TRADE Secretary Ramon M. Lopez — PHILSTAR THE Small Business Corp. (SB Corp.) will seek bank financing to expand its available funds for lending to small businesses, and plans to deploy part of its P10-billion budget from the Bayanihan to Recover As One Act (Bayanihan II) to pay for interest, the Department of Trade and […]
OFFICIAL GAZETTE THE Department of Budget and Management (DBM) said local government units (LGUs) must use their one-time grants under the Bayanihan to Heal as One Law (Bayanihan I) by Sept. 16, unless the Palace extends the state of calamity beyond that date. In a Viber message Sunday, Budget Undersecretary Laura B. Pascua said the […]
THE Asian Development Bank (ADB) must fund more community microgrid projects to energize more households in developing countries, a sustainability think-tank said. Ahead of the ADB’s annual governors meeting this week, the Center for Energy, Ecology, and Development (CEED) released a study on the multilateral lender’s energy policies and programs in the past decade. Among […]
A BILL component that provides electrification to far-flung, unenergized parts of the country should be reduced, a consumer group said, after Congress questioned the Department of Energy (DoE) about the rising trend in such charges. During budget hearings last week, Bayan Muna Representative Carlos I. Zarate asked Energy Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi on the increases […]
By Joanne Macainag-Cobacha Health is wealth, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. It would seem that the government concurs when it passed Republic Act (RA) No. 9502, otherwise known as the “Universally Accessible Cheaper and Quality Medicines Act of 2008.” The RA empowers the Department of Health (DoH) to keep medicine affordable and accessible […]
By Emmanuel S. De Dios An important task of national leadership is to highlight information that would otherwise be ignored or set aside. Sometimes this can be as vital as telling the public that it is possible to sterilize their face masks with kerosene. At other times it is to place items on […]
By Andrew J. Masigan FREEPIK In the pre-COVID world, eating out, shopping, and weekend getaways generally characterized the way of life of middle to upper income Filipinos. For the affluent few, investments in cars, art, and properties were par for the course. As much as 72% of the economy was driven by consumer […]
By Amelia HC Ylagan “No, it is not white sand that is being used to fill up the Manila Bay shoreline,” Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque said when news photos flashed images of heavy machinery on the baywalk dumping what indeed looked like glistening white sand over the stony black murk of muddy sand. […]
By Jay Tristan Tarriela HTTPS://WWW.COASTGUARD.GOV.PH/ Not many are aware of the role of the Philippine Coast Guard in fighting the pandemic. When President Rodrigo Duterte placed Metro Manila under “community quarantine” on March 14, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) was tasked to ensure that the instruction was strictly carried out. The PCG, together […]
OIL PUMPING JACKS, also known as “nodding donkeys”, operate in an oilfield near Almetyevsk, Russia, on Aug. 16. — ANDREY RUDAKOV/BLOOMBERG IT WAS MEANT to be the week when OPEC nations gathered in Baghdad to celebrate the cartel’s six decades as a dominant force in global oil markets. Instead, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries […]