Business & Economics Perspective Blogger

I remember Cebu City had severe flood warning going on . I saw some stores at Carbon in Cebu City, getting severely flooded . It was a real nightmare as Typhoon Crising also passed by Cebu. The sight was a disaster. Flooding in Carbon doesn't surprise me. There are a lot of unsavory people in Cebu City's downtown. It's a disgusting thing when I think about stepping on whatever disgusting stuff, that was improperly disposed  of. I would talk stuff like, "It's because of people like you that the Philippines doesn't improve!" It's not surprising to find the news that garbage has been a leading culprit. The government may have some responsibility. However, citizens who love to throw their garbage just anywhere also form part of the problem. Social responsibility falls on both the government and the citizens. Sure, the government has to play its part (ex., making clear policies). However, the citizens should also play their part by not throwing garbage in i...

I ran into DNews where I got the video (above) to share. The interesting fact is that flies can get a bad name. In business, there's the term that the place is simply visited only by flies, to show that business is bad . Flies love dirty places and they're carriers of germs. However, I was soon amazed to learn about maggot therapy a few years back. Maggot therapy is using disinfected larvae of flies that only lay their eggs on decaying tissue. These tiny maggots begin as much decaying tissue as possible. With that in mind, I even feel like if one day I ever get diabetic or have a slow-healing wound, I would certainly want that procedure! I would choose to have disinfected maggots on my wound, even if the idea sounds cross. That would be better than losing my foot! After showing interest in maggot therapy, I certainly find this procedure amazing! An interesting concept from Singapore that I wish I knew existed Singapore may be a first-world country but you can't get rid of w...

As I've sipped two glasses of Tealive's Aren Caramel (read here )--I was tempted to research more on palm sugar from the Arenga tree. Arenga bears the fruit that Filipinos call kaong and Indonesians call kolang kaling. As a Filipino, I prefer to call it the Kaong Tree or Punuan ng Kaong. This video is from Masarang, Indonesia. Masarang in Tagalog means strong. If the Indonesian word means strong as well--this is a very strong foundation. The research on palm sugar landed me in the organization called Yayasan Masarang or Masarang Foundation. The video I just shared shows the struggle of palm tappers and how FDI can help in learning environmentally-friendly practices.  The late Lee Kuan Yew even published in his book From Third World to First about greening Singapore. The pernicious myth that's spread around is that Singapore supposedly only opened to FDI due to lack of natural resources . However, other countries rich in natural resources like Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan, Chi...

I must admit that I'm getting tired of all the misrepresentations of foreign direct investment (FDI) on Facebook. Such misrepresentations can come from "think-tanks" such as IBON Foundation, Bayan Muna, and the Philippine Anti-Fascist League. That's why I wrote a couple of posts such as (1) how we need to focus on environmentally-friendly business practices (read here ), (2) that FDIs don't always lead to environmental degradation (read here ), and (3) asking the question if you're willing to support local businesses that destroy the environment (read here ). Besides, economic protectionism isn't a guarantee that environment will be friendly. Both North Korea and Venezuela are known to have very bad environmental practices. Just reading about them can make you dizzy. Protectionism ended up destroying agriculture than protecting it Mao Zedong's "great leap forward" was evidence In contrast to what those "think tanks" want us to belie...

A very huge misconception especially if you know Singapore's history Some time ago, I decided to write about how foreign direct investments (FDIs) doesn't always mean environmental destruction . I would like to write this post about FDIs and multinational corporations (MNCs). I don't deny that some businesses just fail to uphold environmentally-friendly practices. That's why I also wrote about the importance of going green in doing businesses . Money is only worth it if there are forests to supply trees, there's delicious fish to eat because of clean streams, there's clean drinking water to buy, and the environment is well-taken care of. My money will have its value if I can go to a beach resort that uses its earnings to preserve the cleanliness of the place. Money becomes worthless when there's nothing of value to exchange it with. Poisoned rivers, massive deforestation, etc. will definitely make money worthless . That's why the late Lee Kuan Yew also d...

PH Antifa's big misconception It may be several months past Earth Day already but I'll still write posts supporting eco-friendly capitalism. I did write a post on eco-friendly capitalism . Capitalism is a force meant for good only in the hands of good people. It was meant to fill in the supply and demand gap based on free market-friendly   competition with a set of rules. Real competition has a set of rules such as no cheating. Another deadly misinformation sent by protectionist "think tanks" is that accepting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) equals environmental degradation. It may seem true (at first) but one can't tell the difference between capitalism as a tool for good vs. capitalism being misused and abused. It's not like as if people who believe in socialism or communism have been better, right?  If you think protectionism is good for your country's environment then think again It's easy to blame FDIs for pollution. However, did you know countri...