Tag: #Paul Roca
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We can learn from Japan’s ‘Ministry for Loneliness’
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga of Japan has added a “Minister for Loneliness” to his cabinet in the wake of a rise in suicides for the first time in 11 years. “The number of suicides is on a rising trend. I hope you will identify problems and promote policy measures comprehensively,” the prime minster told his appointee to the new position — Tetsushi Sakamoto.
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Myanmar protest recalls our own EDSA Revolution of 1986
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 geographical area on the planet.
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A targeted, calibrated easing of restrictions for Metro Manila
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.
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So many issues in 2-hr Biden-Xi phone talk
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 between their two countries.
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Our faith remains strong in this time of the pandemic
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 “Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return.”
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A special program for jobs recovery
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.
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Fears, uncertainties over vaccination
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.
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Private enterprise must help clean up Metro rivers
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.
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Vietnam, PH to lead SEA recovery
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 Authority (PSA) disclosed..
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Hope for a world without nuclear weapons
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.
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WHO reports early failings on pandemic
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 the world.
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Many problems face new MMDA chairman
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.
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Our workers need all the help they can get
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 deferred until a more appropriate time for everybody.
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Senate inquiry may clear up so many issues
That story about some cabinet men and members of the Presidential Security Group (PSG) having themselves inoculated against COVID-19, using vaccines donated by China, has refused to die down, as various officials have come up with unexpected details about the case.
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Nation remains optimistic, poll shows
The opinion survey organization Social Weather Stations (SWS) has been polling the nation’s views on a variety of subjects for decades. The findings are of particular interest to politicians during election periods. But they are important at anytime of the year as they reveal what the people think and feel on a variety of issues to help guide the country’s officials in the process of democratic governance.
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Our lives are in our own hands
It helps people to remember simple basic rules when they are expressed in simple, direct statements like “Mask. Hugas. Iwas.”
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Some issues arising from the Tarlac killing
Any killing of a human being is to be deplored, even those we used to have under state auspices. When the killing is done by a police officer in a blatant display of superior power and the victims are a helpless mother and son embracing each other in their hopelessness, it challenges human belief that this could happen in our country with its Christian respect for human life and its legal tradition of justice.
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These critical last few days of the year
In these last few days of the year, our officials will be closely watching the figures of COVID-19 infections and deaths in the country, to see the effects of the general easing of restrictions for the holiday season, particularly the gathering of people for the Simbang Gabi.