The purchase by the Department of Education (DepEd) of pricey cameras has triggered a backlash from teachers grown hoarse from demanding a pay upgrade and increase. “If they have a budget for overpriced cameras and laptops, how come they don’t have a budget for our pay increase?” said Erlinda Alfonso, a teacher at the San...
Category: News
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Save the dogs (and other creatures)
CAPAS, Tarlac—In the news lately is the order of Mayor Carmelo Lazatin of Angeles City, Pampanga, to file criminal charges against three men said to have killed and cooked a dog last week to serve as bar chow for their drinking session. It only goes to show that the law, in this case Republic Act...
A PhilinCon forest patroller inspects a fallen agarwood tree on the mountain trail. —PHILINCON PHOTO
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The stink of agarwood trafficking in Panay
Tree trunks and limbs left in the wild, gutted, severed, or sliced, like a disgusting scene in a nightmare film minus the flesh and blood. No signs of shame or scruple from the band of marauders who left their victims in such an abhorrent state of rot. The mass slaughter of rare trees would have...
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Overworked and underpaid, nurses are packing up, flying out
The demand for Filipino nurses in Europe is so high that Germany and the United Kingdom are reportedly talking directly with administrators of some nursing schools in the Philippines to recruit their students. But German Ambassador Anke Reiffenstuel recently took to Twitter to deny that Germany was “pirating” Filipino nursing students to fill the shortage...
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When the wheels of justice grind
When she is released from prison, whether by virtue of bail, dismissal of her remaining two drug cases, or acquittal, Leila de Lima is clear on what she will do. “I will make every second of my life as a free woman count. I will waste no time,” the former senator said last November in...
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Syrup’s recall a warning on what we give our kids
Back when we were children, our parents made sure we took our multivitamin and mineral supplements every day. It was generally deemed good practice: Vitamins and minerals are believed essential for life, and deficiency in one or more may lead to various ailments. Today’s parents still hold to this belief, but a growing number of...
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Marcos Jr. should learn from history, Biazon says in wake of military brass shakeup
The dictator Ferdinand Marcos kept Gen. Romeo Espino for nine years as chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to enforce martial law, causing deep division and disenchantment among the military officers and men. The rumblings eventually reached tipping point. Then Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile and the AFP vice chief of staff,...
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How ‘pangalay’ brought ‘ginhawa’ and helped me through the pandemic
I found health in conscious breathing and wave-like movements. The Covid-19 pandemic affected all aspects of our lives, not just our physical health. The lockdown and stay-at-home policies closed businesses, cancelled social gatherings, and caused shifts in working and studying setups. As the pandemic is more than a health crisis, we strived to be well...
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‘Pasadang’ Pandemic: Transport workers during Covid-19
The Philippine public land transportation industry was beset with problems during the Covid-19 pandemic. With restricted mobility and physical distancing measures enforced as early key strategies to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus, it was inevitable that the livelihood opportunities of transport workers would be negatively affected as the number of trips and passengers dwindled. ...
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Continue to oppose Maharlika Investment Fund, says ex-central bank official
As the battle shifts to the Senate after the House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved the bill creating the Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF), a former official of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has called on the public to amplify its objections to the measure. Diwa Guinigundo, BSP deputy governor until 2019, said that while the...