After a bruising two-year pandemic, the world is eager to start living again, albeit in a changed environment. We are in the midst of transition from epidemic to endemic, in the lengthy process of crossing over to a more stable recovery path and regaining the balance we seem to have lost in the crisis.

During the BusinessWorld Virtual Economic Forum (BWVEF2022) last week (May 25-26), net-zero, decarbonization, and more renewable energy (RE) were discussed on Day 1.

The world’s biggest nation is about to shrink.

“Disinformation, and lots of it over social media, was the predicted winner of the 2022 Philippines Presidential Elections.” The quotation comes from a news item published by the Asia Center on May 5.

We don’t talk much about helicopter money anymore. After a debate that raged through the early days of the pandemic, it’s all but fallen off the map as a topic.

The pandemic was a stress test for many businesses, regardless of size. While the contagion drove weaker enterprises into insolvency, those which survived became stronger than ever.

One of the few concrete policy promises Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. made during his campaign for the Presidency of these isles of forgetfulness was to make rice available at P20 per kilo.

As one of the world’s largest greenhouse gas emitters, Indonesia has pledged to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060.

Looking back to the latter part of 2021, the US market environment was robust for equities, with strong economic growth that led to stock valuations that appeared appropriate to us. At the same time, the US Federal Reserve’s (Fed’s) accommodative environment — put in place during the pandemic — impacted fixed income markets.

Imagine all the tollways from Rosario, La Union in the north all the way to Batangas City in the south being peppered with more “pumping” stations. But, instead of selling gasoline or diesel fuel, these stations cater to motorists that need to plug in and recharge their electric vehicles. And, as they wait, motorists can dine or shop in any of the station’s numerous establishments.

After the May 9 elections, Ateneo de Manila University President Fr. Bobby Yap, S.J. issued a letter to the Ateneo community calling everyone to rebuild “our heavily fractured society.” It was a well-meaning letter and his final message to “bridge the disconnects and make our nation finally be whole” is something that every Filipino who genuinely loves the country should get behind.

What do unsuccessful candidates for public office do after their opponents are officially declared winner? There is, we believe, no formal blueprint or template as one emerges at the short end of a zero-sum contest. Perhaps, the approach to this situation will differ based on the level of the position for which one aspired and the aptitude of the person for politics and public service, among other things.