It’s almost as if where there’s lawyer Leila de Lima—former senator, justice secretary, human rights commissioner and, until late last year, the Philippines’ most prominent detainee—one could expect blistering commentary on any of the day’s hot-button issues, such as Charter change or the imminent move of the International Criminal Court against her chief jailor’s scandalous...
Category: News
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Proponents urge ‘a little compassion’ in legalizing medical cannabis
When her daughter Joy’s doctor told Gay matter-of-factly that she could lose her anytime to epilepsy, she was stunned and realized she had to look for other medicines to stop the seizures which started when her child was a baby. After years of trying up to 11 different medicines to quell Joy’s seizures, Gay was...
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Student leaders stand against Cha-cha
In January-March 1970, youth and student organizations and their allies among workers, farmers and religious groups held numerous rallies and other forms of protest across the country in what became known as the First Quarter Storm of 1970 against the decades-old sociopolitical ills plaguing the nation. One of their major demands was a nonpartisan constitutional...
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‘Relive Edsa, Junk Cha-cha’ is the rallying cry
Delisting the February 1986 Edsa People Power Revolution as a national holiday is bad enough; attempting to tinker yet again with its “legacy,” the 1987 Constitution, to push the interests of politicians is even worse. Moved by that common stand, dozens of civil society groups have banded together to resist any mode of Charter change...
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Marcos-Duterte bickering is ‘all politics’ from which nothing can be gained, says Drilon
First Lady Liza Araneta Marcos’ snub of Vice President Sara Duterte minutes before she and President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. boarded the plane for Vietnam on Monday was very telling, and former senator Franklin Drilon sees tough days lying ahead of her in the Cabinet. According to Drilon, Sara Duterte’s position in the Cabinet became “more...
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TIP alumni produce a therapy glove to benefit stroke survivors
Stroke, also known as “brain attack,” is among the leading causes of long-term disability and mortality worldwide. Anyone can be at risk of a stroke, although it mostly affects older adults. In the Philippines, stroke survivors may struggle to regain their vitality due to damage in their central nervous system, which generally leads to poor...
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High court’s rules do not cure ‘horribly repressive’ antiterror law, says lawyer
The rules set by the Supreme Court on the Anti-Terror Act of 2020 cannot cure the “horribly repressive” law that will be enforced by a “horribly repressive’’ council, lawyer Neri Colmenares said on Wednesday. Colmenares, who presented oral arguments against the law at the high court as counsel for the militant group Bayan Muna, said...
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Hot new year!
While the traditional greeting is “Happy New Year,” this time it may need a significant addition in view of recent historic climate records. The greeting may well be: “Happy New Year, despite a hot or even hotter 2024.” June 2023 was the hottest June on record globally. July was also the hottest month. The following...
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To nourish a legacy of criticism and scholarship in the academe
In this age where power continuously redefines and reinvents itself, the response of an enlightened academe is clear: to critique, interrogate, and resist. It was in September when the secretariat started planning for the 3rd Edel Garcellano Conference on Literary and Cultural Studies at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) in Santa Mesa, Manila....
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Momentous Christmas mission stirs Filipinos’ outrage over Chinese aggression
Everyone on board the MV Kapitan Felix Oca—including youth and student leaders, fishers, indigenous peoples, activists, members of civil organizations—knew that the three-day mission to Lawak Island in the Spratlys was fraught with danger. But they signed up, anyway. So that when the first civilian-led mission aimed at bringing Christmas cheer to Filipino troops and...