NATIONAL economic growth in the first quarter (January-February-March) of this year was as predicted early this month by Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Er­nesto Pernia. It dropped to 5.6 percent in these first three months, the lowest in four years. It should have been 6.6 percent, if the national budget for 2019 had been approved on time, […]

  AFTER the winners in the last elections have been determined and proclaimed, public discussions are bound to follow on some issues that cropped up during the campaign. Vote-buying became a prominent issue in this election, with so many arrested by the Philippine National Police (PNP) for allegedly buying and selling votes for various amounts […]

  THE United Nations is embarking this week on a new stepped-up effort to keep climate change in check, with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres traveling to New Zealand and several south Pacific islands. It has been three years since the Paris agreement went into force, with the various nations presenting their planned programs of […]

  THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) starts today the Random Manual Audit (RMA), a process required by the law to assure that the Vote Counting Machines used in Monday’s midterm elections were accurate in reporting the results of the election. The Comelec randomly selected 715 polling precincts nationwide. Starting today and for the next two […]

  SOME 180 nations around the world agreed last Friday to regulate the export of plastic wastes in a new United Nations accord. Some 1,400 representatives approved the agreement after 12 days of discussion in Geneva, Switzerland. With the new agreement, developing nations may now refuse plastic waste dumping, Executive Secretary Rolph Payet of the […]

  THE nation votes today to elect 12 new senators, half of the mem­bership of the Senate, along with district representatives and par­ty-list organizations for the House of Representatives, and a host of local officials. We are holding our elections at a time when we are at peace, enjoying progress on so many levels and […]