“Here’s your credit card, Ma’am, no need to sign the charge slip for payments below P2,000,” the waiter at her favorite Italian restaurant says to the lady-lawyer, a regular diner. “But I want to sign the charge slip,” she insists. “See here, there is a blank space for the tip to be given, if the customer wanted the tip to be included in the credit card charge -- how would I know if an outrageous tip amount was added by someone without my knowledge? How can I prove, should I question my credit card statement, that I did not write in a tip on the charge slip?”

IT SEEMS easier to make a list of don’ts than to-do’s. The negative list is shorter and easier to follow. Laws are usually a list of unacceptable behavior, a list of no-noes’. Customs forms for instance specify only goods that are prohibited entry to a country like illegal drugs, fresh fruits, weapons, or currencies above a certain amount. A declaration of non-possession of these banned items is part of the usual immigration form. Anything not found in the negative list is allowable -- did they list pets?

Remember the adage: dress up for the position you aspire and not the position you have? If true, then quite a number of our people are aspiring for the position of village vulgarian.

His spokesperson Salvador Panelo insisted that it wasn’t because President Rodrigo Duterte thinks that the 1986 civilian-military mutiny at EDSA isn’t important; it’s just that he has a lot of things to do.

“The over-all speed of advance will be increased by those who move fastest. Even if many fall behind at first, the cumulative effect of the preparation of the path will, before long, sufficiently facilitate their advance that they will be able to keep their place in the march.” -- Friedrich Hayek, Chapter 5, The Constitution of Liberty (1960)

Pneumonia is a serious infectious disease and should never be taken lightly. It is one of the leading causes of sickness and death in the country, according to the Department of Health (DoH). Pneumonia is a bacterial infection caused by Streptococcus pneumonia, more commonly known as the pneumococcus (plural: pneumococci). Pneumococcal disease, which refers to any type of infection caused by pneumococci, includes pneumonia, meningitis (inflammation of the meninges, the membranes that cover the brain and spinal cord) and febrile bacteremia (presence of bacteria in the blood); otitis media (ear infection), sinusitis and bronchitis. Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) is the second most common cause of bacterial pneumonia.

Do others have a preconceived notion about your personality? Or do you quickly conclude a person’s character? If so, then Susan Cain’s book, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking, might also capture your interest. Cain is an American writer and lecturer who earned her Doctor of Jurisprudence degree from Harvard Law School. She initially practiced her profession as a lawyer and negotiations consultant but later left her corporate career for the more serene life of writing. In 2012, she published the said book which described the value of introverts. She also co-founded Quiet Revolution LLC, a mission-based American company committed to “unlock the power of introverts for the benefit of us all.”

One who has experienced an election or two will probably be familiar with the term “premature campaigning,” and what it means. Generally, we understand it to be the situation where prior to the official start of the campaign period (90 days for national election; 45 days for local election), a candidate begins to campaign for himself. This practice has been declared unlawful by our laws as early as 1985, as provided in Section 80 of Batas Pambansang Bilang 881, which reads:

A bill on “proof of parking” is now up for consideration at the Senate. How this legislation can actually be effective in easing traffic congestion in Metro Manila is still lost on me. Instead of moving on it hastily, by making it a “priority” measure, I strongly suggest a proper study first be done on how it can best work for us.

The recently concluded “Abuse Summit” at the Vatican convened by Pope Francis frontally addressed the problem of priestly sexual abuse -- a problem and a challenge set against the extremely difficult-to-meet standard of priestly celibacy.

The Philippine poultry industry again faces a challenge after the much-dreaded avian influenza outbreak, or “bird flu,” a few years back: the lifting of the price-based special safeguard duty imposition (SSG) on imported chicken meat and products, which led to a sharp increase in importation to the detriment of the local poultry sector.

When I was a student, I heard an Englishwoman make a statement at a forum that I remember to this day. She said, “If you do not have leftist leanings before the age of 25, you have no heart; but if you still have leftist leanings after the age of 25, you have no head.” Why then does the chairman of our National Youth Commission demand that government scholars who become leftist activists be deprived of their scholarships? And why should uniformed officers go after students and teachers who espouse “leftist” ideologies, however they may define this?