DURING its leaders’ summit in Indonesia this week, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) expressed deep concern about the festering violence in Myanmar, a country that has been in turmoil since the military junta ousted the civilian government more than two years ago. The regional bloc was especially alarmed …
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A push for more specialized care centers outside of NCR
If there is one lesson we learned after the World Health Organization (WHO) has officially declared that Covid-19 is no longer a global health emergency, it is how important a medical infrastructure is to our lives — the barangay health centers, quarantine and vaccination sites, general hospitals, maternity clinics, specialized …
Read More »PH still lagging badly in digitalization
Image Credit: msnagroup.com USERS of the popular digital payment application GCash faced chaos earlier this week when the app suffered a major failure, making it inaccessible to most from Monday afternoon until about midday on Tuesday. The outage, which was not the first for GCash, simply highlights how, despite a …
Read More »42nd ASEAN Summit: Opportunity to advance PH economic diplomacy
The 42nd ASEAN Summit in Labuan Bajo, Indonesia this week will focus on several key issues, such as: Strengthening ASEAN institutions, drafting the ASEAN Post-2025 Vision, developments in Myanmar, post-pandemic economic recovery, and strengthening the health architecture in the region. After three successive years in which it was held under …
Read More »PH should closely watch IFC reforms
Photo Credit: Reuters AS has been widely reported, the World Bank Group recently initiated a sweeping program of reforms throughout its organization. One of the areas the Philippines should watch closely is how those reforms are manifested in the World Bank’s private sector arm, the International Finance Corp. (IFC), because …
Read More »Life goes on! WHO declares end of Covid-19 as global health emergency
Finally! With a tweet last May 5, 2023 from the director-general of the UN World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the world can (officially) heave a sigh of relief. He wrote: The Covid-19 Emergency Committee met for the 15th time and recommended to me that I declare an end …
Read More »Revisiting K to 12 program anew
THE K to 12 program was initially seen as a catch-up move by the Department of Education. Fully 99 percent of the countries in the world have 18 years of pre-university education, except for some countries in Africa. President Benigno Aquino 3rd and his Education secretary, Brother Armin Luistro, pushed …
Read More »President Marcos’ working visit to US yields optimum results
During his meeting with President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. at the White House last week, President Joe Biden observed that there is a “strong partnership” between the United States and the Philippines, noting, too, the “deep friendship, one that has been enriched by millions of Filipino-Americans and the communities all …
Read More »Corruption common thread in crypto scams, human trafficking
Photo Credit: theguardian.com THE Philippine National Police (PNP) announced last week that it had busted a large-scale crypto scam operation based in the Clark Freeport Zone in Pampanga. About a thousand people of various nationalities who were forced to work as cyber scammers were rescued. The discovery of the crypto …
Read More »Safeguarding the freedom of the press is protecting the human rights of all
World Press Freedom Day, observed annually every third of May, marks its 30th anniversary this year. The United Nations (UN) General Assembly first marked the occasion in 1993, acknowledging the importance of a free press and the freedom of expression in a democratic society. Three decades later, while there has …
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