Category: Business Mirror

The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) is seeking around P2.7 billion in next year’s national budget to sustain and expand the government’s digitalization program.

DICT Undersecretary for E-Government David Almirol Jr. said the agency has yet to settle on a final figure, but estimated that the eGov program’s overall requirement for 2027-covering cloud services, cybersecurity tools, programmer salaries, and system sustainability-would reach about P2.7 billion.

Of that amount, at least P800 million would go to the eGov PH Super App alone, excluding cloud costs.

‘We are being extremely thrifty,’ Almirol told reporters on the sidelines of the eGov Hackathon on Tuesday, noting that the government’s past digitalization projects often ran into billions of pesos. ‘We can see that digitalization doesn’t actually need to be expensive. If you know how to optimize and avoid repeating processes and systems, it will really come in under budget.’

Almirol said he is hopeful that the government will soon put a line item on eGov itself, drawing confidence from Republic Act 12254, or the E-Governance Act, which established e-government as a distinct program with its own dedicated budget.

The new law opened two additional funding channels for eGov. The DICT can now draw from the Spectrum Fund administered by the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC)-previously earmarked solely for the Free Wi-Fi program-to support eGov’s sustainability.

The agency is also now authorized to enter into business-to-business contracts with other government agencies, offering itself as a managed services provider in lieu of expensive private or overseas contractors. Revenue generated from these engagements can be retained in a sustainability fund under the new law.

‘It’s cheaper, and the money stays within the government,’ Almirol said.

The undersecretary said the DICT built all 28 of its digital platforms in-house, without outside contractors, but conceded that the agency can no longer sustain the workload on its own. He said it is time to craft a transition plan that would allow startups and the broader information technology community to help maintain and enhance the systems, strengthen security, and review the platform architecture.

‘There needs to be someone to sustain what we’ve started, or else everything we built will just crumble,’ he said.

Hackathon to draw more ideas for eGov

On Tuesday, the DICT challenged hackathon participants to create practical tools that can simplify government transactions, improve coordination among agencies, and provide faster and more responsive public services.

To date, some 1,300 government systems have been integrated into the eGov platform. DICT Secretary Henry Aguda said transactions on the eGov PH app have reached 900,000 daily.

‘But we have a long way to go to improve. In the spirit of digital bayanihan, let us all work together to improve government services,’ Aguda said.

Data presented at the hackathon showed the eGov PH app has logged more than 61 million total downloads, while digital national identification transactions have surpassed 300 million-alongside 92 million digital national IDs issued.

The government’s paperless push has likewise recorded over 950 million eGovDX transactions, 36 million issued digital documents, and 48 million e-signatures, while 95 percent of tax payments and 97 percent of customs payments are now made online.

The Philippine Stock Exchange Inc. (PSE), the operator of the equities trading market, has implemented a number of changes related to its rules for inclusion in its 30-company benchmark PSE index (PSEi).

Some of the changes include the adoption of a 98-percent market capitalization threshold system and exemption to the minimum float requirement.

‘The changes are part of the exchange’s initiatives to ensure that the PSE indices remain aligned with global standards and responsive to evolving market needs,’ the PSE said in a memorandum it released on Tuesday.

These changes are scheduled to take effect during the February 2027 index rebalancing period.

One of the major changes is to include only companies that fall within the top 98 percent of the cumulative total market capitalization in the PSEi, PSE Dividend Yield, PSE MidCap and sector indices. The said rule is an added criteria for index inclusion.

The PSEi is composed of a fixed basket of 30 companies. The selection is based on a specific set of criteria set by the bourse. The PSEi measures the relative changes in the free float-adjusted market capitalization of the 30 largest and most active common stocks listed at the PSE.

By gauging changes in the stock prices of select listed companies, the PSEi provides a snapshot of the market’s overall condition.

The last time the liquidity criteria was tweaked was in April 2011.

The PSE is also implementing the Median Trading Activity Ratio (MTAR) and Monthly Average Daily Value Turnover (MADV) as new liquidity measures, to determine the tradability of shares.

