PHILIPPINE SHARES advanced on Wednesday to join its regional peers in attracting buyers due to the flight of money away from highly-affected markets of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

I am sure many people have shifted to cashless payments a long time ago, starting with doing credit card bill payments online. And then there came bills for household utilities like electric, telephone, water, cable TV and/or Internet service. In my case, in the last 20 years, I have found electronic and online payment to be a convenient and efficient mode of paying for personal bills.

Entrepreneurship is one of the vital engines of economic growth in the Philippines as it stimulates production and innovation. Our country is regarded as one of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation’s fastest-growing economies, with a projected 6.7% GDP growth rate heavily relying on micro-, small-, and medium-enterprises over the next two years.

On Feb. 5, I attended the lecture by Dr. Dennis S. Mapa, National Statistician and head of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), and Professor at the UP School of Statistics (UPSS). His talk was “Poverty in the Philippines: Evidence from the 2018 Official Poverty Statistics,” sponsored by the Department of Economics of the Ateneo de Manila University. I was invited by Dr. Majah Ravago who used to teach at UP School of Economics (UPSE) and recently migrated to Ateneo.

THE start of the volleyball tournament of Season 82 of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) may have been postponed for a later date but last year’s women’s finals protagonists expressed readiness to make another competitive run in the tournament once the go-ahead is given.

UP, 1-0, in their best-of-three Chooks-to-Go/Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL)Lakan Season quarterfinal joust, North top-seeds San Juan-Go for Gold Knights seek to close out the Pasay Voyagers in Game Two today at the Angeles University Foundation Gym in Pampanga.

LOS ANGELES -- Major League Baseball (MBL) commissioner Rob Manfred apologized Tuesday for his comments in which he referenced the World Series trophy as a “piece of metal.”

THE country’s top diplomat has ordered the Philippine Embassy in Tokyo to facilitate the immediate return of about 500 Filipinos aboard a novel coronavirus-stricken cruise ship docked in Yokohama.

GOVERNMENT investigators filed graft charges against 20 officials and employees of the National Center for Mental Health (NCMH) for buying defective CT scans worth P30.4 million.

A STATE attempt to silence a media company critical of President Rodrigo R. Duterte should not prevent Congress from hearing its application for a franchise extension, a lawyer’s group said on Wednesday.

MOODY’S Investors’ Service has cut its growth forecast for the Philippines while also trimming its outlook for some Asian countries as some sectors are expected to take a hit due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak.

PRESIDENT Rodrigo R. Duterte dislikes the press and he’s not afraid to show his disdain for it.