Chicken&Egg#1: The Philippine Media and Government, a Tango or a Tangle?
By philobean | June 22, 2007
One of the first things we learn to do is count. So, in reverence of an age-old skill, let’s do just that–count anything and everything from chicken and egg senarios to life’s ironies, oxymorons and paradoxes. Here’s the first.
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Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s (PGMA) plea to the media for support in the final years of her term is met with suspicion by journalist groups yesterday. “Media’s sole responsibility is to the people,” declares the president, asking for “balanced reporting based on verified facts, constructive commentary on public issues, and editorial focus on news that matters to the lives and livelihood of ordinary Filipinos”.
What a worthy request indeed (one that the media really should consider seriously). But, lo and behold, here is where our mental fingerpointing exercise begins.
A: The media argue (conceptually at least) that, while PGMA’s appeal is noble in concept, it comes not with equally noble action from the administration. They proceed to recant recent statistics on violence and crime against the media. PGMA cannot demand media fairness in a regime that endeavors to usurp media freedom.
B:Â PGMA rebuts the media (in our imaginations at least) for being too cyncial, afflicting the masses with pessimism and deeply-rooted distrust in the government. How can the government be lenient to a media that acts mutinous?
A: The media, in turn, argues (in concept at least) that pessimism and distrust are the fruits of the government’s own action and not the media’s. Furthermore, how can a media be trustful of a government that has a history of media oppression and corruption.
…and the bickering goes on.
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Something on the agenda for later: Maybe soon we can work on deconstructing ‘chicken and egg’ issues. Perhaps, the answer is, as is usually the case, neither chicken nor egg but is rather something in between or far removed from either. And, more interestingly, perhaps via deconstruction we can find a single generic solution to all C&E cases. Nice thought, isn’t it? That will, at the very least, free us from endlessly reconsidering circular problems of this nature.
Topics: A little political | 3 Comments »
Tax-free for free
By philobean | June 21, 2007
I was in queue at the Espana branch of Security Bank yesterday noon, minding my own business for the most part, when I noticed the large tarp advertising the bank’s *totally tax-free* time deposits at an assured rate of return of 4.5% (or so) for a minumum deposit of 25,000php withdrawable after five years. 4.5% per annum tax-free–I wonder how they’ve managed to fool people into agreeing to such usurious terms!
Note that:
- Generally, all bank deposits of at least five years in maturity are tax-free under the Philippine Income Tax law.
- Â Most of the more established mutual funds (e.g. Philam and SunLife) require a minimum investment of only 10,000php or a little over 10,000php at a rate of return (at least for the past year) of well over 10% p.a.
- Earnings from mutual funds are income tax-exempt (without a 5-year holding period requirement).
- Average annual inflation in the Philippines is a little over 2.0%. A rate of return of 4.5% p.a. nets at the most 2.5% p.a.. sustaining for you a huge-ass economic loss.
We really should come up with a personal finance awareness program among the middle-class citizens of the metros (Manila, Cebu, Davao, et al). Surely, we cannot be the only ones to benefit from our country’s recent *strong* economic performance. We’ve got to facilitate the trickle down (this should somewhat help remedy the mass skepticism that seems to have quite taken root all across the archipelago).
Topics: Business, Personal | 1 Comment »
The Lip Balm Predicament
By philobean | June 19, 2007
An unsolved problem whose solution could be quite lucrative–the lip balm predicament.
Generally, lip balms now come on sticks and in tubs. We quite aware how dirty the surface of our skin can be–where dirt here refers not only to germs, live little critters, but also dead skin cells, dead former parts of ourselves (!). Those who use lip balms on stick argue that using a dirty finger to scoop out the balm from a tub is unimaginably unhygienic. On the other hand, those who use lip balms on tubs, in heated response, paint pictures of dead skin cells amassed on lip balm sticks, spectacles of white over red, beige, or pale-white; all this in addition, they retort smugly, to the repugnant odor of yesterday’s food on today’s swipe.
A market survey conducted in the Philippines (non-statistical sample of Metro Manila lip balm users) revealed that users were aware of this problem, phenomenologically at the very least, albeit most users were unable to identify the issue without some aid in its articulation. Via ‘insidious means and machinations’, an interested party can easily make the current non-issue a real problem and consumer need. Only setback is no one’s yet come up with a ‘good enough’ solution to the dirty fingers, dirty lips problem.
Any ideas? It may be lucrative.
Topics: Business | No Comments »