How the IMF and World Bank remade the Philippine economy

October 20, 2026

After more than six decades of IMF-World Bank intervention, the question remains—who decides the country’s economic future?

The IMF and World Bank no longer need to tell us what to do

October 14, 2026

One of the most enduring legacies of IMF-World Bank impositions is not the debt that remains on the books, but the colonial mentality and dependence persisting long after debts have been repaid.

Pax Silica: Whose industrialization is it anyway?

August 12, 2026

The shiny cutting edge high-tech Pax Silica may indeed be different this time. Unfortunately, the way things are going, it will be different in the sense of a new level of dependence and making real Filipino industrialization even harder.

Upper middle-income, Lower-end reality

July 6, 2026

The UMIC overhype shows how the government’s presentation of the economy gives disproportionate emphasis to a favorable statistical reclassification while giving comparatively little attention to the country’s persistent structural weaknesses.

PH is upper middle-income, Filipinos aren’t

July 5, 2026

The World Bank’s UMIC label should not be mistaken for proof that the country has achieved genuine development.

PH oil troubles: By the numbers

March 13, 2026

FEATURES

The measures the Marcos Jr admin takes to address economic shocks by the US-Israel attack on Iran have to be weighed against the magnitude of the problems at hand.

EDSA is Every Day, One Battle After Another

February 24, 2026

COMMENTARY

Forty years is a long time—long enough to reshape memory. Yet there is no doubting the enduring relevance of EDSA.

Why interest cuts won’t cut it

February 24, 2026

FEATURES

Until the Marcos Jr administration’s economic policies cut to the heart of the matter, interest rate cuts really just won’t cut it.

Isn’t corruption stupid?

January 18, 2026

FEATURES

The Philippines’ central problem isn’t simply that rules are broken. It’s that the economy produces too little of what Filipinos need.