Water in Metro Cebu: The Case for Policy and Institutional Reforms

Over the past decade, Metro Cebu has been rapidly moving toward growth and industrialization contributing as much as 70 percent to Visayas’ industrial output. However, associated with this progress are the concerns of various sectors about the quality of water services. Only 23 percent of the total households and a very small portion of industrial and commercial sectors are serviced by the Metro Cebu Water District. Hence, the large majority of households, industrial and commercial firms have to rely on private wells and private water vendors. This paper examines the policy and institutional factors that may be preventing the efficient, equitable and sustainable Metro Cebu’s water resource management. It also provides policy areas through which policy and institutional reforms can be implemented.water sector, water allocation, governance

Banning Commercial Foresting: What are the Costs?

The Philippines' forest cover has suffered from massive denudation through the years due to uncontrolled and indiscriminate commercial logging. Because of this, calls for a total logging ban had been raised in various fora, including in the legislature where bills that consider the possibility of a ban are being studied. However, the possible economic costs of such ban as espoused in some studies has delayed the passage of these bills. This Policy Notes provides some economic costing based on computations that may help in firming up decisions regarding the proposed ban.forestry sector, environmental issues, environmental management

Urban Water Pricing: The Metro Manila and Metro Cebu Cases

Water is a critical commodity for human survival and a scarce resource that must be appropriately priced to ensure that it is not wastefully and unsuitably consumed. This Notes offers an optimal pricing scheme, together with suggestions on the improvement of the overall water resource management that could provide the proper environment by which such pricing scheme can succeed.urban management, water sector, water demand

Can the Philippines Achieve its CO2 Reduction Commitment with Renewable Energy?

The Philippines always aims to achieve economic growth, which requires expanding economic activities, resulting in increased pollution (Stern, 2017). The country signified its intention to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 75% in COP26 (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change [UNFCCC], 2021). Part of its strategy to combat CO2 emissions is by increasing its share of renewable energy (RE) sources to at least 35% of the total energy matrix (Department of Energy [DOE], 2021). The Philippines’ ability to reach its COP26 commitment through a scenario approach on the effects of increasing GDP and share of RE to CO2 emissions using Kaya Identity and EKC was investigated. Geometric growth and target-oriented forecasting were performed to generate the forecast period. The Kaya Identity computed the total factor CO2 emissions of the country. The EKC investigated whether increases in GDP, incorporated with the share of RE, result in declining CO2 emissions. Results showed that in scenarios 5 to 7, where GDP and share of RE are increasing based on targets, the Philippines enters post-industrialization stage 3 of environmental responsibility, wherein increases in GDP result in declining CO2 emissions. Evidence suggests the Philippines must remain aggressive in its RE investments to reach its COP26 carbon dioxide emissions reduction commitment

The Brazilian Network for HIV-1 Genotyping External Quality Control Assurance Programme

The Brazilian network for genotyping is composed of 21 laboratories that perform and analyze genotyping tests for all HIV-infected patients within the public system, performing approximately 25,000 tests per year. We assessed the interlaboratory and intralaboratory reproducibility of genotyping systems by creating and implementing a local external quality control evaluation. Plasma samples from HIV-1-infected individuals (with low and intermediate viral loads) or RNA viral constructs with specific mutations were used. This evaluation included analyses of sensitivity and specificity of the tests based on qualitative and quantitative criteria, which scored laboratory performance on a 100-point system. Five evaluations were performed from 2003 to 2008, with 64% of laboratories scoring over 80 points in 2003, 81% doing so in 2005, 56% in 2006, 91% in 2007, and 90% in 2008 (Kruskal-Wallis, p = 0.003). Increased performance was aided by retraining laboratories that had specific deficiencies. The results emphasize the importance of investing in laboratory training and interpretation of DNA sequencing results, especially in developing countries where public (or scarce) resources are used to manage the AIDS epidemic

Examining and Evaluating the Multidimensional Energy Poverty Index (MEPI) in the Philippine Household Context

Energy poverty refers to insufficient energy consumption to meet one’s basic needs. Measuring energy poverty is a vital calculation for a household assessment concerning accessibility of energy, affordability of energy prices, usage of energy resources, and sufficiency of energy consumption. Previous literature has extensively used the multidimensional energy poverty index (MEPI) to analyze the lack of access to modern energy services, including energy poverty intensity and incidence, and provide a framework for government policymaking. However, there is a variation between countries on how MEPI energy deprivation factors affect household welfare. This study aims to determine more accurate measures of household energy poverty in the Philippines using the 2004 and 2011 Household Energy Consumption Survey (HECS) and illustrate critical factors that affect the energy deprivation scores of the improved MEPI in the Philippine household context. In conclusion, with the improved energy poverty weights and measures that are Philippine-specific, it revealed that households who are multidimensionally energy-poor across all regions have slightly worsened from 2004 to 2011. This calls for more interventions and more appropriate policy implementation of promoting access to modern energy services and aiding to improve the conditions of Philippine households

Obstacles to Economic Freedom Affecting Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Southeast Asian Countries

Obstacles to economic freedom such as trade obstacles, finance obstacles, taxes, and corruption affect the ability of micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to maximize firm performance. Existing empirical studies investigating the effect of specific MSME-level obstacles to economic freedom are scarce in Southeast Asian countries. Therefore, this paper focuses on analyzing and comparing the effects of these obstacles to economic freedom on the performance of MSMEs in Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Malaysia using firm-level data from the 2015 World Bank Enterprise Survey. The methodology utilizes an ordinary least squares regression, and endogenous treatment effects regression, in determining which obstacles of economic freedom significantly affect MSME performance. Overall, it was found that trade obstacle is positively correlated to firm performance in all the countries except in Vietnam, whereas finance obstacle is negatively correlated to firm performance in all the countries except in Malaysia, whereas results were negative for taxes in the Philippines and corruption in Vietnam