Latest businesses in the Philippines

http://www.philembassy.no/doing-business-in-the-philippines/latest-business-news-from-the-
philippines

household

http://www.thestar.com.my/business/business-news/2017/02/13/household-debt-may-increase-warn-
economists/

The Philippine Economy: Progress, Challenges, Strategies

https://www.slideshare.net/nedaphils/mr-2014-010-ppt

business section in news

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/917209/business-finds-dutertes-priorities-wanting-prefer-faster-internet

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watch SONA]

Definition: Microeconomics is the study of individuals, households and firms' behavior in decision
making and allocation of resources. It generally applies to markets of goods and services and deals with
individual and economic issues.

Description: Microeconomic study deals with what choices people make, what factors influence their
choices and how their decisions affect the goods markets by affecting the price, the supply and demand.

Microeconomics is the study of how individuals and businesses make choices on how to best
use limited resources.

Microeconomics uses certain principles to explain how individuals and business make
decisions. One of the basic principles of microeconomics is that individuals make decisions to
maximize their satisfaction. In microeconomics, this is called maximizing utility
the study of the economic problems of businesses and people and the way particular parts of an
economy behave

WAR ON DRUGS Duterte said that his war on drugs "will be unrelenting," and that the
option for drug traffickers "is either jail or hell"

DEATH PENALTY Duterte pushed for the death penalty again, saying that "in the
Philippines, it's really an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth"

MINING Duterte said mining companies will face steep taxes if they do not spend enough on
rehabilitating areas that host their operations

JOMA SISON Duterte claimed that communist leader Jose Maria "Joma" Sison is suffering
from colon cancer, but Sison called this a "blatant lie"

REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH LAW Duterte appealed to the Supreme Court to lift its two-
year temporary restraining order on contraceptive implants

K TO 12 Duterte said the government vows to implement the K to 12 program that expands
the basic education system, meaning grade school and high school, to grade 12

BALANGIGA BELLS Duterte told the United States to return the iconic Balangiga bells,
which in 1901 led to the US military's worst single defeat in the Philippines

TAX REFORM Duterte urged senators to pass the Duterte administration's first batch of tax
reforms, as he called out Senator Juan Edgardo Angara for not clapping when he made this
request

RAPPLER Duterte claimed that Rappler is "fully owned by Americans," but Rappler clarified
that it is 100% Filipino-owned (READ: Debunking lies about Rappler)

Here are 10 highlights of his SONA 2017.

1. The appeal to legislators to pass the Land Use Act or NALUA

One of the first few points Duterte mentioned in his SONA is the Land Use Act, which ensures
the sustainable use of land by instituting planning mechanisms to evaluate land use. With this,
there will be a smart allocation of natural resources consistent with the principle of sustainable
development.

2. A call to craft on authority to response to 21st century conditions

Duterte also called on the House of Representatives, to craft a law establishing a new department
empowered to deliver enhanced disaster resiliency and quick disaster response.

3. The establishment of 8888 Citizens Complaint Hotline

It was in 2016 when the Duterte administration put up a public hotline facility where people can
air their grievances or complains against the government. By this hotline, the people now have
an avenue to provide feedback on numerous issues, such as slow government processing,
discourteous staff, and other concerns.

Also read: Expats Guide to 911 and 8888 hotlines

4. The implementation of the K to 12 program

Also in 2016, the Philippines adapted the K to 12 program, covering 13 years of basic education
in the Philippines from Kindergarten to Grade 3, Grades 4 to 6, Junior High School and Senior
High School. In addition to that, Duterte mentioned in his speech the widened reach of skills
training and increased number of out-of-school children and youth who have availed of the
Alternative Learning System.

Also read: What You Need to Know about K to 12 Program in the Philippines

5. The No Balance Billing Policy

When it comes to the health sector, Duterte ensured that Filipinos are given equitable access to
quality and affordable health services. In this policy, no other fees shall be charged or be paid
for by the indigent patients above and beyond the packaged rates during their confinement
period. Duterte also mentioned the expanded health insurance coverage and benefits done by
his administration.

6. E.O. 26: Smoking Ban in Public and Enclosed Places

One of the most recent orders signed by Duterte is the smoking ban, which prohibits smokers to
smoke in certain public spaces. We want to minimize access to tobacco products, and provide a
more supportive environment for those who are attempting to quit tobacco use, he said.

Also read: Nationwide Smoking Ban to take effect on July 22

7. National Broadband Plan of 2017

For the improved internet connectivity in the Philippines, Dutertes cabinet approved the
National Broadband Plan of 2017 which works to bring affordable internet access to every
community and improve broadband connectivity in the Philippines. Also recently, the
Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) launched a Free Wi-Fi
along EDSA for public use.

Also read: Free high-speed Wi-Fi along EDSA now available

8. Improvement of sea connectivity and land transportation

With regard to sea connectivity, 15 brand new Ro-Ro vessels were launched to traverse major
routes in the country. The ASEAN Ro-Ro Shipping Route was also opened, connecting the ports
of Davao and General Santos, and Philippines to Indonesia. Duterte also mentioned the
modernized ports of General Santos, Cagayan de Oro, and Zamboanga.

