Jun Vallecera

Not so long ago, my P100 got me a full meal, a movie ticket and a jeepney ride home. Today I showed one to the barista and all I got was a sympathetic nod and a small glass of service water.

In 1986, the Philippines stood at a historic crossroads. Fresh from the People Power Revolution, the country embraced a vibrant democratic morning with a distinct economic head start in Southeast Asia. Across the South China Sea, Vietnam was in dire straits—reeling from decades of war, international isolation, and hyperinflation. Yet that very year, Hanoi launched Doi Moi, an ambitious series of economic reforms meant to transition from a rigid command economy toward a more market-driven system.

When the US Federal Reserve, the world’s most influential central bank, moves interest rates, Manila can feel the ripple, even 8,500 miles away. The effects do not arrive all at once, and they do not affect everyone in the same way. But eventually, they can show up in the mortgage, car loan, credit card bill, and even the grocery budget.

The money market in the Philippines where banks and financial institutions go for their short-term funding requirements has practically disappeared, according to the main man at the central bank, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas governor Eli Remolona Jr.

In a major push to modernize agriculture and logistics in Western Visayas, Panay Railways, Inc. (PRI), Philtrak Inc., and the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) recently launched a proposal to transform the long-decommissioned Panay railway into a Farm-to-Market Digital Logistics Integrated Backbone (FM-DLIB).