Category: Economy

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 It is obsolete yet it is only now that this issue is…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

The UP School of Economics was USELESS when Filipinos needed its “expertise” the most

June 12, 2021June 12, 2021 Ramon Ortoll 1 Comment

Here we go again — the infamous “sick man of Asia” label. A throwback to the Marcos era is all “economist” Winnie Monsod could come up with in her Inquirer piece “Why we are again the sick man of Asia”. You would think that the Opposition would be creative enough to come up with a…

Business, Economy

“Old normal” NEVER coming back, industrial-scale digitisation critical

June 10, 2021 Ramon Ortoll 2 Comments

The US reopening is a gamble that probably won’t pay off — not with the Indian variant becoming the dominant one soon enough. For one, it’s been confirmed that the virus is airborne. Second vaccines don’t prevent infection but mitigate a severe case of infection leading to hospitalization or death. Business Insider reports on “The…

Business, Economy

Hyper-politicised energy sector dooms Filipinos to chronic energy shortage

June 4, 2021 Ramon Ortoll 4 Comments

Interesting that Boo Chanco makes no mention of the elephant in the room; the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP). This, considering how, in his PhilSTAR piece today “Power failure” he writes about what he calls “the big elephant in the room” which comes in the form of the question, “how much energy capacity do we…

Business, Economy, Environment

Digitization of Ph’s nightmarish bureaucracy should be made a major election issue

June 1, 2021 Ramon Ortoll 1 Comment

As the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte comes to an end, one of its unfulfilled campaign promises coming to light is the improvement in the delivery of government services to the citizenry. At the onset, the support base of Duterte rallied behind him because of this promise translated into action during the first months of…

Business, Economy, Tech Talk

On how the politicisation of community pantries and ayuda contributed to Filipino mendicant culture

May 27, 2021 Benedict Exconde 1 Comment

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic struck the Philippines, “bayanihan” has been a mainstay of Filipino culture, especially in the provinces. As someone who spent my youth in the province, I am not surprised whenever the friendly neighbors come over to our place to offer some of their food during the fiesta or Noche Buena or…

Culture, Economy, Society