A THIRD of Filipinos are expecting a more prosperous Christmas celebration. According to a recent Pulse Asia survey conducted from Nov. 14 to 20, 34 percent of the 1,200 respondents said Christmas would be more prosperous this year, up by 12 points from 22 percent last year. During this season, it is easy to get…
READY or not, Christmas will be here in a week. Gifts. Christmas decorations. Holiday parties. Christmas carols. They all set the stage for another festive holiday celebration. One of the very popular Christmas carols that we have grown up to and still sing up to now as we countdown to Christmas is the song “The…
“SINGKO lang po, singko lang po, (Just five centavos, just five centavos) Singko lang po ang ibigay niyo. (Just give us five centavos). Ayos na ang buto-buto.” (Everything will be okay) “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town” never had a less literal translation. Funny how I caught myself singing it. Reading about the devastation caused…
THE Philippines government’s efforts to improve the economy paid off after an international credit watchdog raised the country’s credit rating. Moody’s Investors Service recently upgraded the Philippines’ foreign and local bond ratings to Baa2, just a notch bellow investment grade from Baa3, noting that the outlook for the rating was stable. The upgrade, according to…
FOR several years now, Filipinos’ joyful anticipation of the Christmas season has been challenges by the wrath of Mother Nature that seemed to have been unleashed just before the holiday season. This year has not been different. After praying for and commiserating once again with our kababayans back home who had been victims of the…
IT is official. Vigan City in Ilocos Sur has been named one of the New 7 Wonders Cities of the World. Also dubbed as urban wonders, these cities are put under the spotlight to initiate cultural heritage among the public, to involve them in the process of preserving all heritage sites across the world. Completing…
RELIEF. Gratitude. Hope. These are what Filipinos in America feel in the aftermath of yet another super typhoon, just a year after the Philippines was devastated by Super Typhoon Yolanda, which killed more than six thousand people in November of 2013. As the Weather Channel reported, Ruby (International name Hagupit) is now a tropical storm,…
I HAVE learned two new terms from reading the postings of self-anointed social media vigilantes and reformists: bobo-tante and tanga-suporta. These are a play on words, meaning stupid voter (bobo for stupid and botante for voter) and idiotic supporter (tanga for idiot and suporta for support). These are supposed to describe the Filipino masa who,…
JUST when everyone thought that the worst has passed, another super typhoon is doomed to devastate parts of the Philippines once more. A year after the dreadful Yolanda (international name: Haiyan), a typhoon carrying maximum sustained winds of 195 km/hour and gusts of up to 230 km/hour is bound to hit 66.6 million Filipinos from…
THIS is the question The Filipino Channel’s daily newscast Balitang America asked its viewers, amid nationwide protests denouncing two separate grand jury decisions in Ferguson, Mo. and another in Staten Island, NY, not to prosecute two white police officers in the killing of two unarmed black men. Law enforcement officials and their supporters contend the police officers…
THE Philippine government is more driven to institutionalize good governance and continue walking the “tuwid na daan” (straight path). To achieve this, Presdent Benigno Aquino III vowed to strengthen and rationalize the government’s reform measures in weeding out corruption. “We are working to rid the Philippines of the corruption that has tainted its reputation and…
MORE than five million undocumented immigrants, including Filipinos who are in the United States without legal status, are expected to benefit from a series of executive actions announced by President Barack Obama on Nov. 20, 2014. Kababayans who have followed the rules and are now green card holders will also be accorded help to become…
THE Ninoy Aquino International Airport, Terminal One is not simply a gateway to the Philippines. It is hallowed ground. Like Fort Santiago. And Bagumbayan. This is the where Ninoy Aquino demonstrated that the Filipino was worth dying for. It should be revered and cared for as devotedly as the sites of Jose Rizal’s incarceration and…
DESPITE efforts from the current administration to maintain the Philippine economic growth, this year’s 3rd quarter Gross Domestic product (GDP) have decelerated from the previous quarter’s 6.4 percent gain and 7 percent growth posted the same period last year, Moody’s Analytics reported. The financial service company predicts that there would be a 5.9 percent growth….
