Tag Archives: yolanda

The China Benham Rise Controversy: A Wake Up Call for the Philippines?

By admin | June 1, 2017

News about Chinese ships surveying the waters of Benham Rise, located east of the northern part of the Philippines, has triggered a bit of panic in Manila’s political circles in the past few weeks. Perhaps the renewed sense of nationalism over the issue of Benham Rise could embolden policymakers and economic planners to draft a […]

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10 Memorable Protests that Exposed the Bankruptcy of Noynoy Aquino’s Daang Matuwid

By admin | October 1, 2016

Published by Manila Today Hungry farmers asking for rice. Typhoon victims decrying government neglect. Netizens marching against corruption. These protests unmasked the ‘Daang Matuwid’ program as an empty slogan of a regime that insidiously perpetuates foreign dominance and elite oppression in the country. It is only now we appreciate the full and potent significance of […]

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Time For Southeast Asia to Address its Climate Problem

By admin | December 7, 2015

Written for The Diplomat Though transboundary haze pollution and the El Niño phenomenon are often reported these days across Southeast Asia, these issues deserve greater attention from regional leaders. These are no longer national problems that local politicians can easily address through rhetoric; the situation already demands a stronger action which can be effectively realized […]

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Southeast Asia’s Top Stories in 2014

By admin | January 28, 2015

Written for The Diplomat As we welcome the new year, we look back and review the top news stories in the Southeast Asian region in the past 12 months. These news events were also widely reported and discussed in the international media: 1. Thailand coup. After months of intense street protests, the army of Thailand […]

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The real lessons from Hagupit

By admin | December 21, 2014

Written for the CNN “Seeing the first set of images from the typhoon zone in the Philippines is like experiencing a dreadful sense of déjà vu: Flooded roads, fallen huts, small buildings with the rooftops ripped off, and dead animals littering the streets. If this devastation appears eerily familiar, it is because we also saw […]

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The Philippines’ addiction to dirty coal and dirty politics

By admin | April 17, 2014

Published by Rappler If there is a country that needs to aggressively fight climate injustice, it must be the Philippines. Its global carbon emissions are minimal yet it is highly vulnerable to the harsh impact of extreme weather events. This was most vividly demonstrated by Super Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) which wrought havoc in central Philippines. […]

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Waray as battlecry

By admin | February 23, 2014

Written for Bulatlat Waray, which refers to both the lingua franca and the people of Samar and Leyte, literally means nothing. It is interesting and also quite strange that this term is also used to signify nothingness. But can there be something out of nothing? Can nothing produce something? Today, the word Waray is both […]

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Gross National Survival: A Proposal

By admin | February 6, 2014

Written for Bulatlat Despite its high Gross Domestic Product in recent years, the Philippines has remained a backward nation. Poverty numbers didn’t change although wealth disparity has worsened especially between the rural and the urban. It’s clear that the GDP is an inaccurate and inadequate measure of the real state of the economy. Its use […]

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Inspiring stories of 2013

By admin | January 23, 2014

Written for Bulatlat Despite the calamities that brought unprecedented devastation in the country, there were several inspiring stories in 2013 that gave much needed joy and hope to many Filipinos. They were moral boosters at a time when tragedies seem to overwhelm our islands. Hopefully, the future will not simply remember 2013 as a terribly […]

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‘Wrecking Ball’ and other objects that made news in 2013

By admin | January 14, 2014

Written for Bulatlat 1. Martilyo. Robbers belonging to the ‘Martilyo Gang’ used a hammer and crowbar to rob jewelry shops in SM North Edsa, the grandmother of all supermalls in the country. Because of this incident which happened during the Christmas shopping rush, hammers cannot be sold anymore in malls and police has banned the […]

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