FINDING ANSWERS The Philippine economy is facing one of its toughest tests in recent years. After several years of recovery from the pandemic, the country is now confronting a different challenge: slowing economic growth at a time when prices remain elevated and unemployment rate is rising. The...
OF TREES AND FOREST I think I was on my way to a meeting—this was a while ago—when I happened to pass by a new sari-sari store being coated with fresh blue paint and bearing the logo of a popular soft-drink maker. Through the open door, I could see a couple of women arranging canned goods with...
FINDING ANSWERS More than anything else, Filipinos are concerned about the rising prices of food and other basic goods. Every trip to the market tells the same story: fewer items, higher prices, tighter choices. Inflation has become an unavoidable reality for many households. This was the backdrop...
The Sandiganbayan’s Special Division has dismissed the remaining claims in a long-running forfeiture case against the late former president Ferdinand E. Marcos Sr. and former first lady Imelda R. Marcos after the government informed the anti-graft court that it would no longer present evidence...
Ombudsman Jesus Crispin “Boying” Remulla on Tuesday, May 26, said the Office of the Ombudsman (OMB) is preparing what he described as the “grandest case of them all” against former House Speaker Martin Romualdez in connection with an alleged conspiracy involving the national budget. During...
The Sandiganbayan’s Seventh Division on Tuesday afternoon, May 26, issued a precautionary hold departure order (PHDO) against Senator Rodante Marcoleta, former lawmaker Michael “Mike” Defensor, Aristotle Baluyut Viray, and Joseph Varias Espiritu. A PHDO is a court order that prohibits a...
The Office of the Ombudsman (OMB) has sought the issuance of Precautionary Hold Departure Orders (PHDOs) against Senator Rodante Marcoleta, former lawmaker Michael “Mike” Defensor, and two other individuals before the Sandiganbayan. A PHDO is a court order that prohibits a respondent facing a...
Federal prosecutors on Wednesday charged former Cuban President Raúl Castro with ordering the 1996 shootdown of civilian planes operated by Miami-based exiles in 1996 off the coast of the Caribbean island, a major escalation of pressure by the Trump administration on the socialist government. The...
OF TREES AND FOREST It is saddening to read reports that two foreign tourists assaulted the owners of a local business in Siargao after seeing a pro-Palestinian flag outside the shop. The foreigners allegedly threw rocks at the storefront and destroyed a nearby CCTV camera. The local community...
OF TREES AND FOREST In 1992, I reluctantly decided to run for the lone congressional seat in the then-district of Las Piñas-Muntinlupa. My introduction to politics came when my father-in-law, Congressman Filemon Celestino Aguilar, fell ill. As the May 1992 elections neared, people were busy...
FINDING ANSWERS For decades, the Philippines has been crippled by one stubborn and deeply corrosive problem: outrageously expensive and unreliable electricity. Our power rates, the second highest in Asia next only to Japan, have punished ordinary households, driven away investors, weakened...
OF TREES AND FOREST In school, when we were kids, we were presented with a magnificent, almost divine image of Mayon Volcano. In our textbooks, Mayon is often described in superlatives. Rising 2,463 meters above Albay, its near-perfect cone shape has made it one of the most recognizable natural...
