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...
OF TREES AND FOREST Former Senate President Manny Villar Two separate violent occurrences shook our world in the past week. The first was political while the second was natural. On July 24, 2022, a shooting incident marred what should have been a joyous occasion, the graduation ceremonies of the...
OF FOREST AND TRESS Former Senate President Manny Villar President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr. won an overwhelming majority of the votes during the May 2022 national elections. He won almost 59 percent of the total votes cast in a 10-way presidential race. But now that he has been sworn in...
OF TREES AND FOREST Former Senate President Manny Villar In about a week’s time, President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr. will deliver his inaugural State of the Nation Address (SONA) before the Congress of the Philippines. It is one of the Constitutional duties of the Chief Executive...
OF TREES AND FOREST Former Senate President Manny Villar The assassination of Shinzo Abe, Japan’s former Prime Minister, was a shock to all of us. His death was horrific not only because of its suddenness and the fact that it was caught on video but also because Abe was a dear friend to the...
OF TREES AND FOREST Former Senate President Manny Villar On a gloomy day, noon of June 30, 2022, Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. became president of the Republic of the Philippines. In simple but refined ceremonies, Bongbong Marcos took his oath of office before Supreme Court Chief Justice Alexander...
OF TREES AND FOREST Former Senate President Manny Villar The Philippine Vice President has traditionally been viewed as a mere backup, a spare tire, to the President. Unlike in the United States where the VP serves as the president of the Senate and presides over the Senate's daily proceedings, the...
Former Senate President Manny Villar OF TREES AND FOREST Today, June 15, is the birthday of my friend, the late Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago. She would have been 77 years old and I imagine still as feisty and loving as I remember her. In my mind, Miriam occupies a place in the pantheon of great...
OF TREES AND FOREST Former Senate President Manny Villar I spent all my years as a public servant in the legislature. From 1992 to 2001, I represented Las Piñas in the House of Representatives where I was fortunate enough to be chosen as Speaker by my peers. Then from 2001 to 2013, I served as...
OF TREES AND FOREST Former Senate President Manny Villar Congress, the body Constitutionally mandated to canvass the votes for President and Vice President, has officially proclaimed Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. and Sara Duterte as the victors of the recently concluded May 2022 national elections. The...
OF TREES AND FOREST Former Senate President Manny Villar The votes that have been reflected in the COMELEC Transparency Servers and reported in real time by various media outfits and citizen watchdogs seem to show one thing—a landslide victory for the tandem of former Senator Ferdinand...
OF TREES AND FOREST Former Senate President Manny Villar By the time this column comes out, it would have been two days after our people have made their choice and cast their ballots. I am not sure if the winner has been clearly established by now but it seems the perfect opportunity to change from...
