‘Opinion’ Archives
The PHL economy
The Philippine economy will expand by 5-6% in 2012, higher than the 3.7% growth posted in 2011. The government’s expenditure program is getting on track and economic indicators are looking good. ADB President Harakiko Kuroda said the Philippines is poised to weather the effects of mild recession in Europe but stressed the urgent need for countries to address the wide income inequality in their areas. The Philippines expects a bolter 5 to 6% GDP growth for 2012 not only because of strong [...]
Women and children in darkness: exposing human trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation
Elsa was a sixteen-year old who lived in a broken family. Her father left them three years ago to elope with his girlfriend living in Manila. Elsa, together with her mother and six younger siblings lived indigently in a remote barrio in Samar, substantiating only with a little supply of sweet potato tops growing in their backyard and the modest amount of money they derive from selling these vegetables. Aling Marta, Elsa’s mother could no longer toil in the market selling those sweet potato [...]
Summer Salad
In the not- so- distant past, the eighties to be exact, summer for this young boy was enjoying the tab-ang waters in the makeshift bamboo slits in a place called Latayan. In the Brgy. Paypayon ,Oras of my childhood , where the folks who dwell in these sweet abode nestled on bamboo columns , where people we called friends. We used to jump from the bamboo edges farthest from the road. In fact, it was the gauge for the boy’s swimming skill. When jumping to the murky-sweet waters , the [...]
Two opposing situations
Soldiers are dislike in two barangays of Las Navas and Catubig, both of Northern Samar. Same time in another barangay of Las Navas, the soldiers are the protectors. Soldiers akin to journalists are being loved or hated. Doing well in favor of the oppressed is being loved, while the same good acts against the oppressor are being hated. In the articles published in page 2 of this paper’s April 29 issue, I noticed the opposing situations. The story entitled “2 barangay officials [...]
No Waray interested to run for senator, why?
Until this writing, I haven’t heard yet of any Waray name making it to lists of probable candidates for senator for the May13, 2013 elections. Why is this so? Apart from the name of Ted Failon (Larry Etong of the defunct Romualdez-owned DyMM amplitude modulation radio station in Tacloban), we had heard only very few names for the 2010 senatorial elections, and one of them was incumbent Leyte Governor Icot Petilla, but none so far made it to the final slates. There could be other [...]
When the Son of God Has Become the Vine
For the Israelites and for other Mediterranean peoples, the typical gifts of God through the earth are bread, wine, and olive oil. Bread builds people’s strength, wine gladden their hearts, and oil makes their faces gleam (Ps 104:15). These gifts subsequently become “signs” of God’s benevolence, of salvation that God offers for his people: “On this holy mountain the Lord of hosts will provide for all peoples a feast of rich food and choice vines…he will destroy death forever…will [...]
Panacea for unemployment
National Statistics Office result of the January 2012 Labor Force Survey revealed that 7.2 percent of the total 62,689,000 Philippine population aging 15 years old and above are unemployed while 92.8 percent are employed. These figures reflect a much different rates from last year which are 7.4 percent and 92.4 percent respectively from last year’s population covering the same age bracket which was 61, 531,000. The underemployment rate however, dipped from 19.4 percent last year to 18.8 [...]
It is high time to go back to the farm and produce food
The current state of the economy has not improved that people are still poor and suffering from all sorts of hardships from putting food on the table up to sending children to school. The prices of basic commodities which are affected by worldwide woes including the fluctuating prices of petroleum and other fuel products keep lives on a seesaw with no assurance of letting up. Even vegetables can no longer be a daily fare for most poor families as prices of these and other agricultural [...]
Go easy with opinions
I HAVE just finished reading a book about Pope Benedict XVI. I prefer not to mention the title nor the author. I just want to highlight the need to go easy with opinions, because while they will always have some grain of truth, they most likely don’t have it all. The book was written by a journalist covering the Vatican beat. There’s some understandable hype used in promoting the book which should be taken with a grain of salt. I understand that being a journalist, the author tends to [...]
World Press Freedom
Do we have full press freedom in our country? Several journalist risk their lives for the right of the public to know, but is it worth dying for? Dead man tells no tale. A maxim some journalist never thought they fulfilled. Islamabad’s Umar Cheema is fortunate to have survived the torture done to him. His ordeal in September 2010 may not have entered even in his dreams. The torture did not stop him from telling the people what transpired; he was not bulldozed. He courageously shouted to [...]
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