Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III’s “One person, one Facebook account” proposal against troll armies may be difficult to implement without violating the data privacy right of users. Facebook logo Bayan Muna Rep. Ferdinand Gaite made this comment as he pointed out that Facebook is...
OF TREES AND FORESTS Former Senate President Manny Villar Last week, the nation paid tribute to two great Filipinos, separated by more than eighty years, who dedicated themselves to the highest level of excellence and to serving the nation. June 19 was the 160th birth anniversary of Jose Rizal, an...
The proposed removal of face shields especially when outdoors will be high on the agenda of the meeting of the government's pandemic task force on Thursday, June 17. Health workers administer coronavirus vaccines to people belonging to A5 priority group at the Baseco compound in Manila on June 16,...
OF TREES AND FOREST Former Senate President Manny Villar When we organize elections, our vision has always been to make sure that they are clean, honest and meaningful. They are the benchmark of a democratic system. But given our situation today, we need to add one more: safe elections. Can we...
OF TREES AND FOREST Former Senate President Manny Villar The coronavirus seems to be creeping outside the National Capital Region (NCR). The Department of Health has expressed alarm over the increase in COVID-19 infections in provinces specifically in Mindanao. It noted that 25% of fresh cases the...
OF TREES AND FOREST Former Senate President Manny Villar The good news this week was that the country’s vaccination program seemed to have shifted to a higher gear with 229,769 doses administered last May 20 — the highest since we began the program in March. National Task Force against COVID-19...
OF TREES AND FOREST Former Senate President Manny Villar I was reviewing my new website ( www.mannyvillar.com.ph ) that we recently launched. It is a beautiful website that includes information about myself and what we have built over the years in terms of our business. It is meant to inform but...
Despite a 12-month tariff cut imposed on pork, a group of local meat importers began lobbying for a much longer period wherein the pork import tariff rate is kept at 15 percent from the original 40 percent until 2025. A customer pays for pork at a roadside market stall in Mandaluyong City, Manila,...
OF TREES AND FOREST Former Senate President Manny Villar The COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdowns we have experienced for more than a year now has crippled our economy but it has also resulted to some positive changes that we can take advantage of. These are transformations that we can fully utilize...
OF TREES AND FOREST Former Senate President Manny Villar This was the word used by the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) to describe the growing gap between the number of vaccines available to rich countries and the measly numbers given to developing countries. The latter rely mainly on...
OF TREES AND FOREST Former Senate President Manny Villar As Filipinos continue to struggle against the COVID-19 pandemic, a different kind of outbreak has caused a shortfall in pork production and subsequently caused a sharp increase in food prices. While the African Swine Fever (ASF), which has...
OF TREES AND FOREST Former Senate President Manny Villar I applaud the decision of President Rodrigo Duterte to allow the private sector to import COVID-19 vaccines “at will”. “No matter the price or how many they want to import, that is fine with me,” the President was quoted as saying...