The MTAR is the 12-month cumulative sum of the monthly trading activity ratios. Each monthly trading activity ratio shall be calculated by multiplying the median daily value traded by the number of days the security was traded during the month, with the resulting product divided by the company’s free-float market capitalization as of the end of that month.

To become eligible for the main index, a company must have an MTAR of 15 percent.

The MDAV, meanwhile, is the total value traded during the month by the number of trading days in the month.

Previously, liquidity is assessed based on median daily trading value during each month of the 12-month review period.

The PSE is also introducing an exception to the minimum free float requirement, as it prepare for the entry of GCash parent Mynt Inc. into the main index. The PSE will reduce minimum ownership to 15 percent from 20 percent, but only for companies with a market capitalization of at least P250 billion, provided all other index inclusion criteria are satisfied.

Mynt is set to go public in October this year.

Indian consumer goods firm Wipro Consumer Care International (WCCI) expects to complete its acquisition of Philippine personal care company S Brands Consumer Care Inc. by August, while keeping the business’ local manufacturing and operations largely unchanged.

WCCI signed a definitive agreement to acquire 100 percent of S Brands, although the company declined to disclose the transaction value.

WCCI Chief Operating Officer Nagender Arya said the company expects to finalize the purchase of the firm within the next few weeks after completing most of the regulatory and procedural requirements.

‘Our aim is to close it in August,’ Arya told reporters on Tuesday. ‘I think we have passed some of those steps. There will be some more formality. But I think we are on track to do closing… in a few weeks’ time.’

The acquisition marks WCCI’s second major investment in the Philippine personal care industry after acquiring Splash Corp. in 2019, whose portfolio includes brands, such as SkinWhite, Maxi-Peel and Vitress.

Meanwhile, S Brands owns several personal care brands in the Philippines, including KERATINplus, AlcoPlus, DeoPlus, Empress, Grips and Fiona Cologne.

Following the acquisition, S Brands founder and CEO Dick Sy Ong will remain involved as an adviser, while WCCI CEO Amit Dawn will assume leadership of the business.

Arya said the rest of S Brands’ operations will continue largely unchanged. ‘The rest of the team and the business will continue as it is. We are not expecting major changes,’

The company also confirmed that S Brands’ products will continue to be manufactured in the Philippines, with Dawn saying the company also intends to retain S Brands’ existing distribution and sales network.

‘In terms of where the products are manufactured, where we sell, who is selling them, who is distributing them, I think everything continues to be the same,’ he said.

Expansion plans

The company plans to expand the product offerings of both businesses by introducing additional brands and product categories into the Philippine market.

‘Some of our initial investment will be how do you strengthen them further? Can I bring more brands using these two companies? Can I bring in more product categories in the Philippines using these?’ Arya said.

He added that while WCCI remains open to future acquisitions, the company does not expect to pursue another deal in the next one to two years.

‘If there is an opportunity of a category which we don’t have today, or we don’t have a skill set, then obviously we can look at more acquisitions. But immediately in the next one to two years, if we are able to build these two companies and the brands, I think that will be our priority,’ he said.

WCCI is the international fast-moving consumer goods arm of Wipro Enterprises, generating annual global revenues exceeding $1.2 billion.

The company, which started in 2003, now operates in more than 60 markets, has a presence across 18 countries, manages a portfolio of more than 37 brands, and runs 17 manufacturing facilities and 11 research and development centers.

WITH the El Niño dry spell on the horizon, PMFTC Inc. continued to step up its act, purchasing most of locally produced tobacco for a third-straight year while also providing a safety net for local farmers.

Heeding the government’s call to support the agricultural sector ahead of a challenging cropping season, the local affiliate of Philip Morris International acquired 8.297 million kilograms of Philippine tobacco in 2025, representing a whopping 69 percent of the 12.1 million kg delivered to local manufacturers.

‘We remain committed to support the livelihood of thousands of Filipino tobacco farmers in the country. We recognize the vital role that tobacco farmers play in our supply chain and in the communities where they operate. As the leading leaf buyer, we remain committed to contribute to the growth of the Philippine agriculture sector and generate economic activity for the country.’ said PMFTC President Zhenya Ivanov.

