Philippines Politics news API - Live news headlines from Philippines

Supported Countries - 165

Get politics headlines from Philippines with our JSON API.

🔑 Get API key for the Philippines politics News API

Country Parameter

The country paramter for the Philippines is PH.

Some example queries:

Below is the search query to fetch random 100 news-sources of Philippines.

https://newsdata.io/api/1/sources?country=ph&apikey=YOUR_API_KEY

Some of the well known sources

Live Example

This example demonstrates the HTTP request to make, and the JSON response you will receive, when you use the News API to get politics headlines from Philippines.

Politics Headlines from Philippines

https://newsdata.io/api/1/latest?country=ph&category=politics&apikey=YOUR_API_KEY

{

"status": "success",
"totalResults": 26,
-
"results": [
- -
  {
  - "article_id": "ca47c73f0b94c25e0dd9672542d1709a",
  - "title": "Another sharp turn in Ukraine's road to peace",
  - "link": "https://www.manilatimes.net/2025/05/19/opinion/editorial/another-sharp-turn-in-ukraines-road-to-peace/2116065",
  - -
    "keywords": [
    - "opinion"
    ],
  - -
    "creator": [
    - "The Manila Times"
    ],
  - "description": "THE first direct talks between Russia and Ukraine to end their four-year war lasted only an hour and 40 minutes. Aside from a prisoner exchange, the talks in Istanbul did not have much to show.Nobody expected a dramatic breakthrough in the first place, especially after Russian strongman Vladimir Putin failed to attend. Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the no-show is further proof that Putin was never really serious about calling a truce in the conflict that has seen an estimated 1 million people killed or wounded.Aside from a prisoner swap, the two sides agreed to enhance engagements between Putin and Zelenskyy, and to draw up clearer guidelines for a ceasefire.The head of the Russian delegation said he was \"satisfied with the outcome.\" Zelenskyy, however, was far less enthusiastic, saying the Russian side made demands that are \"unacceptable,\" including the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from the four regions in east Ukraine that Moscow seized in 2022.Even US President Donald Trump was disappointed that the Istanbul meeting has been mostly a fruitless exercise, and announced he would once again persuade Putin and Zelenskyy to work out a settlement.The Kremlin had announced that Putin would attend the talks after European leaders issued an ultimatum for Russia to agree to a 30-day ceasefire in the Ukraine war or face \"a massive hardening of sanctions.\"The ultimatum was made by the heads of Germany, Britain, France and Poland when they visited Kyiv in a show of solidarity with Zelenskyy.Just days later, the Kremlin said Putin was skipping the Istanbul meeting and would send two representatives instead. That downgraded the meeting to a ministerial session from the one-on-one between Putin and Zelenskyy that it was intended to be.Once again, another golden opportunity to end the war has been squandered. That seems to be the overarching narrative in Europe's most dangerous conflict since the Second World War.Political analysts believe that Putin was trying to sidestep the ceasefire issue by proposing the Istanbul meeting during a phone meeting with Trump. His abrupt withdrawal strongly suggests that he is maneuvering to avoid getting caught in a vise.Andrei Kozyrev, Russia's foreign minister under Boris Yeltsin, shared Zelenskyy's concern about Putin's manipulative tactics. \"It's theatrics, diplomatic theatrics,\" Kozyrev said. \"And Putin enjoys it.\"\"He enjoys bombing Ukraine, and he enjoys fooling Western leaders because that's what he wants. The West is too weak to stand against him,\" he said.The former Kremlin official also chided Western powers for being too slow in enforcing sanctions against Putin. \"Three years ago, at the beginning, there was a possibility, probably to stop Putin by sanction,\" Kozyrev said.Putin has been able to survive the economic squeeze because China has been \"supplying Putin with everything needed for the war of attrition,\" he said.A former adviser to Trump, Fiona Hill, said Putin \"was not in a hurry\" to accept a ceasefire in Ukraine.\"The US has offered him a great deal actually already, it seems. And he's in no mood to make any major concessions,\" Hill said.She said that in Putin's playbook, concessions are part of the strategy to eventually get the results he wants.\"Putin's idea of a negotiation is to start a fight with you, beat the crap out of you and then say, he's going to stop beating you,\" Hill said.Putin is also playing Trump against Zelenskyy, fanning the embers of enmity to keep the two from completely trusting each other.With the Istanbul talks a big letdown, attention is now focused on the European ultimatum to Russia for an unconditional ceasefire.Russia has said it supports the idea of a truce in principle but insists there are \"nuances\" that need to be threshed out. One of them is to stop the delivery of US and European weapons to Ukraine. Another is an ironclad guarantee from European states that they will not allow Ukraine to join NATO.The grand manipulator that he is, Putin is taking advantage of every twist and turn in the road to a peace settlement in Ukraine.",
  - "content": "THE first direct talks between Russia and Ukraine to end their four-year war lasted only an hour and 40 minutes. Aside from a prisoner exchange, the talks in Istanbul did not have much to show. Nobody expected a dramatic breakthrough in the first place, especially after Russian strongman Vladimir Putin failed to attend. Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the no-show is further proof that Putin was never really serious about calling a truce in the conflict that has seen an estimated 1 million people killed or wounded. Register to read this story and more for free . Signing up for an account helps us improve your browsing experience. OR See our subscription options.",
  - "pubDate": "2025-05-18 16:11:00",
  - "pubDateTZ": "UTC",
  - "image_url": null,
  - "video_url": null,
  - "source_id": "manilatimes",
  - "source_name": "The Manila Times",
  - "source_priority": 33634,
  - "source_url": "https://www.manilatimes.net",
  - "source_icon": "https://i.bytvi.com/domain_icons/manilatimes.png",
  - "language": "english",
  - -
    "country": [
    - "philippines"
    ],
  - -
    "category": [
    - "politics"
    ],
  - "sentiment": "positive",
  - -
    "sentiment_stats": {
    - "positive": 96.03,
    - "neutral": 2.25,
    - "negative": 1.72
    },
  - -
    "ai_tag": [
    - "conflicts & war"
    ],
  - -
    "ai_region": [
    - "russia,europe/asia",
    - "ukraine,europe"
    ],
  - "ai_org": null,
  - "duplicate": false
  },
- -
  {
  - "article_id": "1ba98a53371dafa1099939c3b7c908e0",
  - "title": "MT cartoonists have been spreading fake news",
  - "link": "https://www.manilatimes.net/2025/05/19/opinion/columns/mt-cartoonists-have-been-spreading-fake-news/2116062",
  - -
    "keywords": [
    - "opinion"
    ],
  - -
    "creator": [
    - "Rigoberto D. Tiglao"
    ],
  - "description": "NEEDLESS to say, our concern for truth is more important than camaraderie, and I won't mince words, since this case is so much a violation of journalistic integrity that has gone unchecked for years.I am referring to the editorial cartoons by our two cartoonists — who sign their work as \"Steve Pabs\" and \"Kikoman\" — many of which, as I will show, disseminate outright fake news. (The former is Steven Pabalines who has a comic strip \"Pango Planet,\" every second Sunday, devoted to ridiculing and attacking former president Duterte and his children.)Their cartoons are so brazenly anti-China, shamelessly depicting the Chinese as buck-toothed, bespectacled (or slant-eyed) obese men — even as monsters and pirates — and portraying a one-sided (really American) view of our disputes with the superpower. I have never seen even brazenly anti-Chinese cartoons even in US publications, including those published by the US military that are so biased to the point of being fake news, as those made by our cartoonists.They go overboard in their fake news, portraying the US as a big brother. A recent one, titled \"Aircraft Agreement,\" showed Juan de la Cruz smiling ear to ear in the cockpit of an F-16 jet, with Uncle Sam also smiling, with a thumbs-up gesture.The truth is that there is no agreement yet. The US State Department had approved the sale to the Philippines last April, piggy-backed on those for Ukraine. The US manufacturer General Dynamics hasn't even given the Philippines a formal offer to sell the planes, and at what price. Government is clueless where it will get the $6 billion price for the 20 planes. At the earliest, the sale will push through only in 2027. Our cartoonists certainly seem to be the US' PR men.What got my goat recently was a cartoon two days before the elections that was brazenly malicious fake news.The cartoon (image 1) depicted a person that looks like senatorial candidate Rodante Marcoleta handing over something marked \"WPS\" (for West Philippine Sea) to China, depicted as a panda. As if that wasn't enough, the cartoon even had Juan de la Cruz with a speech bubble: \"I will never vote for candidates who will deliver our sovereignty to foreigners.\" Marcoleta placed sixth in the senatorial elections, getting 15.3 million votes.The cartoon is incontrovertibly fake news. The cartoonist was claiming Marcoleta was \"surrendering our sovereignty to foreigners\" simply because at a House committee hearing, he asked what was the legal basis for the government's naming of a part of the South China Sea. Indeed, I had written several columns pointing out that WPS was a bad, even hilarious propaganda move by the late president Benigno Aquino III, with all of the world not recognizing that name.No candidate has said he \"will surrender our sovereignty to foreigners.\" It is ignorant personalities like Philippine Coast Guard official Jay Tarriela who has been insisting that those who don't agree with his anti-China narrative of the South China Sea issue are pro-China.There were other cartoons claiming there were \"pro-China candidates,\" as shown in image 2, in which the China Coast Guard is water-cannoning a Philippine Coast Guard vessel, with a man and two female cheerleaders on a rock marked \"Pro-China candidates\" cheering the Chinese. There are no such candidates, why would there be? I haven't seen such blatant Sinophobia in cartoons anywhere in the world.How dare these cartoonists call those critical of government's made-in-the-US policy toward China \"pro-China\"? Do they really understand what they're arguing for? I don't think these nincompoops really know what they're arguing for through their silly cartoons.Another fake news of a cartoon — image 3 — which demonstrates their total ignorance of our South China Sea disputes, shows a China Coast Guard vessel hurling expletives at Filipinos on their house's rooftop to escape floodwaters, in effect claiming that the Chinese have gone even as far as our inland waters. This is so totally fake. Not even Tarriela claims that Chinese vessels have entered our territorial waters.What is so despicable for me as a journalist is a cartoon (image 4) depicting \"media people\" as part of the propaganda arm of China (depicted in the stereotype of a man with huge teeth and slit eyes), together with \"spies,\" \"politicians\" and \"trolls.\" Those accusations have been made only by the likes of Tarriela, and have never been proven, even with the slightest shred of evidence.Indeed, these jerks seem to delight in condemning their media colleagues: they think only they are reporting the truth about the South China Sea issue, and their colleagues in media who don't bash China are part of the Chinese propaganda arm. What gives them the idea that only they know the truth of the South China Sea issue? Because Uncle Sam's agents feed them with these lies?Another cartoon (image 5) depicts a pirate (China with the China's flag as his eye-patch) holding a parrot with the tag \"some media people\" reading a paper titled \"Chinese narrative on West Philippine Sea.\" In another (image 6), dozens of wind-up small robots are unleashed by a \"China Propaganda Machine,\" with one of these on a computer writing \"pro-China narratives and disinformation,\" his chair labeled \"infiltrated PH media outlets.\"Our cartoonists are insulting media with this preposterous claim that China has infiltrated media outlets. If they can prove this, I will resign as a columnist of this paper. If they can't give even an iota of evidence, they should resign from this paper.The cartoonists have been depicting a false narrative of our disputes with China in the South China Sea, which Filipinos — demonstrated by Marcoleta's huge electoral victory — aren't buying.One cartoon (image 7) shows China (again depicted in that Cold War manner as slant-eyed and yellow-skinned) with his hand elongated to depict the \"nine-dash line\" to cover the whole of the South China Sea, which has markers with the label \"mine!\". This again is fake news; the nine-dash line (wrongly depicted as a solid line in the cartoon) isn't the basis for China's claims in the South China Sea but its declarations of sovereignty made even before World War II of four outlying archipelagoes. The cartoonists even mark China's Hunan province as an island China unfairly claims as \"mine.\"Another cartoon (image 8) sickeningly depicts China (again) as an ugly, slant-eyed man, using an armpit deodorant to cover up what the cartoonist claims as \"China's exposed violations of international maritime claims.\"Only the likes of the Aquino III and Marcos governments, ordered by the US, as well as expert prevaricators and the clueless Tarriela, claim such \"exposed violations.\" Many local and foreign international law experts claim that China's violations are mere allegations, not facts, since these depend on whether one accepts or not that country's claims of sovereignty or not.For instance, Tarriela claims Chinese vessels sailing to the area near Scarborough Shoal violates international law. On the other hand, the Chinese claim that the shoal was turned over to China in 2012 because of Aquino III's colossal blunder due to the US deceit,* and after all, it had been outside the line designated as Philippine territory in the 1898 US-Spanish Paris treaty. It is therefore the Philippine Coast Guard that is intruding into Chinese territory, the Chinese claim.How can they claim that writers like me, who have studied the South China Sea issue since 1994 when the Mischief Reef crisis broke out, wrote a well-documented book, and have written over a hundred columns on it — none of which have been challenged — are merely part of the pro-China propaganda machine? These two are an embarrassment to this paper, which prides itself on always reporting balanced, unbiased news. They don't understand that patriotism is not synonymous with stupid jingoism, and that even cartoonists have to adhere to journalistic integrity and ethics.*This is explained with extensive resources in my book \"Debacle: The Aquino Regime's Scarborough Fiasco,\" and in my over a dozen columns in this paper.Facebook: Rigoberto TiglaoTwitter: @bobitiglaoArchives: www.rigobertotiglao.comBook orders: www.rigobertotiglao.com/shop",
  - "content": "NEEDLESS to say, our concern for truth is more important than camaraderie, and I won't mince words, since this case is so much a violation of journalistic integrity that has gone unchecked for years. I am referring to the editorial cartoons by our two cartoonists — who sign their work as \"Steve Pabs\" and \"Kikoman\" — many of which, as I will show, disseminate outright fake news. (The former is Steven Pabalines who has a comic strip \"Pango Planet,\" every second Sunday, devoted to ridiculing and attacking former president Duterte and his children.) Register to read this story and more for free . Signing up for an account helps us improve your browsing experience. OR See our subscription options.",
  - "pubDate": "2025-05-18 16:10:00",
  - "pubDateTZ": "UTC",
  - "image_url": "https://www.manilatimes.net/manilatimes/uploads/images/2025/05/18/629634.jpg",
  - "video_url": null,
  - "source_id": "manilatimes",
  - "source_name": "The Manila Times",
  - "source_priority": 33634,
  - "source_url": "https://www.manilatimes.net",
  - "source_icon": "https://i.bytvi.com/domain_icons/manilatimes.png",
  - "language": "english",
  - -
    "country": [
    - "philippines"
    ],
  - -
    "category": [
    - "politics"
    ],
  - "sentiment": "negative",
  - -
    "sentiment_stats": {
    - "positive": 0.12,
    - "neutral": 0.07,
    - "negative": 99.81
    },
  - -
    "ai_tag": [
    - "politics"
    ],
  - "ai_region": null,
  - -
    "ai_org": [
    - "mt"
    ],
  - "duplicate": false
  },
- -
  {
  - "article_id": "10249e23249be2957fe0020344604a48",
  - "title": "The elections that were",
  - "link": "https://www.manilatimes.net/2025/05/19/opinion/columns/the-elections-that-were/2116060",
  - -
    "keywords": [
    - "opinion"
    ],
  - -
    "creator": [
    - "Fr. Ranhilio Callangan Aquino"
    ],
