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Lights are stronger in the contrast”. Charles Dickens’ line came to mind when TV footage showed Vice-President Jejomar Binay, clad in starched barong, flinging instructions at aides, trying to look, well, presidential. He did not differ from …
National amnesia causes us to forget who and what we are. Is that the fix we’re in when the country marks, this Thursday, the 31st anniversary of Senator Benigno Aquino Jr.’s airport tarmac murder? The most concise…
Once again, next-door Thailand is tense with uncertainty. As in 2009, it is the revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej, now a frail 86, who is at the knife’s edge. The king has ruled for 64 years now and…
Filipino Catholic youngsters will join delegations from 29 other Asian countries this week when Pope Francis launches the Sixth Asian Youth Day ceremonies in South Korea. “This will be a dialogue with Asian youngsters in their own…
You can’t dull hunger by painting rice cakes,” says an Asian proverb. That fits the new UP School of Economics paper by Melva V Tutor: “The Impact of the Philippine Conditional Cash Transfer on Consumption” CCTP is…
His name doesn’t ring a bell for many here. Friends scratch their heads and mutter: “Kishore – who?” Kishore Mahbubani is dean at National University of Singapore’ school of public policy. He served as ambassador to the…
Eradication of poverty is not just about getting to zero”, explains United Nations Development Program administrator Helen Clark. “It’s also about staying there.” That’s the main thrust of the 2014 Human Development Report “Sustaining Progress: Reducing Vulnerabilities…
Marnursuro ti tunggal kaaruba, an Ilocano proverb says. “Each neighbor is a teacher.” Next-door Indonesia provided a tutorial when 187 million voters, in 17,000 islands across three time zones, elected Jakarta Gov. Joko Widodo as the country’s…
Are we being set up for another in the unending series of farces that bedeviled the coconut levy and impoverished millions of small farmers? Look at the April 7, 2014 draft order before President Benigno Aquino III:…
Simultaneous newsbreaks triggered the headline overload. The anti-graft court suspended Sen. Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada for 90 days at the pork barrel scam trial. Detained senators Juan Ponce Enrile and Bong Revilla hold their breaths for similar suspensions.…
“Sometimes things could be right under your nose. The only problem is your eyes are above it”. Doesn’t this old quote fit the turmoil for democratic space in next door Hong Kong? Local headlines rivet our attention…
Need to update your must-read list? Include the book, launched this week, by Asian Development Bank: “Inequality in Asia and the Pacific: Trends, Drivers and Policy Implications”. It tackles a paradox. Gains in reducing extreme poverty set…
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