PMFTC’s latest numbers represent a three-year rise for the tobacco giant’s investment in the local industry. Back in 2023, the company purchased 7.189 million kg of homegrown tobacco, which was about 56 percent of the 12.734 million kg delivered to manufacturers, and then 7.495 million kg of the 11.9 million kg the following year for continued leadership of the industry.

The National Tobacco Administration (NTA) president and chief executive officer, Belinda Sanchez, hailed the private sector’s role in ensuring the country is ready for the challenges a tough farming season would bring.

‘Tobacco remains an important cash crop for thousands of Filipino farmers and their families. We welcome PMFTC’s continued support for the industry, having purchased the majority of the country’s locally produced tobacco leaf over the past three years,’ she said.

‘This provides our growers with a stable and reliable market for their harvests. We thank PMFTC for its continued support of the Philippine tobacco industry and our tobacco farming communities,’ Sanchez added.

The NTA has continued to urge tobacco farmers to participate in contract-growing arrangements, saying these provide growers with a guaranteed market, technical assistance and production support while helping ensure a stable supply of quality tobacco leaf for buyers.

PMFTC said it intends to continue working closely with tobacco farmers, trading partners and government agencies to strengthen the local tobacco value chain.

‘Philippine tobacco farming depends on strong partnerships across the value chain,’ Ivanov said. ‘We will continue investing in long-term relationships with local growers to help ensure that Philippine tobacco remains competitive both locally and internationally.’

TOURISM stakeholders are ‘cautiously optimistic’ about the Philippines’s visitor arrivals this year, and suggest that government strengthen its marketing tack overseas to sustain the country’s current inbound growth.

In a Viber message, Tourism Congress of the Philippines (TCP) president James Montenegro told the BusinessMirror, ‘The latest figures are encouraging and provide reason for cautious optimism that the Philippines can surpass last year’s international visitor arrivals if the current momentum continues. However, sustaining that growth will require a deliberate strategy to expand demand beyond our traditional source markets.’

In the first half of 2026, the Philippines welcomed 3.16 million tourists from abroad, up 5.4 percent, year on year (yoy). While the United States and South Korea provided the bulk of arrivals, a surge in tourists from China and India, now with visa-free entry privileges, also helped lift the headcountThe same was echoed by the Philippines Hotel Owners Association’s executive director Benito C. Bengzon Jr. ‘We maintain a cautiously optimistic outlook regarding the Philippines’s tourism performance and our ability to surpass last year’s inbound arrival numbers-even as the Department of Tourism (DOT) recalibrates its targets. While geopolitical developments such as Middle East tensions remain a major concern, they have not noticeably affected current arrival figures,’ he said.

‘Still far from recovery’

He added, ‘We believe it is difficult to speak of a full recovery until our inbound tourist arrivals return to prepandemic 2019 baseline levels, when foreign arrivals reached over 8.2 million. Reaching or slightly exceeding recent interim figures is a step in the right direction, but full recovery requires rebuilding sustainable volume across all key international source markets.’

He underscored the importance of regular dialogue between government and the private sector ‘so agreements on strategic directors are reached.’

The Philippines welcomed 5.9 million foreign tourists last year, unchanged from the arrivals in 2024, based on data collected by the DOT via government’s e-travel forms. Under its budget allocation this year, the agency is committed to attract 6.7 million inbound tourists.

For Montenegro, increased promotions in the United States, Canada, and Australia will expand awareness of the Philippines. ‘These are high-value markets that are less dependent on Middle Eastern airline connectivity and have consistently shown strong potential for the Philippines. [Also,] a stronger, coordinated marketing campaign should position Boracay, Cebu, and Palawan as premier resort destinations that can compete with the best in the [Asian] region.’

Other tourism leaders have also suggested marketing Philippine destinations further in other long-haul markets such as the United Kingdom, Europe, and Scandinavian countries, which have alternative routes to Asia instead of going through the Middle East, although the latter’s airspace troubles appear to have eased.

