Does Congress even have enough time for charter change that will pave the way to a shift from the unitary to a federal form of government?
While House Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is pushing for both chambers to vote separately in a Constituent Assembly, some senators are still wary that some characters at the House will propose a joint session where legislators would vote jointly.
There are so many pieces of priority legislation that Congress has to tackle. Among these are the 2019 budget, phase 2 of TRAIN and many others.
Let us also not forget that 2019 is an election year. In a few months, House members up for reelection will go home to their districts to campaign. This will surely derail any congressional action on charter change.
Santa Banana, above everything else, most Filipinos are unaware of what federalism is. The Duterte administration needs to work harder at an education campaign. That video by Assistant Secretary Mocha Uson was an ugly start.
Just because Uson campaigned for President Duterte, she remains at her post despite the many embarrassments she has caused him. And at a salary she clearly does not deserve!
Perhaps Uson has got something the rest of us don’t.
Going back to Charter change, I don’t think Congress has time. While I believe that no constitution is cast in stone, the move toward federalism has to be studied well.
And, anyway, with that lewd video, Uson may just have sealed the fate of federalism for now.
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According to the Bangko Sentral, the country’s inflation rate is hitting 5.7 percent. This simply means that there is inflation when there is excess liquidity—when money supply grows faster than the growth of the economy.
It is just a matter of supply and demand. Thus, when the supply of money is constant or increases at a slow/ steady rate, the purchasing power of money will be relatively stable.
In contrast, when the supply of money expands faster than the supply of goods and services, the value of money declines and prices soar.
The problem is that politicians often blame inflation on greedy businessmen, infrastructure funding, the tax reform program and even external developments like the rise in price of oil.
But as economists know, persistent inflation has a single cause—the rapid growth of the supply of money.
The problem as I see it is that when the supply of money outgrows the supply of goods and services, prices increase and investors, both domestic and foreign, cannot plan well. As a result, they go to other more stable destinations.
Countries that increase their money supply at a slow rate of 5 percent of less also experience low inflation rates. This is true for high-income countries such as the US and Canada, as well as Singapore, New Zealand and Sweden. It is also true for poor countries like the Central African Republic and Mauritius.
Economists and businessmen know that high and variable rates of inflation undermine prosperity. It causes uncertainty. It also undermines the credibility of the government. People expect their government to protect them and their properties.
But how can the government protect the people when it cannot control inflation?
High prices will hit the ceiling and this will create all sorts of problems for the government.
It’s good we now have somebody like Arroyo as Speaker of the House. She understands economics.
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International businessman Roberto Ongpin has a new set of directors for Alphaland. He remains chairman and CEO. They are:
Lorenzo Tan, former president and CEO of RCBC as vice chairman; Eric Recto; Senator Juan Edgardo Angara who took the place of his late father Ed Angara; lawyer Florentino Herrera III; lawyer Franciso Ed. Lim; Gilberto Teodoro, Jr., former Defense secretary and a legal luminary; Dennis Uy, chairman of Udenna Corp.; Fr. Jose Ramon Villarin, Ateneo president; and Gregorio Yu, former president of Belle Corp. and currently chairman of CATS Automobile and vice chairman of Sterling Bank.
These are all outstanding individuals that Bobby, my former student, has gathered. Congratulations, Bobby, for your sterling group of directors.
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The frequent seizure of intercepted shabu shipments from abroad simply means that illegal drug cartels believe there is still a big market here despite President Duterte’s brutal war on drugs.
The police may kill the last pusher, but so long as the demand is there, drugs will not be eradicated.
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