Much drama accompanied the State of the Nation Address the other week. Hopes are high that action follows suit.

President Rodrigo Duterte at his third State of the Nation Address (SONA) on July 23 urged lawmakers to pass Package 2 of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) law, while firmly saying no to proposals to reverse TRAIN Package 1 amid the high inflation rate recorded for the country this year (philstar.com July 26, 2018).

“Are we in the midst of a crisis?”

PEACEBUILDING in the country has reached another milestone -- the enactment of an organic law that will formally create the Bangsamoro territory.

Well, it’s not really the ConCom (or Constitutional Commission) but rather a ConCom (for Consultative Committee). From a read of EO 10, Series of 2016, the Committee’s job is to study, conduct consultations, and review the provisions of the 1987 Constitution and, thereafter, submit its report, recommendations, and proposals to the President. He then transmits said recommendations and proposals to Congress. And that’s that, the “Committee shall cease to exist.”

Within months of his coming to power in 2016, President Rodrigo Duterte’s profanities, tirades, threats, outrageous remarks about women, human rights, heads of foreign states, and what he was actually doing, had called the attention of international media -- in Japan, the United States and Europe -- to what was happening in the Philippines.

“We Filipinos draw our endless patience, our good nature and our trust in God’s master plan from a simple unshakeable faith. I surprise myself quoting to a distraught son, daughter or friend, Teresa of Avila’s comforting lines which I learned when I was 9, “Nadie te turbe. Nada te espante.” Let nothing disturb or frighten you. Everything passes. God never changes. Solo Dios basta. God alone suffices. Exeunt.” -- Carmen Guerrero-Nakpil, Exeunt

INDIA’S government seems intent on abandoning good ideas for dealing with the country’s banking crisis and encouraging bad ones. Perhaps that shouldn’t be surprising, given that the bureaucrats don’t yet seem to have grappled with the real nature of the problem.

Does gender composition of a company’s leadership team affect its financial performance?

In a 2012 piece in The Spectator about the win of Chinese swimmer Ye Shiwen in the London Olympics, writer Ross Clark titled his commentary, “Sinophobia, the last acceptable racism.” He wrote about how Western coaches questioned China’s win of gold medals, initially insinuating possible illegal drug use, then later the use of inhumane and brutal training regimes.

Corporate governance is a system of rules and policies by which a company is directed and controlled. It influences the behavior of the company including how risks are managed and how objectives are set.

A GROWING body of research shows that ride-hailing services such as Uber and Lyft increase rather than reduce congestion. These services, however, account for such a small share of urban travel that focusing on them as a source of trouble is probably wrong, if easing congestion is the goal. If they’re not the solution, they’re not really the problem, either.