Challenging air connectivity

Despite the sharp increases in arrivals from China and India, the TCP official said the liberalization of visa policies will not deliver the sustained growth in foreign visitors. ‘Air connectivity remains the single biggest structural constraint to Philippine tourism. We continue to lose market share to neighboring destinations because they have invested aggressively in international gateways and direct air services. Bali, for example, now attracts more international visitors than the entire Philippines-clear evidence of what is possible when connectivity, infrastructure, and destination marketing are aligned.’ Montenegro suggested that a national strategy be adopted to attract more international airlines and encourage existing carriers to expand their services. ‘This should include route development incentives, marketing partnerships, and support for airlines launching direct services to our major tourism gateways such as Cebu, Boracay [via Caticlan or Kalibo], and Palawan.’

He also expressed optimism that arrivals from Taiwan will likely reach ‘300,000’ this year, judging from the current momentum in growth. From January to June this year, tourist from Taiwan grew by 11.85 percent yoy to 111,134.

With Taiwan’s recent decision to extend the visa-free privilege for Filipinos until July 2027, the Philippines has also reciprocated by extending the same policy to Taiwanese visitors until June 30, 2027.

The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) projects that the Philippines will become an aging society by 2030, placing greater pressure on a smaller working-age population to sustain economic growth. This makes investing in the health and development of today’s children more important than ever, with proper nutrition being a critical foundation for learning, productivity and long-term national resilience.

Yet this foundation is already under threat from hidden hunger-a lack of essential vitamins and minerals that can affect brain development, immunity and overall health, even when people have enough food to eat. According to the 2023 National Nutrition Survey by the Department of Science and Technology-Food and Nutrition Research Institute (DOST-FNRI), many Filipino children and pregnant women still suffer from critical nutrition gaps.

When children do not receive proper nutrition early in life, the effects carry into adulthood-Inadequate brain development and physical growth, weaker learning outcomes, lower productivity, and reduced economic potential. For a country seeking sustained growth, the cost of inaction is significant. Findings from Nutrition International’s Cost of Inaction Tool estimates that the economic cost of undernutrition in the Philippines is at least $8.5 billion (or 2 percent of the gross national income) per year.

Why does iodized salt in the Philippines matter?

Strengthening agriculture to ensure food security is a good start. From supporting farmers to building vital infrastructure, the national government is moving in the right direction toward developing the foundations of a more resilient economy in the long term.

Encouragingly, more Filipinos are getting more health conscious-especially regarding their dietary quality. But while individual food choices matter, many micronutrient gaps cannot be solved by behavior change alone. They require strong, reliable systems that make essential nutrients available through commonly consumed foods.

One such critical micronutrient is iodine. This matters because adequate iodine intake is especially important during pregnancy and early childhood when it supports healthy brain development and helps prevent the lifelong consequences of iodine deficiency, including mental impairments. Iodizing salt has long been recognized globally as one of the most effective ways to reduce iodine deficiency.

The risks of iodine deficiency are serious. Even mild deficiency during early childhood can reduce IQ by 8 to 10 points, affecting educational attainment and lifetime productivity.

At a national scale, persistent iodine deficiency can weaken human capital and economic growth by limiting children’s ability to learn, thrive and reach their full potential. This is not just a public health issue-it is a long-term economic challenge that affects productivity, workforce quality, and national competitiveness.

Since salt is widely consumed by Filipinos, adequately iodized salt is one of the most practical ways to deliver iodine at scale. Salt iodization remains one of the most cost-effective public health interventions in the world, generating up to US$30 in economic returns for every US$1 invested. At minimal cost, adequately iodized salt can reach households across the country and help improve health, learning outcomes, and workforce productivity.

The Philippines: Strong policy, persistent gaps

The government of the Philippines has long recognized the importance of iodized salt in protecting public health and strengthening human capital. This commitment was institutionalized through Republic Act No. 8172, or the ASIN Law, in 1995, which requires all food-grade salt produced, imported, and sold in the country to be adequately iodized to address widespread micronutrient deficiencies.

