We have in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN ) a tradition of non-interference in the local affairs of our fellow ASEAN nations. Over the centuries, these nations have gone through different historical experiences. Their only common bond, it seems, is that they occupy these same...
In the coming months, there will be need to constantly balance the concerns of various interests as we proceed to dismantle restrictions with the gradually improving COVID-19 situation in the country. After opposing an earlier proposal of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of...
United States President Joseph Biden and China President Xi Jinping spoke by phone for two hours last Thursday. It was the first time for the two leaders to speak with each other since Biden assumed the presidency on January 30. That it lasted two hours speaks of the many concerns and issues...
The Christian period of penitence, Lent, begins this week with Ash Wednesday on February 17. These are the six weeks before Easter Sunday on Holy Week. Ash Wednesday is named from the rite of placing ashes on the foreheads of participants with the words “Repent and believe in the Gospel” or...
On top of the health problems posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the country has had to face other problems, many related to the national economy and to the basic needs of livelihood among the people. The pandemic has started to ease in our country, largely through the imposition of government...
Vaccines have become a matter of great concern among the Filipino people. Their concerns range from sufficiency of supply for the nation’s 110-million population to the safety of the vaccines already in the country. Many other countries have begun the mass vaccination of their people, notably the...
Manila Water announced last week that it has begun its massive cleanup of the San Juan River under an agreement with the national government and the three local government units of San Juan, Mandaluyong, and Quezon City. We welcome any effort to clean up the many rivers and streams flowing from all...
There was one depressing story about the Philippine economy early this week – the country suffered its worst economic contraction on record in 2020 – by 9.5 percent – due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the National and Economic Development Authority (NEDA) and the Philippine Statistics ...
A Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons took effect last Friday. It was originally adopted by 122 countries in the United Nations General Assembly in 2017. It took effect Friday, 90 days after it was signed by the 50th state. There are today about 150 states in the world – this means some...
With many countries beginning mass vaccinations against the COVID-19 pandemic, the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva, Switzerland, and many other organizations that found themselves in the middle of it all have started to take stock of that damage and the losses it has caused around...
Former Mandaluyong City Mayor Benjamin “Benhur” Abalos assumd his new position chairman of the Metropolitan Manila Devlopment Authority (MMDA) last Tuesday, taking over from Danilo Lim who died last week from cardiac arrest a week after contracting COVID-19. On his first day...
At a time when everyone in the country is suffering in one way or another from the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the impending increases in the rates of Filipino workers’ contributions to the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) and the Social Security System (SSS) should be...
