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Philippine Star   That scandal and several changes of BOC heads have not put an end to the rampant smuggling of almost everything from frozen meat to rice, onions and luxury vehicles.  Outside Customs zones, local political kingpins themselves are widely suspected to be leading smuggling rings, bringing in through coastal communities a wide range of  contraband including motorcycles and even guns and prohibited drugs.   [full text] Sun.Star Cebu  Yet anyone who stands for election, especially a presidential election, needs to give up expectations of privacy on most matters. Information about whether a  presidential candidate is physically and mentally fit for such a sensitive and taxing position should be disclosed—the public’s right to know being paramount. And the  candidate who volunteers to disclose such information would be doing potential voters a service.   [full text] Cebu Daily News The problem of informal settlers has grown s...

Inquirer   on  Asia-Pacific economic growth After a successful summit in Manila, leaders of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) headed home with the region facing prospects of slowing economic growth.[...] Alan Bollard, executive director of the Apec Secretariat, observed that economies across the Asia-Pacific continued to grow but now found themselves in a “holding pattern of lower growth in the absence of high trade volumes.” [...] The blame goes to the declining contribution of trade to the region’s economic growth—quite ironic because the Apec was formed with the vision to make a free-trade area of the Asia-Pacific. [full page] Sun.Star Cebu   about gambling One of the spins used by the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) to soften the opposition by some sectors to the introduction of the three-number combination lottery “Swertres” years ago was that it would kill the illegal numbers game called by Cebuanos as masiao. Years after Swertres ...

Inquirer on three images during Apec Three images from the past week may come to define the 2015 edition of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Leaders’ Meeting, in global public opinion.[…] The first of the defining images...involved Obama, taking part in only his fifth Apec powwow, breaking protocol (and stolid Apec tradition). He gamely served as moderator of what turned out to be the liveliest panel during the Apec CEO Summit[…] The second of the defining images came right after Obama’s session, when Xi addressed the same audience […] But the distance between hope and reality was captured, perhaps unwittingly, in the third of the defining images: Xi’s awkward walk down the red carpet of the Philippine International Convention Center, all but ignored by Mr. Aquino and Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, who were engrossed in an animated conversation. [full page] Sun.Star Cebu on public transportation and private interest When SM Holdings made a pitch for the operatio...

Inquirer about Apec’s inclusive growth focus Early this week when residents south of Manila found themselves obliged, under a blazing sun, to walk to get to their workplaces, to do important errands, even to undergo hospital checkups and dialysis sessions because major roads were blocked and no alternative means of transport could be had, they angrily wondered why they were being treated so badly. It is not an unfair question; it actually strikes at the core of an exclusionary strategy employed by authorities. Fidel V. Ramos, during whose presidency the Philippines successfully served as Apec host in Subic in 1996, was not gloating when he said that “sadly, the people are not enjoying the event because of so many obstructions, disruptions, restrictions, cancelled flights, and traffic inhibitions.” […] The Apec discussions have been designed to focus on inclusive growth, or how to bring the benefits of open markets to ordinary citizens—presumably including a grimy family of four ...

Inquirer on Paris attack’s consequence For the same reason that Hollywood disaster movies almost always show asteroids or aliens destroying New York City or Tokyo or London or, yes, Paris, the IS terrorists knew that attacking a city filled with iconic landmarks instantly recognizable to billions of people was good tactics. What they did not know is that it was also, in the long run, a losing strategy. Their savagery may attract a few recruits, but it also mobilized millions of Parisians, around the world. [full page] Sun.Star Cebu about terrorism and Internet Social media played a crucial role immediately after the terrorist attacks in Paris last weekend. […] Yet access to it has not necessarily made us more tolerant, more vigilant or even (dare we say it) consistently more informed. Would you say that our constant exposure to social media has dismantled some of our deep-seated prejudices? Has it made us less vulnerable to similar assaults? Sixteen months ago, what Faceb...

Inquirer on Canada ’s Trudeau Eyes will be on Canada ’s new prime minister, Justin Trudeau, in this week’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) Leaders’ Meeting… […] Given his popular support among fellow Canadians and his stout demonstration of willingness to initiate change in stolid institutions, Philippine civil society groups and environment activists have challenged Trudeau this early to handle the festering problem of more than 50 container vans of waste from the Vancouver area (mislabeled as recyclable plastic scraps), that were illegally shipped here in 2013. […] The timorous Aquino administration, meanwhile, citing the possible strain on relations between the Philippines and Canada , dropped the matter quietly ahead of the President’s state visit to Canada in May 2015. [full page] Sun.Star Cebu about Paris terror attack’s ramification in the Philippines The attack on Stade de France, while it sputtered, showed how potent fanaticism, religious or ideological...