Monopolies in the Philippines (1965–1986) granted PD 1468, which declared the money as private and prevented any government audit. Cojuangco bought San Miguel Corporation (SMC) with the funds from the Coco levy. SMC is one of the oldest and largest beer, food, packaging and livestock conglomerate in the Philippines. President Marcos gave favors to SMC once Cojuangco became its head. Taxes were raised for liquor and cigarettes in January 1986, but excise taxes on beer went down. Beer is one of the main products of SMC, which helped the corporation save as much as $40 million that year. When Marcos was President, he often wrote
Philippines at the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup Philippines at the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup The Philippines men's national basketball team played at the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup held in Spain. The 24-team tournament began on August 30, and the winner automatically qualifies for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The Philippines qualified for the World Cup by virtue of the silver medal won by their 2013 FIBA Asia Championship squad. The Filipinos were considered as an underdog in the tournament, but shocked and impressed the whole world including FIBA officials because of their courage, passion and enthusiasm that was shown by the