded” credit rating again. https://twitter.com/PhilippineStar/status/1414713681485520896?s=19 There is, however, no basis for worry. The debt-to-GDP (gross domestic product) ratio is still manageable. The budget deficit increased but the gross international reserves of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) are…

Economy

Philippines no longer a US lapdog, now a respectable ASEAN member and a REAL Asian nation

July 12, 2021 Ramon Ortoll No Comments

The national artist for literature F. Sionil Jose cites Richard Javad Heydarian in “Our foreign policy”, his PhilSTAR piece . That’s probably due to both of them being Ilocano. On Javad’s part, he’s only part Ilocano so he’s no GI, but I digress. Jose, delves into the wisdom and pitfalls of abandoning the cozy embrace…

Development, Economy

Yellowtards’ behaviour following PNoy’s death reminds Filipinos why they SHOULD NOT vote for their candidates

June 26, 2021 Ramon Ortoll 1 Comment

The edification of Benigno C. Aquino III (PNoy) begins. My basic problem with the Yellowidiots is their holier-than-thou attitude and the hypocrisy that comes with it. I’ve experienced what it’s like to be gaslighted into believing that all of former President Ferdinand Marcos was bad. That was my political naiveté at its peak. But since…

Economy, Politics

Platform or agenda to DISRUPT local governance status quo critical post-2022 to address persisting COVID-19 impact to ordinary Filipinos

June 24, 2021 Ramon Ortoll 1 Comment

Devolution. This was the spirit in which Nene Pimentel authored the Local Government Code of 1991. Pimentel and Ruben Canoy were the leaders of the federal movement which was fledgling then. Since the movement couldn’t find legs to stand on, Pimentel decided that devolution was the next best option. The local government code was passed…

Economy, Government

Opposition “economists” like Winnie Monsod sow doom and gloom in lead up to 2022

June 19, 2021 Ramon Ortoll 1 Comment

If the fundamentals weren’t sound, as Winnie Monsod asserts in her Inquirer piece “So much for sound fundamentals”, we’d be worse off to begin with. Mareng Winnie attempts to dismiss even the smallest iota of optimism in the prognoses issued by the country’s economic managers saying these are all just coming from people whose job…

Business, Economy, Money Talks

Key 2022 election issue is opening the economy and breaking the oligarchs’ stranglehold on infrastructure

June 18, 2021 Ramon Ortoll 3 Comments

President Rodrigo Duterte hasn’t been able to make good on his promise of charter change but Congress is doing what it can in the time left before the President steps down on June 30, 2022. The Public Service Act is 85 years old. It is obsolete yet it is only now that this issue is…

Development, Economy, Money Talks

Regard for China-Philippines relations should move on from the old Yellowtard and communist “bully” rhetoric

June 15, 2021 Ramon Ortoll No Comments

Check out Richard Javad Heydarians’s most recent crybaby piece “Why are we bullied?” published on the Inquirer. Heydarian basically whines about “our President’s almost slavish comments vis-à-vis the Eastern bully, which has been creeping into our waters with increasing impunity.” He worries about the prospect (presumably as the 2022 elections loom closer and campaigning ramps…

Economy, Politics