Unwanted plastic is clogging seas and rivers. A ‘green’ scheme involves burning it to make cement. (Editor’s Note: This story was produced with support from Internews’ Earth Journalism Network for the “It’s a Wash” special report. SourceMaterial, a nonprofit investigative journalism organization, was a partner in the story’s production.) After a gruelling day paddling along...
Category: News
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When the wheels of justice grind
EDITOR’S NOTE: The detained former senator Leila de Lima was granted bail by Judge Gener Gito today, Nov. 13. Gito is the presiding judge of Mandaluyong City Regional Trial Court Branch 206, which will now hear the last of the three drug cases filed against her. The other two have been dismissed. CoverStory is republishing...
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A challenge to winning showbiz people in the barangay and youth elections
It’s back to business among showbiz personalities who ran and won in the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections last Oct. 30. After all is said and done, quo vadis, poll winners who are now barangay captains, youth chairs, and council members? What are we expecting in terms of better lives for ourselves or in behalf of...
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10 years after ‘Yolanda’: When need met generosity through the Star of Samar
“There was no electricity, no fuel, no internet, or any other way to communicate. There was a severe shortage of all kinds of commodities.” This was how the lawyer Byron Bocar, who was in Eastern Samar when Supertyphoon “Yolanda” (international name: Haiyan) made first landfall in Guiuan in the early hours of Nov. 8, 2013,...
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Environmental concerns stall wind farm expansion in Panay natural park
Had the rain still poured last Sept. 3 when volunteer inspectors arrived at a rugged hilly portion of Panay’s northwestern mountain range, a government-declared protected area, the road being carved out would have become messy swathes of uprooted grasses and shrubs, fallen trees, mud pools and protruding rocks. The earth-moving activities pushed on despite the...
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‘You, France’: In historic move, lawmaker takes Duterte to court
ACT Teachers Rep. France Castro was grieving over the death of her father early this month when she was jarred by a video of former president Rodrigo Duterte seemingly threatening to kill her and other “communists” during his weekly television program in Davao City. Castro was in a funeral home in Quezon City on Oct....
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Music piracy rampant in barangay election campaign
If the Intellectual Property Office and individual recording artists or companies decide to go after those using original music in campaign jingles during the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections (BSKE), the courts would be swamped with lawsuits. Thieves and pirates are brazenly making their pitch on originals and musical adaptations of popular songs. I’ve been...
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Why you should vote in the Oct. 30 barangay elections
The barangay is the smallest political unit in the Philippines. But for Filipinos, the barangay represents more than just a government identity. It is also the smallest territorial unit that embodies a community. These two “faces” of the barangay—being both a local government and a community—give it a distinct significance in Philippine democracy, said Michael...
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Hontiveros: Senate should adopt House realignment of secret funds
The Senate can do “no less” than adopt the House of Representatives’ realignment of P1.23-billion in confidential funds in the proposed P5.768-trillion national budget for 2024, Sen. Risa Hontiveros said on Wednesday. “The House has taken the first step institutionally. So I think we in the Senate can do no less because we actually started...
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There’s no way home for some residents of 4 Marawi villages
MARAWI CITY, Philippines—Bantog Panomblayan firmly stomps on broken red tiles abandoned on the ground. “Eto na ngayon ang bahay ko,” he says. “Na-mimiss ko nga ‘to. Nu’ng nakita ko, parang sumama loob ko.” (This is my house now. When I saw these tiles, I felt angry. I miss my home.) The house is gone. Only...