A Filipino geologist is joining a select panel of experts helping a United Nations (UN) agency in its mission to manage and protect the world’s seabed resources in areas beyond national jurisdiction (the Area). Mario Juan Aurelio, 57, a professor at the University of the Philippines (UP), former director of the UP National Institute of...
Category: News
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The ‘battle for memory’
Reports of protesting Sri Lankans storming the presidential palace and forcing President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to run away and eventually announce that he would step down are triggering recollections of Ferdinand Marcos’ own flight from Malacañang in February 1986 as protesting Filipinos approached the gates. Written accounts of the ailing dictator’s last hours in the Palace—for...
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Dengue epidemic: how to protect your family
The number of dengue cases is soaring all over the Philippines. An epidemic is now reported in 15 out of 17 regions nationwide. With the certificate of the dengue vaccine Dengvaxia permanently revoked in the country, the Department of Health (DOH) is urgently campaigning for every citizen to take a proactive role in their home...
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‘I won’t let politics ruin my beauty’
Unlike in her previous defeats in electoral contests in Laguna, the actor-comedian known as “Miss Flawless” now sees no need to cry a river.”It’s impractical to cry anymore. What for? At least I know my constituents love me,” Angelica Jones, now 39, said in Filipino shortly after the May polls.“I won’t let politics ruin my...
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Covid-19 politics in Southeast Asia
The political situation in Southeast Asia in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic can be contextualized by the level of freedom in each country. The 2021 Freedom House survey of 210 countries worldwide rates “peoples’ access to political rights and civil liberties, including individual freedoms ranging from the right to vote to freedom of expression...
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Birds flying into manmade things
One recent morning, I saw a bright yellow kilyawan (black-naped oriole) lying dead beside our house. It happened periodically, over the years, that flying birds of various species would smash into our glass panes while in flight. When I looked up the reason, I learned it is because they mistake the sky or trees reflected on...
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Asean’s divisive responses to the Covid-19 pandemic
The responses of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) as a regional grouping to Covid-19 have been divisive, unclear, nonconsultative, impromptu, and driven by divergent policies, leading its member-states to control the pandemic individually and independently of each other. These are the assessments of observers among think tanks, media outfits, and independent researchers. A...
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Cat and mouse at Ayungin Shoal (or China’s ‘very aggressive’ presence in the West Philippine Sea)
China’s Coast Guard is guarding Ayungin Shoal, on the map a tiny rectangle to the left of Palawan in the West Philippine Sea, likely to evade the eye if one weren’t particularly looking for it. Not many Filipinos are aware of the “low-tide elevation” well within their country’s exclusive economic zone, with a war-vintage ship,...
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Masbate’s three-legged coconut tree spurs scientific interest
Several decades since I defended my doctoral dissertation, my visits to Masbate had been few and far between, until I started preparing for a three-week field work on the island for my incoming class of geology seniors in July. On June 10, I had the chance to visit an oddly shaped coconut tree in Matugnao...
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Pride Month: Ice calls for street marches for gay rights
Not only is June a season for weddings and romantic unions; it is Pride Month as well. As part of the celebration, the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) has launched a film festival showcasing LGBTQIA+-themed audiovisuals in cinema houses nationwide until June 26. I was among those invited by the FDCP Channel to...