By United States Ambassador to the Philippines Sung Kim THIS morning, a US Air Force plane bearing three historic bells from San Lorenzo de Martir...

“I am an accidental chief justice. I know that you have expected maybe another individual to be appointed to this office,” said Chief Justice Lucas Bersamin when he spoke before justices and employees of the Supreme Court in the first flag-raising ceremony attended by him as chief justice. So he asked his colleagues: “Please accept me. I ask you to welcome me, to love me, to support me, to help me in my 11 months.”

Singapore -- Freedom means mobility and more mobility means more freedom. The modern symbols of mobility are comfortable and fast cars, buses, motorcycles, airplanes, fast crafts and roll-on/roll-off (RORO) ships.

THE Philippines needs new power plants if it is to provide the electricity that will deliver the government’s ambitious growth plans. The country risks falling behind its neighbors as it competes for foreign direct investment in generation infrastructure. It also faces a future locked into expensive and polluting coal.

I had the privilege to listen to Dr. Aniceto Orbeta of the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS), the government think tank, when he made a presentation on Labor and Global Development before the People Management Association of the Philippines.

One of the most difficult pieces of legislation that the Philippine Congress has tackled is Reproductive Health (RH). The book titled The RH Bill Story: Contentions and Compromises, authored by Marilen J. Dañguilan (Ateneo de Manila University Press, 2018) narrates and explains how it is so. And more importantly, the book shows how to overcome such adversity in making the RH Bill a law.

The bicameral conference committee in Congress has approved the reconciled version amending the 38-year-old Corporation Code of the Philippines to improve the country’s business climate for large and small businesses and to make it easier for investors to set up businesses (The Philippine Star, Nov. 28, 2018).

Business and politics can be superficial, even judgmental. Studies show that those with youthful, symmetrical faces are three times more likely to bag an interview or close a deal as compared to those with lopsided, aging faces. A survey conducted by Forbes magazine confirmed that attractive people enjoy a five percent earnings advantage over those deemed unattractive. Making matters worse for unattractive people is that their earning capacity diminishes at an accelerated rate over time while that of attractive people diminishes at a remarkably slower pace.

AS always, it is interesting to read Mr. Oplas. The conservative mind can simply be regarded as stupid, but I tend to see it as representing vested commercial interests.

The University of the Philippines (UP) Fighting Maroons reaching the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) championship this year was so spectacular, the spectacle is easily seen in two things: quick scarcity of game tickets and hyper-inflation of available ones.

Senator Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III said a few days ago that those individuals and groups demanding the imprisonment of Imelda Marcos because of her conviction on seven counts of graft should be “fair” to the Marcos family matriarch by respecting her constitutional rights, among them her right to post bail.

What’s funny about this “trade war” are the ironies. Ironic that US President Donald Trump is coming off as the protectionist anti-trade isolationist. Ironic that China is being made to appear by mainstream media as the champion of globalization simply because the latter hates Trump. And ironic that China’s supporters in the Philippines are attacking Trump for “winning” his trade war, when many of those same Filipinos advocated for protectionist measures few years back.