About

This is a discussion platform arguing that government power should be small and limited to  a few important functions -- enforce the rule of law, protecting the citizens’ right to life (against aggression, murder), right to private property ownership (against thieves and destroyers of property), right to liberty (against bullies and censorship). Thus, taxes to sustain government should be low and few.

Rule of  law is means the law applies equally to unequal people, no one is exempted and no  one can grant an exemption to the restrictions and penalties set by the law. The number of laws, local  and national, should be few and predictable, not arbitrarily changed.

The Author

Bienvenido “Nonoy” Oplas, Jr.

Founder and President, Minimal Government Thinkers, a free market think tank in Manila.

Columnist, BusinessWorld, "My Cup of Liberty", April 2015 to present.

Columnist, interaksyon.com, "Fat Free Economics", mid-2012 to mid-2014.

Wrote two books, Health Choices and Responsibilities (2011) published by Central Books Supply (Quezon City), and Liberalism, Rule of Law and Civil Society (2014), published by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom (FNF) Philippine Office.

Chapter Contributor of two books,  Free Trade and Markets for Healthcare: Lessons from Asia (2013) published in New Delhi, India; and Why Liberty (2010) published in the US.

Graduated from Cadiz City High School, Negros Occidental.

Graduated AB Economics from the University of the Philippines, School of Economics (UPSE) in 1985,  Diploma in Development Economics (DipDE) in 1998.

In November 2013, he was among the 13 government and civil society leaders who were granted the Freedom Flame Awards 2013 by the FNF-Philippine Office.

Member, Philippine Economic Society (PES), UPSE Alumni Association (UPSEAA).