Sheena Valenzuela

• Master in Public Management
• Makati Business Club

In 2016 the Philippine Department of Health (DOH) introduced a novel dengue vaccine in a mass immunization program to reduce the substantial economic and social burden of the disease on households and the government. The vaccine manufacturer’s announcement regarding new findings on the small but increased risk of severe dengue for vaccinated serone...

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected over 200 countries and territories, leading to well over 40 million confirmed cases and over 1.1 million deaths worldwide (covid19.who.int/). While many are hopeful, an effective vaccine is not yet assured, and the world still struggles with the so-called “new normal” during the pandemic. Meanwhile, even prior to...

The Republic Act (R.A.) 10,349, otherwise known as the Revised Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Modernization Program, is a recapturing of the AFP’s initial efforts at modernizing. Successor to R.A. 7898, the document reorients the priorities and the fiscal responsibilities of the Philippine government in ensuring the modernization of the arme...

The tight fiscal space in the national government's budget remains to be a challenge for all agencies. This has been exacerbated by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. This paper is the first phase of the research on increasing and sustaining investments in national security and focuses on how the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) has appropriated a...

This paper documents the second phase of the study on national defense spending in the Philippines. The discussion is set within the context of global and regional patterns in defense spending; the available fiscal space in the Philippine government's current budget; and defense-related policy pronouncements of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., among...

The "blue economy" is a version of the "green economy" made relevant to our seas and oceans. It is a model of economic development that focuses on the sustainable management and use of natural and other resources in the maritime sector. Given the Philippines' archipelagic nature and distinct resources and comparative advantages in this sector, this...

The Republic Act (R.A.) 10349, otherwise known as the Revised Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Modernization Program, is a recapturing of the AFP’s initial efforts at modernizing. Successor to R.A. 7898, the document reorients the priorities and the fiscal responsibilities of the Philippine government in ensuring the modernization of the armed...

The pandemic exposed not only the Philippine healthcare system’s lack of capacity and preparedness in responding to the disease, but also vulnerabilities arising from the country’s pivot to China.

The “blue economy” is a version of the “green economy” made relevant to our seas and oceans. It is a model of economic development that focuses on the sustainable management and use of natural and other resources in the maritime sector. Given the Philippines’ archipelagic nature and distinct resources and comparative advantages in this sector, this...

At the time of publishing this case, a "health crisis of confidence" was gripping the Dengvaxia (dengue vaccine) immunization program in the Philippines. The series of events that led to this could be traced back at least to late 2017, when some government officials under the then newly installed Duterte administration along with a group of stakeho...

At the supermarket, we often buy things that go together—pasta and spaghetti sauce, beer and chips, ice cream and cones, and so on. Certain pairs or sets of items are frequently bought together in the same basket or cart, be it physical or virtual. Using big data analysis, online retailers like Amazon.com exploit these relationships in their recomm...

The "blue economy" is a version of the "green economy" made relevant to our seas and oceans. It is a model of economic development that focuses on the sustainable management and use of natural and other resources in the maritime sector. Given the Philippines' archipelagic nature and distinct resources and comparative advantages in this sector, this...