PRESIDENT TRUMP has nominated David Malpass, a senior Treasury official and former Wall Street economist, to succeed Jim Yong Kim as next leader of the World Bank. Rather than rubber-stamp the US nomination, as the bank’s other member governments are generally inclined to do, they should ask whether Malpass is the best available candidate -- and, even more important, start an open discussion about what the job should entail.

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger. In 2018, it reported that for the third year in a row, “there has been a rise in world hunger. The absolute number of undernourished people, i.e. those facing chronic food deprivation, has increased to nearly 821 million in 2017, from around 804 million in 2016. These are levels from almost a decade ago.”

The average annual pay of a chief executive officer (CEO) in the Philippines is P2,200,000. This is in stark contrast to the annual income of around P169,000 that a minimum wage earner in Metro Manila lives on. Globally, companies with the largest CEO-worker pay gaps include Disney at 367:1 and 21^st Century Fox at 311:1. On a more positive light, new data reveal that the 20 companies with the lowest CEO-worker pay gaps include Facebook (CEO Mark Zuckerberg) at 37:1 and, topping the list, Berkshire Hathaway (CEO Warren Buffett) at 2:1.

With the exception of clean drinking water, it has been proven that vaccines are the most effective means of reducing and preventing contagious diseases, preventing an estimated 2.5 million deaths each year. Among the deaths prevented are those that may come as a result of diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis that also afflict children.

THERE are plenty of reasons to sympathize with Jeff Bezos in his battle with the National Enquirer. If true, the accusations of blackmail brought by the billionaire founder of Amazon would be just the latest outrage from the tabloid, which has made a specialty of scabrous reporting and ethically questionable tactics and techniques.

HOW do we ensure that our friendship, partnership, and alliance, forged over the past century, evolve to meet our needs a century from now? Last week, the US Embassy brought together top US, Filipino, and regional experts to ask this very question.

The late controversial politician Ernie Maceda seems to have been right. Any publicity, favorable or unfavorable is good for politicians. The list of leading senatorial candidates in the latest polls affirms this sad reality. Several notorious candidates are ahead of the “good guys.” Ex-detainees on plunder charges Jinggoy Estrada and Bong Revilla are in the likely to win top 12. So, it seems, will Bato dela Rosa of the drug suspect killing sprees. Meanwhile, serious legislators like Bam Aquino and even JV Ejercito are barely making it And Erin Tañada and Gary Alejano are dangling down there. Even Lito Lapid who, last I heard, had not passed a single legislation in all his forgettable senate days is up there among the topnotchers.

How does one win in a senatorial election where 63 candidates are fighting over 12 seats? The advertising geniuses at the watering holes in Makati insist that name recognition is vital. But the harsh reality may be that money, which is also known as “the root of all evil,” is the foundation of Philippine elections. No money. No votes.

In both colonial and post-colonial periods, political contestation in Philippine society has always been dynamic, in which elites and the masses engage in a particular exercise called elections.

In an effort to increase transparency in the beneficial ownership and control of domestic corporations -- and to prevent their misuse for money laundering, organized crime and terrorists financing purposes, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), pursuant to its mandate to assist in the implementation of the Anti-Money Laundering Act (“AMLA”), issued Memorandum Circular No. 17, Series of 2018 (“MC No. 17”) on Nov. 27, 2018 which essentially changed the form of the General Information Sheet (“GIS”) to be regularly submitted to the SEC. Effective March 1, 2019, the SEC will only accept the new GIS form, which now includes information on the beneficial owners of shares in the corporations, among others. Under MC No. 17, any failure by a corporation to submit the GIS under the required form shall be considered non-filing thereof. Accordingly, all Philippine domestic corporations, whether stock or nonstock, will soon need to disclose their beneficial owners.

The cronyist “Solar para sa Bayan Corporation” (SPBC) franchise bill (HB 8179) was magically passed by the House of Representatives despite opposition by many groups in the energy sector. Among the oppositors is the Developers of Renewable Energy for AdvanceMent, Inc. (DREAM), the umbrella organization of all RE associations in the Philippines.

The Corporation Code contains its own set of “corporate governance (CG) principles,” which can be summarized into the following general statements: