By Kristina Maralit , William B. Depasupil and Catherine S. Valente THE government on Thursday said the country’s reclassification by the World Bank as an upper-middle-income economy would create more jobs, attract investments and expand opportunities for Filipinos, but labor groups challenged it to show that the newly attained status would benefit ordinary Filipinos by supporting higher wages. The Philippines was among five economies that moved from lower-middle to upper-mi

THE Pacific is warming again, and the warning lights are already on. The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration has raised its El Niño alert, pegging the probability of onset between June and August 2026 at 79 percent, with European models flagging the possibility of a record-breaking “super” event that could stretch into 2027. The last strong El Niño in 2023 to 2024 cost Philippine agriculture roughly P57 billion. A super event would be

BY the time the next typhoon makes landfall, the question will not be whether Filipino farmers and fisherfolk will lose their crops, livestock and livelihoods — it will be how much, and who, if anyone, will help them recover. The Philippines has the unenviable distinction of being among the most disaster-prone countries on Earth, and our agriculture sector — already battered, undercapitalized and structurally fragile — sits squarely in the crosshairs. The proposed Public-Priv

What every Filipino — and every insurer — needs to understand about the world we are living in now. LET’s be honest with each other. No one planned for this. For generations, Filipinos have survived by being resilient. We pick ourselves up after every typhoon, rebuild after every earthquake, and somehow find a way to smile through it all. That “diskarte” — that instinctive, improvisational toughness — is one of our greatest national gifts. But resilience alone, without a plan

WHEN people hear “Middle East crisis,” they think geopolitics. Insurers think in transmission lines: oil, shipping, credit and household cash flow. For an oil-importing, trade-dependent Philippines, a distant conflict can raise costs at home within days. The chain of events is straightforward. Conflict risk rises, then markets price the possibility that ships will avoid key choke points or that ports and terminals become unsafe. The Strait of Hormuz is the world’s most critic

WHEN the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists moved the Doomsday Clock to 85 seconds to midnight on Jan. 27, 2026 — the closest it has ever been to global catastrophe — it was not merely updating a symbol. It was issuing an indictment. An indictment of failed leadership, collapsing cooperation, unmanaged technological risk and a global system increasingly unable to absorb shocks. For many, this warning will again feel abstract — another grim headline in an already anxious world.

By Michael F. Rellosa On January 27, 2026 , the world will again pause for an unusual ritual: the unveiling of the Doomsday Clock —a symbolic measure of how close humanity is to self-destruction. The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists’ Science and Security Board , joined this year by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Ressa , will announce the new setting and explain why the world is—or is not—moving closer to midnight. The question being asked is simple and unsettling: Will we

THE appointment of Markus Lacanilao as the new chief of the Land Transportation Office (LTO) in October 2025 has been met with cautious optimism from many quarters. The LTO, an institution essential to the daily movement of millions of Filipinos, has long faced challenges relating to operational bottlenecks, legacy systems and public trust. Lacanilao’s entry into the agency brings with it not just new leadership but an opportunity to recalibrate priorities and strengthen long