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From the several job fairs and student conventions I attended, I knew that it has become a norm for students to ask: “What is your company’s competitive advantage over the other players in the industry?” Whenever this is asked, I notice that the audience holds its collective breath to hear every word that comes from the mouth of a resource speaker or a company representative, much like the way they wait for a Miss Universe bet to answer her clincher question.

One political analyst has said that President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s rise to power stems from voter frustration with the prevailing system of the government. His victory was a protest against the failure of previous administrations to solve corruption and criminality. But many critics of the President view his promise of change and reform to be a pitfall if he does not deliver.

In 2017, leadership teams are grappling with new conditions of global risk. With few predicting the happenings of recent years, businesses are striving to prepare for the further possibility of inconceivable events.

While the current administration is trying to rebuild the nation through its war on drugs,truce with rebel groups, eradication of corruption in government, and improvement of government services, among others, businesspeople like mecan also contribute in this rebuilding process through our Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives. This is the perfect time for businesses torethink their CSR efforts and ride the wave of change that is in ourmidst.

According to news reports, the House of Representatives approved on third and final reading two tax bills: House Bill (HB) No. 4814 proposing an estate tax amnesty, and HB 4815 which calls for a single lower estate tax rate. Our congressmen unanimously passed the bills. HB 4814 garnered a vote of 216-0-0, while HB 4815 received a vote of 219-0-0.

I recall that 30 years ago, you could count all the television channels with your fingers in one hand. So a typical family usually watched one chosen program every evening. That was the era of limited options via limited media, i.e., print, radio and TV.

Twenty years after the 1997 comprehensive tax reform program and we are embarking on the next big one.

Every time I am asked to give an advice to new hires in our Firm, I never failed to mention to them: “Read books!” Also, I usually make a random survey of new hires who are habitual readers by a show of hands, and sadly, those who read are less than 10 percent of the batch. In this age of YouTube, mobile gaming, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, books, indeed, have a formidable competition. The youth find it easier to surf than to read. Nowadays, reading is likely seen by the youth as a chore and, to some, even geeky; not realizing the many benefits of reading. How do we, indeed, entice the young to read and see the benefits of reading?