Last week I saw a video circulating on Facebook of a bicycle shop owner giving a teary-eyed street vendor his dream bicycle after noticing that the man had been coming into the shop week after week just to ask about it. Last month, I read about a public-private sector initiative called Taskforce T3 that’s working with hospital groups to increase the country’s much needed COVID-19 testing capacity. A few months ago, there was also Project Ugnayan, a partnership of the country’s biggest businesses that raised over P1.7 billion to give grocery vouchers to millions of poor Filipino families affected by the lockdown. At the beginning of the lockdown, several public utility companies, like Meralco, also announced that they would continue to provide their services while also extending payment deadlines to help affected users.

“FOLLOW THE SCIENCE” — these are reassuring words in a pandemic like COVID-19, when widespread fear of a deadly virus can be exploited by unscrupulous politicians, snake-oil salesmen and cranks. Public trust in scientists has risen recently.

THE PHILIPPINE Basketball Association said on Tuesday that it is hopeful of getting a favorable response from the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) to the league’s request to resume some activities amid the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

ONE WEEK shy of a year after Klay Thompson tore his left anterior cruciate ligament, the Golden State Warriors remain uncertain about whether he is fully healthy.

ITS EVENTS temporarily halted by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, the Universal Reality Combat Championship (URCC) said it remains committed to what it does and expressed readiness to get back into action once conditions permit it to do so.

ECONOMIC MANAGERS are proposing the creation of a new government-owned and -controlled corporation (GOCC) that will invest in shares of large firms now struggling amid the coronavirus crisis.

THE banking industry does not believe it is necessary for the stimulus measure recently approved by the House of Representatives to include a provision “encouraging” banks to extend the term of some consumer and commercial loans for up to two years, since lenders are already doing this on a case-to-case basis.

ELECTRICITY RATES in Metro Manila slightly declined this month, with typical households likely to see a P4 cut in their bills, Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) announced on Monday.

AYALA-LED AC Energy, Inc. is building two wind energy projects in Vietnam with Hong Kong-based UPC Renewables Group.

EMPLOYEES’ return to work can prove risky if workplace safety guidelines drafted to protect them from the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) are not refined for specific industries, a health care professional said.

EARNINGS of Century Properties Group, Inc. (CPG) dropped to P290 million in the first quarter as business segments were affected by the Taal eruption and the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

A SAD story of loss posted on one of Ben&Ben’s music videos on YouTube inspired the indie folk-pop band to create a new single while under quarantine.