After previous studies detected microplastics in Laguna de Bay, milkfish and even drinking water, researchers at the Mindanao State University – Iligan Institute of Technology (MSU-IIT) have raised fresh concerns — this time over the presence of microplastics in road dust. Their study, published in 2024 in the Philippine Journal of Science, examined the quantity …
OPINION
Our slow justice system
By Sonny Angara For decades, many have decried how our justice system runs slowly and inefficiently. Despite our Constitution’s directive that every accused has the right, not only to a speedy trial, but also to the speedy judgment or disposition of their cases, sadly it’s already taken as a fact of life that the wheels …
Rediscover God through faith and love
By Fr. Roy Cimagala That rather amusing gospel episode about those who were so amazed at the preaching of Christ in the synagogue that they could not believe that someone just like them, coming from the same place and whose family they knew, could preach the way Christ did (cfr. Mark 6:1-6), tells us that …
Get medical advice from experts, not social media —PHA
The Philippine Heart Association (PHA) warned Filipinos against misinformation and misconceptions about heart diseases circulating on social media, saying these often lead patients to delay or stop proper treatment. PHA National President Dr. Walid Amil said one of the biggest challenges the association faces is correcting false advice that patients sometimes get from friends, neighbors …
Impeachment Round 2 vs. VP Sara
By Ade S. Fajardo The Makabayan bloc in the House of Representatives filed fresh impeachment raps against Vice President Sara Duterte. This jumps the gun on possibly weak impeachment complaints from other parties. The move follows the Supreme Court resolution denying the motion for reconsideration filed by the House that sought the reversal of the …
‘Tigkiliwi’ hits home
By Herman M. Lagon I went to the fifth Iloilo screening of “Tigkiliwi” last Sunday afternoon, February 1, because a friend invited me, and because the title itself sounded like a dare. Rynshien Joy Olivete — a spirited colleague from Dakila Collective — invited me to come, and I did, partly out of support, partly …
Social media registration to burden ordinary users, curtail speech: rights advocates
Digital rights advocates are urging the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) to scrap its planned mandatory identification verification for social media users, citing “serious effects” on free speech and the potential for censorship. DICT in January said it is eyeing requiring social media users to register or be verified, similar to the SIM …
When journalism is treated as terrorism
On February 7, Frenchie Mae Cumpio, a community journalist from Leyte, marks her sixth year in detention — an incarceration that rights and media groups strongly believe stems from her work as a journalist. As a radio broadcaster, Frenchie reported on the lives of farmers, urban poor communities and disaster survivors in Eastern Visayas — …
Libel without handcuffs
By Herman M. Lagon “Decriminalize libel” sounds, at first hearing, like the sort of phrase that makes careful people clutch their pearls and careless people clutch their phones. Some imagine a lawless internet where anyone can malign anyone, then walk away laughing. Others imagine a healthier democracy where public criticism stops being treated like a …
Christ gives us the best deal
By Fr. Roy Cimagala “Jesus said to them, ‘I tell you that anyone who leaves home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and for the gospel, will receive much more in this present age. He will receive a hundred times more houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and …