Had too much food or beer this holiday season? How about too much talking for some, especially on an issue which is close to the heart of the working class after a long break--- returning to work? Anything excessive is bad, which includes being overly or obsessively positive--- called by many today as "toxic positivity."

On 9 May 2022, an overwhelming majority or about 31.6 million (59% of the total votes) Filipino voters cast their lot on the message of unity by (President) Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr.

The success of any government's efforts is measured by its citizens‘ assessment of their quality of lives. There are several international organizations that have published their quality of life indices and surveys which covers several combinations of components and considerations. In the Philippines, the quality of life survey is regularly published by private pollster Social Weather Stations (SWS).

Lofty and ambitious- these are two words that describe Pres Bongbong Marcos' goal to bring down poverty rate to 9% by 2028 as the current administration is set to unveil the Philippine Development Plan 2023-2028 by December 2022. This is considering that the poverty rate at end 2021 was 18.1% based on figures from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) or double the 2028 target.

Vlogging or content creation has become a popular phenomenon in the Philippines, particularly among influential personalities and those who are digitally versed enough to post content using a camera. A vlogger is motivated to create content to express oneself, engage other people on certain issues, and earn profit at the same time.

It’s not yet business as usual for many companies struggling to recover from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Toxic cancel culture further strains the ability of businesses to recover if they fall prey to misplaced political passions fuelled by cunning political operators.

Pre-pandemic, the country's state of education was already beset with a multitude of issues and concerns such as overcrowded classrooms, unattractive compensation packages for educators and poor public education infrastructure quality. As a further indication of the state of our education, the Philippines ranked lowest out of 79 countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's (OECD) Program for International Student Assessment in 2018.

The COVID-19 pandemic has not only claimed the lives of so many Filipinos but also taken away work and earning opportunities for many willing and able workers due to forced closures brought about by periodic lockdowns. In August 2021, the unemployment rate rose to 8.1% or equivalent to about 3.9 million jobless Filipinos as the country went back to implementing harsh lockdowns due to the rapid transmission of the Delta variant.

The COVID-19 pandemic and resulting lockdowns across many parts of the Philippines exacerbated poverty levels in the country as poverty incidence in 2020 rose to 20% of the population or equivalent to about 22 million poor Filipinos (from pre-pandemic figures of about 17.7 million in 2018). The loss of jobs by over 8.7 million Filipinos in April 2020 is also considered a major contributing factor to the sharp increase in poverty incidence. Based on studies by the Philippine Disaster and Resilience Foundation, about 70% of businesses were forced to closed due to the implemented restrictions.

It's still the economy, stupid!

The next administration faces a serious challenge on how to revive an ailing economy severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

You are only as good as your last performance. This applies also to political brands- may these be colors, hand signs taglines, or associations. Candidates and parties who have enjoyed relative success in using prior brands do not need to reinvent the wheel. Meanwhile, those with unsuccessful runs often associate their failures to poor branding. Changing of brands can also be attributed to a change in brain trust of candidates and/or parties and/or a shift in strategy based on past performance.

The filing of certificates of candidacies for national and local positions officially began on 1 October 2021 and will span until 8 October 2021 (Friday), The recent survey results by opinion pollster Pulse Asia from 6-11 September 2021 will shape the decisions of aspirants. Those who performed poorly in the polls may be forced to abandon their intentions to run, while those with modest numbers may opt to continue or slide down to a lower position for pragmatic considerations.