30 | 30 November 2009 |
My parents were journalists and published a community newspaper for a long time before they retired. This was in ‘Danding country’, ‘Peping country’, ‘Ninoy country’, sometimes, ‘Kumander Dante country’; and, maybe soon, ‘Gibo country’, or ‘Noynoy country’, but—undeniably—‘Cojuangco country’. Here are the names of the thirty (30) community journalists who died in a single day, 23 November 2009, in ‘Ampatuan country’, and, perhaps, soon-to-become ‘Mangudadatu country'.
Respect | 20 Oct 2009 |
It looked awesome to me (especially when seen on full-screen mode), impressive and frightening at the same time, after seeing what a ‘baby typhoon’ such as Ondoy, or a weaker typhoon like Pepeng, can do.
Information at everyone's 'fingertips' | 13 Oct 2009 |
Government officials and concerned disaster management agencies should take their cue from the public—by timely provision of critical information on potential disaster situations through what most Filipinos have access to already—their mobile phone.
Forewarned is forearmed | 10 Oct 2009 |
Are the Great Floods of 2009 a prelude to a far greater calamity? Read the excerpt from a monograph on Metro Manila below, then be vigilant that certain powerful actors in this country do not replay a nearly four decade-old script.
Black box | 08 Oct 2009 |
There is no such a thing as impenetrable spending as executive privilege. Each centavo of public money—how it is raised, distributed, re-distributed, used, and spent—should be open to public scrutiny and subject to audit. EACH centavo.
Small shifts with big consequences | 28 Sept 2009 |
I know that plastic bags are the cheapest and most easily available right now that meet the purpose of mass distribution of relief goods. I am just afraid that these bags will again end up clogging sewage systems and waterways, and polluting our seas and oceans, further contributing to the cycle of unsustainable consumption and waste production, and eventually to more and bigger floods in the future. While meeting tactical needs let us also think strategic.
What US$20,000 can buy | 27 Sept 2009 |
What is a million pesos or two for city and municipal governments if it means raising their capacity to rescue their citizens in times of natural calamities?
May-Pag-asa-Pa-Ba Alert Service: Flood signal no. 3 in Metro Manila
| 17 July 2009 |
Rain in Metro Manila, storm or no storm, almost always means — floods.
Naming and shaming | 08 June 2009 |
'Naming and shaming’ have long been part of the repertoire of citizens and their organisations to make their governments and the powers-that-be accountable for their acts and as a way to expose the ‘crimes of the powerful’, thereby paving the way for their prosecution.
Parents of broken dreams | 21 Apr 2005 |
That’s what they call themselves, the thousands of parents who invested a lifetime of savings in pre-need education plans just so their children can enjoy a good college education. A ‘future-oriented’ lot, not your ‘bahala na’ (come what may) ones.
Nation and mourning | 17 Dec 2004 |
How to mourn⎯this seems to be one of the controversial issues these days with the passing of Fernando Poe Jr., the man who won the vote for president but lost the count in the May 2004 elections.
UP beloved | 17 Oct 2004 |
The most serious challenge to the intellectual and scientific authority of the academic sciences, however, has come with the realisation that the knowledge they produce plays a central role in justifying and reproducing the social injustices in today’s world.
It ain't fiscal | 06 Oct 2004 |
The problem is less about the lack of law-abiding citizens in this country. It is the law that is problematic. And by law I mean not some abstract notion or incomprehensible text in some justices’ tome but rather its face—who represents it, who embodies it.
