Agriculture has long been the backbone of civilizations, nations, and communes. Empires are built on the foundations of food security and access to livestock, poultry, and grains. Modern society would interpret this as the common foundation of developing nations whose industries rose from the shadows of farmers cultivating crops and livestock by developing the necessary value chains that fuel communities. From the Indus Valley to the Mekong Delta, the world would not have progressed the way it did if it weren’t for agriculture.

It has become fashionable to wring our hands and acknowledge that the atrocious kind of leaders we have today is the fault of the Filipino voter. Assuming that the elections have been honest (though this is also under question), here is an attempt at understanding why we seem to elect so many undesirables.

BEING UNDERESTIMATED, even to the point of being dismissed with contempt, can be an advantage. The key to being rated well does not entail working longer hours, but just exceeding expectations. This can entail pushing the starting line forward, or moving the finish line back, or both. The race belongs to the one with a shorter track to run.

I APOLOGIZE. I know it is a slight twist from the original but this twisted version serves my purpose much more pointedly. And, before I get to the point let me tell you how the underlying message becomes meaningful to me.

IN 1953, mountaineers Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary made the first confirmed summiting of Mount Everest, the world’s highest peak. Recently, Everest has grown so popular that photos are surfacing showing huge lines of climbers waiting to surmount that same peak. On rarefied ground where once only Norgay and Hillary tread, now climbers are dying because of overcrowding.

Two Interlocking perspectives may be gleaned from the Chinese vessel-ramming of a Filipino boat F/B Gem-Ver that left 22 Filipino fishers abandoned in the waters off Recto Rank on June 9.

I just returned the other day from a trip to India on the invitation of Johnny Chotrani, Chair of the Philippine-India Business Council (PIBC) of which I’m a member. We met with the ASEAN-India Business Council (AIBC), the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce Inc. (FICCI), and the Chamber of Indian Industry (CII). The trip had a dual purpose: it included matters pertaining to the Philippine Council for Foreign Relations (PCFR), which I chair, and where Johnny’s a member. I met with Philippihne Ambassador to India Dondon Bagatsing, our Defense Attaché and officials of India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MFA).

About eight years ago, the Research Center for Responsible Consumption and Production based in the Wuppertal Institut asked us to organize a forum on jobs of the future, among other “futuristic” challenges and scenarios. We did not know what jobs there would be because we had just started Industry 4.0 then.

The Philippines’ GDP growth over the past 18 years has a beautiful and not-so beautiful story. Accelerating from 2001 to 2015, then decelerating lately: 6.9% in 2016, 6.7% in 2017, 6.2% in 2018, 5.6% in 2019’s 1^st quarter (Q1), then 5.5% in Q2.

AIRLINES are fundamental to the self-image of sovereign territories. The largest one in any country is routinely dubbed a “flag carrier,” as if it was the leader of a naval squadron. No wonder Beijing has it in for Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd.

Calls for the review of the rice tariffication law at this point are premature as it has been less than a year since it started being implemented. Farmers have yet to receive the assistance which the rice competitiveness enhancement fund (RCEF) offers. Agriculture secretary William D. Dar had just assumed his post, pledging to implement the law effectively. I don’t see any evidence at this point that the lawmakers of the 17^th Congress made a big mistake passing this law.

Last year, my wife and I went on a trip to Spain, specifically to visit the wine vineyards of Bodegas Frutos Villar. Situated in the city Valladolid in Castilla y León, the city is where the Pisuerga, Duero, and Esgueva rivers converge. These bodies of water are what help irrigate five famed wine regions -- Ribiera del Duero, Rueda, Toro, Tierra de Leon, and Cigales. Valladolid was the capital of Spain during the era of King Philip III in the early 1600s and the center of Spanish political life. The city is teeming with historical sites and old world splendor.