  - "description": "MOST of the winners have been proclaimed, and the predictable flurry of election contests filed either with the Commission on Elections or the courts specially designated as \"election courts\" is on. Losers are reckoning with their losses — not only in terms of returns but financially. The undeniable fact is that money figured prominently in these elections, as they did in elections past.The European Union sent observers. I was interviewed by two of them. They asked incisive questions, but they were respectful. Clearly, they did not come with a blank slate. They had read up on the Philippine situation and were familiar with some recurrent issues in Philippine elections. They returned after the elections to give me a copy of their Preliminary Statement, informing me that in many polling places, they were not allowed in — supposedly because the Omnibus Election Code did not include foreign observers among those allowed within the precincts. This, to me, is a mistaken application of the canon of statutory construction \"expressio unius est exclusio alterius\" (the expression of one thing is the exclusion of another), because they had come with the consent of the Philippine government precisely as observers and were clothed with international legal status as representatives of the European Union.The issue of vote buying is not new. It has been with us for a long time. But it was not always so. My father — who at the time was a fledgling lawyer, establishing his name and practice in an adopted town — campaigned without a war chest which we clearly could not afford. But our grandfather had relatives. Handbills, a few one-liner campaign materials pasted to posts and walls with rice glue, visits to barrios (that was what they were called then!) and speeches at rallies — that is all it took for him to make it to the very top of the list of councilors in simpler, more honest times, causing consternation to other candidates who were natives of our town (now Tuguegarao City)!It would be morally wrong to resign ourselves to election results predetermined by the largesse candidates are prepared to expend on every voter, or on each voting family. Aside from the fact that this makes of elective office the exclusive preserve of the monied and the well-placed, it makes of public office a commodity of purchase, each elective office having a price tag and available to whoever might want it — provided that \"the price is right.\"The theory of democracy is government with the consent of the governed, consent embodied in each ballot cast. And while it has been pointed out, quite rightly, that this alone does not constitute a democracy for the people could conceivably consent to government by an autocrat or a dictator, \"the consent of the governed\" should extend to the acts of government, particularly through the constitution of the legislature. So it is that in developing his discourse theory of democracy, Jurgen Habermas first posits the rule of validity for action norms. Only such norms are valid as can meet with the objections and obtain the approval of those affected by the norm in discourse. With respect to the laws passed by the legislature, they are legitimate in the measure that the legislature is discursively constituted — which means in practice, voted into office by citizens engaged in rational exchange among themselves and with candidates. Clearly, the misuse of the ill-conceived \"ayuda\" system or the perverse practice of patronage — the Filipino version of the Roman clientela — is not rational exchange. It is commerce, pure and simple!So, I was asked by the European Union observers what I thought the solution would be — which of course was asking me something that no single Filipino can answer comprehensively. One of them asked about the Church as a potential agent for electoral reform. But it has been proved repeatedly, both by the conduct of candidates and voters alike, as well as by election results, that Catholic Filipinos are not disposed to vote according to church tenets. Two factors account for this, as I see it. First, there is the fact that Catholic bishops, priests and religious in the past have waded into the turbid waters of partisan politics in favor of candidates roundly repudiated by the electorate. Second, there is the globally recognized phenomenon that the Church (all churches, in fact) retains only a tenuous grip over the way people live their lives. It is the phenomenon, long recognized, of secularization. But the Church in the Philippines, in opting for Basic Ecclesial Communities at the Second Plenary Council of the Philippines (PCP II) as \"the way of being Church\" may yet have access to the popular conscience. That will not come about by bishops and priests haranguing lay persons from pulpits, but by properly formed Catholic lay persons engaging neighborhoods and \"consociates\" in meaningful dialogue and exchange. Synodality is crucial here too, for the Church must listen to the reasons people have for opting for some over others and for rejecting those proposed as worthy candidates.The second sector that can — and should — be called upon to respond with urgency and studied effectiveness to this systemic disorder is academe. A video clip of Pope Leo XIV, when he was still a cardinal, has him asking the crucial question: \"How do we teach people to think critically?\" That is a question academia should ask itself — and that means more than merely encouraging student groups and movements. It means the formation of youngsters with a social conscience, capable of taking in the full extent of the corruption of our electoral system and prepared to bring critical consciousness to bear on the social situation. This is an avenue that should be full of promise, given the empirical fact that more than half of the voters are of university or college age. Critical thinking is no mere charming byword. It is an imperative for higher education institutions and even for basic education. Our narrative models of delivering instruction — despite the high-flown labels we have given various approaches tried — must give way to that kind of education that has students asking critical questions, examining the premises by which they reach conclusions, assuming a reflexive disposition in respect to their actions and those of their communities that are existentially factored into future actions both individual and collective, and raring to share their realizations with fellow Filipinos.The European Union's observers have entitled their preliminary statement \"Voters' commitment to democracy marred by systemic deficiencies.\" We must realize that we are not victims of defective systems. We are their authors and their key agents. It is we who have allowed money to determine the outcome of elections. It should not be beyond us to mend this ailing, key institution of our democracy.rannie_aquino@sanbeda.edu.phrannie_aquino@csu.edu.phrannie_aquino@outlook.com",
  - "content": "MOST of the winners have been proclaimed, and the predictable flurry of election contests filed either with the Commission on Elections or the courts specially designated as \"election courts\" is on. Losers are reckoning with their losses — not only in terms of returns but financially. The undeniable fact is that money figured prominently in these elections, as they did in elections past. The European Union sent observers. I was interviewed by two of them. They asked incisive questions, but they were respectful. Clearly, they did not come with a blank slate. They had read up on the Philippine situation and were familiar with some recurrent issues in Philippine elections. They returned after the elections to give me a copy of their Preliminary Statement, informing me that in many polling places, they were not allowed in — supposedly because the Omnibus Election Code did not include foreign observers among those allowed within the precincts. This, to me, is a mistaken application of the canon of statutory construction \"expressio unius est exclusio alterius\" (the expression of one thing is the exclusion of another), because they had come with the consent of the Philippine government precisely as observers and were clothed with international legal status as representatives of the European Union. Register to read this story and more for free . Signing up for an account helps us improve your browsing experience. OR See our subscription options.",
  - "pubDate": "2025-05-18 16:09:00",
  - "pubDateTZ": "UTC",
  - "image_url": "https://www.manilatimes.net/manilatimes/uploads/images/2025/05/18/629632.jpg",
  - "video_url": null,
  - "source_id": "manilatimes",
  - "source_name": "The Manila Times",
  - "source_priority": 33634,
  - "source_url": "https://www.manilatimes.net",
  - "source_icon": "https://i.bytvi.com/domain_icons/manilatimes.png",
  - "language": "english",
  - -
    "country": [
    - "philippines"
    ],
  - -
    "category": [
    - "politics"
    ],
  - "sentiment": "neutral",
  - -
    "sentiment_stats": {
    - "positive": 41.3,
    - "neutral": 57.8,
    - "negative": 0.9
    },
  - -
    "ai_tag": [
    - "elections"
    ],
  - "ai_region": null,
  - -
    "ai_org": [
    - "commission on elections"
    ],
  - "duplicate": false
  },
- -
  {
  - "article_id": "6d3e391d7c0f7d3fe8db99ceb1d2028d",
  - "title": "The beginning of a third force?",
  - "link": "https://www.manilatimes.net/2025/05/19/opinion/columns/the-beginning-of-a-third-force/2116059",
  - -
    "keywords": [
    - "opinion"
    ],
  - -
    "creator": [
    - "Francisco S. Tatad"
    ],
  - "description": "PRESIDENT Bongbong Marcos (BBM) campaigned very hard for a 12-0 Senate slate under his Alyansa Para Sa Bagong Pilipinas, but failed. He produced a few winners — the broadcaster Erwin Tulfo, who landed fourth place; former Senate president Tito Sotto, who landed eighth; movie actor Sen. Lito Lapid, 11th.But some big names failed to make it. These include former senator and action star Bong Revilla, former senator and world boxing champion Manny Pacquiao, former senator Francis Tolentino, former DILG secretary Benhur Abalos, and former Makati city mayor Abigail \"Abby\" Binay.The winning slate was dominated by candidates identified with former president Rodrigo Duterte, who was elected mayor of Davao City in a thunderous landslide even while under detention for alleged crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague. The completely unassuming Sen. Christopher \"Bong\" Go, Duterte's former aide, topped the 12-man slate, followed by the equally unassuming Sen. Ronald \"Bato\" Dela Rosa, Duterte's former chief of police, who landed third.Former senator Paolo Benigno \"Bam\" Aquino, the late Ninoy Aquino's nephew, staged an amazing comeback at second place, and former senator Francis \"Kiko\" Pangilinan, who lost as vice president in 2022, landed fifth. Independent congressman Rodante Marcoleta, who scored many good points during the House quadcom hearings, took sixth place, while former senator Panfilo \"Ping\" Lacson took the seventh. Reelectionist Pia Cayetano of the Nacionalista Party (NP), took the ninth seat, while the neophyte Camille Villar, also NP, joined her brother Sen. Mark Villar in the chamber as the 10th senator after their mother Cynthia Villar exited and lost her bid for a seat in the House.Reelectionist Sen. Imee Marcos, also NP, who fought the toughest battle of her life against her president-brother after she launched a Senate committee inquiry into the circumstances surrounding Duterte's arrest and detention by the ICC for alleged crimes against humanity, won as the 12th senator.Bam Aquino's and Pangilinan's win was really a surprise for everyone. At the start of the campaign, they were not even talked about; they hardly figured in any election survey. They simply shot up into the stratosphere without any propaganda build-up from the ground. Bam's phenomenal showing instantly triggered talk of his possibly leading a third force in the 2028 presidential electionsHad BBM succeeded in shutting out the Senate opposition, he might have been able to count on 16 senators (old and new) to convict Vice President Sara Duterte of the charges against her at her Senate impeachment trial. But as of now, more analysts seem to foresee an acquittal.On Feb. 5, 2025, 215 members of the House voted to impeach the vice president on various crimes, but the Senate failed to convene as an impeachment court and act on the articles of impeachment, which were transmitted to the Senate sergeant at arms just before Congress adjourned for its mandatory recess.The Senate is now set to convene as an impeachment court before the end of June to begin the trial as mandated by the Constitution. The trial will continue when the next Congress opens in July and the 12 new senators will replace the 12 others who are finishing their term. Speculations about a possible acquittal arise from the results of the midterm senatorial elections. But this is subject, among other things, to the integrity and incorruptibility of the trial.In the 2012 Corona impeachment trial, something good and something unspeakably evil happened there. First, the good. At the beginning of the trial, the House prosecutors moved to exclude five of the eight original articles of impeachment, for lack of evidence. Of the three remaining articles, the prosecutors focused on only one trumped-up charge, supported by illegally procured evidence, which did not quite rise to the level of an impeachable offense.That was initially helpful to the respondent.Now, the unspeakably evil. Apparently convinced that there was not enough ground to convict the chief justice, the late former president Noynoy Aquino paid off 19 senator-judges P50 million to P100 million each to convict the respondent. Corona was convicted, removed as chief justice, and permanently barred from public office. Not long thereafter, he died of a broken heart. I am not saying this could happen again, but what is at stake here is the presidency of the country from 2028 onwards. So, it can happen again.Because of the sheer size of Sara's 2022 votes as vice president — about a million more votes than Bongbong Marcos' phenomenal 31.6 million — she has become the de facto presidential candidate to beat in 2028. Many are saying the next election is hers to lose. It is not unsafe to speculate that her opponents will do everything to prevent her from getting there. Given the nature of our politics, this means the worst (not necessarily the best) is yet to come.fstatad@gmail.com",
  - "content": "PRESIDENT Bongbong Marcos (BBM) campaigned very hard for a 12-0 Senate slate under his Alyansa Para Sa Bagong Pilipinas, but failed. He produced a few winners — the broadcaster Erwin Tulfo, who landed fourth place; former Senate president Tito Sotto, who landed eighth; movie actor Sen. Lito Lapid, 11th. But some big names failed to make it. These include former senator and action star Bong Revilla, former senator and world boxing champion Manny Pacquiao, former senator Francis Tolentino, former DILG secretary Benhur Abalos, and former Makati city mayor Abigail \"Abby\" Binay. Register to read this story and more for free . Signing up for an account helps us improve your browsing experience. OR See our subscription options.",
  - "pubDate": "2025-05-18 16:08:00",
  - "pubDateTZ": "UTC",
  - "image_url": "https://www.manilatimes.net/manilatimes/uploads/images/2025/05/18/629631.jpg",
  - "video_url": null,
  - "source_id": "manilatimes",
  - "source_name": "The Manila Times",
  - "source_priority": 33634,
  - "source_url": "https://www.manilatimes.net",
  - "source_icon": "https://i.bytvi.com/domain_icons/manilatimes.png",
  - "language": "english",
  - -
    "country": [
    - "philippines"
    ],
  - -
    "category": [
    - "politics"
    ],
  - "sentiment": "positive",
  - -
    "sentiment_stats": {
    - "positive": 93.25,
    - "neutral": 3.98,
    - "negative": 2.77
    },
  - -
    "ai_tag": [
    - "elections",
    - "government"
    ],
  - "ai_region": null,
  - -
    "ai_org": [
    - "bbm",
    - "senate",
    - "alyansa para sa bagong pilipinas"
    ],
  - "duplicate": false
  },
- -
  {
  - "article_id": "ff57ae1083ccdef72a8f21973c0a1618",
  - "title": "The Geneva connection: How Trump tariffs penalize US-China ties and global economic prospects",
  - "link": "https://www.manilatimes.net/2025/05/19/opinion/columns/the-geneva-connection-how-trump-tariffs-penalize-us-china-ties-and-global-economic-prospects/2116058",
  - -
    "keywords": [
    - "opinion"
    ],
  - -
    "creator": [
    - "Dan Steinbock"
    ],
  - "description": "Despite de-escalation in Geneva, trillions of dollars may have been lost in the unwarranted trade wars.AFTER two grueling days of bilateral marathon talks in Geneva, Switzerland, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said both sides had reached an agreement on a 90-day pause and substantially moved down the tariff levels.But it is too little too late.The caveats and the stakesEarly in his second term, Trump slapped 145 percent tariffs on Chinese goods, while Beijing has hit back with 125 percent duties on American products. That led bilateral trade to nearly dry up, unleashing fears of plunging global prospects.From Beijing's standpoint, which President Xi Jinping and other government leaders have often reiterated, retaliatory tariffs were not China's first preference, but defensive moves to foster resilience and sovereignty. So, Geneva was not a venue for trade talks but for a cautious tango. The two teams used the talks to estimate intent, identify red lines, and possible compromise areas before actual talks.Before Geneva, the effective US tariffs were the highest in a century, higher than the Smoot-Hawley tariffs (1930) that made the Great Depression a lot worse, paving the way for World War II, Auschwitz and Hiroshima. With respect to China, the pre-Geneva US effective tariffs were 105 percent, 5 to 10 times higher than average US tariffs with most of its large trading partners. That is, until Trump blinked before Geneva and suggested cutting China's tariff rate to 80 percent (see figure 1).After the high-stakes trade talks, the US dropped Trump's 145 percent tax to 30 percent, as China lowered its tariff rate on US goods to 10 percent from 125 percent. Moreover, the two agreed to start a formal negotiation process, whereas Washington touted progress toward a deal. Furthermore, the two agreed to establish an \"economic and trade consultation mechanism\" that would involve recurring discussions.Hailing the bilateral talks, Trump said the two sides had negotiated a \"total reset.\" It was smoke and mirrors for the faithful. The grandiose statements were meant to calm the markets, where the tariffs had wiped out over $6 trillion on Wall Street in just two days.Trump's 'total reset' dissectedIn reality, the institutional bilateral ties are half a century old. With the end of the Cold War, the original motives underlying rapprochement between China and the United States diminished. Initially, President Nixon hoped to use the US-China ties against Moscow. These motives prevailed until the dissolution of the Soviet Union.During his presidential campaign in 1992, Bill Clinton sharply criticized President George H. W. Bush for prioritizing trade over what he called human rights issues in China. Two years later, Clinton de-linked China's \"most favored nation\" status from human rights issues, seeking to ensure American participation in the China boom and cheap prices.As the bilateral economic ties broadened, the Strategic Economic Dialogue (SED) was initiated in 2006 by President George W. Bush and President Hu Jintao. But when the Bush era faded into history, so did the globalization decades. As the US-led West was swept with the dark days of the Greater Recession in 2008/2009, it was the revenues of the US multinationals in China that played a role in the subsequent US recovery.With the dramatic expansion of bilateral trade and investment, the dialogue was once again upgraded by the Obama administration, which redefined it as the US-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED). However, when Trump arrived in the White House in early 2017, he had the Obama administration's S&ED renamed the Comprehensive Economic Dialogue in mid-2017.Yet, in the subsequent months, the White House reversed half a century of US-China policies in tariff wars that targeted primarily China. In the process, Trump terminated the dialogue. To the disappointment of Democratic progressives and globalists, President Biden built on Trump's protectionism, seeking to \"multilateralize\" it. When that failed, his administration struggled to de-escalate the trade mess it had created — just as President Trump's team has struggled to de-escalate what it initially escalated.The costs of these follies are unprecedented.How to disappear PH, Egypt, Iran, Pakistan and AlgeriaIf the current tariffs prevail, global growth is expected to drop to 2.8 percent in 2025 and 3.0 percent in 2026 — down from 3.3 percent for both years since the January 2025 update by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). That translates to a cumulative downgrade of 0.8 percentage point, which is far below the historical (2000-2019) average of 3.7 percent.In October 2024, the IMF estimated the world economy to amount to $115.5 trillion by the end of 2025. Thanks particularly to the self-defeating tariff wars, it recently downgraded that figure to $113.8 trillion. That's a difference of $1.7 trillion (see figure 2). What might it mean in practice?Well, imagine the entire Spanish economy with its 50 million people suddenly — in a matter of a few months — dissolve into thin air. That's what it means. Or think of South Korea or Mexico. Each of these economies is about the same size.In the developing economies of the Global South, the implications would be far more devastating. Imagine the combined economies of the Philippines, Egypt, Iran, Pakistan and Algeria (which together amount to about $1.7 trillion) and their almost 600 million people disappear from the face of the earth. That's what it means.The prospects of such economic losses are horrifying. As the major advanced economies in the West are already struggling at the edge of secular stagnation, such economic mismanagement will accelerate their economic misfortunes. In the Global South, the adverse consequences will be far worse.The Trump tariffs are precisely the wrong thing at the wrong time. And they have only deferred the final trade showdown, which looms ahead in 90 days.Dr. Dan Steinbock is an internationally renowned strategist of the multipolar world and the founder of Difference Group. He has served at the India, China and America Institute (US), Shanghai Institutes for International Studies (China) and the EU Center (Singapore). For more, see https://www.differencegroup.net This is a short version of the original commentary published by China-US Focus on April 14, 2025.",
  - "content": "Despite de-escalation in Geneva, trillions of dollars may have been lost in the unwarranted trade wars. AFTER two grueling days of bilateral marathon talks in Geneva, Switzerland, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said both sides had reached an agreement on a 90-day pause and substantially moved down the tariff levels. Register to read this story and more for free . Signing up for an account helps us improve your browsing experience. OR See our subscription options.",
