Tag: foreign investment

Marcos Returns from Washington with an UNFAIR DEAL for the Filipino people

July 29, 2025 Ramon Ortoll 18 Comments

“It may be dangerous to be America’s enemy, but to be America’s friend is fatal.” Henry Kissinger President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has concluded his visit to the United States. Marketed as a reaffirmation of “ironclad friendship” between Manila and Washington, the trip was hyped by Malacañang as a breakthrough moment for Philippine economic and security…

Business, Economy, Government

Runaway inflation highlights the Philippines’ fundamental weaknesses: addiction to imports and corrupt bureaucracy

August 19, 2023 Ramon Ortoll 6 Comments

It’s easy to blame higher rice prices on the previous administration for passing the rice tarrification law when one conveniently forgets the corruption that came with rice import permits. Importers were openly paying farmers’ cooperatives to apply for permits which they used to import rice. The cooperatives didn’t have the financial capacity to import which…

Business, Economy

Bongbong Marcos: Another Noynoy Aquino and another Kamaganak Inc in the making?

January 23, 2023 Ramon Ortoll 9 Comments

The elephant in the room we need to talk about: Marcos might just turn out to be another Noynoy. This is probably the universe’s way of putting an end to the Marcos-Aquino feud and pave the way for a new leader to rise from the ranks. But fate is cruel. There’s no one on the…

Economy, History

Marcos Jr.’s foreign policy mirrors the Philippines’ realpolitik

October 17, 2022 The Unpopular Opinion 5 Comments

More than a hundred days had passed since Ferdinand Marcos Jr. became the country’s president after his unprecedented electoral victory. As the country’s chief architect of foreign policy, the Marcos Jr. administration has embarked on various foreign travel commitments last September. His first destination was Jakarta, where he met Indonesian President Joko Widodo and discussed…

Business, Charter Change, Development, Economy, Government, Politics

Foreign Direct Investment in the Philippines – January through May 2021 report

August 12, 2021 Ramon Ortoll 1 Comment

What is Foreign Direct Investment? Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) as defined by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) is “a category of cross-border investment in which an investor resident in one economy establishes a lasting interest in and a significant degree of influence over an enterprise resident in another economy. Ownership of 10…

Business, Economy, Money Talks

The Philippines’ “Bucket List” – a vision for a better country

June 26, 2021June 26, 2021 PulbuRonn 5 Comments

Before we get into the meat of this post, I think an explanation on the term “bucket list” is owed towards those out of the loop. A bucket list is a list of activities a person intends to do before they die or, idiomatically speaking, before they “kick the bucket.” This is not to say…

Charter Change, Development, Politics

Senators in oligarchs’ pockets a serious roadblock to reforms needed to attract more foreign investment

June 7, 2021 Ramon Ortoll 1 Comment

“Filipino last?” Boo Chanco poses the question in his PhilSTAR piece of the same title today and answers in the end, “Our Filipino First policy only made Filipinos last. That’s the awful truth.” It never ceases to amaze me how Chanco can easily flip-flop on policy now that he beats the drum on openness to…

Business, Development

Labor Day serves as a reminder that Filipinos are workers and not much else

May 1, 2021 benign0 8 Comments

It’s Labour Day again and that time of the year when the familiar background din of poverty porn and rhetoric around the “victimisation” of workers is put front-and-centre and amplified to circus-grade. At the centre of all this noise is the idea that need determines pay and wealth obligates “giving”. Never mind, of course that…

Economy