The country’s COVID-19 vaccination program seems to have gone on a bad start with the report that some Cabinet officials and members of the Presidential Security Guard (PSG) had themselves vaccinated against the coronavirus, now raging in a pandemic, with some donated vaccine. The PSG chief,...
We end this year on a note of uncertainty with regards to the COVID-19 pandemic which remains uncontained worldwide one year since it emerged as a new and unidentified illness in Wuhan, China. It remains a major threat to many nations around the world, notably the United States and now the United...
It was President Emilio Aguinaldo of the First Philippine Republic who, on December 20, 1898, issued a decree designating December 30 of every year as a day of national mourning in honor of Jose Rizal and others who had died in the Philippine Revolution against Spain. That First Republic,...
In a year of so many problems brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, one report stands out as a bright beacon of hope to the country – the Philippines is ending 2020 with an all-time record of palay production . The Philippine Statistical Authority (PSA) said the country’s palay production by...
In response to an appeal from House Speaker Lord Allan Velasco, the Manila Electric Company (Meralco) has extended its no-disconnection policy for non-payment of bills until January 31 next year. “The extended grace period will provide a much-needed reprieve to those reeling from the...
Finally, it is Christmas Day. We have always associated this holiday with merriment and joy, with many-colored lights on trees and lanterns, with feasting and gift-giving. We must never forget, as church officials remind us, that Christmas is the day Christ was born, the Christ who was to one day...
Christmas Eve is a special day to Filipinos. After going to church for midnight mass, families gather for “Noche Buena, ” an annual get-together for members of the family who may not have seen each other for months or even years. They exchange gifts and generally enjoy one another’s company....
In the incoming year, we hope to see a substantial government effort to increase rice production in the country. There have been “short-term improvements in palay production,” according to policy advocacy group Action for Economic Reforms (AER), but we are a long way from achieving “domestic...
This has been a very difficult time for the nation’s public school students and the Department of Education (DepEd), like everything else in the national life. The COVID-19 pandemic forced the suspension of all normal activity, especially those involving the gathering of people. The opening of...
Fifty-one days after the November 3 national elections in the United States, the elected members of the National Electoral College assembled in their respective states last Monday, December 14, and cast their votes for president and vice president of the United States. The voting result in...
Five years ago, the nations of the world, including the Philippines, met in Paris, France, on the world’s climate problem -- rising world temperatures due to carbon emissions from the world’s industries, causing the polar ice to melt, ocean levels to rise, and spawning more...
We are now in the last two weeks of December, 2020. After a year of the COVID-19 pandemic, the World Health Organization (WHO) said three regions of the world continue to have rising infections and deaths – Europe with a nearly 100 percent increase in deaths per week; the Americas,...