  - "pubDate": "2025-05-18 16:07:00",
  - "pubDateTZ": "UTC",
  - "image_url": "https://www.manilatimes.net/manilatimes/uploads/images/2025/05/18/629629.jpg",
  - "video_url": null,
  - "source_id": "manilatimes",
  - "source_name": "The Manila Times",
  - "source_priority": 33634,
  - "source_url": "https://www.manilatimes.net",
  - "source_icon": "https://i.bytvi.com/domain_icons/manilatimes.png",
  - "language": "english",
  - -
    "country": [
    - "philippines"
    ],
  - -
    "category": [
    - "politics"
    ],
  - "sentiment": "negative",
  - -
    "sentiment_stats": {
    - "positive": 0.11,
    - "neutral": 0.09,
    - "negative": 99.8
    },
  - -
    "ai_tag": [
    - "government"
    ],
  - -
    "ai_region": [
    - "geneva,switzerland,europe"
    ],
  - "ai_org": null,
  - "duplicate": false
  },
- -
  {
  - "article_id": "befd4e2f74a5d09eb7b95d9197849fb9",
  - "title": "Marcos calls for unity, Duterte wants 'bloodbath'",
  - "link": "https://www.manilatimes.net/2025/05/19/opinion/columns/marcos-calls-for-unity-duterte-wants-bloodbath/2116054",
  - -
    "keywords": [
    - "opinion"
    ],
  - -
    "creator": [
    - "Tita C. Valderama"
    ],
  - "description": "THE midterm elections may be over, but we should brace for partisan intrigues and politicking to intensify, ignoring the call of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to set politics aside and buckle down to work.With Vice President Sara Duterte declaring that she \"want[s] a bloodbath\" in her impeachment trial scheduled to begin on July 30 and asking her older brother, reelected Davao City Rep. Paulo Duterte, to contest the speakership with Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez in the incoming 20th Congress that will convene on July 28, it means the fight for power between the erstwhile UniTeam partners is far from over.The results of the May 12 polls gave the vice president's camp more ammunition for the almost simultaneous battle in Congress — the speakership in the House of Representatives and impeachment in the Senate — to discredit the Marcos administration and eventually wrest power by 2028.Marcos' Alyansa para sa Bagong Pilipinas senatorial slate managed to win only six of the 12 contested Senate seats, well below the nine predicted in preelection surveys. One of them, Camille Villar, attributes her victory to the endorsement of the vice president more than halfway through the 90-day campaign period.Five candidates, including Villar, who were endorsed by Duterte made it to the Top 12, three of whom — Bong Go, Ronald Dela Rosa and Rodante Marcoleta were in the Top 6 — while Imee Marcos, the president's older sister, managed to secure the 12th slot.To convict the vice president, the Senate — sitting as an impeachment court — must have a two-thirds majority vote, or at least 16 out of 24 senators. A conviction would result in her removal from office and disqualification from holding future public positions. Cases will then be filed in court.But based on their political leanings and previous statements, it is most likely that Sara Duterte will get at least 10 votes for an acquittal. She needs only nine votes to block her conviction.Go, Dela Rosa and Marcoleta have publicly declared their support for the vice president. They all ran under the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino–Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban), chaired by her father, former president Rodrigo Duterte, who had a landslide win as Davao City mayor despite his detention at The Hague while awaiting trial on crimes against humanity charges before the International Criminal Court.Although Marcos and Villar have not spoken about their stand on the VP's impeachment, it would be ungrateful if they vote for an acquittal or abstention.From among the 12 incumbent senators, the vice president can count on Robinhood Padilla to vote for her acquittal. Others likely to take her side are Mark Villar and Alan Peter Cayetano, who was the elder Duterte's foreign secretary. Pia Cayetano, who ran under Marcos' Alyansa, may either follow her brother's lead or abstain from voting.Half-brothers Jinggoy Estrada and JV Ejercito may also abstain. Estrada earlier declared that the impeachment \"will only sow divisiveness and distract us from the urgent issues we must collectively address.\" Ejercito echoed that the impeachment, which he described as \"more political than [a] legal\" process, is \"very divisive.\"In an interview last December, Ejercito said: \"It's hard to move forward if the top two officials are bickering because it does not give a good signal, especially in the international community, making it appear that there's political instability in the country. We are already having a hard time inviting investors, and then there's this political instability.\"In the contest for House speakership, Romualdez may still get the majority votes, based on the statement of Deputy Speaker David Suarez that about 86 percent of congressmen who signed the impeachment complaint against the vice president have been reelected. Should Paolo Duterte vie for speakership and lose, he could be the minority leader, if the chamber would follow the parliamentary tradition and House rules that the second placer automatically becomes the minority leader.But in his first two terms in the House, Paolo was hardly seen participating actively in committees and plenary discussions. He became a hot topic in early 2024 over a scandalous P51 billion allocation for his district in the last three years of his father's presidency, broken into P13.7 billion in 2020, P25 billion in 2021 and P13 billion in 2022. To this date, he has not substantially explained how the huge amount was spent.Will the Dutertes take on the role of a real opposition now and succeed in weakening the Marcos administration?",
  - "content": "THE midterm elections may be over, but we should brace for partisan intrigues and politicking to intensify, ignoring the call of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to set politics aside and buckle down to work. With Vice President Sara Duterte declaring that she \"want[s] a bloodbath\" in her impeachment trial scheduled to begin on July 30 and asking her older brother, reelected Davao City Rep. Paulo Duterte, to contest the speakership with Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez in the incoming 20th Congress that will convene on July 28, it means the fight for power between the erstwhile UniTeam partners is far from over. Register to read this story and more for free . Signing up for an account helps us improve your browsing experience. OR See our subscription options.",
  - "pubDate": "2025-05-18 16:06:00",
  - "pubDateTZ": "UTC",
  - "image_url": "https://www.manilatimes.net/manilatimes/uploads/images/2025/05/18/629623.jpg",
  - "video_url": null,
  - "source_id": "manilatimes",
  - "source_name": "The Manila Times",
  - "source_priority": 33634,
  - "source_url": "https://www.manilatimes.net",
  - "source_icon": "https://i.bytvi.com/domain_icons/manilatimes.png",
  - "language": "english",
  - -
    "country": [
    - "philippines"
    ],
  - -
    "category": [
    - "politics"
    ],
  - "sentiment": "negative",
  - -
    "sentiment_stats": {
    - "positive": 0.13,
    - "neutral": 0.09,
    - "negative": 99.78
    },
  - -
    "ai_tag": [
    - "elections"
    ],
  - "ai_region": null,
  - "ai_org": null,
  - "duplicate": false
  },
- -
  {
  - "article_id": "11a53b4d228c647cb84a3b57ed4db792",
  - "title": "Parents fighting with school officials is valid ground to refuse to re-enroll their children",
  - "link": "https://www.manilatimes.net/2025/05/19/opinion/columns/parents-fighting-with-school-officials-is-valid-ground-to-refuse-to-re-enroll-their-children/2116053",
  - -
    "keywords": [
    - "opinion"
    ],
  - -
    "creator": [
    - "Joseph Noel M. Estrada"
    ],
  - "description": "RECENTLY, I have been receiving numerous inquiries from private schools regarding how to manage highly aggressive parents, some of whom exhibit violent behavior, when questioning legitimate school policies. I hope the discussion I will share today, culled from the decision of the Supreme Court in the case of Yap Chin Fah v. Court of Appeals, serves as a guide to both schools and parents on their respective rights and limitations when dealing with each other as part of the school community.In 1986, a private school applied to the then Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports (MECS) for a tuition fee increase. Meanwhile, a group of parents organized themselves and asked for a formal dialogue with the school officials. During the meeting, one of the parents stood up and pointed a finger, shouted at the vice principal, and later spat at the latter.This was followed by a series of events showing the hostility of the parents against the school. After the MECS approved the tuition increase, the group lobbied with other parents, urging non-payment of the increase. During enrollment, many parents refused to pay the incremental fee. In turn, the school refused to receive payment for fees based on the old rate. Thereafter, a group of parents staged a rally outside the school premises. They set up banners and placards critical of the school administration.The parents also released statements to print and broadcast media attacking the school's fee increases and allegedly deteriorating academic standards. Some parents, with video cameras, forced their way into the school premises and interrupted a class in session, urging students therein to speak, using the allotted class hour to vent against school policies. Some students walked out of their classrooms to join their parents in the rally outside. The adversarial relationship between the school and the parents further deteriorated when several of the preschool students started chanting slogans against the school and its teachers, indicating that their parents had imbued them with hostility or at least disdain and scorn for the school.The school informed the parents through a letter that, because of their severely critical behavior against the school, it would be best to enroll their children in another school. The parents went to DECS, which later ordered the private school to admit the students. The parents filed a case in court to compel the school to accept their children, which was granted but later set aside on appeal at the Court of Appeals. The matter was elevated to the Supreme Court.Supreme Court rulingThe Supreme Court held that the school cannot be compelled by mandamus to accept the enrollment of students. According to the court, a writ of preliminary mandatory injunction lies only when the right sought to be enforced is clear, unmistakable and indubitable. In the instant case, no such clear right to be admitted by the school was shown. This is so because private schools are subject to reasonable regulation and supervision of the State as mandated by the Constitution, but not State control. Private schools have the right to establish their own reasonable rules and regulations for admission, discipline and promotion of students. According to the court, the established reasonable rules and regulations extend as well to parents, as they are \"under a social and moral (if not legal) obligation, individually and collectively, to assist and cooperate with the schools.\"In this case, since the parents failed to comply with the conditions and prerequisites for admission of their children, such as payment of duly-approved tuition fees and compliance with school rules and regulations, the school cannot be regarded as having acted arbitrarily or capriciously in refusing to re-enroll the children.The Supreme Court held that where relations between parents and students on the one hand, and teachers and administrators on the other, have deteriorated, a private school may, in the interest of the school community, require the affected children to be enrolled elsewhere. The maintenance of a morally conducive and orderly educational environment will be seriously imperiled if the school is forced to admit the parents' children. It may even be argued that the children have been innocent victims in a deplorable confrontation between some parents and the school.On the same issue in a different case, the Supreme Court also held that because of the serious deterioration of academic standards in our educational system, which resulted in functionally semi-illiterate graduates, a drastic upgrading of educational standards, especially at the elementary and high school levels, is imperative. The court therefore held that the government must uphold and encourage schools that endeavor to maintain the highest standards of education whenever challenged by parents and students who exhibit uncivil or rowdy behavior. Educators who insist on high standards and enforce reasonable rules of discipline deserve support from courts and other branches of government.info@estradaaquino.com",
  - "content": "RECENTLY, I have been receiving numerous inquiries from private schools regarding how to manage highly aggressive parents, some of whom exhibit violent behavior, when questioning legitimate school policies. I hope the discussion I will share today, culled from the decision of the Supreme Court in the case of Yap Chin Fah v. Court of Appeals, serves as a guide to both schools and parents on their respective rights and limitations when dealing with each other as part of the school community. In 1986, a private school applied to the then Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports (MECS) for a tuition fee increase. Meanwhile, a group of parents organized themselves and asked for a formal dialogue with the school officials. During the meeting, one of the parents stood up and pointed a finger, shouted at the vice principal, and later spat at the latter. Register to read this story and more for free . Signing up for an account helps us improve your browsing experience. OR See our subscription options.",
  - "pubDate": "2025-05-18 16:05:00",
  - "pubDateTZ": "UTC",
  - "image_url": "https://www.manilatimes.net/manilatimes/uploads/images/2025/05/18/629622.jpg",
  - "video_url": null,
  - "source_id": "manilatimes",
  - "source_name": "The Manila Times",
  - "source_priority": 33634,
  - "source_url": "https://www.manilatimes.net",
  - "source_icon": "https://i.bytvi.com/domain_icons/manilatimes.png",
  - "language": "english",
  - -
    "country": [
    - "philippines"
    ],
  - -
    "category": [
    - "politics"
    ],
  - "sentiment": "negative",
  - -
    "sentiment_stats": {
    - "positive": 0.11,
    - "neutral": 0.08,
    - "negative": 99.81
    },
  - -
    "ai_tag": [
    - "education"
    ],
  - "ai_region": null,
  - "ai_org": null,
  - "duplicate": false
  },
- -
  {
  - "article_id": "9ded252bff4b27e89b4360025ae8f02a",
  - "title": "Duterte factor in Cebu elections? Yes and no",
  - "link": "https://www.manilatimes.net/2025/05/19/opinion/columns/duterte-factor-in-cebu-elections-yes-and-no/2116051",
  - -
    "keywords": [
    - "opinion"
    ],
  - -
    "creator": [
    - "Marit Stinus-Cabugon"
    ],
  - "description": "THERE is no doubt that Cebu is \"Duterte country.\" Senatorial candidates endorsed by the Dutertes dominated the May 12 elections. Former Senate president Tito Sotto, an administration candidate and a traditional favorite among Cebuano voters for being the grandson of illustrious Cebuano senator and journalist Vicente Sotto, didn't make it to the \"magic 12\" in Cebu. The Duterte Youth party-list placed first and second in Cebu City and Cebu province, respectively.The stunning defeat of Gov. Gwen Garcia by neophyte Pam Baricuatro has also been attributed to the \"Duterte factor.\" The governor's perceived abandonment of former president Rodrigo Duterte and his daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte, in their moments of crisis is obviously a factor. But it is difficult to see it as \"the\" factor when we take a closer look at the results of the local elections.Gwen Garcia's running mate, board member Glenn Soco, thoroughly beat his opponent. Also, all elected members of the provincial board were candidates of Garcia's 1Cebu party or allied parties. Among the district representatives (of Cebu province and highly urbanized cities) who signed the petition to impeach the vice president, all but one got reelected or was replaced by the spouse. Only 4th district representative Janice Salimbangon didn't make it. She was defeated by Daanbantayan mayor Sun Shimura, another staunch ally of Gwen Garcia.But the clearest indication that the \"Duterte factor\" may have had limited impact on the outcome of local elections in Cebu is the election of former mayor Tomas Osmeña as vice mayor of Cebu City. His running mate, city councilor Nestor Archival, was elected mayor. Their victorious run came as a surprise to many, though probably it was the logical outcome of an election that saw the traditional \"other force\" in Cebu City politics divided. Former allies and 2022 running mates Michael Rama and incumbent mayor Raymond Garcia fielded separate slates, thus dividing the vote.In the city council, Raymond Garcia's Kusug and Osmeña's Bando Osmeña Pundok Kauswagan (BO-PK) each won six seats. Dismissed mayor Rama's party Barug secured the remaining four slots.Osmeña last served as mayor from 2016 to 2019. In 2019, then Cebu City Police Office head Col. Royina Garma was given marching orders to prevent his reelection. Three months before elections, members of the CCPO Mobile Force Company shot dead two barangay tanods, both known supporters of Osmeña, and the wife of one of the tanods. The policemen's official purpose was to serve search warrants — at 2 o'clock in the morning. A checkpoint was put up in front of Mayor Osmeña's house. Police tailed the BO-PK candidates on their campaign sorties. Candidates felt harassed.Osmeña lost the election. A few weeks later, President Duterte appointed Garma as the general manager of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office, a reward for mission accomplished. Osmeña testified against Garma at one of the House quadcomm hearings.Going back to Gwen Garcia and why she lost, other than the \"Duterte factor,\" her personality has been cited as the biggest factor. On the policy side, Baricuatro's promise to improve provincial health care from its current general state of neglect was welcomed by many voters.Another major issue is poverty. While the province managed to bring down the poverty rate (among population) from the record high 36.5 percent in 2021 to 21.9 percent in 2023, this isn't impressive when compared with other provinces. According to my own manual tally, 45 provinces had higher poverty rates than Cebu province in pre-pandemic 2018. In 2023, the number had declined to 33. Meaning, Cebu did not excel in poverty alleviation despite its status as the richest province in the country in terms of assets.While economic growth per se is not the only factor in uplifting the lives of people, it must be noted that Cebu province's growth in gross domestic product was the lowest in Region 7 in 2021-2022 and 2022-2023, lower than Bohol, Negros Oriental and Siquijor. Cebu province also has the lowest GDP per capita, suggesting that its economy is somewhat stunted. The numbers indicate that the programs and initiatives of the provincial government have been inadequate in spurring economic growth, prosperity and better quality of life for all Cebuanos.What is the state of food security in Cebu province? The share of agriculture, fisheries and forestry to GDP was 8.9 percent in 2023. Production of capture fisheries declined sharply from 2002 to 2023, according to data from the Karagatan Patrol. The year 2023 was the worst on record, while 2024 showed a modest improvement. Aquaculture also took a big dip in 2023. What is the true state of Cebu's fisheries sector and fishing grounds?The 2022 midterm elections are over. It is time to move on. The serious problems besetting not only Cebu but the entire country, from remote rural towns to highly urbanized cities, need urgent and competent attention. There are election promises to fulfill.",
