Business Matters
False hopes?
By David L. BalangueMay 13 will come and go. Another set of elections will be completed and the promises we heard during the preelection period will be forgotten, to be heard once more come the 2016 elections.
May 13 will come and go. Another set of elections will be completed and the promises we heard during the preelection period will be forgotten, to be heard once more come the 2016 elections.
The National Citizens’ Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel), which pioneered the people’s involvement in the electoral exercises of 1984 and 1986 (when President Ferdinand Marcos agreed to call a snap election), is back.
The third-quarter 7.1-percent growth in our GDP, which brought the year-to-date growth to 6.5 percent, coupled with the Philippine Stock Exchange index breaching the 5,800 level, augurs well for the country. Foreign direct investments in the first three quarters of the year are also up at $1.1 billion, registering a 40-percent increase. Our international reserves are also at its highest at $84 billion. We are now among the world’s fastest-growing economies for 2012 and, save for the temporary setback and devastation caused by “Pablo” in eastern Mindanao, the Philippines is now definitely set for takeoff.
A number of arguments for and against the Reproductive Health bill have been posited and the debates have been mostly emotional, with the Senate seemingly succeeding in derailing the passage of the measure. The Catholic Church has taken the lead in opposing the passage of the bill into law, claiming that certain provisions are against Church teachings. The Church has even broadly defined abortion to include the use of condoms and other common contraceptives. It has mislabeled the RH bill as promoting abortion notwithstanding specific provisions to the contrary.
Corruption—risk/reward equation. Faced with an opportunity to make a quick buck in an illicit manner, a rational person would consider the risks and consequence of being caught in relation to the expected benefits. This is a basic principle that is true both in business and in the government. In business schools, this would be Finance 101, or learning how to measure and manage the risks vis-à-vis the benefits. The goal is choosing the decision that provides the highest risk-adjusted return.
The first-quarter growth in the Philippine economy of 6.4 percent is great news, and the mood is very positive that this is sustainable. The buoyant stock market, with the PSE Stock Index breaching 5,200, is one of the best performing exchanges in the world. The Philippine peso continues to surge, which in general is an indication of a strong economy. More importantly, the business sector is optimistic of better things to come, with Malacañang’s determined fight to combat corruption.
The 5,000-strong pro-Corona demonstration, comprising mainly of employees of the Supreme Court and the Judiciary, as well as members of a religious group, made front-page news and prime-time TV last week. The demonstrators expressed their full support for Chief Justice Renato Corona, notwithstanding the preponderance of evidence that over P30 million, and still counting, of his assets were undervalued or not reported in his statements of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALNs).
With impeachment defined as a judicial and political process, the Senate sitting as an impeachment court should affirm at least one of the charges against Chief Justice Renato Corona to force him to vacate his position. Corona is one of the remnants of the rear defense set up by Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo before she stepped down from the presidency. (Another was former Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez.) The impeachment and eventual ouster of the Chief Justice will not weaken but rather strengthen the Supreme Court, for it would send a clear message that the justices’ allegiance should be to the people and the pursuit of truth, justice and accountability, as enshrined in the Constitution.
In the corporate world, a company that is moribund, a laggard, and unable to deal with competition and manages to just coast along is bound to eventually collapse. In such a situation, the company could survive by undertaking a complete or significant makeover, re-engineering itself by whatever means possible to cope with competition. Oftentimes, this [...]
THE FILIPINO people’s election of President Benigno Simeon Aquino III is finally starting to pay dividends in the fight against corruption. It appears that the game plan of the P-Noy administration in this fight was to first get rid of Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez and her cohorts, who appeared to be protecting rather than going after [...]
THE KILLING of Osama bin Laden has brought joy and euphoria to the United States and to most of the civilized world. The world’s most wanted and feared terrorist who promised the destruction of the United States and its allies, and orchestrated the murder of thousands of people, has finally been terminated, literally. With direct [...]
