Philippines: 19th Richest Country by 2050

VIRTUAL REALITY
By Tony Lopez

The Philippines is not that poor*

     The statistics and the analyses on poverty incidence in the Philippines are distressing.  They will make you grab the nearest paltik and shoot the politician next to you.

      My contention, however, is that the Philippines is not that poor.  The Pinoy is not that poor.  And  yes, we need the politicians.  Just look at how that priest in Pampanga is running the local government.

      Why do I say the Philippines is not that poor?  Let me cite some data:

      1.  The Philippines is a large country and a large economy.  The population is 92 million, the 12th largest in the world.  Only China, India, the US, Indonesia, Brazil, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Russian Federation, Nigeria, Japan and Mexico are bigger.

      We are the same size as Vietnam.  We are bigger than Germany 82.7 million, Thailand 65.3 million, France 60.9 million, the UK 60 million, Italy 58.2 million, Korea 48 million, Spain 43.6 million and Argentina 39.5 million.

      The Philippine gross domestic product in purchasing power parity is worth $327 billion, according to the World Bank 2008 World Development Report and $319 billion, according to the IMF World Economic Outlook October 2008.  That makes it the 36th largest economy in the world, out of 200 countries.  The Philippines is the ninth largest economy in Asia.
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Powerbooks & Stockholder Empowerment

     One of my favorite places, if not my favorite, are the bookstores.  I specifically love Powerbooks because they allow customers to try to read the books almost indefinitely.  Whenever I visit one of their branches, this are the times I would get hold of expensive books which I wouldn’t want to purchase even if I want to.  Mahal kasi. haha!  Yesterday, I was able to read some pages of ‘A Weekend with Warren Buffett: And Other Shareholder Meeting Adventures” by Randy Cepuch.

     Here, the author shares his experiences attending annual shareholders’ meetings in different places, one of which is Berkshire Hathaway - Buffett’s conglomerate.  Mr. Randy candidly admitted that in 1999 he bough a single share of Berkshire - his first ever stock.  He also recalls his face-to-face encounter with the “Oracle of Omaha.”  I hope my cousin was not rushing yesterday that I get to read more pages.hehe!

     Speaking of shareholders’ meeting, the PSE has some advice.  Read the article below.
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Congrats Atty. Noharddin Haron!!

Congratulations to all the new lawyers especially to Kuya Nonoh!  Ang lupit talaga!  treat naman dyan attorney! hehehe!  Congrats from all of us in LDS!

A total of 1,310 have passed the 2008 bar examinations, the Supreme Court announced.

612. HAMOY Owlette Christine Jill D
613. HARON Noharddin M*
614. HASSAN Najira S
615. HASSIMAN Jalsidrie T

 *Atty. Noharddin Haron joined the Lyceum Debate Society in 1999.  He served as Grand Chancellor of the elite organization in 2002-2003.  Atty. Haron graduated cum laude with a degree of Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service major in Diplomacy where he was the top student of his batch and the recepient of presidential award for academic excellence.  He took his law degree in San Beda College.

**I’m close to certain with my infos about him.  Simpleng mayabang kasi si Kuya Nonoh kaya nung tinanong ko sya before, ayaw sabihin.haha! peace!