  - "content": "THERE is no doubt that Cebu is \"Duterte country.\" Senatorial candidates endorsed by the Dutertes dominated the May 12 elections. Former Senate president Tito Sotto, an administration candidate and a traditional favorite among Cebuano voters for being the grandson of illustrious Cebuano senator and journalist Vicente Sotto, didn't make it to the \"magic 12\" in Cebu. The Duterte Youth party-list placed first and second in Cebu City and Cebu province, respectively. The stunning defeat of Gov. Gwen Garcia by neophyte Pam Baricuatro has also been attributed to the \"Duterte factor.\" The governor's perceived abandonment of former president Rodrigo Duterte and his daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte, in their moments of crisis is obviously a factor. But it is difficult to see it as \"the\" factor when we take a closer look at the results of the local elections. Register to read this story and more for free . Signing up for an account helps us improve your browsing experience. OR See our subscription options.",
  - "pubDate": "2025-05-18 16:04:00",
  - "pubDateTZ": "UTC",
  - "image_url": "https://www.manilatimes.net/manilatimes/uploads/images/2025/05/18/629619.jpeg",
  - "video_url": null,
  - "source_id": "manilatimes",
  - "source_name": "The Manila Times",
  - "source_priority": 33634,
  - "source_url": "https://www.manilatimes.net",
  - "source_icon": "https://i.bytvi.com/domain_icons/manilatimes.png",
  - "language": "english",
  - -
    "country": [
    - "philippines"
    ],
  - -
    "category": [
    - "politics"
    ],
  - "sentiment": "negative",
  - -
    "sentiment_stats": {
    - "positive": 0.7,
    - "neutral": 5.67,
    - "negative": 93.63
    },
  - -
    "ai_tag": [
    - "elections"
    ],
  - -
    "ai_region": [
    - "duterte",
    - "cebu"
    ],
  - -
    "ai_org": [
    - "dutertes",
    - "senate"
    ],
  - "duplicate": false
  },
- -
  {
  - "article_id": "57c845f8e49a1064bb7b229638d2de14",
  - "title": "Where to, migrants, if not the US?",
  - "link": "https://www.manilatimes.net/2025/05/19/opinion/columns/where-to-migrants-if-not-the-us/2116048",
  - -
    "keywords": [
    - "opinion"
    ],
  - -
    "creator": [
    - "Crispin Aranda"
    ],
  - "description": "FROM January this year, the US has taken itself off the intending immigrant's destination to visit, study, work or permanently settle.Not by choice, but because of President Donald Trump's vow to exact revenge on his perceived enemies and non-supporters to stop the \"invasion of immigrants and make America great, safe and healthy again.\"Nonimmigrants, visitors, students, temporary workers; legal immigrants (those with green cards as lawful permanent residents) and even US citizens are wary of being refused entry into the country, notably for being critical or not supportive of the Trump administration's policies.Faced with the next three years and 200-plus days (when President Trump's term ends (assuming he does not run for an unprecedented third term — the constitution be damned)) — which countries among the Five DestiNations would be more welcoming of immigrants?Cuts in immigrant admission targetsAustralia (AUS), Canada (CAN), New Zealand (NZ) and the UK have announced reductions in the numbers of immigrants to be admitted for permanent residency, including caps in temporary migration of international students and workers.NZ does not have an official announcement, but the new points system for skilled migration criteria is expected to slow down admissions of new permanent residents through the three pathways: skilled migrant category, green list and care workforce, and transport sector agreements.Canada would have been the clear and obvious choice for several reasons:1. It has the second-largest number of Filipino population after the US.2. Proximity to the US offers cross-country visits.3. Easier route to permanent residency online through Express Entry.4. More pathways to residency through studies or provincial nomination.5. Overall admission level of more than 1.7 million till 2027.CaveatsCanada's Immigration Levels Plan 2025-2027 reduced the overall admissions allocations to Canada's provincial share of immigrants by around 50 percent.The new Liberal government under Mark Carney and newly appointed Immigration Minister Lena Metlege Diab, the member of parliament for Halifax West, is likely to emphasize in-country selection and create new programs under Express Entry (EE) to meet Canada's labor and economic needs.With the removal of job offer as a criterion in the program, overseas applicants would have a hard time competing for invitations to apply for permanent residency unless they pursue studies and work for at least one year after completion of the academic program.Retaining the dynamism of the category-based selection is a relief, but EE candidates would have to monitor the labor market's immediate and midterm outlook with an eye on occupations skewed toward French-language proficiency, health care and social services, science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), trade, agriculture and agri-food, as well as occupations in education.Reduction in nomination numbers and provinces' response – Alberta launched its own expression of interest system, the Advantage Immigration program, on Sept. 30, 2024, under which a job offer from a verified provincial employer enhances the chance of nomination.– British Columbia. With an inventory of approximately 5,200 applications, BC intends to meet \"the most critical labor market and economic needs in the province, despite the 50 percent reduction in BC's allocation for 2025.– Manitoba (MN) offers an option for overseas skilled workers to apply for permanent residency through the provincial nomination pathway. Applicants in this stream could qualify by having the support of family members or friends (Manitoba Support); or be invited through Manitoba's strategic recruitment initiative (Manitoba Invitation).– New Brunswick (NB) will focus on priority sectors, such as health, education and construction trades, while supporting other sectors with limited allocations. Workers in some occupations will be restricted from participating.– Newfoundland and Labrador will enhance support for employers with labor market challenges while facilitating pathways to residency for skilled workers, international graduates and entrepreneurs interested in settling in the province.– Nova Scotia has transitioned its AIP Online Portal, accepting endorsement from employers through Labor Market Programs Support System (LaMPSS) to \"improve the collection review, and processing of applications, giving employers better tools and visibility.\"– Ontario. Like BC, MN and NB, Ontario has its own immigrant nominee program (OINP) separate from the federal selection. In January this year, Ontario removed the job offer requirement for foreign physicians to be nominated for residency; set aside 200 nominations for employers in partner communities under the Regional Economic Development through Immigration (REDI).– Saskatchewan. Continued acceptance of applicants for skilled workers with job offers from provincial employers through the Agriculture Talent Pathway (five-week processing time, same as the Health Talent Pathway).Alternative residency pathwaysThese two Commonwealth nations (AUS and CAN) have a companion program for permanent residency other than the federal option.Canada's provinces are given allocations for qualified immigrants who are nominated by each province for residency. Australia has allocated 26,260 visas for applicants in the state and territory nomination program — 16,500 for Skilled Nominated 190 and 9,760 for Skilled Work Regional visas.Both countries also prioritize regional skilled migration to build the economy outside of the major cities and metropolitan areas.On Dec. 15, 2023, Ministerial Direction No. 105 \"formalized support for regional Australia through priority visa processing and placed applications for employer-sponsored visas in occupations highly prioritized in regional Australia.\"In the 2024-2025 program year, the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) \"increased the planning level for the State/Territory Nominated category to 33,000 visas; the planning level for the Regional category is set at 33,000.Together, these categories account for 36 percent of the overall planning level and 50 percent of the Skill stream.DHA expects the increase \"to attract skilled migrants to meet their specific economic and labor force challenges. Increases to the Regional category planning level will also support key commitments in the Migration Strategy to support regional Australia.Meanwhile, the Skilled Independent Subclass 189 visa dropped from 30,375 in the previous year's program to 16,900 for the current migration planning level.Criteria comparison to determine eligibility for points-based permanent residencySee notes for each country, below.Australia – Experience in PH — at least 5, less than 8 years– Experience IC — \"In country,\" 1 year minimum– Spouse factors — age, education, language proficiency– Qualified relatives as sponsors: For regional migration, parent, child or stepchild, sibling, aunt/uncle, nephew, niece, grandparent, first cousin– Data — Home affairs, country profile, PhilippinesCanadaCanada favors proficiency in language as an indicator of successful settlement through a combination of communication ability, experience and education both in and out of Canada.– Age factor, including 2 years of studying and post-study work of 1 year– Spouse factors are generally the same as the principal applicant– Skill transferability factors combine language proficiency, education, and experience– Population data — Statistics Canada 2021 censusNew Zealand – The 6 points earned by a combination of occupational registration, qualification, job offer paying either 3x, 2x or 1.5 of the median wage.– Target migration represents resident applications approved for 2023-2024. For 2025, partial approval total is 45,093.UK – 70 points for work visa. To be eligible for residency or settlement, however, the applicant must have worked full time for at least 5 years.– Qualification mainly an international bachelor's degree, Level 3 diploma or certificate, ESOL, national certificate, national diploma, Level 3 NVQ– General salary threshold for job offer — £33,400– Population from UK.Gov, South-East Diaspora in the UK– Target migration through skilled workers, family formation and asyleesUSA not welcoming? AUS, CAN and NZ are — points considered, but each birthday celebration leads to overall lower scores, compromising eligibility for permanent residency.As the clock ticks, options narrow.",
  - "content": "FROM January this year, the US has taken itself off the intending immigrant's destination to visit, study, work or permanently settle. Not by choice, but because of President Donald Trump's vow to exact revenge on his perceived enemies and non-supporters to stop the \"invasion of immigrants and make America great, safe and healthy again.\" Register to read this story and more for free . Signing up for an account helps us improve your browsing experience. OR See our subscription options.",
  - "pubDate": "2025-05-18 16:03:00",
  - "pubDateTZ": "UTC",
  - "image_url": "https://www.manilatimes.net/manilatimes/uploads/images/2025/05/18/629614.jpg",
  - "video_url": null,
  - "source_id": "manilatimes",
  - "source_name": "The Manila Times",
  - "source_priority": 33634,
  - "source_url": "https://www.manilatimes.net",
  - "source_icon": "https://i.bytvi.com/domain_icons/manilatimes.png",
  - "language": "english",
  - -
    "country": [
    - "philippines"
    ],
  - -
    "category": [
    - "politics"
    ],
  - "sentiment": "neutral",
  - -
    "sentiment_stats": {
    - "positive": 0.33,
    - "neutral": 99.43,
    - "negative": 0.24
    },
  - -
    "ai_tag": [
    - "immigration and migrant issues"
    ],
  - -
    "ai_region": [
    - "united states of america,north america"
    ],
  - "ai_org": null,
  - "duplicate": false
  },
- -
  {
  - "article_id": "6e8bb04fd858823f2017599ac3a31641",
  - "title": "Post-election aftershock",
  - "link": "https://www.manilatimes.net/2025/05/19/opinion/columns/post-election-aftershock/2116045",
  - -
    "keywords": [
    - "opinion"
    ],
  - -
    "creator": [
    - "Alvin Santos"
    ],
  - "description": "IT'S been a week after the national midterm elections and I'm still on a high. It's not the perfect turnout, it's not even close to it, but it is surely worth celebrating and gives some of us a lot to be thankful for. Hope floats. From one out of 12 senators in 2022 to 2 out of 12 in 2025, putting everything in perspective, that still is a 100-percent increase. Not to mention my party-list beating all odds and making it to the top. And your guess is as good as mine. Looking back, coming into these elections, I was slipping into this little blackhole of despair which felt more and more real as we moved closer to election day until I finally successfully cast my ballot after three tries. Cast is an irregular verb which means its past tense does not end with an \"ed\" or \"d\". Its past tense is just plainly, \"cast\". Anyway, we were jumping up and down after seeing the first wave of unofficial results, and just couldn't believe our eyes. Most of the surveys proved to be not good reflections of the truth and so we should be careful and practice great discretion in all the elections to come. If the 2025 elections were a test of how well we voted as a nation, I believe we would still have failed but there are signs of improvement which is enough to keep us going and fighting for what we believe is best for our country. Until the next one.",
  - "content": "IT'S been a week after the national midterm elections and I'm still on a high. It's not the perfect turnout, it's not even close to it, but it is surely worth celebrating and gives some of us a lot to be thankful for. Hope floats. From one out of 12 senators in 2022 to 2 out of 12 in 2025, putting everything in perspective, that still is a 100-percent increase. Not to mention my party-list beating all odds and making it to the top. And your guess is as good as mine. Looking back, coming into these elections, I was slipping into this little blackhole of despair which felt more and more real as we moved closer to election day until I finally successfully cast my ballot after three tries. Cast is an irregular verb which means its past tense does not end with an \"ed\" or \"d\". Its past tense is just plainly, \"cast\". Anyway, we were jumping up and down after seeing the first wave of unofficial results, and just couldn't believe our eyes. Most of the surveys proved to be not good reflections of the truth and so we should be careful and practice great discretion in all the elections to come. If the 2025 elections were a test of how well we voted as a nation, I believe we would still have failed but there are signs of improvement which is enough to keep us going and fighting for what we believe is best for our country. Until the next one.",
  - "pubDate": "2025-05-18 16:01:00",
  - "pubDateTZ": "UTC",
  - "image_url": "https://www.manilatimes.net/manilatimes/uploads/images/2025/05/18/629609.jpeg",
  - "video_url": null,
  - "source_id": "manilatimes",
  - "source_name": "The Manila Times",
  - "source_priority": 33634,
  - "source_url": "https://www.manilatimes.net",
  - "source_icon": "https://i.bytvi.com/domain_icons/manilatimes.png",
  - "language": "english",
  - -
    "country": [
    - "philippines"
    ],
  - -
    "category": [
    - "politics"
    ],
  - "sentiment": "negative",
  - -
    "sentiment_stats": {
    - "positive": 0.39,
    - "neutral": 0.24,
    - "negative": 99.37
    },
  - -
    "ai_tag": [
    - "elections"
    ],
  - "ai_region": null,
  - "ai_org": null,
  - "duplicate": false
  },
- -
  {
  - "article_id": "55d852bb92596b62c5bf5434f1751c73",
  - "title": "#wegotmail: CEAP statement on the May 2025 midterm elections",
  - "link": "https://www.sunstar.com.ph/davao/wegotmail-ceap-statement-on-the-may-2025-midterm-elections",
  - -
    "keywords": [
    - "davao",
    - "opinion"
    ],
  - -
    "creator": [
    - "Sun Star Davao Digital"
    ],
  - "description": "The Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines (CEAP) releases a statement on the May 2025 midterm elections, emphasizing the importance of electing leaders who uphold democracy, serve the common good, and embody Christian values.",
  - "content": "AS AN exercise in democracy, elections engage us in politics, “one of the highest forms of charity, because it serves the common good” (Fratelli Tutti, 180). We shall elect leaders who will preserve and protect democracy, and reject those who weaken it through patronage (e.g. ayuda), political dynasty, incompetence, corruption, and authoritarianism. Through these elections, we strengthen our democratic principles and way of life, uphold the rule of law, protect truth, work for justice, and promote transparent and accountable governance. As an exercise in discernment, we recommit to the formation of conscience grounded in our Christian Catholic values, ethical principles, and social teachings. We shall listen compassionately, act courageously, and vote according to our conscience and discernment of God’s will for the future of our beloved country and our people, especially those who are neglected and marginalized. We shall vote for leaders who wield power for service, those who can sacrifice personal interests for the common good, those who humbly submit to the authority of God and His people. In this Jubilee Year of Hope in our Church, the May 2025 Elections gives us tremendous hope in our people, especially our youth, in our leaders, in our country. Let us pray fervently that this Christ-centered hope, which does not disappoint (Romans 5:5), will make our beloved country more united, more democratic, more progressive, more peaceful.",
  - "pubDate": "2025-05-18 12:00:08",
  - "pubDateTZ": "UTC",
  - "image_url": "https://media.assettype.com/sunstar%2F2023-11%2F9314dd42-a2f3-4561-8455-4bd6c5b28ea6%2FMAIL.jpg?auto=format%2Ccompress&fit=max&rect=0%2C14%2C750%2C422&w=480",
  - "video_url": null,
  - "source_id": "sunstar",
  - "source_name": "Sunstar",
  - "source_priority": 170617,
  - "source_url": "https://www.sunstar.com.ph",
  - "source_icon": "https://i.bytvi.com/domain_icons/sunstar.png",
  - "language": "english",
  - -
    "country": [
    - "philippines"
    ],
  - -
    "category": [
    - "politics"
    ],
  - "sentiment": "neutral",
  - -
    "sentiment_stats": {
    - "positive": 0.08,
    - "neutral": 99.83,
    - "negative": 0.1
    },
  - -
    "ai_tag": [
    - "elections"
    ],
  - "ai_region": null,
  - -
    "ai_org": [
    - "ceap",
    - "catholic educational association of the philippines"
    ],
  - "duplicate": false
  },
- -
  {
  - "article_id": "ade857791ad072b4045bc7a12b689770",
  - "title": "Recognition day",
  - "link": "https://opinion.inquirer.net/183295/recognition-day",
  - -
    "keywords": [
    - "columns",
    - "columnists",
    - "latest opinion"
    ],
  - "creator": null,
  - "description": "The story is told about two elderly men who met at the elevator. They sort of recognized each other, then one of them awkwardly said: “I think I know you, but I’m not sure. Ah, was it you, or your brother who died?” —————- In today’s Gospel (John 13: 31-33, 34-35), Jesus, on how we",
