On a Thursday afternoon, just after the lunchtime rush, a pack of motorcycles pulled into a narrow alleyway in a Metro Manila city. Their riders parked their bikes in front of a makeshift rest area. The space resembled a typical “tambayan.” Equipped with a wall fan, and a water and a charging station, it was...
Rica Torres, 37, used to take a Grab car almost every day to take her six-year-old son to and from school. The app-based service was more convenient than riding a jeepney, a tricycle, and crossing an overpass. “I don’t want my son to go through all those because it saps his energy or sours his...
PAGBILAO, Quezon—Local residents will soon have free access to the internet under a partnership forged between municipal officials and a leading provider of digital connectivity. A memorandum of agreement was signed last March 25 by key officials of Pagbilao, a first-class municipality of Quezon, and Integrated Digital Outdoor (IDo) Solutions at the municipal court. “Today...
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...
The series of data breaches at government agencies has resulted in the theft of millions of Filipinos’ personal information not only once but twice or even thrice, in gross violation of their right to privacy. Understandably, the theft is causing Filipinos to lose trust in the offices that keep their personal data even as the...
There is much talk these days about how artificial intelligence or AI could threaten human existence. AI is feared to achieve such a high degree of self-learning that it will surpass human intelligence and may consider us a threat and turn upon us. Really now? Certainly, the importance of AI in our lives is impossible...
(Last of two parts) Life with cell tower: Folks wary of metallic neighbor CITY OF CALAPAN, Oriental Mindoro—When Rosendo Rojas came home from a month-long vacation in Tarlac to vote in last year’s May elections, he was startled by an unlikely neighbor beyond his fence: A rising telecommunications tower. Rojas and the other residents of...
(First of two parts) Life with cell tower: Safe technology pushed amid industry rush CITY OF CALAPAN, Oriental Mindoro—As far back as Genita Romero could recall, it was in the 1990s when her family’s health troubles began: Her 84-year-old mother Rosita had been plagued with tuberculosis, while her children had abscesses in the groin that...
My 8-year-old cousin “Andres” plays Roblox; I do, too. I’m 14 and I’ve been playing the game for a long time with my friends and still enjoy it, although there are some risks of playing online too much. Andres and I play different genres of video games but we both have fun playing Roblox, proving...
Sen. Miguel Zubiri was close to bursting into an incredulous laugh when he heard that very sensitive air navigation equipment worth billions of pesos wasn’t being monitored by even inexpensive closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras that he himself has all over his house in Cagayan de Oro City. The Senate president was unpleasantly surprised by one...