One of the pillars of our constitutional form of government is a separation of powers, vesting in Congress the power to legislate and in the Presidency the duty to faithfully execute the law. However, by executive fiat on Nov. 20, President Obama obliterated that pillar and circumvented safeguards that provide order to our republic. Regardless…
THEY have been waiting for this for so long—perhaps for twenty years. Many kababayans living in the United States without legal status, those who entered the country unlawfully, or those who overstayed, may now be spared from deportation, at least temporarily, thanks to President Barack Obama’s executive order while waiting for Congress to pass a…
ATHLETES do more than just represent the flag where they came from. Their presence in every sporting event gives their countrymen hope, self-respect, and to many people—pride in who they are. Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao did just that, when he gave his kababayans another reason to celebrate after prevailing against an undefeated opponent last Saturday, Nov….
WHEN Alan Peter Cayetano spins a tale of a threat to his life and Antonio Trillanes begins to predict his incarceration or liquidation if Jojo Binay ever becomes president, you know that they have begun to scrape the bottom of the barrel. “Hey Alan,” you can almost hear Trillanes say, “I’ve got a great new…
THE Philippines is among the top 10 countries with the highest level of terrorist activity in 2013, according to the study released recently by the Institute for Economics (IEP). “Terrorism has increased significantly in the Philippines between 2012 and 2013, with almost twice as many incidents. The number of deaths has also more than doubled in this…
PRESIDENT Barack Obama finally delivered on his promise to fix America’s broken immigration system by using his executive authority to start the process. In a televised speech last Thursday, Obama laid out the biggest overhaul in immigration in two decades, which he said would keep the brightest in America while deporting criminals; send more resources…
THERE are unresolved cases of extrajudicial killings in the Philippines that have become emblematic of persistent dangers that threaten everyone. The government’s underwhelming efforts to successfully alleviate crimes against members of the media and other social critics have created an environment of insidious impunity. Despite the commitment by authorities and other organizations to find effective…
A WHILE back, I wrote about the dilemma many Filipinos face as they raise their young children in America. Many of us who grew up in the Philippines shared the common experience of “tough love” — our parents used corporal punishment to discipline us, and help us respect authority and conform to the rules of…
WHEN Noynoy Aquino blunted a Tacloban businessman’s complaint that he had been threatened by looters at the height of the Yolanda disaster, by declaring, “You are still alive, aren’t you?” – or words to that effect – one could excuse that and attribute it to a bad presidential temper in the face of thousands of…
GLOBALIZATION is slowly taking its toll on countries such as China and the United States, considered two of the largest consumers of fossil fuels that pollute the atmosphere and cause global warming. The consumption of fossil fuels, as evident in the two economic-giants, leads to human health problems caused by air pollution from the burning…
SOONER than previously reported, President Barack Obama’s much anticipated unilateral measure to fix America’s broken immigration system will reportedly be announced this coming week, instead of mid-December. This is according to information leaked to Fox News. This is what Obama referred to as a “parallel track,” whereby his administration will be implementing an executive action….
CIVILIZATION is most apparent when people recognize that the world is ruled by principle and not by force. Today’s challenges give an opening to effective means of resolving crises and creating an avenue of working towards a common goal. International relations are regulated by universally accepted and legal norms concerning people’s welfare, security, trade, finance,…
WHEN will President Barack Obama fulfill his promise as a presidential candidate that he would reform America’s broken immigration system? This is the question many kababayans ask, along with the rest of the 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States. Many of them continue to be in hiding, fearful of being deported, hoping against…
Every study has demonstrated that our nation’s twenty million Asian Americans seek the American Dream of homeownership. Among many Asian American groups, including Filipino Americans and Vietnamese Americans, the percentage is well-over 95% or even higher than for Whites. But this American Dream is decreasingly available to most Asian Americans. Why has this occurred when…
A YEAR ago, the Philippines welcomed an unwanted visitor. Super Typhoon Yolanda (international name Haiyan) with winds up to 235 kilometers per hour and a tsunami-like storm surge ravaged most parts of the country, causing 6,300 lives. Homes, schools, hospitals, churches were destroyed. It seemed that all that was left was hope. The government, in…
The 2014 Midterm Elections are over and the balance of power has tilted in favor of the Republicans. The Grand Old Party (GOP) now controls both the House of Representatives and the Senate. Will a Republican-lead Congress be better for America in general, and the Filipino-American in particular? A majority — 63 percent — of…
