Category: Features
Covering the week’s most noteworthy feature stories impacting the Filipino-American and Global Filipino community.
Advancing the cause of education
(Publisher/Editor’s/OpEd Editor’s note: The following is part of the statement released by the author about her acceptance of the offer from President-elect Rody Duterte to make her Secretary of Education….
Terror attack
GRIM news of insurgency and terror attacks are thrust onto international headlines every day. Although modernization demolishes geographical barriers and moves the world toward an amalgamated economy, clashes among cultures…

The sizzle’s nice, now let’s taste the steak
Jess Matubis, who has worked under more Philippine presidents at close quarters than most broadcast journalists, recently posted the following blog by president-elect Duterte’s Agriculture Secretary- designate, Manny Piñol: “NO…
Minor hiccup
SEVERAL emerging markets in the world have experienced exceptional economic strides. These nations are mostly highly export-driven with strong inflows of capital and investment and well-capitalized banking institutions. Many emerging…

Best advice to those getting married (& those who want to stay married)
JUNE is here! The season of weddings and new beginnings unfold as the days get warmer and longer. It is unfortunate, though, that half of the marriages these days end in…

Foxes guarding the hen house
REMEMBER “C5 at Taga”? For the benefit of those with short memories, in January 2010, with the presidential campaign in full swing and Sen. Manny Villar leading in the surveys…
Remembering AAPI veterans this Memorial Day
EACH year, we celebrate Memorial Day to honor those who gave their lives serving in our armed forces. The holiday is particularly close to my heart because I’m a veteran…

With the unfavorable ratings of front-runners Clinton and Trump, should Sanders drop out of the race?
This race to the White House is not like any other, especially when you look at the front-runners of each party. In past elections, voters generally have fallen in love…

Parole program allows kids and grandkids of Filipino vets to come to the US sooner
TIME is of the essence for Filipino World War II veterans who are now living in the United States but are still counting years to finally have their children and…

Should transgenders be allowed to use the bathroom that matches their gender identity?
CREATING a lot of buzz in the United States these days is a law in North Carolina which forbids transgender people from using public restrooms that comport with their gender…

Poe, Roxas & Cayetano: Strength and patriotism in conceding
WHEN Sen. Grace Poe conceded on the day of the May 9 election after the numbers showed it would be mathematically impossible for her to overtake the lead of Davao…
An election of images, a collection of tribes
C’MON, just a day after the elections: Who remembers the platforms of the five presidential candidates, the topics they discussed in three presidential debates, or even their campaign slogans? The…

Historic Halalan 2016 busts apathy among Filipino voters
EIGHTY ONE PERCENT turnout among registered voters in the Philippines is a reason enough to celebrate in a country that has complained about apathy among Filipino people, who have much…
Progress report
THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) proudly announced on Monday, May 9, that of the 54.4 million registered Filipino voters, about 40 million or 81.62 percent exercised their right of suffrage….

The consequences of a Duterte presidency
“MABUHAY ang NPA!” Rodrigo Duterte has exhorted in his speeches. And Jose Maria Sison, Communist Party of the Philippines and New People’s Army founder has acknowledged Duterte’s promise that if…

Roxas should step out of Aquino’s shadow and be his own man
I COULD not believe my ears when I heard Pres. Benigno Aquino III say in a television interview that he is working on an alliance among presidential candidates so they…

Black propaganda in Philippine politics
Political jousts in this country are eternally exciting, entertaining, somehow also enlightening and, from the point of view of those who become objects of vicious black propaganda attacks, absolutely infuriating….
Deguito denies money laundering raps
MANILA—Former Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) branch manager Maia Santos-Deguito denied on Monday, May 2 the money laundering charges filed against her in connection with the $80.9 million stolen by…
Celebrating Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month
The United States has always been a nation of immigrants. At every turn in our history, we have become stronger and closer by recognizing the richness in each of our…

The elite’s desperate push for the hopeless Mr. Roxas
The last failure of the economic elite–and their surrogates in the media and civil society– was the one involving Mrs. Arroyo. They wanted her out of power right after the…

With Roxas and Robredo surging in polls, can Duterte lead be overtaken?
DAVAO City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte may have had the most challenging week of his campaign, just a week before the all-important presidential election in the Philippines, following allegations made by…
Public Interest
THESE last few days leading up to May 9—the Philippine national elections—are critical. This moment is intense as aspiring leaders are rushing to mount campaigns that will boost in public…
Is Duterte unstoppable, or will Binay or Roxas spring a surprise?
The surveys FOR the most prudent of reasons, I have never accepted as gospel truth the claims of the paid propaganda surveys on the alleged standing of our national candidates….

The Filipino Channel hosts town hall on the Philippine presidential election
THERE are less than nine days left before you either go to a Philippine Consulate/Embassy, or mail your absentee voter’s ballot to cast your vote on the next president, vice…
ABC’s response to Ogle
Last week, Dr. Colin Sprigg, Director of Information and Technology in the ABC Unified School District and I strategized ways to respond to the new social media app called Ogle….

Has SWS been rigging its surveys to boost Roxas’ and Robredo’s ratings?
It seems so, or the Social Weather Station’s collation of data has fallen under the control of Manuel Roxas and Leni Robredo’s operatives, so that in the past two surveys…