By Rose de la Cruz

Two of President Duterte’s men—Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia (a US-educated economics professor) and Spokesman Harry Roque—are ambivalent about federalism and its impact on the economy. But between the two, Pernia is viewed as having the wisdom and proper perspective rather than Roque, whose tongue works faster than his mind.

In response to the clashing (Cabinet) opinions on federalism, former Solicitor General Florin Hilbay said in a tweet: “Pernia an economist and head of the NEDA says federalism will wreak havoc on the economy and Roque, the spokesman, not true: Who…

Read more: Duterte’s men are ambivalent about federalism

By Rose de la Cruz

When it comes to aggressiveness nothing beats the stamina of partylist congressmen and Leyte Rep. Henry Ong, who of late reported their ‘wish lists’ of items or bills they filed to be certified urgent by President Duterte. But just like any other wishes, they may or may not be included in the coming state of the nation address (SONA) of the president.

Those who submitted their ‘wish lists’ to this site were: Reps. Milagros Aquino-Magsaysay (Senior Citizen partylist); Reps. Ron Salo and Ciriaco Calalang (Kabayan partylist); Rep. Bernadette Herrera-Dy (Bagong Henerasyon…

Read more: SONA ‘wish lists’ of 3 partylists, Leyte Reps. Bared

By Rose de la Cruz

The new management of Magnum Air (Skjet) Inc. said it is willing to fully cooperate with the Bureau of Customs with regard the unpaid duties and taxes of its previous management of an imported 80-seater aircraft, which was seized by the bureau last March 29.

Similarly, it reported that it had filed syndicated estafa charges against the previous management of Skyjet, a copy of which had been furnished the BoC for the seizure proceedings.

In a statement, the new management of Skyjet said as early as December 2016, following an internal compliance audit…

Read more: Skyjet’s new management says it will cooperate with BoC

By Rose de la Cruz

First there was the conditional cash transfer (CCT) or more known as Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino program, an anti-poverty strategy, that was huge criticized in the previous administration because of the big leap in budgetary allocation from Arroyo’s P20 billion a year to P60 billion and then raised to P80 billion.

And when the TRAIN law (Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion) was enforced, a separate program called Unconditional Cash Transfer (UCT) again designed for the poor and indigent senior citizens was put in place. The UCT is on top of 4Ps…

Read more: From CCT to UCT—Are we creating a welfare state