While not a guarantee to lower prices in the long run, opening up the rice sector to unbridled imports leaves the country’s rice security at the mercy of an unpredictable and increasingly unreliable world market. This happens as 95 percent of Philippine rice imports come from just two countries whose own domestic production is either slowing down or declining. Globally, rice production has been steadily decelerating in the past four decades.
For most Filipino families, especially the poor and those in the lower income brackets, the rising costs of these basic needs mean tremendous pressure on household budgets.
What could possibly explain the exclusion of these giant conglomerates – two of the biggest not only in the Philippines but also in the Asian region? By ARNOLD PADILLA Bulatlat.com MANILA — The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) has recently released a list of 20 firms that it said are engaged or suspected to…
Such additional tax burden is enough to buy one to three kilos of rice (P27 per kilo of regular NFA rice or P37 a kilo of regular commercial rice) for their family’s consumption.
Bulatlat SPECIAL REPORT: The US would rather not stop with its aid program here. It is the key with which they’ve been maintaining their domination of the Philippine economy and military even after the Philippines’ 1946 nominal independence.
Government is clearly exaggerating the supposed economic gains from EDCA while concealing the fact that negotiators gave too many unjustifiable perks to the US.
By ARNOLD PADILLA
If the Aquino government is willing to incur more debts to guarantee the profits of whoever will win the LRT1 project, why can’t it incur those debts for investing instead in LRT’s expansion?
By ARNOLD PADILLA Bulatlat.com MANILA — In 2012, the dominant theme peddled by the Aquino administration was “good governance is good economics”. Malacañang’s hoax is that the “daang matuwid” (righteous path) has created a favorable environment for inclusive economic growth. From being the sick man of Asia, the Philippines now brims with vitality. Or so,…
By ARNOLD PADILLA
Consumers face continuing injustice as they shoulder additional power costs (on top of possible rotating brownouts) while Meralco delays accounting for its over-collections that could reach more than P7 billion. Thus, it is very reasonable for consumers to demand that whatever planned rate increases by Meralco must be disallowed by the ERC.