It’s been about 19 hours since the close of most voting precincts as we write this column on Tuesday afternoon, May 10.

“YOU CAN INVEST in Japan with confidence,” Fumio Kishida, the country’s prime minister, told an international audience at the City of London last week in a Japanese-language address, adding a three-word declaration in English almost as an exclamation point: “Invest in Kishida.”

There’s the still stalled Russian invasion of Ukraine, a sigh of relief on the recent French election results, the surges of COVID cases in other parts of the world, and the erratic movement of the stock market. This week too we just finished our own elections, with the results already out.

Under a new political environment, we can expect three things to happen to our social and business relationships. There will be pockets of change here and there. Either more sustainable reforms will be realized, or the status quo will persist.

As a response to the peculiar circumstances that prevailed during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) launched in July 2020 the Safe Filming program with the aim of ensuring that safety measures are in place for the resumption of film and audiovisual production activities once the pandemic is put under control.

CHINA’S consumer-tech companies are riding an endless train of trouble. Just as the government seems to be easing its regulatory crackdown, consumer fatigue — even disinterest — is setting in.

The Bureau of Customs (BoC) has enhanced its collection efforts in recent years. In the first quarter of 2022, the BoC collected approximately P534.29 million through its Post Clearance Audit (PCA) and Prior Disclosure Program (PDP). The BoC has met 35% and 44.5% of its 2021 and 2020 collections, respectively, in a mere quarter. Importers can expect its steadfast collection efforts to continue this year.

After every election I write in this space that the results bear out the forecasts of the two major pollsters — Social Weather Stations (SWS) and Pulse Asia (PA). In 2016, not only did I note that the results of the 2016 presidential election validated the two pollsters’ projections, I also wrote that the rankings of all the presidential and vice-presidential candidates in the two polls jibed with how they placed in the actual elections.

By the time you read this, it would be the day after E-day. The voters would have fulfilled their duty and chosen their candidates. Between now as I write this and then, exactly a week would have lapsed.

By the time this column is printed and posted online, the elections would have ended and counting should have started. I want to share some things related to the campaign rallies, then some post-election economic scenarios.

The race for the presidency in the 2022 Philippine elections may be the most highly divisive and contested referendum for the highest public office in the country.

Leni’s miting de avance (final campaign rally) was a fitting climax to a stunning, inspiring, dramatic, and earth-shaking campaign. All roads led to Ayala Avenue. One million people participated in the manifestation. A bigger number of kababayans (countrymen) followed the event online.