  - "content": "The story is told about two elderly men who met at the elevator. They sort of recognized each other, then one of them awkwardly said: “I think I know you, but I’m not sure. Ah, was it you, or your brother who died?” —————- In today’s Gospel (John 13: 31-33, 34-35), Jesus, on how we can be recognized as His disciples, said: “This is how you will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” People will know we are Christians by our love. If people see, hear, and experience love in us and through us, then they will recognize (Latin recognoscere—know again) that we are disciples of Christ. —————- “I give you a new commandment: Love one another.” It has been 200 years ago that our Lord gave us this commandment. The problem is that for many of us, this commandment is still new, like a new pair of shoes that is still new, because it is still unused, or is slightly used. —————- “Love God with all your heart, with all your strength, with all your soul. And love your neighbor as yourself” (Deuteronomy 6:5). Let us examine ourselves today if we are truly loving God, loving our neighbor, and ourselves. —————- GLORIFY GOD. We give glory to God by giving Him due praise and obedience to His will. Sincere prayer and good deeds are pleasing to God. Sin is not pleasing to God. Pride and selfishness make us glorify ourselves and make us turn away and rebel against our loving God. —————- DIGNIFY OTHERS. Loving others starts with mindfulness and respect for the rights of others. We dignify others if we do not use, abuse or manipulate them. Let us stop hurting others in our thoughts, in our words, and in our deeds. On a more positive note, let us keep going the “extra mile” and keep going the “extra smile,” especially to the lost, the least, and the last among us. —————- SANCTIFY YOURSELF. Love of God and love of others flows from God’s grace. A sincere relationship with God, overflows to true love of neighbor and oneself. To sanctify ourselves means we avoid whatever is not good for our souls, and to continue to take the road of humility, forgiveness, patience, generosity, and joy. Let us constantly choose the “roads less traveled,” in our journey to God’s heart. —————- Let’s make today a recognition day. Today, try to remember and know again who you are. Go back to your original goodness, your hopes and dreams. Can you still recognize yourself? Can your friends and loved ones still recognize you? Can God still recognize you? What has happened to you? What have you become? —————- Today, recognize the people who have been part of our journey. Acknowledge them, appreciate, and be grateful to all people who have helped us or endured us through the years. —————- Recognize also, especially today, the Lord who is the source of all we are and all we have. In gratitude let us promise Him to live the rest of our lives, the best of our lives. “As for me and my home, we will serve the Lord.” (Joshua 24:15) —————- The tagalog word “kilala” could mean: “kilála”—to know someone, with stress on the second syllable, to be close to someone, to be intimate with someone; “kilalá” is with the stress on the final syllable means to be known, to be famous, to be admired. We choose what we want to make out of ourselves. We can choose the way of the heart i.e., to be human and to love, or we can choose the way of the world, i.e., to be selfish, and to be proud. —————- When you and I come before God, will He still recognize us, will our sufferings, faults, warts, and all? Yes, He will, as long as we continue to love and keep on loving through it all. —————- Will the Lord still recognize our country the Philippines and what has become of us as a nation? The Lord’s message remains the same: “Come back to me with all your heart; don’t let sin keep us apart.” (Hosea) —————- A moment with the Lord: Lord, help us to recognize You more, and Your presence in us, and in one another. Amen. —————- Subscribe to our daily newsletter By providing an email address. I agree to the Terms of Use and acknowledge that I have read the Privacy Policy . [email protected]",
  - "pubDate": "2025-05-17 21:02:47",
  - "pubDateTZ": "UTC",
  - "image_url": "https://opinion.inquirer.net/files/2024/10/JERRY-ORBOS-MOMENTS-file.jpg",
  - "video_url": null,
  - "source_id": "inquirer",
  - "source_name": "Inquirer",
  - "source_priority": 9835,
  - "source_url": "https://www.inquirer.net",
  - "source_icon": "https://i.bytvi.com/domain_icons/inquirer.png",
  - "language": "english",
  - -
    "country": [
    - "philippines"
    ],
  - -
    "category": [
    - "politics"
    ],
  - "sentiment": "neutral",
  - -
    "sentiment_stats": {
    - "positive": 0.34,
    - "neutral": 98.32,
    - "negative": 1.35
    },
  - -
    "ai_tag": [
    - "awards and recognitions"
    ],
  - "ai_region": null,
  - "ai_org": null,
  - "duplicate": false
  },
- -
  {
  - "article_id": "d8f2825318f4b3e89d93a12373b4dcb7",
  - "title": "When voters defy the surveys",
  - "link": "https://opinion.inquirer.net/183297/when-voters-defy-the-surveys",
  - -
    "keywords": [
    - "columns",
    - "columnists",
    - "latest opinion"
    ],
  - "creator": null,
  - "description": "Much of the analysis of the recent midterm elections has been retrospective. But to truly grasp the Filipino voter’s behavior, what we need are carefully designed postelection surveys using in-depth interviews. Unfortunately, no political party or candidate seems willing to fund exit polls. What for? They ask. And so we are left to speculate. Speculation",
  - "content": "Much of the analysis of the recent midterm elections has been retrospective. But to truly grasp the Filipino voter’s behavior, what we need are carefully designed postelection surveys using in-depth interviews. Unfortunately, no political party or candidate seems willing to fund exit polls. What for? They ask. And so we are left to speculate. Speculation this time has focused on four surprising outcomes: first, the strong showing of “pink movement” stalwarts Bam Aquino and Kiko Pangilinan, who defied survey projections by landing in the Top 5; second, the unexpected win of Duterte loyalist Rodante Marcoleta, absent from all preelection forecasts of the Top 12 senators; third, the surge of Akbayan, which topped the party list vote after being nearly delisted for not garnering enough votes in two successive elections; and finally, the resounding defeat of nearly all entertainment celebrities—except for Lito Lapid. How did the surveys get it so wrong? We often forget that survey results can both please and offend. They can shape voter preference, not just mirror it. There’s a long-standing belief that surveys preempt elections by projecting “winnability.” This has earned polling firms the notorious image of engaging in the conditioning of public opinion. The firms deny this, though many admit that strong survey performance does attract both donations and campaign volunteers, while poor rankings do the opposite. What these elections may have revealed is a voter segment determined to prove the surveys wrong—deliberate, reactive voters who cast their ballots not as protest but as corrective intervention. Many of them, especially among millennials and Gen Zs, are what we might call strategic voters: they choose to support those polling poorly but whom they believe deserve to win. This could explain the late momentum behind Aquino, Pangilinan, and Akbayan. Some young voters I spoke to said they voted not with illusions of changing the outcome, but for the satisfaction of voting against the narrative imposed by surveys. These voters—especially the transient, mobile, and digitally active—may be underrepresented in traditional household-based sampling methods. But there was more at work. In the campaign’s final week, distinct surges of support became visible. Marcoleta had the backing of the Iglesia Ni Cristo, which campaigned for him as if he were their sole candidate. Aquino and Pangilinan benefited from a full-throttle push on social media by young influencers, as well as by members of the Aquino family. Akbayan’s young activist leaders, who gained national prominence in the campaign against Chinese harassment in the West Philippine Sea, galvanized progressive circles and underserved communities into action with a crisp video that redefined what the party’s name stood for. Their choice of first nominee, human rights lawyer Chel Diokno, effectively highlighted their libertarian credentials. Let’s be clear: surveys are only messengers. The deeper problem lies in the sad state of public opinion, which they often amplify uncritically. They end up sidelining capable candidates simply for being “unwinnable.” Our pollsters can and should do better. A final note: voters appeared to decisively reject celebrity candidates, with only Lapid—still visible on primetime television as a key character in a long-running action series—making it through. But a similar comprehensive reckoning for political dynasties, which is long overdue, has yet to materialize. Many political families continue to shamelessly dominate politics in the provinces, edging out the competition by sheer financial muscle. One result signifying the institutionalization of patronage stands out in this election: Bong Go’s phenomenal lead of nearly 7 million votes over second placer Aquino in the senatorial race. There’s little doubt this reflects voter gratitude for his authorship of the Malasakit Centers—public health assistance hubs that have made it considerably easier for the poor to access ayuda and navigate the bureaucracies of medical care. Go has succeeded in making his name synonymous with the Malasakit Centers, inaugurating a brand independently of his erstwhile boss, former president Rodrigo Duterte. The 2025 midterms are a reminder that elections are not just confirmations of popularity—they are also moments of choice, surprise, acknowledgment of gratitude, and resistance. —————- Subscribe to our daily newsletter By providing an email address. I agree to the Terms of Use and acknowledge that I have read the Privacy Policy . [email protected]",
  - "pubDate": "2025-05-17 21:02:46",
  - "pubDateTZ": "UTC",
  - "image_url": "https://opinion.inquirer.net/files/2024/04/RANDY-DAVID-PUBLIC-LIVES.jpg",
  - "video_url": null,
  - "source_id": "inquirer",
  - "source_name": "Inquirer",
  - "source_priority": 9835,
  - "source_url": "https://www.inquirer.net",
  - "source_icon": "https://i.bytvi.com/domain_icons/inquirer.png",
  - "language": "english",
  - -
    "country": [
    - "philippines"
    ],
  - -
    "category": [
    - "politics"
    ],
  - "sentiment": "negative",
  - -
    "sentiment_stats": {
    - "positive": 0.14,
    - "neutral": 0.14,
    - "negative": 99.72
    },
  - -
    "ai_tag": [
    - "elections"
    ],
  - "ai_region": null,
  - "ai_org": null,
  - "duplicate": false
  },
- -
  {
  - "article_id": "653c3656f5e5db384e6193bafc1d9cc7",
  - "title": "DODGING DISINFORMATION",
  - "link": "https://www.manilatimes.net/2025/05/18/opinion/editorial-cartoon/dodging-disinformation/2115877",
  - -
    "keywords": [
    - "opinion"
    ],
  - -
    "creator": [
    - "The Manila Times"
    ],
  - "description": null,
  - "content": "Advertisement Get the latest news delivered to your inbox Sign up for The Manila Times newsletters By signing up with an email address, I acknowledge that I have read and agree to the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . Advertisement",
  - "pubDate": "2025-05-17 16:20:00",
  - "pubDateTZ": "UTC",
  - "image_url": "https://www.manilatimes.net/manilatimes/uploads/images/2025/05/17/629210.jpeg",
  - "video_url": null,
  - "source_id": "manilatimes",
  - "source_name": "The Manila Times",
  - "source_priority": 33634,
  - "source_url": "https://www.manilatimes.net",
  - "source_icon": "https://i.bytvi.com/domain_icons/manilatimes.png",
  - "language": "english",
  - -
    "country": [
    - "philippines"
    ],
  - -
    "category": [
    - "politics"
    ],
  - "sentiment": "positive",
  - -
    "sentiment_stats": {
    - "positive": 81.74,
    - "neutral": 4.5,
    - "negative": 13.76
    },
  - -
    "ai_tag": [
    - "social media and internet"
    ],
  - "ai_region": null,
  - -
    "ai_org": [
    - "the manila times"
    ],
  - "duplicate": false
  },
- -
  {
  - "article_id": "9816464555f11c20736414c389850e0b",
  - "title": "A grave threat",
  - "link": "https://www.manilatimes.net/2025/05/18/opinion/editorial/a-grave-threat/2115876",
  - -
    "keywords": [
    - "opinion"
    ],
  - -
    "creator": [
    - "The Editorial Board"
    ],
  - "description": "WHAT are we to make of the arrest of nine foreigners and two Filipinos, with trolley bags containing more than P440 million in cash, at the Mactan-Cebu International Airport in Lapu-Lapu City earlier this month?Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) Executive Director Gilbert Cruz said the suspects were intercepted at the security screening area of the airport's general aviation terminal. Six of the foreigners were Chinese, one was Malaysian, one was Indonesian and the last was Kazakhstani.The seizure, which came days before the May 12 midterm elections, triggered suspicions that the funds were intended for poll-related \"interference.\"\"This incident raises serious concerns about potential election-related illegal activities, including vote buying and money laundering,\" the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) said in a statement last Sunday.\"The involvement of multiple foreign nationals strongly suggests the alarming possibility of foreign interference in our sovereign electoral process,\" it added.Police said one of the Chinese men has a red notice alert for fraud from the International Criminal Police Organization, or Interpol. Two other suspects had warrants of arrest for various crimes, they added.Police said the foreigners arrived in Cebu on May 9 at around 9 a.m. on board a van and went straight to a casino, where White Horse Club, one of the junket operators linked to the kidnap-slay of Chinese-Filipino businessman Anson Que, used to operate.The suspects went back to the airport and were supposed to board a private plane bound for Manila at around 11:30 p.m. when they were arrested. An initial inventory showed that their trolley bags contained P441,922,542, as well as $168,730 and HK$1,000.Police said the suspects violated Commission on Elections Resolution 11104, which regulates the transportation of large sums of money during the election period. Under this resolution, the possession, transportation or carrying of cash exceeding P500,000 in public places is prohibited two days before and on Election Day, except by authorized persons.The police echoed the military's suggestion that the passing of large sums of cash through junket operators that are supposed to be no longer operating is a \"grave threat to national security.\"\"Aside from money laundering, these foreign nationals might be a conduit to be used to interfere or at least influence the election,\" a police spokesman said.Even as the investigation into the case continues, the incident at the Mactan-Cebu International Airport makes a number of conclusions apparent.First, despite the ban on Philippine overseas gaming operators (POGOs) that came into effect this year, illicit activities such as money laundering continue. This requires the authorities to maintain their vigilance, which the police and airport personnel in Cebu did.Second, the incident suggests that the country's removal from the so-called gray list of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is, by no means, a permanent or assured benefit from the POGO ban.President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., in fact, has called for continued efforts to institutionalize reforms to make sure that the Philippines stays out of the FATF gray list.The Philippines was on the gray list since June 2021 but was finally removed from it in February this year after addressing gaps in the country's anti-money laundering, counter-terrorism and proliferation financing frameworks.\"The work is not yet finished. The journey continues. More importantly, we need to exert twice the effort to sustain our progress,\" President Marcos said. \"We must work even harder to institutionalize reforms. We must tighten our enforcement against money laundering and terrorism financing.\"Finally, the worrisome signs of foreign interference in domestic affairs are all too clear. We saw this within the last few years in the election into office of at least one local executive, despite questions about her background and nationality.Then just last month, President Marcos ordered an investigation into China's possible interference with the May 12 elections, after the National Security Council (NSC) told a Senate hearing that \"Chinese state-sponsored actors in the Philippines are actually interfering in the forthcoming elections.\"At the hearing, NSC Assistant Director General Jonathan Malaya referred to the observation made by the National Intelligence Coordination Agency that Chinese entities were fueling divisive debate in the country.He said local individuals were acting as proxies for China. \"Whatever the script that comes from Beijing, that's what they say in the Philippines,\" he said.China has firmly rejected accusations that it planned to meddle in the May 12 polls, but the victory of pro-Beijing candidates this month gives us pause.In a geopolitical landscape where foreign forces have a stake in ensuring that leaders friendly to their cause are elected into office, vigilance must be our catchword.",
  - "content": "WHAT are we to make of the arrest of nine foreigners and two Filipinos, with trolley bags containing more than P440 million in cash, at the Mactan-Cebu International Airport in Lapu-Lapu City earlier this month? Register to read this story and more for free . Signing up for an account helps us improve your browsing experience. OR See our subscription options.",
  - "pubDate": "2025-05-17 16:15:00",
  - "pubDateTZ": "UTC",
  - "image_url": "https://www.manilatimes.net/manilatimes/uploads/images/2025/05/17/629199.jpg",
  - "video_url": null,
  - "source_id": "manilatimes",
  - "source_name": "The Manila Times",
  - "source_priority": 33634,
  - "source_url": "https://www.manilatimes.net",
  - "source_icon": "https://i.bytvi.com/domain_icons/manilatimes.png",
  - "language": "english",
  - -
    "country": [
    - "philippines"
    ],
  - -
    "category": [
    - "politics"
    ],
  - "sentiment": "negative",
  - -
    "sentiment_stats": {
    - "positive": 0.11,
    - "neutral": 0.08,
    - "negative": 99.82
    },
  - -
    "ai_tag": [
    - "accidents"
    ],
  - -
    "ai_region": [
    - "lapu la"
    ],
  - -
    "ai_org": [
    - "mactan cebu international airport"
    ],
  - "duplicate": false
  },
- -
  {
  - "article_id": "bd316736600a08633edd3071b9b82444",
  - "title": "Clarity, contradiction, celebrity fatigue",
  - "link": "https://www.manilatimes.net/2025/05/18/opinion/columns/clarity-contradiction-celebrity-fatigue/2115874",
  - -
    "keywords": [
    - "opinion"
    ],
  - -
    "creator": [
    - "Marlen V. Ronquillo"
    ],
