THE tax reform package updating real property valuation standards made it past the House Committee on Ways and Means on Wednesday.

In the evening of Feb. 22, 1986, then Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile and Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Vice Chief of Staff Fidel Ramos announced that they were withdrawing their support for the dictator Ferdinand Marcos. It was only a few hours after AFP Chief of Staff Fabian Ver had discovered and foiled their plan to storm Malacañang, oust Marcos, and replace him with a military junta.

The Duchess of Windsor once remarked, “A woman’s life can really be a succession of lives, each revolving around some emotionally compelling situation or challenge, and each marked off by some intense experience.”

Of course, martial law per se cannot be a bad thing. Otherwise, that presidential power would not have been provided for in the 1935, 1973, and then the 1987 Constitutions. Even the draft constitutions being considered today include martial law provisions.

THE PHILIPPINES’ counterterrorism capabilities have improved amid attacks and threats from terrorist groups affiliated with the Islamic State (ISIS), according to the US Department of State’s 2017 Country Reports on Terrorism .

PRESIDENT Rodrigo R. Duterte on Thursday owned up to extra judicial killings (EJKs) in the country as he deplored complaints filed against his controversial war on drugs, accusing him of murder and crimes against humanity, at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, Netherlands.

AN OVERSEAS Filipino Worker (OFW) in Saudi Arabia was shot dead after allegedly stabbing to death his employer and several others last Wednesday, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said.

THE LETRAN KNIGHTS, Perpetual Help Altas, and College of St. Benilde Blazers, teams that have solid shot at landing a spot in the Final Four in Season 94 of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), are featured in the triple-header set for today at the FilOil Flying V Centre in San Juan City.

FOR the sixth time Filipino world champion Jerwin “Pretty Boy” Ancajas will defend his International Boxing Federation super flyweight title, taking on Mexican Alejandro Santiago Barrios in a championship clash on Sept. 29 (Manila time) at Oracle Arena in Oakland, California.

The Philippine women’s team smashed Venezuela, 3-1, to storm back to relevance even as its men’s squad suffered a 1-3 defeat to higher-ranked Croatia after three rounds of the 43^rd World Chess Olympiad in Batumi, Georgia Wednesday night.

LOCAL EQUITIES rebounded on Thursday as investors picked up selected stocks at the last minute, while factoring in the expected rate hikes from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and the United States Federal Reserve.

THE PESO recovered on Thursday as investors reduced their dollar positions ahead of policy tightening by the local central bank.