Stand up for the Philippine Rise
By Diana J. Mendoza
On April 12, the Area Task Force (ATF) North under the National Task Force West Philippine Sea (NTF-WPS) will stage the ceremonial send off...
The Special Australia-ASEAN Summit: Highlighting Australia’s significance as an Indo-Pacific Middle Power
By Renato Cruz de Castro
Middle powers have an interest in preserving the international order. They follow the leadership of a relevant great power, but they do so willingly...
Build, Build, Build, and the Swiss Challenge Method
By Juan Paolo G. Alfonso
Under the Build, Build, Build program, the government intends to spend $158 billion over the next five years in public infrastructure projects. This means...
Unwitting Zuckers of Zuckerberg’s Facebook
By Greg B. Macabenta
George Orwell’s omnipresent Big Brother, which he predicted in his book, Nineteen Eighty-Four, written in 1949, may have already become a reality. And we...
Tourism: Bane or boon?
By Pacita U. Juan
Since the government’s discovery of the missing marshlands of Boracay, a lot of talk and media has been devoted to tourism issues -- one...
IPR in the ASEAN and plain packaging in the West
By Bienvenido S. Oplas, Jr.
Last week, March 22, a global coalition of 62 market-oriented independent or nongovernment think tanks and institutes sent a letter to the World Health...
Security concerns
By Rafael M. Alunan III
Last week, I was drawn to various conferences that swirled around unending security issues. I’ll share some of the more important ones and try...
In my humble opinion
By A. R. Samson
In the spirit of this week, we take a breather from irony, satire, ridicule, cynicism, and irreverence. We shift to matters of the spirit,...
Is growth sustainable?
By Calixto V. Chikiamco
The answer appears to be yes. After a checkered history of boom and bust cycles since the founding of the Republic in 1946, punctuated...
Sereno’s removal does not serve Duterte’s interest
By Filomeno S. Sta. Ana III
I address this to the pro-Duterte partisans and to President Rodrigo Duterte himself. I wonder whether President Duterte has weighed the costs and benefits...
Some questions on the Panda bonds
By Amelia H. C. Ylagan
In 2005 the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) issued the first “Panda” bonds -- “a Chinese renminbi-denominated bond from...
Four constitutional reforms fundamental to a federal system
By Michael Henry Ll. Yusingco
ACCORDING to the scholar, Raphael N. Montes: “Besides its basic principles, federalism is very customizable. The peculiarities of a country...