  - "description": "THE area called the West Philippine Sea (WPS) has been codified into our laws and executive edicts, and these have been the basis for the National Mapping Resource and Information Agency (Namria) map that showed the WPS as an undisputable and undeniable part of Philippine territory. During her time as United States secretary of state, Hillary Clinton often referenced an area she called the West Philippine Sea, which is exactly the specific area mapped as such by the Namria.So when outgoing Sagip Party-list Rep. Rodante Marcoleta told a Feb. 3, 2025, hearing called by the House of Representatives that \"there is no such thing as the WPS\" and that it \"is a creation by us,\" the shock among his colleagues in the public hearing was palpable. That has been China's official and standard line, and no major Philippine political figure has been as adamant as Marcoleta in making that outlier claim. Ironically, he did so in a hearing about the spread of disinformation and fake news.The next day, Cmdr. Jay Tarriela, spokesman of the Philippine Coast Guard, which bears the brunt of China's aggressive and provocative actions in the WPS, called Marcoleta's remarks an \"embarrassment.\" Tarriela's defense of the legitimate existence of the WPS and the prevailing sense among the majority of Filipinos that the body of water exists and it is ours, are a fact of life. When questioned by survey firms on what issues were dear to the hearts of voters who intended to elect 12 senators in the May 12 midterm polls, the voters demanded unequivocal support for the WPS from the candidates. Candidates willing to defend our territory against bullying and aggression were preferred by those surveyed.That is where the \"contradiction\" part of this column's title comes in. How did Marcoleta, a WPS denier, come out of nowhere to break — and break high — into the so-called Magic 12? Marcoleta did not just win; he is in the upper half in the vote count. The WPS denier winning in a voting environment where voters have expressed preference for Senate candidates with declared fealty to the Philippines' territorial assertions is definitely a huge contradiction and, in a sense, an electoral anomaly. And no political scientist of note has yet to explain the dramatic contradiction between the stated preference of voters on a critical issue and the surge in support of a candidate who has denied the WPS' existence.Marcoleta also waged war on crucifixes. Yet, he is one of Filipino Catholics' top preferences for the Senate, judging by his impressive finish. He is also among the top choices of overseas Filipino workers in the Vatican who voted via the overseas voting window. If Marcoleta's victory is not a bundle of confusion and contradictions, then I don't know what it is.The flip side of \"contradiction/confusion\" is clarity, and the clarity part is easier to explain. Political science can eminently explain the big wins of both Paolo Benigno \"Bam\" Aquino IV and Francis \"Kiko\" Pangilinan.In the dying days of the election campaign, especially in the vote-rich Lingayen-Lucena corridor, one amazing thing was taking place, a development that polling firms glaringly missed. In some sort of a \"road to Damascus\" moment, young voters started realizing that their Senate vote is a vote about their future, and that the vacuous celebrities dominating electoral surveys were totally incapable of writing pieces of legislation that would, at the very least, vest them with the tools to better their lives. About a week or two before May 12, that realization was converted into \"celebrity fatigue\" that canceled out earlier plans to just mindlessly write the names of media personalities and vacuous but popular candidates, the nation and their future be damned.Then they confronted this inevitable question: In lieu of the celebrities, who?Ironically, other celebrities with no political agenda who are also fed up with fellow celebrities using their fame to gain Senate seats, used social media and their huge platforms to guide young voters in seeking alternatives. That led them to, first and foremost, the Aquino-Pangilinan duo, which was an easy sell because of their solid academic and professional credentials. The work of these celebrities mindful about the nation's future perfectly melded with the spirit of the \"Pink Revolution\" that nearly catapulted Leni Robredo to the presidency in 2022. She rekindled this spirit to shore up mass support for Pangilinan, her erstwhile running mate, and Aquino, her former campaign manager. The certainty of her victory in the Naga City mayoral race allowed Robredo to spend part of the campaign season to support Aquino and Pangilinan.Two names were later added to form a quartet: Aquino, Pangilinan, Heidi Mendoza and Luke Espiritu. Plus, two party-list groups — Akbayan and Mamamayang Liberal, or ML — with nominees in the mold of the four.The ground already shifted a week before the elections, and this shift was so tectonic that my former colleague Philip Lustre posted on social media his version of a fearless forecast, which essentially said ignore the surveys, and that Aquino and Pangilinan — powered by the awakened young and an enthusiasm that infected their elders — will be among the top five preferred Senate bets. A new day is dawning for Philippine politics. Akbayan also topped the party-list vote — another big miss by the pollsters, while ML is in the Top 15.Hopefully, this is just the start. In the next elections, the time of Mendoza and Espiritu, as well as candidates from various movements, will come. This is the topic for the next column.",
  - "content": "THE area called the West Philippine Sea (WPS) has been codified into our laws and executive edicts, and these have been the basis for the National Mapping Resource and Information Agency (Namria) map that showed the WPS as an undisputable and undeniable part of Philippine territory. During her time as United States secretary of state, Hillary Clinton often referenced an area she called the West Philippine Sea, which is exactly the specific area mapped as such by the Namria. So when outgoing Sagip Party-list Rep. Rodante Marcoleta told a Feb. 3, 2025, hearing called by the House of Representatives that \"there is no such thing as the WPS\" and that it \"is a creation by us,\" the shock among his colleagues in the public hearing was palpable. That has been China's official and standard line, and no major Philippine political figure has been as adamant as Marcoleta in making that outlier claim. Ironically, he did so in a hearing about the spread of disinformation and fake news. Register to read this story and more for free . Signing up for an account helps us improve your browsing experience. OR See our subscription options.",
  - "pubDate": "2025-05-17 16:14:00",
  - "pubDateTZ": "UTC",
  - "image_url": "https://www.manilatimes.net/manilatimes/uploads/images/2025/05/17/629198.jpg",
  - "video_url": null,
  - "source_id": "manilatimes",
  - "source_name": "The Manila Times",
  - "source_priority": 33634,
  - "source_url": "https://www.manilatimes.net",
  - "source_icon": "https://i.bytvi.com/domain_icons/manilatimes.png",
  - "language": "english",
  - -
    "country": [
    - "philippines"
    ],
  - -
    "category": [
    - "politics"
    ],
  - "sentiment": "neutral",
  - -
    "sentiment_stats": {
    - "positive": 42.68,
    - "neutral": 48.42,
    - "negative": 8.9
    },
  - -
    "ai_tag": [
    - "politics"
    ],
  - -
    "ai_region": [
    - "west philippine sea"
    ],
  - -
    "ai_org": [
    - "national mapping re"
    ],
  - "duplicate": false
  },
- -
  {
  - "article_id": "684311b73fc612e56874f0fdc77446f0",
  - "title": "The damage done to children by uncontrolled ISPs",
  - "link": "https://www.manilatimes.net/2025/05/18/opinion/columns/the-damage-done-to-children-by-uncontrolled-isps/2115873",
  - -
    "keywords": [
    - "opinion"
    ],
  - -
    "creator": [
    - "Fr. Shay Cullen"
    ],
  - "description": "THOUSANDS of parents are deeply worried that their children are being influenced by bad actors on social media that are far beyond their understanding or control. They cannot control what their children are viewing or who they are chatting with. They should be very worried because thousands of children are being brainwashed and groomed into participating in sex-based chat rooms on the internet, viewing child pornography and damaging their lives.Many children are being exposed to child pornography online as part of a grooming process to persuade them to show themselves naked while they are secretly recorded. The predators, posing as young boyfriends, persuade girls, some as young as 11 years old, to undress and pose naked. Unknown to them, they are videotaped. The predators then blackmail these girls by threatening to send the video to their parents and schoolmates, as well as post it on social media platforms.Some boys as young as 13 make these threats to intimidate and gain control of a girl and force her to have sex with them. In one case, these are the tactics used by two boys, ages 13 and 15, who raped an 11-year-old girl after they blackmailed her.They learned about this on the internet, where they frequently watched child pornography. The same uncontrolled internet that is cheap and easily available in the Philippines, to which millions of Filipino children have access to. It is uncontrolled despite laws requiring internet service providers (ISPs) owned by the huge telecommunications corporations (telcos) — like PLDT, DITO and Globe — to install blocking and filtering software driven by artificial intelligence (AI).Approximately 96 percent of the population between ages 13 and 17 are internet users. Data also show that a large number of young Filipinos use social media weekly, with 92 percent of those ages 12 to 15 and 97 percent of those ages 16 and 17 using it at least once a week. As I have previously written in this space, the many postings and communications on major social media platforms, accessed through ISPs, are leading to serious sins and crimes against children. These include \"sextortion,\" suicides, drug overdoses, blackmail, grooming leading to child rape, excessive gambling, scams and other fraudulent activities. These platforms are like crime scenes, but no one is held accountable.The Philippines is now regarded, at least by some, as the center of online child sexual abuse, where relatives or even parents of young children expose them and make them perform sexual acts online in real time, enabled by the internet connection provided by our country's major telcos. They allow the transmission of these live sex shows to paying customers in foreign countries. How shocking and shameful that Filipino children are being sexually exploited by their own relatives for money from foreigners!The telcos allowing this to happen must be held responsible for transmitting child abuse images through their servers. They are corrupt and must be held accountable for violating Republic Act (RA) 9775. Their defense is denial, saying they don't allow it intentionally. But their wrongdoing lies in their failure to implement the law and install available AI-driven blocking and filtering software. They say they are monitoring illegal websites sharing still images and videos of child abuse and closing them down in cooperation with the Internet Watch Foundation, a nongovernmental organization based in the United Kingdom.Horrific images of little children, some as young as 3 years old, are among the many thousands being sexually abused live on the internet, and these can be reached on the computers, tablets and smartphones of Filipinos and pedophiles here and abroad, as detected by international law enforcement. Local law enforcement agencies are apparently incapable of such cyber-detection and intervention.Pedophiles in Europe have been arrested and convicted in Belgium and Switzerland for ordering and paying for these appalling livestreaming shows. Their convictions show that there is no blocking software installed by telcos. Thousands of young people have been psychologically damaged after being groomed sexually and abused online by the sex shows they are forced to participate in to gratify the urges of local and foreign pedophiles.Who has the power and authority to stop this gross child abuse? No one, it seems, not even President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who expressed shock and horror when he was informed about and shown examples of such online child abuse. The real power, more powerful than President Marcos or the government, is the telcos. They really rule the Philippines. They have billions of reserve funds at their disposal, yet they fail to obey the law and install AI-powered detection and blocking software to make the internet safer. Hundreds of thousands of children are abused on the internet, to which they provide access without safeguards. Government officials must find the courage to strictly implement Philippine laws, specifically RA 9775 and RA 11930, that demand they install the latest blocking software to stop the repeated transmissions of child abusive images.The situation has become so bad that the Philippines has been named as the world's \"hot spot\" for online sexual abuse and exploitation of children. This is a shameful title, one that we must eliminate by action to compel the telco tycoons to implement the law and protect children, and give them a chance to lead a healthy and moral life, with their respect and dignity intact and all their rights protected.www.preda.org",
  - "content": "THOUSANDS of parents are deeply worried that their children are being influenced by bad actors on social media that are far beyond their understanding or control. They cannot control what their children are viewing or who they are chatting with. They should be very worried because thousands of children are being brainwashed and groomed into participating in sex-based chat rooms on the internet, viewing child pornography and damaging their lives. Many children are being exposed to child pornography online as part of a grooming process to persuade them to show themselves naked while they are secretly recorded. The predators, posing as young boyfriends, persuade girls, some as young as 11 years old, to undress and pose naked. Unknown to them, they are videotaped. The predators then blackmail these girls by threatening to send the video to their parents and schoolmates, as well as post it on social media platforms. Register to read this story and more for free . Signing up for an account helps us improve your browsing experience. OR See our subscription options.",
  - "pubDate": "2025-05-17 16:13:00",
  - "pubDateTZ": "UTC",
  - "image_url": "https://www.manilatimes.net/manilatimes/uploads/images/2025/05/17/629197.jpg",
  - "video_url": null,
  - "source_id": "manilatimes",
  - "source_name": "The Manila Times",
  - "source_priority": 33634,
  - "source_url": "https://www.manilatimes.net",
  - "source_icon": "https://i.bytvi.com/domain_icons/manilatimes.png",
  - "language": "english",
  - -
    "country": [
    - "philippines"
    ],
  - -
    "category": [
    - "politics"
    ],
  - "sentiment": "negative",
  - -
    "sentiment_stats": {
    - "positive": 0.13,
    - "neutral": 0.09,
    - "negative": 99.78
    },
  - -
    "ai_tag": [
    - "human rights"
    ],
  - "ai_region": null,
  - "ai_org": null,
  - "duplicate": false
  },
- -
  {
  - "article_id": "67d9117ab826053d980cb52a79fff6a6",
  - "title": "Powerless in PH",
  - "link": "https://www.manilatimes.net/2025/05/18/opinion/columns/powerless-in-ph/2115872",
  - -
    "keywords": [
    - "opinion"
    ],
  - -
    "creator": [
    - "Ben Kritz"
    ],
  - "description": "YESTERDAY'S editorial in The Manila Times addressed yet another Big Idea to attract more foreign investment to the country, in this case a call from the Federation of Filipino Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry Inc. (FFCCCII) for a law allowing 99-year leases on land, such as is done in other, more economically successful countries like Singapore and Malaysia. I have no opinion on the proposal or the paper's commentary about it; I only mention it because the comparison with other countries reminded me of a nagging indicator, one that has nothing to do with land ownership or use issues, that coincidentally came up in some conversations I had this week.If we look around the regional neighborhood, we see that the Philippines is surrounded by countries that attract more investment — foreign or domestic — have greater levels of industrialization, and have higher economic output as measured by per capita gross domestic product (GDP). There are several reasons for this, but I believe one of, if not the most important ones can be found in the comparison of countries' installed electricity-generating capacity.The biggest economic powerhouses in East Asia — China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan — all have installed capacities in excess of 2.0 gigawatts (GW) per million people. For example, Taiwan, which has a population of 23.4 million, has 57.9 GW of installed capacity, or about 2.5 GW per million people, and it has a GDP per capita of $32,679.Since that may not be a fair comparison, let's consider the traditional \"Asean Five\" — Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines. Vietnam has a population of 100.4 million and 80.6 GW of installed capacity, or 0.8 GW per million people. Malaysia and Thailand, with 35.2 million and 71.7 million people, respectively, also have 0.8 GW per million people. Indonesia — whose population of 281.2 million is almost 2.5 times that of the Philippines — has three times as much generating capacity: 85.1 GW versus about 28.3 GW here, giving Indonesia 0.3 GW per million people versus our 0.2 GW per million people.At 28.3 GW, the Philippines has almost exactly the same generation capacity as Malaysia, which has less than a third of the population. Malaysia's GDP per capita, which is about $11,379, is almost exactly three times that of the Philippines' $3,804.Do you see a pattern here?Government policymakers, business groups, investment promoters and well-meaning analysts can propose as many cosmetic refinements as they like in order to \"make the Philippines competitive\" and an \"attractive investment destination,\" but none of that is going to make a difference if there is not enough energy. Who cares if a lease for the land where a factory may be built is 25 years or 99 years or until The Heat Death of the Universe, if the investor who may build the factory cannot be entirely confident that the lights would stay on and his machines would keep running? Or that his electric vehicles can be recharged as needed, or that the servers in the data centers that move his digital business would keep humming 24 hours a day.The Philippines has, on paper, enough electricity to supply its needs; installed capacity is 28.3 GW and peak demand is usually around 18 GW, and planned capacity additions up to about 2040 will keep pace with population growth so that a comfortable margin is maintained. Maintained, however, is not really good enough, unless it truly is the belief of policymakers and investment boosters that a service-oriented economy that relies on a significant amount of labor export for its productivity is the path to First World status. If that's the case, then they're wrong; but they have been on that track for so long, and have even baked that into grand designs such as the Philippine Development Plan and the Philippine Energy Plan, that convincing them otherwise will be difficult.Since it seems that 0.8 GW of installed capacity per million people is the magic threshold beyond which real economic growth happens. That means the Philippines should have 92.6 GW of total capacity right now and increase that by at least 1.3 percent a year for the foreseeable future. Even if we shoot for the much less intimidating 0.3 GW per million population Indonesia has, with its per capita GDP $1,000 higher than the Philippines' as a result of it, that still means the Philippines has an immediate deficit of about 6.4 GW, and will have to accelerate its planned expansion of about 6.2 percent per year to about 10 percent annually through the end of the decade, and perhaps beyond, in order to catch up.This reality is another indictment of the outmoded concept of electric cooperatives, which were designed originally with the needs of the mid-1930s — which was the late 1960s here in the Philippines, 30 or 35 years being the lag between development in the First World and this country — in mind, and not a world where everything runs on electricity. Cooperatives were first developed in the United States in the latter half of the 1930s as a model for rural electrification. Then-president Ferdinand Marcos Sr. ripped that entire page from the American playbook and copied it here in 1969, and the country has been pursuing that objective for the 50-plus years since, no matter that the objective was already achieved, or at least as well as it ever would be, years ago.No cooperative, no matter how financially sound, well-managed and exemplary in its service delivery, is ever going to be economically capable of developing the power infrastructure needed to attract energy-intensive enterprises. Likewise, without those markets or at least potential markets to absorb the electricity they would create, generation firms are not going to build up the massive increase in capacity that is also needed to attract those investors. Evolving the co-ops through privatization into enterprises that can invest in the future is not a new idea. There have been, at times, efforts to push that broad initiative, dating back almost to the time the Epira law first became effective, more than 20 years ago. It is well past time those efforts were taken more seriously and sustained.ben.kritz@manilatimes.netBluesky: @benkritz.bsky.social",
