Business & Economics Perspective Blogger

Here's a video from Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong enjoying Filipino shaved ice,  aka halo halo. This is a short video where Wong says, "Halo halo!" during the ASEAN. For some reason, he also sets the video to the song "Salamin, Salamin" by the Filipino girl band BINI. Salamin means mirror. The short video also has him greeting Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet, Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, Vietnamese official Lê Minh Hưng, and Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto. I can only imagine Flor Contemplacion Crybabies  may be overreacting on social media when this came out. Migrante International is still stuck with its narrative that FDI is bad . It's presumably born from the Flor Contemplacion crybaby narrative. They can cry all they want, but the facts remain as facts. Flor was guilty. The movie, The Flor Contemplacion Story,  remains a problematic film .  Ironically, some Filipinos may actually be...

Lechon may look fresh but it's really bad | Credits to: DVMF It's May and Fiesta Months are here too. Fiesta tends to have lechon in mind. I was thinking about the near-inescapable tradition of, "Must have lechon." A recent incident in Cebu City was reported by the Cebu Daily News with this frightening report: In a report, the Department of Veterinary Medicine and Fisheries (DVMF) said two lechons weighing 15 kilos and 42 kilos were confiscated in Barangay Apas. The pigs used for the lechons were reportedly slaughtered in the cities of Talisay and Mandaue. The third lechon, weighing 30 kilos, was found being sold in Barangay Lahug. Investigators found that the pig had been slaughtered in the mountain barangay of Bonbon in Cebu City. The DVMF, in coordination with the Cebu City Police Office, conducted the “hot meat” operation on Sunday as part of the city government’s campaign against unregulated slaughtering and the sale of undocumented meat products that may pose p...

Philippine Star Some time ago, I wrote about how many Filipinos don't understand what 100% FDI shares ownership means . As of now, I need to make my stance clear on my version of the economic charter change. Economist Andrew James Masigan pointed out in the Philippine Star  the following: Imbedded in the Constitution are industries in which foreigners are precluded. These include agriculture, public utilities, transportation, retail, construction, media, education, among others. Further, the Constitution limits foreigners from owning more than 40 percent equity in corporations. Foreigners are barred from owning land too. These provisions caused us to lose out on many investments which would have generated jobs, exports and taxes . Not too long ago, we lost a multibillion-dollar investment from an American auto manufacturing company that chose to invest in Thailand instead. We lost a multi-billion smartphone plant by Samsung, who located in Vietnam. Masigan seems to be for foreigner...

Bongbong Marcos' Facebook Page The ASEAN Philippines 2026 was taking place in Cebu City. It's the 48th Asian summit. Last time, I wrote an article in 2023 where I talked about the great ASEAN opportunity . That post was a critique last 2023. I was writing how the Philippines has potential but it's held back by Pinoy Pride Economics . What has Pinoy Pride Economics done anyway? As I read the late Lee Kuan Yew's book From Third World to First , there was a stinging rebuke not just about the Marcoses but also about the sad state of OFWs: Mrs. Aquino's successor, Fidel Ramos, whom she backed, was more practical and established greater stability . In November 1992, I visited him. In a speech at the 18th Philippine Business Conference, I said,  "I do not believe that democracy necessarily leads to development. I believe what a country needs to develop is discipline more than democracy."  In private, President Ramos said he agreed with me that  a British parliame...

World Riots As it was Karl Marx's birthday a few days ago (May 5), I personally find it crazy that I missed this "golden opportunity". I remember back when I was in high school, a maid of ours bragged, "If all the poor will unite, all the rich will be defeated." Years later, I remember some crazy brat (probably just past 18 and not in his late 20s) said, "We will do it better when we seize the wealth." This makes me laugh hard because the idea of the poor uniting against the rich, to create utopia, can be easily debunked with common sense . You don't need to go to Ateneo De Manila or the University of the Philippines to understand what I'm going to share. The poor aren't exactly homogeneous or all alike I haven't tried being poor. However, having talked with poor people who got better, it's easy to think that you can't have a homogeneous group of the poor. If you look at people under poverty, you have these situations to prove t...

Manila Bulletin Today is Labor Day, and it's a non-working holiday . Since it's May 1, it's easy for me to think of the Kilusang Mayo Uno movement. The same slogan still shows up almost every rally, "Raise the national wage to PHP 1,200.00 per day." It "doesn't help" that I do get the  Tu Quoque argument or "You too!" fallacy. It may look like "I haven't done much" compared to KMU , but I would like to address truths that would never change. It's all about that one fact, " Economics doesn't care about how many times you insult it. It never bends just to silence the insults. " However, it looks like KMU thinks that if they insult economics enough, economics will bend to their whims. However, history has proven them wrong and will still prove them wrong . This time, I'm going to raise an extreme example . KMU is in the situation of, "You may want it when you don't get it. You may no longer want it ...

Foreign Trade University It's time for another Jollibee-related post. I first wrote an article about Jollibee's success in the world market in 2022 . I "followed up" the post I just shared with an article talking about hypocritically rejoing that Jollibee is rising worldwide, while still opposing FDI . My recent focus has been on Jollibee World's success in Vietnam . I'd like to share an excerpt from this ABS-CBN News report by Arthur Fuentes: Since debuting in Ho Chi Minh City in 2005, the chain has expanded to over 250 outlets across 50 provinces. Jollibee said its strategy has relied on "local relevance," tailoring its flagship fried chicken and spaghetti to Vietnamese palates while aggressively targeting the youth demographic .  “ Vietnam is a highly dynamic and competitive market, and our progress reflects our focus on understanding local consumers and executing well on the fundamentals ,” said Ernesto Tanmantiong, Global President and CEO of J...