BM Broader Look

HERE comes the sun, thanks to Olympic gold medalist Hidilyn Diaz.

As Diaz lifted a combined 224 kilograms it felt a weight, albeit temporarily, was lifted from the shoulders of a country hunched with the heavy load of debt.

Indeed, as the rains at Monday’s dusk drowned the droning-on of President Duterte during his last State-of-the-Nation Address (Sona), the republic faced the danger of debilitating debt.

Finance officials have said that the Philippines could see the ratio of debt to gross domestic product (GDP) to tip the scale at around 58.7 percent.

A couple of days ago, a comment was posted on Twitter. “If you are stocking up on booze before ECQ begins, you have a problem. Alcohol Drinking problem.”

Welcome to Business Minds, a segment of the BM Broader Look podcast, which provides a view of the people behind a business in their own words.

Today's Business Minds podcast segment puts a spotlight on payment gateway operator Xendit. Anne Ruth dela Cruz, BusinessMirror Special Projects coordinator, engaged Yang Yang Zhang, managing director of Xendit Philippines Incorporated, in a conversation on Xendit and the Philippine market.

For stories on Xendit, please visit the businessmirror website. For the print edition, please read the BusinessMirror newspaper.

IF you want to understand how the stock market works, think back to the good old days when we travelled by airplane.

HOTDOGS are having an identity crisis. It’s all because of a three-word phrase: “Born-and-bred.”

No, it’s not the title track in John Mayer’s fifth studio album. But it is something that Philippine state officials and industry players have not come to terms with. Yet.

“Kung makukulong ako, ikaw na ang bahala sa’kin, ha?”

Every law student or lawyer has heard this line or a similar one, and if we got paid each time we heard this, maybe we wouldn’t have to practice law anymore! Still, it’s always funny to hear.

The timid that prefers to avoid risk, the snowflakes who melt at the first sign of risk, and the cowards who run from risk will be buried in the months to come.