PAGBABAGO The release of the 2022 results of the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA-OECD) on creative thinking in 64 participating countries had again created a stir as it showed Filipino students placing second to the last. The concern is understandable as...
PAGBABAGO Since it started four years ago, the Digital News Report (DNR) Survey by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism had shown significant changes in news media readership and viewership. More Filipinos or 47 percent rated themselves as “interested in the news,” an...
PAGBABAGO June is an important holiday and awareness day month in the country. June 5, World Environment Day, the day to protect Mother Earth, is important to all countries of the world because of the threat of climate change. It is also World Ocean Day, a focus on ocean conservation and...
PAGBABAGO I am primarily an academic even if I did dabble with the brush and acrylic for a period of four years before Covid-19, and which yielded a total of 175 paintings. How I did this was through a disciplined adherence to a weekly schedule at our workshop place, the Sunshine Recreation...
PAGBABAGO During the recent times, and perhaps because of challenges in the West Philippine Sea, our educational system, and food security, I again started to mull over our strengths and weaknesses and how we can survive or compete with several of our ASEAN neighbors. This continuing...
PAGBABAGO I think that legislative rotation or turnover is a practice that is more common in our country than in neighboring countries. It again happened recently when Senate President Juan Miguel “Migz” Zubiri stepped down a few days ago. “I was not following instructions,...
PAGBABAGO The month of May is National Heritage Month, established through Presidential Proclamation 439 in 2023 for the purpose of “creating among the people a consciousness, respect, and love for the legacies of the nation’s cultural history.” The purpose is not merely to make people...
PAGBABAGO Last Wednesday, my two nieces, Mayette and Leah, and their mom, my sister Lynn surprised me with a visit. It turned out to be an advanced Mothers’ Day treat – a sumptuous take-out lunch of Pampanga cuisine! One of the desserts, maja blanca, which was made of rice flour and...
PAGBABAGO Yesterday was the 31st anniversary of the declaration of press freedom by the United Nations. At the beginning, the annual themes focused on violence perpetrated on journalists. The Philippines, having been for several years “one of the most dangerous countries for journalists according...
PAGBABAGO My column, “Letting go” where I described my efforts to whittle down my earthly belongings elicited more comments than previous pieces. I suppose people within my age and social group empathize with my attempt to re-organize my life by decluttering – either by selling or...
PAGBABAGO This title was suggested by a friend after I told her that I was almost at the end of a task that many seniors had to face – letting go of possessions that had been accumulated over the years. Actually “letting go” started six years ago when I moved from an old house...
PAGBABAGO As we reflect on the lives of our national heroes who had fought against oppression and tyranny to enable us to enjoy our freedoms today, we had forgotten a large sector in our society which had toiled and struggled to enable us to enjoy freedom of food security – our farmers and...
