OF TREES AND FOREST Former Senate President Manny Villar In 2021, we opened the first letter writing cafe in the Philippines fittingly named Dear Joe. The idea behind Dear Joe is simple, romantic, and quaint, possibly old fashioned. The coffee shop is the perfect setting to do something that has...
OF TREES AND FOREST Former Senate President Manny Villar Last Sunday, Sept. 4, President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. left the country to embark on his first ever state visit as the Philippines’ chief diplomat. Or, as he mentioned in his departure speech “mangangapitbahay muna para sa ating bansa at...
OF TREES AND FOREST Former Senate President Manny Villar President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr., through the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) has submitted to Congress his first full budget for the fiscal year 2023. The total budget proposed by the new administration is ₱5.268 trillion and was...
PEACE-MAKER Jose de Venecia Jr. Former Speaker of the House After some 17 months of negotiations, which at times were on the brink of collapse, the United States and Iran are reportedly close to striking a deal to revive the 2015 nuclear accord. We share the hopes of many in the global community...
FINDING ANSWERS Former Senator Atty. Joey Lina As many face-to-face classes started yesterday in our public schools, the perennial problems prior to the pandemic – severe shortage of classrooms, teachers, and instructional materials – have surfaced anew. With around 27.69 million basic...
PEACE-MAKER Jose de Venecia Jr. Former Speaker of the House Last year, our overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) remitted a record-breaking $34 billion, or some 8.9 percent of our country’s gross domestic product (GDP). The hard-earned money our OFWs send to their families here at home also allow...
OF TREES AND FOREST Former Senate President Manny Villar Sometimes we tend to complicate life. We work so hard looking for things we do not have and ignore those that we actually have. I understand why some people look for happiness by acquiring wealth and material possessions. As a young boy...
FINDING ANSWERS Former Senator Atty. Joey Lina A grateful nation was overwhelmed with grief over the news that the legendary Lydia de Vega-Mercado passed away last Wednesday. With the outpouring of accolades and tributes that followed, it was obvious how the Philippines’ most celebrated sprint...
Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Benjamin ‘Benhur’ Abalos Jr. called on former communist rebels to persuade other members of the New People's Army (NPA) to surrender and avail of the government’s Enhanced Comprehensive Local Integration program (E-CLIP)...
PEACE-MAKER Jose de Venecia Jr. Former Speaker of the House Amid the recent tensions in the Taiwan Strait, which is one of the protracted flashpoints in Asia and in the world, we wish to reiterate our continuing modest calls and fervent wish against a possible Cold War in the Asia Pacific region....
LANDSCAPE Gemma Cruz Araneta Suddenly, there were no more coups d’etat. Although President Fidel V. Ramos (FVR) won 23.58 percent of electoral votes in the 1992 elections, the country seemed to have breathed a sigh of relief. How reassuring that perennial destabilizers, mutineers and plotters,...
OF TREES AND FOREST Former Senate President Manny Villar When his parents gave him the name Fidel, they probably saw something in him that told them he was going to be great someday. Fidel is a name that was derived from the Latin “fidelis” which means “faithful”. And that embodied what...