Duterte also directed the Metro Manila Development Authority and local government units in
Metro Manila and Metro Cebu to ensure the free flow of traffic, and clear the roads of
unnecessary obstructions, such as parked vehicles on streets. Violators shall be penalized
regardless of stature, said Duterte.

9. Responsible, regulated, and sustainable environment as priority

In his SONA, Duterte warned all mining operators and contractors to refrain from doing
irresponsible destruction of natural resources. Duterte also emphasized the non-negotiable policy
to protect and preserve the environment as the priority by holding all mining companies to
restore and rehabilitate all areas damaged by mining activities.

10. The Comprehensive Tax Reform Program of 2017

As one of Dutertes priority reforms, the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN)
was implemented, that address the problems of the previous tax system by reducing personal
income tax, simplifying estate and donors taxes, expanding the Value Added Tax, and
increasing oil and automobile excise taxes.

Labor economics, for example, is built largely on the analysis of the supply and
demand for labor of different types.
The field of industrial organization deals with the different mechanisms (
MONOPOLY , CARTELS , different types of competitive behavior) by which goods
and services are sold.
International economics worries about the demand and supply of individual traded
commodities, as well as of a countrys exports and imports taken as a whole and
the consequent demand for and supply of FOREIGN EXCHANGE
 Agricultural economics deals with the demand and supply of agricultural products
and of farmland, farm labor, and the other factors of production involved in
agriculture.
Applied welfare economics is the fruition of microeconomics. It deals with the
costs and benefits of just about anythinggovernment projects, taxes on
commodities, taxes on factors of production (corporation income taxes, payroll
taxes), agricultural programs (like price supports and acreage controls), tariffs on
imports, foreign exchange controls, various forms of industrial organization (like
monopoly and oligopoly), and various aspects of labor market behavior (like
MINIMUM WAGES , the monopoly power of LABOR UNIONS , and so on).

At the root of everything is supply and demand. It is not at all farfetched to think
of these as basically human characteristics. If human beings are not going to be totally
self-sufficient, they will end up producing certain things that they trade in order to fulfill
their demands for other things.

They trade their services and/or the products of their specialization for those
produced by others. Markets evolve to organize this sort of trading, and money evolves to
act as a generalized unit of account and to make barter unnecessary.

In this market process, people try to get the most from what they have to sell, and
to satisfy their desires as much as possible. In microeconomics this is translated into the
notion of people maximizing their personal utility, or welfare. This process helps them
to decide what they will supply and what they will demand.

Current issues:

1. When hybrid corn first appeared in the United States, it was in experiment
stations, not on ordinary farms. But over a period of decades it became the product of
choice of hundreds of thousands of farmers. At the beginning of the process, those who
adopted the new hybrids made handsome PROFITS . By the time the transition was
complete, any farmer who clung stubbornly to the old non-hybrid seed was likely to be
driven out of business, leaving only farmers who acted as if they were profit maximizing;
the ones who did not had failed. By a very similar process new varieties of wheat spread
through the Punjab and other parts of India in the 1960s, and new varieties of rice
through the Philippines and the rest of East Asia. What economists call maximizing
behavior explains the real-world behavior of these millions of farmers, whose
actions increased the supply of corn, wheat, and rice, making much more of these
products available to the consumers of the world at lower prices.

2. Similar scenarios reveal how maximizing behavior works on the demand side.
Todays textiles include vast amounts of artificial fibers, nearly all of them unknown a
century ago. They conquered markets for themselves, at the expense of the older natural
fibers, because consumers perceived them to be either better or cheaper, or both. In the
end, when old products end up on the ash heap of history, it is usually because
consumers have found new products that they greatly prefer to the old ones.

The economics of supply and demand has a sort of moral or normative overtone,
at least when it comes to dealing with a wide range of market distortions. In an
undistorted market, buyers pay the market price up to the point where they judge
further units not to be worth that price, while competitive sellers supply added units
as long as they can make money on each increment. At the point where supply just
equals demand in an undistorted market, the price measures both the worth of the
product to buyers and the worth of the product to sellers.

3. That is not so when an artificial distortion intervenes. With a 50 percent tax based
on selling price, an item that costs $1.50 to the buyer is worth only $1.00 to the seller.
The tax creates a wedge, mentioned earlier, between the value to the buyer and the return
to the seller. The anomaly thus created could be eliminated if the distortion were
removed; then the market would find its equilibrium at some price in between (say,
$1.20) where the products worth would be the same to buyers and to sellers. Whenever
we start with a distortion, we can usually assert that society as a whole can benefit from
its removal. This is epitomized by the fact that buyers gain as they get extra units at less
than $1.50, while sellers gain as they get to sell extra units at more than $1.00.

4. If PRICE CONTROLS keep bread (or anything else)

artificially cheap, the predictable result is that less will be supplied than is
demanded.Nine times out of ten, the excess demand will end up being reflected in
a gray or black market, whose existence is probably the clearest evidence that the
official price is artificially low. In turn, economists are nearly always right when
they predict that pushing prices down via price controls will end up reducing the
amount supplied and generating black-market prices not only well above the
official price, but also above the market price that would prevail in the absence of
controls.