News and Articles
Pivot to the EU
December 6, 2021by Orlando Oxales originally published in The Manila Standard “Trade and investments look promising, even amid the pandemic.” Sustainable recovery was a shared objective among the country’s top thought leaders from the government, the private sector, and the academe. In the recently held 2021 Pilipinas Conference of the Stratbase ADR Institute, they expressed an honest assessments of […]
Eliminate Connectivity Roadblocks for the Filipino Consumers
November 29, 2021CitizenWatch Philippines calls on the government to improve nationwide connectivity by removing bureaucratic barriers toward the full development of our digital infrastructure. By eliminating these barriers, we will be able to implement the National Broadband Plan, simplify the issuance of necessary power permits, and prioritize the welfare of Filipino consumers. Further, we strongly agree that […]
Pathways and strategies for a new and better government
November 29, 2021by Orlando Oxales originally published in The Manila Standard “The Pilipinas Conference gave us words of wisdom from dozens of experts.” The 6th Pilipinas Conference of the Stratbase Albert del Rosario Institute (ADRi) culminated an impressive and inspiring five-day series of discussions in an extraordinary assembly of what former International Criminal Court Judge Raul Pangalangan aptly described […]
Another Chinese attack and the 211th diplomatic note
November 22, 2021by Orlando Oxales originally published in The Manila Standard “The next leaders we elect will put our interests first — not Beijing’s.” In yet another act of aggression and in blatant violation of Philippine territory, Chinese coast guard vessels blocked two Philippine supply boats and sprayed water cannons in a resupply mission in Ayungin Shoal. This reportedly […]
Rogue moves against private schools again?
October 25, 2021by Orlando Oxales originally published in The Manila Standard “The President should immediately pass the law.” With all the raging controversies and multi-layered crisis of the pandemic plus heating political intramurals, it looks like another issue has emerged. There have been news reports that some regional offices of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) are still imposing […]
E-commerce boomers
October 18, 2021by Orlando Oxales originally published in The Manila Standard “What’s your fintech experience during this pandemic?” E-Commerce is booming in the Philippines. Online transactions became the lifeline to pandemic survival as it became and is the safest and most convenient mode of consumer purchases. Connecting to the internet through our mobile devices has become indispensable for the […]
We should be responsible stewards of our environment
October 4, 2021by Orlando Oxales originally published in The Manila Standard “Proper waste disposal is a matter of discipline.” We cannot deny how plastics are an essential element of every aspect of technological innovation, not just in food packaging but as an indispensable material for any manufactured product we have today. Try to look at anything you use, anything […]
A disjointed and stressed health system
September 27, 2021by Orlando Oxales originally published in The Manila Standard “We must remember the lessons of this crisis and choose our next leaders wisely.” I felt a restrained sense of ire in the voices of the speakers in last Friday’s most recent virtual town hall discussion of think tank Stratbase ADR Institute. Various representatives of health stakeholders, seemingly […]
They may be trying to do it again
September 20, 2021It has been 49 years since President Ferdinand E. Marcos signed Proclamation No. 1081 declaring the Philippines under Martial Law. September 21, 1972 was the start of 14 years of authoritarian rule that destroyed our democratic institutions and established a dictatorship that preached the ideology of a so called “new society”. Martial law was […]
Malampaya issues and dynamics
September 20, 2021Energy regulators need to act faster on power plant builds to move our power situation from barely sufficient to surplus. Before economic recovery can take off, our energy supply must be at a level of stability and affordability to attract new investments that we will need to compete versus other economies that experts already predict will recover earlier than ours.