Health professionals are understandably relieved that President Duterte has decided to extend until May 14 the Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine (MECQ) in the NCR Plus bubble that continues to bear the brunt of a raging pandemic. While the pressure on hospitals’ critical care facilities has...
After shepherding the enactment of new laws that would spur economic recovery, the Duterte administration lifted a nine-year moratorium on new mining projects with the recent issuance of Executive Order Number 130. EO No. 130 repealed Section 4 of EO No. 79 issued by then President Benigno Aquino...
US President Joe Biden heralded America’s return to the center stage of global diplomacy as he hosted 40 leaders in a summit on climate change to mark this year’s celebration of Earth Day. He declared the US’ goal of reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 50 to 52 percent by 2030 based...
Simultaneous morning flag-raising activities in all local government units (LGUs) will highlight the celebration of the 500th or quincentennial anniversary of the victory of Datu Lapulapu over Magellan in the battle of Mactan today, April 27. Heralded as the first Filipino hero, his image is on the...
At a special summit convened in Jakarta over the weekend, ASEAN leaders issued an urgent call for an end to violence in Myanmar and for steps to be taken to restore democracy following a military coup last February 1. Their five-point statement of consensus also called for a visit to Myanmar by a...
Rolando de la Cruz, a 67-year-old balut vendor, died the other day while waiting with hundreds who lined up to answer actress Angel Locsin’s birthday invitation to the community pantry she had set up in Barangay Holy Spirit, Quezon City. As early as 3 a.m., a long queue had formed; stubs were...
After the historic Paris Agreement on climate change entered into force in November 2016 when 55 parties accounting for at least 55 percent of global greenhouse gases (GHG) had ratified it, notable progress has been made. According to the World Resources Institute, 189 countries have ratified or...
The tug-of-war between private hospitals and the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) rages on. Amid a surging pandemic and calls from the Department of Health (DOH) for provision of more beds and facilities, hospital owners report that they are constrained to lay off health...
While few would dispute Secretary Carlos Dominguez’s latest assertion that sound macroeconomic management has enabled the country to weather the severe impact of the pandemic in 2020, there is widespread skepticism about the government’s ability to nurse the economy back to health in 2021. Amid...
On April 14, 2021, 26-year-old Ana Patricia Non, a furniture designer, took out a bamboo cart and installed two signs on a tree in front of a shuttered food park along Maginhawa street in Quezon City. The first sign read: Maginhawa Community Pantry. The second sign pleaded: “ Magbigay ayon sa...
At a Senate hearing last year, the Department of Education (DepEd) reported that enrollment from kindergarten to senior high school for school year 2020-2021 was estimated at 23 million or 83 percent of the 27.7 million enrolled previously. When Senator Nancy Binay asked DepEd Undersecretary...
The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic moved back the commemoration of 500 years of Christianity by a year. Instead of a culmination, what was marked last Easter Sunday was the start of year-long activities. Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma pointed out that there are two important milestones: The first mass...
