HOTSPOT While many appear to be worried or panicking about prospects for change in the 2025 midterm elections and even the 2028 presidential elections, we’re not seeing any concerted effort around the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE) happening on Oct. 30, 2023. Each of our...
HOTSPOT The recently-released “Digital 2023 July Global Statshot Report,” published by global agencies We Are Social and Meltwater and with help from scores of 10 partners, reveal how fast and how deep the media landscape has changed. Many of the report’s findings should be interesting to...
HOTSPOT A big downpour might have marred and shortened the University of the Philippines Diliman’s commencement exercises last July 30, but nothing can detract from the sheer achievement of the Class of 2023. A record 2,243 out of UP Diliman’s 3,359 baccalaureate graduates received Latin...
HOTSPOT Decades ago, the terms were “payola” and “attack-collect, defend-collect.” Now, there are new, more powerful players in the shaping of public opinion who researchers say use the terms “retainer” and “pay per post.” Hats off to researchers Fatima Gaw, Jon Benedik A. Bunquin,...
HOTSPOT Baby River Nasino would have turned three on July 1 this year. But sadly, she only lived a little over three months. Who could forget Baby River’s funeral? The police dispatched dozens of close-in uniformed escorts to guard Reina Mae Nasino who was made to wear a full-body PPE. They did...
HOTSPOT There’s a raging debate online about living wages and the minimum ₱30,000 starting salary sought and expected by Gen Zs. The young ones are raising anew why the Philippines refuses to give decent pay to workers. They are revolted by the idea that while the national inflation rate, the...
HOTSPOT “Eat Bulaga” is supposed to turn 44 this July 2023. But there’s a whole lot of trouble that could finally end the country’s longest-running noontime show. For the faction of its producer TAPE Inc., the show will go on GMA, with a new cast and crew. Their initial forays have garnered...
HOTSPOT There’s a country whose economy grew by 60.2 percent, with Gross Domestic Product rising from $222.27 billion in 2012 to $356.7 billion in 2022 The businesses of this country experienced happy times from 2012 to 2019, with net incomes or profits growing by 72 percent from $35.8 billion to...
HOTSPOT We've been hearing a lot of warnings from friends who are into horoscopes to be careful during "mercury retrograde." It turns out, a more urgent problem is out there, oppressing us daily: Mercury rising. Yes, we've been experiencing (and enduring!) extraordinarily-high temperatures and heat...
HOTSPOT If there’s anyone who made President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s recent visit to the United States possible, look no further than the Biden administration. In a briefing before Marcos’ visit, US State Department senior officials outlined what led to this visit. First, as soon as it was...
HOTSPOT I have a pet peeve about media reports or academic retelling of historical events, especially those about activities of past and previous presidents. If you follow the news or are still in school, there are sentences thrown around like “on this day, 10 years ago, former president (insert...
HOTSPOT In 1902, the colonial legislature listed a grand total of nine public holidays in the Philippines. In its Act No. 345, the Philippine Commission designated “the first day of January, the 22nd of February, Thursday and Friday of what is commonly called Holy Week, the fourth of July, the...
