The enactment of RA 10533 or the Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013 added two years to basic education. One of the rationales offered by proponents of the law is that Senior High School (SHS) graduates can work or engage in entrepreneurial activities if they choose to do so. This study...

Energy security is a comprehensive concept and pursuing it as a developmental goal entails first and foremost a clearer understanding of what it means. This study proposes six broad elements in assessing energy security, namely, sufficiency, reliability, resilience, affordability, accessibility,...

The private sector is the driver of growth in most ASEAN economies. It is therefore expected to play a significant role in the process of economic integration in ASEAN. In the Philippines, the private sector has dominated the economy, contributing about 95 percent of GDP, but it has not lived up...

The performance of the Philippine automotive industry has steadily improved after the Asian crisis. However, relative to the performance of the automotive industry in other countries, the automotive sector in the country has languished. To understand the challenges being faced by the automotive...

How are the ASEAN+1 free trade agreements facilitating the flow of goods in the supply chain in East Asia? This chapter looks at the experience of the Philippine automotive and electronic sectors--two sectors that are well integrated into the supply network in East Asia. Using firm interviews,...

Unfair trade practices (UTPs) demonstrate anticompetitive behavior which can be characterized into two general types: exclusionary abuse - an act of the firm (or a group of firms) to prevent entry of potential firms; or exploitative abuse - referring to actual abuse of market power. However,...

This paper discusses the nature of the rules of origin (ROOs) in the ASEAN+1 FTAs, particularly with respect to features and characteristics that could either facilitate or hinder the development of value chains, and the participation of firms in the increased globalization of production. By...

The Philippines has been more cautious in its policy toward free trade agreements (FTAs) than other ASEAN member-states, having signed, so far, only one bilateral agreement with Japan in addition to the various ASEAN+1 agreements. While the government is expected to progressively reduce...