EDITORIAL: PROTECTING THE BANK SECRECY LAW
MANILA, FEBRUARY 16, 2012
(MALAYA) ('Will foreign investors and OFWs
continue to be confident that banks would not open their dollar
accounts?')
WHEN the Supreme Court issued a temporary restraining order to stop the
opening of Chief Justice Renato Corona's dollar account, many surmised that by
intervening in the functions of a purely independent court such as the Senate
impeachment court, a constitutional crisis was inevitable.
The constitutional crisis, however was averted in the explanation of
Senator-Judge Miriam Defensor-Santiago who said that obeying the TRO did not
mean one branch's superiority over another, but that the Constitution is supreme
over all branches and agencies of government.
Had the Senate ignored the TRO on respecting the Foreign Currency Act there
was a possibility that every TRO issued by the highest court would also be
contested. Another question is, will foreign investors and OFWs continue to be
confident that banks would not open their dollar accounts?
Why is it that the prosecution is spearheading efforts to violate RA 4626,
which they pushed so hard to pass in the first place? This brings the nagging
question: Is the House prosecution panel targeting Corona or destroy the
institution itself?
These and many more questions are certain to be asked as this so-called
impeachment drama continues to unfold to the detriment of the tax-paying public.
Japan's shrinking population
NEW forecasts about Japan's population for the period until 2060 paint a
gloomy picture of the nation's demographic future.
The speed at which the Japanese population will shrink in the coming decades
is simply stunning. The number of Japanese will decrease by 41.32 million in the
next half century to about two-thirds of the current figure, according to the
forecasts. ...
Can we change the predicted demographic future of the country?
If the fertility rate gradually rises until it stabilizes at 2.07 in 2030
onward, the percentage of senior citizens will peak in the 2040s in the 30 to 35
percent range, and then fall before stabilizing around 25 percent range over the
long term.
That is a tough target to achieve. But growth of the child population would
certainly stabilize the nation's demographic structure.
There is a huge difference in vitality between a society where one in every
2.5 members is an elderly citizen and a society where the ratio is one in every
four.
What is especially notable is the fact that the number of women giving birth
to a child at the age of 30 or older is larger than the number having a baby at
younger than 30.
The number of babies born to a mother aged 35 or older has increased by about
130 percent from 15 years ago.
Meanwhile, already married couples are not expecting to have the number of
children they actually want.
Behind these facts is widespread anxiety about economic future. From this
point of view, policy efforts to improve the employment situation of young
Japanese are very important. – The Asahi Shimbun,
Tokyo
Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
© Copyright, 2012 by PHILIPPINE
HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE
All rights reserved
PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS
ONLINE [PHNO] WEBSITE
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------
Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/phnotweet
This is the PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE (PHNO) Mailing List.
To stop receiving our news items, please send a blank e-mail addressed to: phno-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
Please visit our homepage at: http://www.newsflash.org/
(c) Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
-------------------------------------------------------------Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/phno/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/phno/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
phno-digest@yahoogroups.com
phno-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
phno-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