  - "content": "YESTERDAY'S editorial in The Manila Times addressed yet another Big Idea to attract more foreign investment to the country, in this case a call from the Federation of Filipino Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry Inc. (FFCCCII) for a law allowing 99-year leases on land, such as is done in other, more economically successful countries like Singapore and Malaysia. I have no opinion on the proposal or the paper's commentary about it; I only mention it because the comparison with other countries reminded me of a nagging indicator, one that has nothing to do with land ownership or use issues, that coincidentally came up in some conversations I had this week. If we look around the regional neighborhood, we see that the Philippines is surrounded by countries that attract more investment — foreign or domestic — have greater levels of industrialization, and have higher economic output as measured by per capita gross domestic product (GDP). There are several reasons for this, but I believe one of, if not the most important ones can be found in the comparison of countries' installed electricity-generating capacity. Register to read this story and more for free . Signing up for an account helps us improve your browsing experience. OR See our subscription options.",
  - "pubDate": "2025-05-17 16:12:00",
  - "pubDateTZ": "UTC",
  - "image_url": "https://www.manilatimes.net/manilatimes/uploads/images/2025/05/17/629193.jpg",
  - "video_url": null,
  - "source_id": "manilatimes",
  - "source_name": "The Manila Times",
  - "source_priority": 33634,
  - "source_url": "https://www.manilatimes.net",
  - "source_icon": "https://i.bytvi.com/domain_icons/manilatimes.png",
  - "language": "english",
  - -
    "country": [
    - "philippines"
    ],
  - -
    "category": [
    - "politics"
    ],
  - "sentiment": "positive",
  - -
    "sentiment_stats": {
    - "positive": 98.9,
    - "neutral": 0.75,
    - "negative": 0.35
    },
  - -
    "ai_tag": [
    - "international trade"
    ],
  - "ai_region": null,
  - -
    "ai_org": [
    - "the manila times",
    - "federation of filipino chinese"
    ],
  - "duplicate": false
  },
- -
  {
  - "article_id": "566ae97b5bab8e655ea2e5dbe59fdc30",
  - "title": "Don't count Bongbong out yet",
  - "link": "https://www.manilatimes.net/2025/05/18/opinion/columns/dont-count-bongbong-out-yet/2115870",
  - -
    "keywords": [
    - "opinion"
    ],
  - -
    "creator": [
    - "Lloyd C. Bautista"
    ],
  - "description": "AFTER the dust settled in the May 12 midterm elections, political pundits are quick to declare that President Ferdinand \"Bongbong\" Marcos Jr.'s political star is fading. Some even suggested that he is spiraling toward the political black hole. But such an analysis is an overstretch and misses the reality on the ground. The 6-6 split between his administration bets and other Senate candidates reflects a divided electorate, not the President's waning political influence among Filipino voters.Since the acrimonious breakup between the Marcoses and the Dutertes, culminating in former president Rodrigo Duterte being brought to the International Criminal Court in The Hague to face charges of crimes against humanity, the ruling administration has fractured into several fronts but it didn't totally wipe out President Marcos' political capital.The electoral results only revealed a nation segmented into four political camps. Still, the President commands the loyalty of 50 percent of voters, while the Duterte-aligned oppositionists hold 25 percent. The Liberal Democrats claim roughly 16.7 percent and independents account for 8.3 percent. Thus, the political map is now a multipolar arena, but President Marcos undoubtedly holds the lion's share of support.Despite the failure of the administration to win the majority of Senate seats, half of our electorate reaffirmed their mandate for the President to complete his term by 2028 and even name a rightful successor. Some pundits argued that his endorsement was actually a kiss of death, due to his declining approval ratings. However, these surveys are mere snapshots in time with a representative sample of not over 2,000 respondents administered in a specific context.With three years left in office, the President has ample time to turn things around, implement transformative policies and solidify his legacy. To do so, he must act swiftly on the five pressing issues weighing heavily on Filipinos today: soaring prices of goods, fuel and public utilities; inadequate jobs and stagnant incomes; criminality and public order; public transport safety; and health care. These are bread-and-butter issues directly affecting ordinary people that the President must address head-on in the next three years.Other peripheral concerns that he must closely watch out for that could bog down his administration and even stir public discontent include the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte; potential hikes in Social Security System and Philippine Health Insurance Corp. premium contributions; the spread of fake news; the needless deaths of Filipino workers here and overseas; and rising tensions in the West Philippine Sea.But more than policies, the President must start to speak up and be more physically visible rather than relying on his official spokesmen. During a crisis, the Filipinos expect their head of state to assure and speak to them directly. In Canada, when a wayward vehicle mowed down a dozen Filipino-Canadians who were celebrating Lapu-Lapu Day, no less than Prime Minister Mark Carney addressed the nation and expressed sympathy for the victims. President Marcos should do more of these visibility strategies, and be more empathic and humane in order to reconnect with his constituents.The President has to dismantle the cordon sanitaire. Too many officials around the President filter information from him about the true state of the nation. He has to step out of the Palace and listen directly to Filipinos from all walks of life. He has to let his hair down, so to speak, and act naturally in prioritizing vital issues affecting our countrymen, like the prices of groceries, criminality and livelihood.In truth, the President must refrain from acting like a distant and aloof statesman, and instead become a boots-on-the ground leader. He has to recognize that the country is not too large and wealthy with institutions that are both immature and fragile. Hence, Filipinos are craving for a leader who would go down from his high horse and get things done. This is why former president Duterte was very appealing to ordinary folks because he understood their day-to-day struggles. The President must project the same authenticity with the Filipino masses that says: \"I am here and I care for you.\"Finally, the President cannot afford to steer away from the political fray. He is the country's ultimate political figure, and regardless of how pundits call him a \"lame duck,\" he commands the loyalty of people from Northern Luzon who are willing to support him at any given day. \"The North remembers\" recalls the rally cry of Westeros to the Stark family in the HBO series \"Game of Thrones.\"In the final analysis, his endorsement in 2028 would serve not as the kiss of death but rather as high-octane fuel that can propel his chosen candidate into the presidency. But this depends on how the President takes advantage of his three remaining years.Do not count Bongbong out yet.",
  - "content": "AFTER the dust settled in the May 12 midterm elections, political pundits are quick to declare that President Ferdinand \"Bongbong\" Marcos Jr.'s political star is fading. Some even suggested that he is spiraling toward the political black hole. But such an analysis is an overstretch and misses the reality on the ground. The 6-6 split between his administration bets and other Senate candidates reflects a divided electorate, not the President's waning political influence among Filipino voters. Since the acrimonious breakup between the Marcoses and the Dutertes, culminating in former president Rodrigo Duterte being brought to the International Criminal Court in The Hague to face charges of crimes against humanity, the ruling administration has fractured into several fronts but it didn't totally wipe out President Marcos' political capital. Register to read this story and more for free . Signing up for an account helps us improve your browsing experience. OR See our subscription options.",
  - "pubDate": "2025-05-17 16:11:00",
  - "pubDateTZ": "UTC",
  - "image_url": "https://www.manilatimes.net/manilatimes/uploads/images/2025/05/17/629191.jpg",
  - "video_url": null,
  - "source_id": "manilatimes",
  - "source_name": "The Manila Times",
  - "source_priority": 33634,
  - "source_url": "https://www.manilatimes.net",
  - "source_icon": "https://i.bytvi.com/domain_icons/manilatimes.png",
  - "language": "english",
  - -
    "country": [
    - "philippines"
    ],
  - -
    "category": [
    - "politics"
    ],
  - "sentiment": "negative",
  - -
    "sentiment_stats": {
    - "positive": 0.29,
    - "neutral": 0.18,
    - "negative": 99.53
    },
  - -
    "ai_tag": [
    - "elections"
    ],
  - "ai_region": null,
  - "ai_org": null,
  - "duplicate": false
  },
- -
  {
  - "article_id": "ca0ceb4fd3585199b167b6e3f7c81cb9",
  - "title": "Young minds on May 12 polls",
  - "link": "https://www.sunstar.com.ph/cebu/young-minds-on-may-12-polls",
  - -
    "keywords": [
    - "cebu",
    - "opinion"
    ],
  - -
    "creator": [
    - "Eric Areglado"
    ],
  - "description": null,
  - "content": "Izzy Elielle B. Pardillo University of San Jose- RecoletosAS THE dust settles on the 2025 Philippine midterm elections, young Filipinos — many still unable to vote — are actively reflecting on the country’s political direction. From cautious optimism to outright scepticism, their views capture a generation grappling with both hope and disillusionment. Four students from different backgrounds share their first-hand post-election experiences and expectations.For Robert Benedict Lim, a 16-year-old incoming Grade 12 student at the University of San Jose–Recoletos, the results were both expected and surprising. “I already foresaw much of the Alyansa slate sweeping into office,” he said, noting his prior interest in polling data. Lim was glad to see figures like Chel Diokno and the Makabayan bloc gain traction, but also voiced concerns over the long-term Senate dynamics.Having accompanied his family on Election Day, Lim noted strong voter turnout. “It shows that our democracy is still standing strong,” he said. “I don’t believe this will bring meaningful change,” he added, citing entrenched conservatism and the influence of political dynasties.He urged fellow youth to to seek balanced information: “We must let go of our own bias and explore media we disagree with to understand the full picture.”Raeka Bel Abatol, 19, a nursing student at Velez College, voted for the first time this year. “I was nervous at first, but the process was smooth,” she said. Abatol found relief in the victory of candidates she believed advocated for good governance, but was disappointed that others lacking credentials still managed to secure positions.Her hope is for leaders to address urgent issues like inflation, corruption and inclusivity.” Among those she is closely watching is Senator-elect Kiko Pangilinan. “I’m looking forward to how he can maximize his role.”Abatol sees awareness as a catalyst for progress: “Being politically informed isn’t dangerous — it’s empowering. We must stay updated, verify facts, and speak up.”Mary Louise Ann Pantallano, 16, couldn’t vote, but she volunteered to assist voters at the Voter Assistance Desk of a local school. “Even though I couldn’t vote, I felt like I was part of it.”Pantallano observed technical glitches in some precincts in Quiot and Basak, Cebu City, but saw encouraging voter engagement. “Some people really woke up after the last elections,” she said, pointing to the strong showing of progressive candidates.Her message to leaders: “Stay true to your promises and do it for the people, not just for clout.” She believes students have a role to play in fostering political awareness. “By influencing others to be more educated, we help improve our society.”Iya Marie Musong, 16, an incoming Grade 11 student, described her reaction to the election results as “neutral.” While not all of the winning candidates aligned with her personal views, she was relieved to see some of her preferred choices secure positions.Though not yet a voter, she followed campaign coverage and media closely. Her biggest concern: the continued misuse of cultural values like pakikisama and bayanihan in politics. “I hope elected officials demonstrate true leadership through action, not just words.”For Musong, political engagement doesn’t end with elections. “Even if we’re not of voting age, we can raise awareness and help adults make informed decisions,” she added.While their experiences differ, these young Filipinos share a common desire to see national progress. They recognize flaws in the current system but remain involved and informed.From monitoring polls to assisting voters, casting a ballot to calling out accountability, these youths prove that political engagement goes beyond the vote.Whether optimistic or cautious, one thing is clear: they are watching — and waiting — for leaders to deliver.",
  - "pubDate": "2025-05-17 09:41:53",
  - "pubDateTZ": "UTC",
  - "image_url": "https://media.assettype.com/sunstar%2F2025-03-01%2Fqp1qbyce%2FCAMPUS-PERSPECTIVE-NO-PHOTO.jpg?auto=format%2Ccompress&fit=max&rect=0%2C9%2C750%2C422&w=480",
  - "video_url": null,
  - "source_id": "sunstar",
  - "source_name": "Sunstar",
  - "source_priority": 170617,
  - "source_url": "https://www.sunstar.com.ph",
  - "source_icon": "https://i.bytvi.com/domain_icons/sunstar.png",
  - "language": "english",
  - -
    "country": [
    - "philippines"
    ],
  - -
    "category": [
    - "politics"
    ],
  - "sentiment": "negative",
  - -
    "sentiment_stats": {
    - "positive": 0.69,
    - "neutral": 6.84,
    - "negative": 92.47
    },
  - -
    "ai_tag": [
    - "elections"
    ],
  - -
    "ai_region": [
    - "san jose,agusan del norte,philippines,asia",
    - "san jose,benguet,philippines,asia",
    - "san jose,central luzon,philippines,asia",
    - "san jose,bataan,philippines,asia",
    - "san jose,occidental mindoro,philippines,asia",
    - "san jose,eastern visayas,philippines,asia",
    - "san jose,oriental mindoro,philippines,asia",
    - "san jose,agusan del sur,philippines,asia",
    - "san jose,cagayan valley,philippines,asia",
    - "san jose,antique,philippines,asia",
    - "san jose,albay,philippines,asia",
    - "san jose,batanes,philippines,asia"
    ],
  - -
    "ai_org": [
    - "recoletosas the",
    - "izzy elielle b. pardillo university"
    ],
  - "duplicate": false
  },
- -
  {
  - "article_id": "cca139760b25ada8315139f25d28e82e",
  - "title": "Books before breaks: Crux of academic progress",
  - "link": "https://www.sunstar.com.ph/cebu/books-before-breaks-crux-of-academic-progress",
  - -
    "keywords": [
    - "cebu",
    - "opinion"
    ],
  - -
    "creator": [
    - "SunStar Cebu"
    ],
  - "description": null,
  - "content": "Demy Isolde LagartijaAbellana National SchoolEducators are raising concerns about the “summer slide” — a decline in academic performance caused by reduced learning activities during the break. Fortunately, reading provides a simple and entertaining way for students to remain stimulated and prepare for the upcoming school year. It helps students preserve the academic skills and cognitive abilities they’ve developed throughout the school year, ensuring that their progress is maintained during the extended time away from structured learning. Numerous educators point out that regular reading helps prevent learning loss, enriches vocabulary and enhances insight and critical thinking. When students stop reading for extended periods, they risk losing vocabulary, comprehension and fluency. However, regular readers tend to strengthen these skills —making them fond of reading. Moreover, reading also sparks imagination and helps children enjoy learning — even outside the classroom. Additionally, parents and teachers play an important role in supporting children’s reading habits, especially during summer break. Reading aloud together, discussing books and library visits make reading entertaining. Celebrating small efforts like reading daily or finishing a book within a week can also keep children motivated and proud of their accomplishments. When reading is a part of daily life and seen as something pleasant, children are more likely to continue reading and improve their abilities over time. To support this, schools often host summer reading programs including book clubs and reading challenges — keeping children motivated while providing opportunities to share their thoughts about books with others. By choosing books or eBooks that genuinely interest them, students can develop a lasting love for reading that supports lifelong learning. Platforms such as Kindle, Libby, Epic! and many others help foster children’s reading habits and play significant roles in boosting reading comprehension. These platforms make reading more convenient and enjoyable, motivating children to read anytime and anywhere.",
  - "pubDate": "2025-05-17 09:37:59",
  - "pubDateTZ": "UTC",
  - "image_url": "https://media.assettype.com/sunstar%2F2025-03-01%2Fqp1qbyce%2FCAMPUS-PERSPECTIVE-NO-PHOTO.jpg?auto=format%2Ccompress&fit=max&rect=0%2C9%2C750%2C422&w=480",
  - "video_url": null,
  - "source_id": "sunstar",
  - "source_name": "Sunstar",
  - "source_priority": 170617,
  - "source_url": "https://www.sunstar.com.ph",
  - "source_icon": "https://i.bytvi.com/domain_icons/sunstar.png",
  - "language": "english",
  - -
    "country": [
    - "philippines"
    ],
  - -
    "category": [
    - "politics"
    ],
  - "sentiment": "negative",
  - -
    "sentiment_stats": {
    - "positive": 0.17,
    - "neutral": 0.57,
    - "negative": 99.27
    },
  - -
    "ai_tag": [
    - "education"
    ],
  - "ai_region": null,
  - -
    "ai_org": [
    - "demy isolde lagartijaabellana national schooleducators"
    ],
  - "duplicate": false
  },
- -
  {
  - "article_id": "9927a462850668f4df2a54efd4b04ce3",
  - "title": "Estremera: But I don’t remember the feeling anymore...",
  - "link": "https://www.sunstar.com.ph/davao/estremera-but-i-dont-remember-the-feeling-anymore",
  - -
    "keywords": [
    - "davao",
    - "opinion"
    ],
  - -
    "creator": [
    - "Stella A. Estremera"
    ],
  - "description": "Stella shares a poignant memory from her college days in Davao City, finding unexpected comfort from a stray dog while dealing with an unknown sadness at Bastida Beach. She reflects on the experience and connects it to the importance of genuine goodness in leaders during this election season.",
