Articles, essays, and talks of Rey Lugtu

((Published in the BusinessMirror under the Mirror Image column, Nov 11, 2008) Now that President-elect Barack Obama will be inaugurated on January 20, 2009, many are holding their breath, especially the business-process outsourcing companies in India, the Philippines and others, as to how he can turn around the outsourcing of jobs from the United States. In debates and on the road, Obama repeatedly said that if elected, he would discourage companies from “shipping jobs overseas” by taking away tax breaks, or by giving benefit to those corporations that keep jobs domestically. “We can keep giving tax breaks to companies that ship jobs overseas, or we can give tax benefits to companies that invest right here in New Hampshire,” Senator Obama said at a joint appearance with Sen. Hillary Clinton in Unity, New Hampshire. According to CIO magazine, economists and legal advisers contacted about those comments said they are unaware of any specific tax breaks aimed at offshoring or outsourcing

(Published in the Manila Standard Today inder the Greenlight column, Nov 3, 2008) I recently attended the 17th Conference of the Electric Power Supply Industry held in Macau from Oct. 27 to 30, which was attended by the region's foremost leaders, experts, practitioners, professionals, academics, equipment suppliers and service providers in the electricity industry to meet and exchange knowledge and expertise. The apt theme of the conference, "Power sector in the fast climate changing world," summarizes the urgency among industry players to be cognizant of the impact of power production and distribution on the environment. Balancing act As the Asian power sector is experiencing unprecedented rapid growth in electricity demand, environmental awareness is likewise on the increase. The challenge this pose is how industry players can do a balancing act between meeting demand and preserving the environment. This issue is compounded by fuel price volatility, which has witnessed