More than half of Filipinos now buy something online every week, while over two-thirds pay for digital content monthly, underscoring how the country has become one of the most digitally active nations in the world, according to the Digital 2026 Report released by Meltwater and We Are Social. The latest edition of the annual global …
OPINION
2026 National Budget: A familiar warning
By Ignacio R. Bunye The House has approved a P6.793-trillion budget for 2026. It’s being called the “best and cleanest” yet. We’re told to trust the system. But the numbers suggest otherwise. At the center of the issue is the flood control scandal. In previous years, hundreds of millions were allocated to projects that don’t …
Walk the hallways firstWalk the hallways first
By Herman M. Lagon When the title becomes yours — principal, director or president — remember this: People may hear your speeches, but they will believe only your walk. Leadership doesn’t live in programs or papers — it lives in the hallways. The smell of chalk and coffee tells more stories than any speech can. …
When coughing feels like a warning: How COVID-19 pandemic shaped fear of the flu
Three years since the height of health threats from the COVID-19 pandemic, the sound of coughing has once again become commonplace and unalarming. Until more and more people recently caught the bug. Enough of them did to trigger a familiar ripple of unease from coughing meant danger. In the past months, reports of rising influenza-like …
Good news, bad news
By Dr. Joseph D. Lim There is still hope that the world will overcome this addiction. Over a quarter of the world’s population living in 74 countries are protected by comprehensive national smoke-free laws. Among smokers who are aware of the dangers of tobacco, most want to quit. Counselling and medication can more than double …
Imagine ‘Imagine’
By Herman M. Lagon Imagine having a soft piano and a few bold lines rattle your worldview. That is what John Lennon’s “Imagine” did in 1971 — and still does. It quietly invites us to dream in just three minutes, not with lullabies, but with questions that unsettle the world as we know it. “Imagine …
‘One Piece’ flag as a symbol of protest
By Dennis Gorecho “One Piece” Straw Hat Jolly Roger flags had become common fixtures during the recent anti-corruption rallies. The mass actions are closely linked with the flood control corruption scandal that revolves around the diversion of billions of public funds to a network of favored contractors, lawmakers and officials tied to flood control projects …
The vertical trap
By Herman M. Lagon In a small university in the Visayas, a new graduate program is on hold — not for lack of students or ideas, but because of paperwork. Under CHED Memorandum Order No. 15, s. 2019, a school cannot offer a master’s or doctoral degree unless it has four full-time professors with PhDs …
REITs: Real Estate and Economic Development
By Sonny Angara In our country, the main tools of financial stability have traditionally been savings, usually through a bank account and having a job. However, there is another avenue which many Filipinos don’t seem consider at all: investment. The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ 2017 State of Financial Inclusion report revealed that 20.4 percent of Filipinos …
Always give God priority
By Fr. Roy Cimagala We can never overemphasize this need. When our relation with God is not strong, deep and abiding, there would be no other way than for us to get into some trouble sooner or later. We have to be wary of the clear and present danger of letting something else to replace …