The University of the Philippines (UP) is again in the news.

MR. Bienvenido S. Oplas, Jr. writes in his Oct. 10 column, “Corrupted science to justify renewables cronyism,” “if wind-solar are indeed that cheap, then will the lobby agree to (a) abolish the priority and mandatory dispatch of wind-solar to the grid, and (b) abolish the feed-in-tariff (FIT) scheme of guaranteed high price for wind-solar, other variable REs for 20 years?”

“Every Man has a Property in his own Person. This no Body has any Right to but himself. The Labour of his Body, and the Work of his Hands, we may say are properly his.” -- John Locke, Two Treatises of Government (1689)

The National Transplant Ethics Committee (NTEC) was created for the purpose of overseeing “ethical issues and dilemmas regarding organ donation and transplantation.” Such matters are apparently on the rise and it is a good thing indeed for people to be aware of the concepts and discussions surrounding this highly sensitive topic.

Denmark’s Ambassador to the Philippines said he “reads” the media, but has apparently been misreading them. He said “some media” are “systematically negative” in their reporting on the government, but his subsequent statements sounded as if he was describing most, or even all of them.

HENRY PAULSON, former US Treasury secretary, warns of an “economic iron curtain” descending as rivalry between the US and China deepens. Lee Hsien Loong, Singapore’s prime minister, says that, as tensions flare, Southeast Asian nations may be forced to choose which side to be on. The position of smaller nations caught in the middle is already uncomfortable. It will become more so if Washington and Beijing persist in imposing their own exclusive rules. Yet neither side appears willing to work towards an accommodation that is in their own interests.

Of the business developments in the last two days, what stand out -- at least, in my opinion -- are the commitment of furniture manufacturing giant IKEA to invest initially about P7 billion in putting up a Philippine store; and the government’s signing of more than 20 agreements with the People’s Republic of China on the occasion of the state visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping.

The ongoing academic year 2018-2019 is critical for Philippine higher education institutions as it is when they have to admit the pioneer batch of senior high school (SHS) graduates under the K-12 basic education reform program of the Department of Education (DepEd) into college. According to DepEd, of the more than 1.2 million graduates from public and private SHS’s in 2018, twenty-five percent (25%) or 300,000 learners will be able to obtain a college degree in the next four to five years. Factoring in the college completion rate of 30% as per Commission on Higher Education (CHEd), we are talking about 1 million (300,000/30%) learners entering college this year.

THERE is a school of marketing that believes that a political candidate is no different from a can of sardines or a shampoo. It’s just another product to be sold. In a 1969 book on the 1968 US elections, author Joe McGinniss exposed the Madison Avenue techniques used to successfully push the election of the already once-defeated Richard Nixon as president. Since then advertising types and market researchers/pollsters have jumped into the political process.

A LEADER’S MOMENT of exit is crucial, Carlos Ghosn told the Financial Times in June, because it carries a message.

Globally recognized, the Philippines is one of the most mineral-rich countries, with an estimated $840 billion worth of untapped mineral wealth. But unknown to most, it is subject to doubled excise taxes when the Tax Reform for Inclusion and Acceleration (TRAIN) Law took effect. Along with other local and national regulations and taxes from excise tax, royalty-mineral reservation, local business tax to registration fee, withholding tax and VAT, among others, it is a heavily taxed industry.

“In union there is strength” has become such a cliche that even otherwise sensible people tend to forget its inherent wisdom.