PAGBABAGO An emerging word today in terms of popularity is the concept, empathy. In Tagalog, it means “pagmamalasakit” or “pakikiramay,” or the capacity to sense the feelings of others even if unexpressed in words. The sight of homeless people during heavy floods, typhoons and fires, which...
PAGBABAGO During the past two months, we have witnessed unpleasant bickering between the two houses of Congress. It could have been resolved if we did not have the misfortune of having a Senate chair who is impervious to mounting criticism from the public. This had encouraged some of us to explore...
PAGBABAGO Hate speech has been with us since the beginning of time. It is shown in malicious distortions rooted in religious and ethic settings. It promotes division by amplifying disparities and fostering a perception of “us vs. them” according to Dr. Cherian George,...
PAGBABAGO Hate speech has been with us since the beginning of time. It is shown in malicious distortions rooted in religious and ethic settings. It promotes division by amplifying disparities and fostering a perception of “us vs. them” according to Dr. Cherian George, professor of Hong...
PAGBABAGO To the outside world, the image of the community journalist is one who works under difficult circumstances. This is the consequence of having been one of the five countries that have been on the top 10 in number of journalist killings over the last 10 years. Last year, we ranked...
PAGBABAGO (Part II) A n important lesson that Ed Garcia shares with us in his 260-page memoir, “Reinventing Resistance” is that “peacemaking is a task that never seems to end, and that therefore, one must find meaning in one’s work and one’s life,” quoting the much admired Vaclav...
PAGBABAGO In “Reinventing Resistance,” launched last Monday, Ed Garcia noted that the book is a collection of his experiences in defying the odds in a world that had lost its moral compass and unable to stop violence inflicted on vulnerable sectors. It describes this journey of five...
PAGBABAGO It is common knowledge that the municipal fishermen who constitute 2.3 million of our population are considered the “poorest of the poor” sector. Thus, the news that the Supreme Court First Division had upheld the Malabon Trial Court’s decision, which allowed commercial...
PAGBABAGO Like many, I have been monitoring progress in our educational system over the past few decades. And, while there had been considerable reforms that had been undertaken to address policy gaps and program needs, there are deficits in the system which had...
PAGBABAGO At the conference on “Human Happiness and Well-being in an Uncertain World,” held in Sabah Malaysia last June, 2024, Mahar Mangahas, chair emeritus of the Social Weather Stations (SWS), presented his paper entitled “Economic Well-being in the Philippines” where he cited...
PAGBABAGO It will be remembered that the Supreme Court in 2022 had mandated the allocation of 40 percent of national taxes to local government as per the Mandanas-Garcia ruling. This fund will benefit 1,493 municipalities, 149 cities, and 42,045 barangays. Because the LGUs had been assured of these...
PAGBABAGO Although 90 percent of Filipinos surveyed by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) indicated that they are more hopeful than fearful about 2025, this was lower by 15 percent in comparison with the previous year. But this is good enough considering that 2024 had been quite a challenging year...
