In the presentation made by Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) Chairperson and CEO Mary Liza B. Diño, a strategic planning framework was presented to answer the question: “What does it take for a country to be a global production hub?” Five elements were enumerated: 1. Structure (film-related policies and enabling laws); 2. Financial incentives (funding and rebates for the service structure and content creation); 3. Skilled workers (technical crew, both above the line and below the line); Infrastructure (sound stages, equipment, special facilities such as post-production services, effects, etc.); and, 5. Private investments (film financing services, venture capital investments, and financial bonds).

As a general proposition in the United States, particularly in the State of California, employment, having no specified term, may be terminated at the will of either party on notice to the other.

This presidential election season has become one of the most interesting I’ve ever experienced. So many elements have come into play. More polling firms have been conducting surveys to predict the election outcome. Other firms are doing online sentiment analysis, or tracking Google searches to out-predict the surveys. It will be good to see which of these predictions will turn out to be correct come election day.

In the book Five Stages of Small Business Growth, researchers Neil C. Churchill and Virginia L. Lewis go in-depth into the growth framework that all small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) normally go through. It describes the common scenarios and challenges companies face at each stage, and what steps they can take to move on to the next phase.

The Presidential and local elections next week generate not only political heat and drama but also climate and energy drama from some sectors that are warning of “power outages during elections amid coal plant shutdowns.”

EUROPEAN UNION sanctions on Russian oil are inching closer, with Germany, the bloc’s biggest economy, saying that it won’t oppose an embargo. But what is actually considered “Russian oil”?

“The economy, stupid.” This was a campaign slogan of Bill Clinton in the US’s 1992 presidential election. It was a most fitting message at a time when the US was suffering from recession. Hammering home to voters the message it’s “the economy, stupid” made Clinton win the election.

It has often been observed that our best qualities as a people emerge during times of national catastrophe — typhoons, flooding, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, tsunamis. This spirit is expressed in a word that does not directly translate to English: “bayanihan.” Defined as the enduring value of the Filipino “to help fellow countrymen in times of need without expecting anything in return,” this comes from the word “bayani” (hero). Bayanihan is an invitation for heroes from all walks of life to work together.

As the election season reaches its last mile, the race for the presidency has become a two-horse race. On one hand, we have Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. who operates with the advantage of money, machinery, and might of political dynasties. On the other hand, we have Vice-President Leni Robredo whose campaign is propelled by an army of hard-working, dedicated volunteers.

COUNT ME among those celebrating Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter. Not because he’ll be able to fix it — the only way to do that would be to shut it down, which would make his $44 billion outlay hard to justify, even for a man of Musk’s means — but because it will be fascinating to watch him try. Meanwhile, the apoplexy this news is causing in progressive circles is very entertaining.

His spokesperson had announced that he was going to be present. But because he was campaigning in the provinces and could not catch a flight to the National Capital Region on time, boxer-cum Senator Emmanuel “Manny” Pacquiao failed to get into the act.

After the first-round elections on April 10, followed by the April 24 runoff, France voted reelectionist Emmanuel Macron as president for another five years against Marine Le Pen, 58.54% against 41.6%.