Last month, my wife and I treated ourselves to a trip to Italy to watch Placido Domingo at the La Scala Opera House in Milan. Accompanied by another couple, we looked forward to immersing ourselves in the city’s old world grandeur for which the Opera is an integral part.

The volcano might have been upset when the Augustinian friars first came in 1572 to establish a township on the shores of the lake in Batangas province. She erupted, most likely not in welcome, and blew her top in obvious agitation of disturbed peace and the intrusion into her sacred territory. “Ta-al” was what the natives called the volcano-island, “sin ta-as ng langit” (high as the sky) and queen in their primitive Nature-worship.

THE Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has enough “monetary space” amid easing by central banks around the world, BSP Governor Benjamin E. Diokno said on Friday.

DAMAGE from the eruption of Taal Volcano has reached P3 billion, with the fishery sector suffering the most devastation, the Agriculture department said on Friday.

JOLLIBEE Foods Corp. (JFC) raised $600 million from a landmark sale of perpetual securities in its offshore capital market debut, restocking its chest after buying the company behind US specialty chain Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf (CBTL).

PRESIDENT Rodrigo R. Duterte has approved a total deployment ban of overseas Filipino workers to Kuwait after a Filipina housemaid there died allegedly in the hands of her employer.

ABOUT 21,000 children living within Taal Volcano’s 14-kilometer danger zone were affected by its eruption, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

A CONGRESSMAN on Friday urged the Office of the Solicitor General not to question the franchise of ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corp. at the Supreme Court, saying this could be seen as “government harassment.”

BANGKO Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Benjamin E. Diokno dismissed the risks to the banking system posed by online gaming firms, adding to his long-standing position that the Philippines can easily do without the industry.

THE Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA) said it accepts the need to “rationalize” the travel tax a day after the Department of Finance threatened to take it away due to alleged underspending by the agency.

CONSTRUCTION starts, as measured by approved building permits, fell 3.1% year-on-year in the third quarter, dampened by reduced applications to build residences, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said Friday.

THE Philippine operator of California-based Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf (CBTL) has partnered with Singaporean firm Southern Capital the details of which have yet to be disclosed by the partners.