The law established national standards for the production, regulation, and monitoring of iodized salt, making mandatory salt iodization a key strategy under the Philippine Plan of Action for Nutrition (PPAN) to eliminate iodine deficiency.

Despite this policy framework, actual household consumption tells a different story. Data from the DOST-FNRI shows that only 34.9 percent of Filipino households consume adequately iodized salt.

These numbers point to uneven compliance and persistent gaps in quality control across the supply chain. Strengthening enforcement, quality assurance and improving access to adequately iodized salt-especially for low-income households-should therefore remain a national priority.

The path forward: What can the Philippines do?

Reinvesting in iodized salt should be part of building a more nutrition-secure and economically resilient Philippines. As the country prepares for the challenges of an ageing population, stronger coordination among government, industry leaders, experts and local stakeholders can help ensure the salt iodization system delivers consistently for all households.

While the government is committed to strengthening the local salt industry, stronger implementation, stricter monitoring and shared accountability are needed to address the iodine gap.

Reinstating patak sa asin (Drop of Salt) and conducting regular inspections and audits of iodized salt manufacturers can strengthen enforcement, accountability, and consumer protection. On the supply side, government policies should better support local salt producers, while regulators provide the technical and financial assistance needed to strengthen consistent iodization capacity. Stronger coordination and governance, including through the creation of a Regional Bantay Asin Task Force and improved inter-agency collaboration, can also help ensure consistent monitoring, enforcement, and public awareness.

Bridging the iodine gap as a strategic investment

Building a healthier Philippines is not only a public health priority, but a strategic investment in the country’s long-term socio-economic growth. Healthier populations translate directly into higher productivity, stronger learning outcomes, and greater economic potential.

With a strong regulatory foundation already in place, the key challenge now is closing the gap between policy design and consistent implementation.

Strengthening salt iodization implementation and regulation offers a practical, scalable and high-impact pathway to protect children’s development, improve human capital and support sustainable economic growth-at relatively low cost and with long-term returns for the entire economy.

Dr. Temitope Akintunde is the Global Portfolio Director, Nutrition Governance Nutrition International

The path forward: What can the Philippines do?

Reinvesting in iodized salt should be part of building a more nutrition-secure and economically resilient Philippines. As the country prepares for the challenges of an ageing population, stronger coordination among government, industry leaders, experts and local stakeholders can help ensure the salt iodization system delivers consistently for all households.

While the government is committed to strengthening the local salt industry, stronger implementation, stricter monitoring and shared accountability are needed to address the iodine gap.

Reinstating patak sa asin (Drop of Salt) and conducting regular inspections and audits of iodized salt manufacturers can strengthen enforcement, accountability, and consumer protection. On the supply side, government policies should better support local salt producers, while regulators provide the technical and financial assistance needed to strengthen consistent iodization capacity. Stronger coordination and governance, including through the creation of a Regional Bantay Asin Task Force and improved inter-agency collaboration, can also help ensure consistent monitoring, enforcement, and public awareness.

Bridging the iodine gap as a strategic investment

Building a healthier Philippines is not only a public health priority, but a strategic investment in the country’s long-term socio-economic growth. Healthier populations translate directly into higher productivity, stronger learning outcomes, and greater economic potential.

With a strong regulatory foundation already in place, the key challenge now is closing the gap between policy design and consistent implementation.

Strengthening salt iodization implementation and regulation offers a practical, scalable and high-impact pathway to protect children’s development, improve human capital and support sustainable economic growth-at relatively low cost and with long-term returns for the entire economy.

Dr. Temitope Akintunde is the Global Portfolio Director, Nutrition Governance Nutrition International

Gold jewelry supplier Marigold Philippines continues to make its presence felt with the recent opening of its Manila branch at Victoria De Manila 2 in Malate, Manila.

With over 1.4 million followers on TikTok alone, Marigold has expanded beyond its popular direct selling business model, with thriving physical stores in Caloocan and Davao.

Established by Davao-based Meriam Dangcalan-Bayacag, a former school teacher, Marigold Philippines began when Meriam started to partly fund her dream with a salary loan.

