MSUeVillage International (MEVI)

05/03/2026

We enjoyed this meal each time. Mahal lang!!!

05/03/2026

Ruth and I love this Vietnamese restaurant. Hot tea. Spring rolls. Soup and salad. Simmering catfish in pot. Enjoyed this meal twice a year in Biloxi.

04/30/2026

If you feel like your paycheck is vanishing faster this year than it did last year, it is not your imagination—it is a mathematical reality. We need to talk about the "invisible tax" hitting Filipino households right now.

As of April 2026, the Philippine central bank (BSP) forecasts that inflation could surge to between 5.6% and 6.4%. For an economist, this is a red flashing light. But what does this mean for a general consumer?

It means that the purchasing power of your money is shrinking in real-time. The root causes aren't local; they are global and structural:

The Oil Shock: We import almost all of our oil. With global conflicts driving up petroleum prices, transportation costs have skyrocketed. When fuel goes up, the cost of moving food (like rice and vegetables) from the province to your local palengke goes up, too.

Currency Depreciation: With the Philippine peso recently hitting historic lows (crossing the 61-to-the-dollar mark), everything we buy from overseas instantly becomes more expensive.

The Financial Lesson: Your nominal wage (the number printed on your payslip) might stay the exact same, but your real wage (what that money can actually buy) is shrinking. This is why keeping all your savings in a traditional bank account earning 0.1% interest is economically dangerous. Financial literacy means learning how to invest in assets that outpace inflation to protect the time and energy you traded for that paycheck.

02/28/2026

Almost done setting up communication with the two MSU-Buug MeVI scholars.

02/27/2026

MISSISSIPPI MARKETMAKER NEWSLETTERS ON CHARTER BOATS FOR-HIRE

Mississippi MarketMaker Vol. 16, No. 2 / Economic Trends in the Mississippi Charter Boats for Hire Industry ABSTRACT Estimates of the economic impacts of the Mississippi charter boats-for-hire industry (MS-CBFH) were compiled from 2014 to 2023 on the NOAA Fisheries website, including sales, jobs, income, and value-added impacts. Graphical analysis was used to show the overall trends in economic impacts from 2014 to 2023....

Mississippi MarketMaker Vol. 16, No. 2 / Economic Trends in the Mississippi Charter Boats for Hire Industry ABSTRACT  Estimates of the economic impacts of the Mississippi charter boats-for-hir…

02/25/2026

02/18/2026

JOBS, INCOMES, AND SOCIOECONOMIC CARACTERISTICS OF THE U.S. SEAFOOD PROCESSIN INDUSTRY

ABSTRACT The average annual plant-gate values of selected processed fishery products in the US are compiled for the period 2020 to 2023. The total number of jobs, wages, salaries, and earnings of workers and owners of seafood processing businesses in the US is compiled for the period 2001 to 2025. The contributions of the Gulf of America region and the state of Mississippi to the number of jobs, wages, salaries, and earnings of workers and owners of seafood processing businesses are computed from 2020 to 2025....

ABSTRACT  The average annual plant-gate values of selected processed fishery products in the US are compiled for the period 2020 to 2023. The total number of jobs, wages, salaries, and earning…

02/13/2026

The country passed national rules governing crayfish aquaculture last year, requiring all broodstock and craylings to be sourced from certified local hatcheries of BFAR facilities. The National Freshwater Fisheries Technology Center currently has 30 female and 10 male breeders, with plans to expand to 200 breeders. That operation will be able to produce up to 5,000 craylings per cycle, with up to five cycles annually.

The Philippines Department of Agriculture is testing whether it is feasible to farm Australian redclaw crayfish in the country’s freshwater ponds

01/16/2026

[ADVISORY] IMPORTANT REMINDER ON PHILIPPINE CITIZENSHIP AND BALIKBAYAN PRIVILEGE

The Philippine Embassy in Washington D.C. wishes to remind Filipinos in the United States and the Caribbean that under Philippine law, natural-born Filipinos who became naturalized citizens of another country are deemed to have lost their Philippine citizenship and are regarded as former Filipinos, unless they take formal steps to reacquire Philippine citizenship.

Former Filipinos CANNOT use their old Philippine passports for travel or for other purposes, even if still valid, because they are considered foreigners and doing so would violate Philippine passport laws.

Under Republic Act No. 9225, former natural-born Filipinos who lost their Philippine citizenship by foreign naturalization may reacquire Philippine citizenship and become dual citizens. This allows them to get a Philippine passport, live in the Philippines indefinitely, own property without the restrictions applied to foreigners, exercise their right to vote, and enjoy the rights of Filipino citizens, subject to existing laws. Minor children of those who reacquire under R.A. 9225 may also derive Philippine citizenship and enjoy the same rights and privileges.

This is to be distinguished from cases where a person already held dual citizenship and later expressly renounced Philippine citizenship (for example, a dual Filipino-U.S. citizen who executed an affidavit of renunciation). Such cases are not covered by R.A. 9225 and therefore cannot reacquire Philippine citizenship under that law.

Former Filipinos who do not wish to reacquire Philippine citizenship may still travel to the Philippines without a visa and a return ticket, and stay for up to one (1) year under the Balikbayan visa-free privilege, subject to existing guidelines.

Former Filipinos who would like to reacquire their Philippine citizenship under R.A. 9225 may apply at the Embassy, Consulates, or at consular outreach missions. For more information, please visit philippineembassy-dc.org or contact your nearest Philippine Embassy (https://tinyurl.com/wdcpedirectory)/Consulate in the United States (https://tinyurl.com/yck559z8).