COVID-19 and its impact on the world provided a harsh lesson and wake-up call for all of us. People lost their jobs, businesses and entire fortunes on account of a virus whose origins remain a mystery. We worked from home, home schooled our kids, stayed away from senior members of our families, canceled special celebrations and well-planned vacations...
By: Patricia A. O. Bunye I have always wondered how the founder of Zoom, Eric Yuan, feels about making over USD12 billion since March 2020, when the pandemic began and practically everyone on the planet has been ‘Zoom-ing’ for work or play. With its simple features, Zoom has left competitors like Skype in the dust. Yuan is now ranked No. 85 on Bloom...
By: Fernando Penarroyo The Philippine economy grew on average by 6.3 percent annually over the last decade due to the country’s sound macroeconomic policies and structural economic reforms under President Rodrigo Duterte and his predecessor Benigno Aquino III. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the Philippine economy ranked among the best performers in Asia...
BY: Fernando “Ronnie” S. Penarroyo Late last year, the International Rights Advocates filed a lawsuit in a Washington DC court on behalf of fourteen (14) Congolese families against several companies, alleging that their children were killed or injured while mining for cobalt in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The lawsuit further alleges ...
BY: Patricia A. O. Bunye: Over the past few months, the price of gold has been going haywire. As the coronavirus pandemic changed the world as we knew it in March, the price of gold crashed alongside stocks then quickly regained. Thereafter, a frenzy of investment drove up the price to an all-time high. On August 4, it shot up to USD2,021/troy ounce for t...
By Patricia A. O. BunyeOn 08 March 2020, the Philippine Government declared a State of Public Health Emergency throughout the entire archipelago in light of confirmation of the local transmission of COVID-19. All government agencies and local government units were tasked to assist, cooperate and mobilize resources to undertake critical, urgent and appropr...
The Philippines is currently facing one of the greatest challenges to its economy with the implementation of containment measures brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic. The enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) imposed by President Duterte was extended to May 15 on areas deemed still at high risk that includes the National Capital Region and nearby provinc...
By: Fernando “Ronnie” S. PenarroyoLast 05 April 2020, former Secretary of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Fulgencio “Jun” Factoran, Jr. died from a lingering illness at the age of 76. He earned his Bachelor of Arts in Humanities (cum laude) and Bachelor of Laws from the University of the Philippines (valedictorian, 1967), and hi...
In the morning of 04 December 2018, I received numerous text and viber messages from friends and colleagues from the tight-knit geoscience community informing me that Edwin Domingo, former Department of Environment and Natural Resources (“DENR”) Asst. Secretary, urgently wanted to get in touch with me. I thought that it might be a client referral. I was a...
By: Patricia A. O. Bunye“Diversity & Inclusion” are two buzzwords that I have taken for granted, but have been forced to think about, in the last few weeks. An international legal publication contacted me to ask whether our firm had a “Diversity Statement”, and of course I replied that we did, as most major law firms now do. I was also invited to atte...
By Fernando PenarroyoGlobal mineral exploration budget saw two consecutive years of growth in 2017 and 2018 despite the uncertainty of economic growth in mature economies and volatility of emerging markets, brought about by the US-China trade dispute. Junior mining companies who survived the previous years’ downtrend increased their exploration budget by ...
By Patricia A. O. BunyeYet another distinction was bestowed upon Diwata’s Chairman, career diplomat and our country’s first woman Foreign Affairs Secretary, Ambassador Delia Domingo Albert, when the Government of Japan conferred on her The Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star, in recognition of her contribution to strengthening the economic relat...
When President Rodrigo Duterte was elected in 2016, he made a complete turn-around in the Philippines’ relation with China. He cultivated friendship with Beijing in contrast to former President Benigno Aquino's hard-line approach particularly on the South China Sea maritime dispute. In exchange for Duterte’s offer of the olive branch, he was able to secur...
Patricia A. O. Bunye In September 2015, the United Nations member states adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which includes a set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for 2015-2030 and represents a comprehensive plan of action for social inclusion, environmental sustainability and economic development. Mining, as an industry employing ...
Patricia A. O. BunyeIn the last few months, I’ve had the pleasure of attending presentations of the Philippine Council for Industry Energy and Emerging Technology Research and Development (PCIEERD) of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) before the mining industry. In March, at the 1st quarter mining lecture series which it co-hosted with the C...
By Fernando “Ronnie” S. Penarroyo The Philippines prides itself as a gay-friendly nation where consensual homosexual relations, homosexuality, and transgenderism are not illegal. The country’s legislative history reached a milestone when Geraldine Roman from Bataan was elected as the first transwoman member of Congress. Meanwhile, seventy-three countries ...
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