Meriam, also known as Madam Ayam, does not see jewelry, especially gold jewelry, as expensive accessories that enhance one’s looks. Given their value, people can view them as an investment that can lead to financial empowerment.

‘True to our mission, we always strive to make fine jewelry accessible, even for those with a limited budget. A little investment in a piece of gold can go a long way in building wealth,’ Ayam noted.

More than just selling jewelry, Marigold Philippines aims to promote financial empowerment through gold investment. The company believes that even with a limited budget, anyone can start building wealth, one piece of gold at a time.

With high-tech carat technology, customers are assured of fine craftsmanship that defines Marigold’s brand of authentic, accessible gold jewelry. ‘We offer high-quality gold at prices even lower than most pawnshops,’ she further noted.

THE Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (Caap) has adopted a competency-based approach to training and assessing aviation personnel, moving the sector away from hours-based instruction toward a system that measures actual performance.

The regulator formally launched its Competency-Based Training and Assessment (CBTA) Framework on Tuesday, ahead of an anticipated global mandate from the International Civil Aviation Organization (Icao) expected to take effect within the next two years.

Caap Director General Raul L. del Rosario signed a memorandum circular prescribing an interim policy governing its implementation across the civil aviation system.

The framework covers Air Operator Certificate (AOC) holders and Approved Training Organizations (ATOs), positioning the local aviation industry to comply early with ICAO’s forthcoming CBTA requirement.

‘We are building a future where Philippine aviation professionals are recognized not only for meeting international standards but also for helping define them. Through CBTA, we are preparing a generation of Filipino aviators who are competent, resilient, globally competitive, and ready for whatever lies ahead,’ said Caap Deputy Director General for Operations Rozzano Briguez.

CBTA departs from the traditional model of completing prescribed training hours.

Instead, aviation personnel will be assessed on whether they can consistently demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and attitudes needed to perform safely and effectively in real-world operational environments, in line with internationally recognized standards.

To ease the transition, Caap will roll out a hybrid implementation model that blends the existing Pilot Proficiency Check (PPC) system with Icao’s competency-based assessment framework, allowing stakeholders to gradually shift to the new methodology without disrupting operations or regulatory compliance.

A 35-page memo, dated March 31, sat inside Ottawa, Canada’s Department of Industry until a recent Access-to-Information request pried it loose. Most of the pages were redacted with black ink. What survived was the plan itself: a proposal to sue Canadian citizens over social media posts the department itself judged ‘false and misleading.’

The department’s full name is Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, ISED for short, run by Minister Melanie Joly. Innovation and science do not seem to appear anywhere in the memo. What appears instead is a proposal to monitor citizen speech for ‘recurring inaccuracies’ and hold lawsuits in reserve, ‘proportionate and subject to senior level approval,’ bureaucratic for a manager deciding the fine without an impartial judge in the process.

Henry VII created the Star Chamber in 1487 to handle cases regular courts avoided: disputes involving powerful people and offenses against the Crown’s authority. Within a century it had become something else entirely, a body where the same officials who brought a complaint also decided whether the criticism was accurate and set the punishment. No unbiased jury or outside review was allowed. The Crown defined the offense and enforced it in the same room, and its sentences went beyond fines.

The pamphleteer William Prynne had his ears cropped on the Star Chamber’s order for writings judged offensive to the queen. Parliament finally abolished the Star Chamber a century and a half later, but the name survived as shorthand for a tribunal that is prosecutor, judge, and executioner all at once.

How examining and punishing people for their Facebook posts is furthering Canadian ‘Innovation, Science and Economic Development’ is missing from the memo.

ISED is building the same room the Star Chamber occupied. The department decides whether a citizen’s social media post is ‘factually incorrect, misleading or out of context,’ then sets the penalty. The people grading the speech are the people offended by it, an arrangement that ran a century and a half before England shut it down.

England has not fully learned its own lesson. British police now make more than 30 arrests a day for offensive online posts with ordinary statute law applied using the same evil instincts.

Manila has walked partway down this corridor before and, to its credit, mostly turned back. The objection raised every time was the correct one: who guards the guards, and what happens when they decide they do not want to answer to anyone. That question killed every bill filed since 2017 before it reached a floor vote.

Not this time. Last month the House of Representatives passed the Digital Media Anti-False Information Act on third and final reading, carrying prison terms up to 12 years and fines running into millions for deliberate disinformation. Human Rights Watch called the language vague enough for officials to abuse. The bill now sits with the Senate, one chamber closer to law than anything Ottawa has managed with an internal memo and a black felt pen.

Manila already runs a working version of solving this ‘factually incorrect, misleading or out of context’ problem, and it does not require a ministry with a vendetta. The Securities and Exchange Commission and the Philippine Stock Exchange police disclosure, not opinion. A listed company that misstates earnings answers to auditors, to filed documents, and eventually to a court that had no hand in writing the original complaint.

But nobody at the PSE decides a stockbroker’s research note is wrong and fines the analyst who wrote it. Nobody at the PSE decides whether your nasty X post about the exchange or a listed company crosses a legal line. The separation is the entire design of how markets function, and it works because the party with the grievance is never the party with the gavel.

The Digital Media Anti-False Information Act does not borrow that design. It borrows ISED’s instead, treating the offended party and the judge as one entity, on the theory that a prison term will teach Filipinos to choose their words the way a Star Chamber clerk once chose his.

The chilling effect needs no courtroom to work. A citizen who knows a wrong word online carries a six-year sentence thinks twice before typing, and that hesitation is the function of the law, not a side effect of it.

Neither government explains where the threshold sits. Human Rights Watch says the Philippine bill leaves that judgment to prosecutors. A citizen sure of his facts still cannot know, in advance, where the line is, because the state has not told him.

A government confident in its own credibility answers bad speech with more speech. Both of these governments answered it with a penalty.

E-mail me at mangun@gmail.com. Follow me on Twitter @mangunonmarkets. PSE stock-market information and technical analysis provided by AAA Southeast Equities Inc.

THE biggest hurdle that the Philippines faces right now is not driven by politics but its exposure to imported fuel, which has stunted the country’s progress over the years, according to Citi Philippines.

‘Let’s not forget that the biggest challenge for the country right now is not even driven by politics. It’s really external unfortunately because of our exposure to imported fuels,’ Citi Philippines CEO and Banking Head Paul Favila told reporters.

‘If you take that away, then maybe we would have made a lot more progress,’ added Favila.

He said this during a briefing on Tuesday in Taguig City, in the context of how the Philippines is ‘viewed from the outside’ after the bank hosted the Philippine Economic Team at its headquarters in New York in April-which he said was ‘right smack in the middle’ of the Middle East conflict.

‘As a Filipino, I’ve always also been curious about how we were viewed from the outside and compare it with how we view things on the ground,’ Favila said, adding that there was a ‘very strong’ message that he received.

The CEO of Citi Philippines said the first fact he heard is what the Philippines is going through politically ‘is no different from what we see everywhere around the world,’ especially in Asia.

‘Politics is politics-it lives in its own realm, if you will,’ Favila said. Quoting the person he was in discussion with, he said: ‘The one thing that makes the Philippines different is that your politics actually seeps into your economy.’

While this is the same case being experienced by most countries, he pointed out that the Philippines has ‘not gotten to the level’ wherein parliamentarians are throwing chairs at each other.

Favila explained this after he was asked a question on the ongoing impeachment trial in the Senate against the Philippines’s Vice President Sara Duterte and how this will affect investor confidence and sentiment in the Philippines.

‘And I hope we don’t. But that has never detracted these countries from continuing to progress economically. And I guess that’s the message that we’re saying,’ added Favila.

‘We are not too fussed about politics because politics, that’s human nature. And we all understand politics from that perspective. This is about individuals playing politics,’ Favila explained further, adding that politics is an ‘industry in itself’ but it has no place in the economy.

‘Because politics does not know how to run an economy,’ Favila pointed out.