  - "content": "I BET people my age sang that! Haha! Anyway, true story and no, it’s not about a boy. In college back here in Davao (long before mom discovered this and scolded me, telling me of bad things that can befall a lone young lady) I’d ride my brother’s racer bike to Bastida Beach (where there once was the abandoned agri-aqua shrimp farm a kilometer or so behind the Pepsi Cola plant in Dumoy. From our old house beside Apo Golf and Country Club is around 4 km to Pepsi Cola. From the highway in Dumoy is more than a kilometer of deserted uncemented road to the beach. Yeah, fair game for any deranged man, but I was never bothered about dangers in life... (I got angels, lots of them). In that solo ride, I was agonizing about something I can no longer recall and needed to shed tears undisturbed. The beach was a perfect place to do that. Deep in my sadness, I sensed a presence. Looking up, there was a mangy dog in front of me, giving me hesitant tail wags. I motioned for it to come near, and it did, putting its chin on my lap and just looking at me, tail still wagging. I remember crying some more, this time over its comforting presence. As I gathered my composure and dried my eyes, the dog (I was too engrossed in my emotions, it didn’t occur to me to check if it was a girl or boy dog) lifted its head, stepped back and then started walking away, all the time looking back with its tail still giving gentle wags. The memory of that dog and the comfort it gave me that Sunday afternoon 40 years ago remains. Although I can no longer remember what angst I was wailing about. Before I rode the bike home, I remember staring at the beach some more, enjoying a quiet chuckle, thinking: Seeing me in my distraught state, the angels must’ve scoured the whole stretch of beach to find someone to help me get over whatever it was I was going through. Except that... there was only one mangy beige-colored dog, no one else. And so, that was what they sent to me. May we all be remembered with fondness by all those we meet, greet, and be able to help in big and small ways. In this election season, may we all learn to vote only those whose goodness and will to do good continue to stir our collective hearts. Junk all those who believe that dancing is all they need to do to get our mandate. (That video of Stella Q dancing while greeting voters is now plastered in my traumarized braincells. Pwera gaba.) -o0o- *Stella, former editor-in-chief of SunStar Davao, is a Pranic Healing educator and an Arhatic Yoga practitioner. Email: saestremera@gmail.com, fb: /saestremera, IG: @saestremera",
  - "pubDate": "2025-05-17 05:02:31",
  - "pubDateTZ": "UTC",
  - "image_url": "https://media.assettype.com/sunstar%2F2024-05%2Fc807d5cd-232e-47ce-926a-b6a9bfcc8450%2FSunStar%20Estremera?auto=format%2Ccompress&fit=max&rect=0%2C14%2C750%2C422&w=480",
  - "video_url": null,
  - "source_id": "sunstar",
  - "source_name": "Sunstar",
  - "source_priority": 170617,
  - "source_url": "https://www.sunstar.com.ph",
  - "source_icon": "https://i.bytvi.com/domain_icons/sunstar.png",
  - "language": "english",
  - -
    "country": [
    - "philippines"
    ],
  - -
    "category": [
    - "politics"
    ],
  - "sentiment": "negative",
  - -
    "sentiment_stats": {
    - "positive": 1.48,
    - "neutral": 19.58,
    - "negative": 78.94
    },
  - -
    "ai_tag": [
    - "accidents"
    ],
  - -
    "ai_region": [
    - "davao city,bohol,philippines,asia",
    - "davao city,davao occidental,philippines,asia"
    ],
  - "ai_org": null,
  - "duplicate": false
  },
- -
  {
  - "article_id": "a27e155f2583a3924f33128dd6e1986a",
  - "title": "#wegotmail: Karapatan kong magsalita: Why freedom of speech matters in the Philippines",
  - "link": "https://www.sunstar.com.ph/davao/wegotmail-karapatan-kong-magsalita-why-freedom-of-speech-matters-in-the-philippines",
  - -
    "keywords": [
    - "davao",
    - "opinion"
    ],
  - -
    "creator": [
    - "Sun Star Davao Digital"
    ],
  - "description": "This article explores the importance of freedom of speech in the Philippines as a fundamental right and a pillar of democracy. It highlights its role in social justice, historical movements, and the ongoing pursuit of accountability.",
  - "content": "NO MAN is an island. Societal growth depends on the passionate exchange of ideas and perspectives among its people. For a society to be fruitful, everyone should talk about everything, whether on topics they are uncomfortable with and let the best ideas win. A healthy society is shaped by the ability of individuals to form rational ideas. There is nothing more important in a democracy than free speech and debate. As activist Deeyah Khan once said, “Freedom of speech is a human right and the foundation upon which democracy is built. Any restriction of freedom of speech is a restriction upon democracy.” It is undeniable that one of the fundamental pillars of a democratic society is freedom of speech, which protects the ability of individuals to voice out their concerns and opinions and criticize the government without the fear of prosecution. On top of that, it is an essential instrument for keeping politicians responsible. Democracy thrives when people are free to speak out against injustice, demand answers, and question authority without fear of retaliation. The legitimacy of government is compromised when citizens cannot hold their leaders accountable for their actions. Without this freedom, all other liberties will crumble. This is enshrined in the 1987 Constitution of the Philippines, particularly Article III, Section 4, which states: “No law shall be passed abridging the freedom of speech, expression, press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and petition the government to redress grievances.” Free speech has always been the heart of social justice, environmental, and civil rights campaigns. The freedom to express opinions, develop new ideas, and rally others behind a cause propels society forward. In Chavez v. Gonzales, the Supreme Court held that the freedom of expression in the Constitution is protected against restraint and censorship. This freedom has been tested and ultimately failed numerous times throughout Philippine history. Freedom of speech has played a pivotal role in shaping the history of the Philippines. During the Spanish colonial era, figures like José Rizal and Marcelo H. del Pilar used their writings to expose injustices and advocate for reforms, laying the groundwork for the Philippine Revolution. Moreover, the 1986 People Power Revolution demonstrated the power of free expression, as millions of Filipinos took to the streets, toppling a dictator. Today, activists, journalists, and ordinary citizens continue to exercise their right to free speech to call out corruption, push for human rights, and advocate for environmental protection, ensuring that democracy remains for the people, by the people, and of the people. Nevertheless, accountability is a responsibility that comes with this freedom because, again, this freedom is not absolute. People should be careful not to instigate violence, disseminate false information, or damage democratic institutions when expressing their opinions, although they have the right to do so. Genuine democracy is based not only on the liberty to express oneself freely but also on the obligation to maintain honesty, equity, and consideration for one another. - Irish Mae U. Caracena and Rochelle Bhea J. Sotomayor **** Irish Mae U. Caracena and Rochelle Bhea J. Sotomayor are students from the University of Cebu-Main Campus. They are currently enrolled in the institution’s political science program.",
  - "pubDate": "2025-05-17 04:56:10",
  - "pubDateTZ": "UTC",
  - "image_url": "https://media.assettype.com/sunstar%2F2023-11%2F9314dd42-a2f3-4561-8455-4bd6c5b28ea6%2FMAIL.jpg?auto=format%2Ccompress&fit=max&rect=0%2C14%2C750%2C422&w=480",
  - "video_url": null,
  - "source_id": "sunstar",
  - "source_name": "Sunstar",
  - "source_priority": 170617,
  - "source_url": "https://www.sunstar.com.ph",
  - "source_icon": "https://i.bytvi.com/domain_icons/sunstar.png",
  - "language": "english",
  - -
    "country": [
    - "philippines"
    ],
  - -
    "category": [
    - "politics"
    ],
  - "sentiment": "neutral",
  - -
    "sentiment_stats": {
    - "positive": 2.09,
    - "neutral": 97.63,
    - "negative": 0.28
    },
  - -
    "ai_tag": [
    - "human rights",
    - "politics"
    ],
  - -
    "ai_region": [
    - "philippines,asia"
    ],
  - "ai_org": null,
  - "duplicate": false
  },
- -
  {
  - "article_id": "b11c45b6a0b48eaa38f02b9fe5af09e5",
  - "title": "The problem with our water",
  - "link": "https://opinion.inquirer.net/183292/the-problem-with-our-water",
  - -
    "keywords": [
    - "columnists",
    - "columns",
    - "latest opinion"
    ],
  - "creator": null,
  - "description": "World Water Day, commemorated in March, is not a celebration. It’s a warning, chiming again and again: there is a problem with our water. Like an ambulance siren that’s tipping off an emergency happening all around the world. There’s a problem with the water in our glaciers. It’s melting under the rising temperature of our",
  - "content": "World Water Day, commemorated in March, is not a celebration. It’s a warning, chiming again and again: there is a problem with our water. Like an ambulance siren that’s tipping off an emergency happening all around the world. There’s a problem with the water in our glaciers. It’s melting under the rising temperature of our planet. It’s raising sea levels, threatening to drown entire cities. There’s a problem with the water in our rivers and seas. They’re filled with garbage, contaminated and used as dumping grounds for the waste we no longer want to deal with. Out of sight, out of mind—only, that waste is choking fishes and poisoning marine life. And loudest of all: There’s a problem with the water that is supposed to be accessible for all; for bathing, cooking, and drinking, to sustain daily life. A fundamental human right, says the United Nations. The problem is this: despite being a right, not everyone has it. In our country alone, 40 million don’t have access to clean water. Up until I was 8 years old, our water at home came from a rusty manual water pump. “Bomba,” we call it in Kapampangan. It’s lost to me why the word for it translates to an explosive in English. Maybe because when it runs dry, you have to heave it forcefully to produce an eruptive stream of water. As a kid, I didn’t realize that meant our area was still underdeveloped, lacking connection to pipelines and infrastructure. In fact, I held that as a fond memory of simpler times. Until I personally saw that it was still a reality for others in farther-flung locales. I counted three as we walked between homes in Barangay Mabuhay, Samar, during a community outreach. Water pumps, that is. Residents who had their own were actually lucky. The rest had to share seven communal taps, ones that only spurted water at alternating schedules in dry months. During the rainy seasons, there was a different cause for concern. The water often turned turbid and yellow because it came from a mountain spring and had to pass through pipes sprawling earth and foliage, where debris and other elements could seep through. For them, buying bottled water is the safest bet, which would cost roughly P1,500 a month—something most households can’t afford. So they trust the safety of their water supply. There isn’t much of a choice. I spent two days in their community for a joint initiative between The Zain Jaffer Foundation, the organization I work for, and Waves for Water Philippines. We were there to donate portable filtration systems. They clean out dirt and bacteria from your water, the Waves team explained as they demoed to the community. They’re fascinating, these filters. They’re small and deceptively simple, but can ensure the water passing through would not carry risks for E. Coli or salmonella or other dangerous diseases. And one set of these systems consist of just a large pail, the filter, and a handful of other implements—but altogether, they can supply clean water for 100 people a day, for up to 10 years. These kinds of efficient and scalable solutions are so desperately needed when we think about how grave the water crisis actually is. In another deployment we did in Rizal, a resident shared that she lost her 10-month-old grandchild due to diarrhea, which they suspected was caused by contaminated water. That puts into perspective how much faster we need to be moving to help more communities. The Zain Jaffer Foundation’s efforts since 2024 alone has helped nearly 3,000 people across Samar and Rizal. Imagine what we could do with more systematic efforts across both nonprofit and government sectors. Now when I think back to the time when my family’s main water source was a manual water pump, I’m reminded of the people who still rely on that to this day. I realize it wasn’t really “simpler times,” as much as it was us being unaware of what we lacked, and what we risked. For those still beset with the reality of inaccessible clean water, it’s an urgent and health-endangering issue. Beyond World Water Day, more of us must be compelled to take action and help however we can. There’s so much wisdom and hope in how Waves for Water frames what our country is faced with right now: that one in 10 Filipinos still don’t have access to improved water sources, but that also means nine out of 10 can help. I consider myself privileged—both for having easy access to clean, potable water (something I took for granted until I witnessed the water crisis firsthand) and for getting to work with nonprofits through a foundation dedicated to humanitarian efforts. I can only hope to use that privilege in a way that meaningfully improves the lives of others. —————- Subscribe to our daily newsletter By providing an email address. I agree to the Terms of Use and acknowledge that I have read the Privacy Policy . Ella Salalac, 25, works remotely for a US nonprofit foundation. She is also a student at the University of the Philippines Open University.",
  - "pubDate": "2025-05-16 21:17:35",
  - "pubDateTZ": "UTC",
  - "image_url": "https://www.inquirer.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/new-inq-fb-def.jpg",
  - "video_url": null,
  - "source_id": "inquirer",
  - "source_name": "Inquirer",
  - "source_priority": 9835,
  - "source_url": "https://www.inquirer.net",
  - "source_icon": "https://i.bytvi.com/domain_icons/inquirer.png",
  - "language": "english",
  - -
    "country": [
    - "philippines"
    ],
  - -
    "category": [
    - "politics"
    ],
  - "sentiment": "negative",
  - -
    "sentiment_stats": {
    - "positive": 0.13,
    - "neutral": 0.11,
    - "negative": 99.76
    },
  - -
    "ai_tag": [
    - "pollution"
    ],
  - "ai_region": null,
  - "ai_org": null,
  - "duplicate": false
  },
- -
  {
  - "article_id": "45cda0dd0f21920724949654e06a2bad",
  - "title": "Glimmer in their eyes: Reflecting on the polls",
  - "link": "https://opinion.inquirer.net/183288/glimmer-in-their-eyes-reflecting-on-the-polls",
  - -
    "keywords": [
    - "columns",
    - "columnists",
    - "latest opinion"
    ],
  - "creator": null,
  - "description": "There is a glimmer in the eyes of those who still remember: a flicker of something lost or something promised. This we saw on May 12, as the nation cast its votes in quiet pilgrimage to the future. At first glance, the senatorial elections sounded like a familiar rhythm in our republic’s democratic beat—names we",
  - "content": "There is a glimmer in the eyes of those who still remember: a flicker of something lost or something promised. This we saw on May 12, as the nation cast its votes in quiet pilgrimage to the future. At first glance, the senatorial elections sounded like a familiar rhythm in our republic’s democratic beat—names we know, alliances we expect, and numbers that fall predictably into place. But beneath the surface of unofficial results lies something deeper that begs to be understood. From the unofficial tally emerges a portrait: five seats to candidates aligned with the Duterte bloc, five to the Bongbong Marcos camp, and two to the reformist voices of Bam Aquino and Kiko Pangilinan. The candidates who bagged the top 12 senatorial slots are on the brink of a critical but tenuous balance, a still-uncertain shape of things to come. But this time, there is something different and quietly radiant: the youth has spoken. Early postelection analyses suggest that the millennials and Gen Zs (18-44 years old), underestimated despite constituting 68 percent of registered voters, were crucial in lifting reformist candidates to victory. These digital natives—discerning, disillusioned, yet undeterred—lent their voices to a different kind of future. Many cast their first votes in 2022. By 2025, they were not only voters, but voices—organizers, educators, guardians of memory. The strong showing of Aquino, who placed second with a platform rooted in transparency and education (libreng kolehiyo), and the unexpected comeback of Pangilinan, point not merely to nostalgia, but to a gathering insistence that public service must be principled. This youth-powered wave may be the very glimmer that our literature, our history, and our heroes once promised. There is a moment in “Noli Me Tangere” that haunts deeply: Sisa, a mother broken by poverty and injustice, is arrested by the guardia civil. Along the way, her mind flickers in and out of lucidity—until, in one final burst of memory and light, she finds her son Basilio in the forested Ibarra family cemetery. She cradles his face under the moonlight, recognizes him once more, and in that final moment of bliss, dies. But the story does not end in despair. Elias—wounded and bloodied—arrives. He does not weep. He speaks. “Basilio, you will see the dawn ... forget not those who have fallen in the night.” There is something in this tableau that speaks to us now. Sisa is the forgotten poor, the voiceless driven mad by injustice. Basilio is our youth, kneeling in grief but beginning to understand. And Elias is the voice that will not die—urging us through pain to remember, to rise, to believe in the possibility of a better nation. The recent elections repeat a pattern we know too well. Political dynasties persist. Power blocs consolidate. And yet, something quietly resists. Aquino’s near-top finish, alongside Pangilinan’s return, is not merely a nostalgic echo of past ideals—it is a refusal to give up on the promise of decency, reform, and inclusive governance. This is not the first time our people have voted in a moment of national tension. In 1992, after years of transition from dictatorship, the country faced its first real test of democracy. A divided electorate, but a peaceful transfer. The system held. In 2010, after the death of former President Cory Aquino, the Filipino people—grieving, weary—rallied behind her son for the moral clarity he seemed to embody. “Kung walang corrupt, walang mahirap,” they believed once more. In 2022, emotions ran high. The son of a dictator, and the daughter of a populist, rose to power, backed by digital machinery and social tides. But even then, there were undercurrents of dissent. Quiet uprisings of truth. The youth was watching, learning, remembering. Now, in 2025, many of those young people are voting. Many more are leading. They are not perfect, but they are not afraid. In “Las Filipinas Dentro de Cien Años,” Rizal wrote his meditation on the fate of our country a century hence. He feared that colonized minds would outlive the colonizers, and that the chains of indifference would be harder to break than those of iron. More than a hundred years since, here we are. Are we the generation that Elias dreamed would rise? Or the Basilio who’d become healer of the nation and would “see the dawn”? Or still Sisa—wandering, broken, unable to recognize what we’ve become? The elections give no clear answers. For while power may rest in the hands of the elected, hope remains in the hearts of the people. And history, as ever, watches from the wings. —————- Subscribe to our daily newsletter By providing an email address. I agree to the Terms of Use and acknowledge that I have read the Privacy Policy . Dr. Pablo S. Trillana III is former chair of the National Historical Institute, and authored “Rizal and the Wide Road of Progress,” winner of the Filipino Readers’ Choice Award.",
  - "pubDate": "2025-05-16 21:02:26",
  - "pubDateTZ": "UTC",
  - "image_url": "https://www.inquirer.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/new-inq-fb-def.jpg",
  - "video_url": null,
  - "source_id": "inquirer",
  - "source_name": "Inquirer",
  - "source_priority": 9835,
  - "source_url": "https://www.inquirer.net",
  - "source_icon": "https://i.bytvi.com/domain_icons/inquirer.png",
  - "language": "english",
  - -
    "country": [
    - "philippines"
    ],
  - -
    "category": [
    - "politics"
    ],
  - "sentiment": "neutral",
  - -
    "sentiment_stats": {
    - "positive": 2.56,
    - "neutral": 96.66,
    - "negative": 0.78
    },
  - -
    "ai_tag": [
    - "elections"
    ],
  - "ai_region": null,
  - "ai_org": null,
  - "duplicate": false
  },
- -
  {
  - "article_id": "fc5d906473ed3abde92dee5fa5f99aec",
  - "title": "Three types of election surveys",
  - "link": "https://opinion.inquirer.net/183290/three-types-of-election-surveys",
  - -
    "keywords": [
    - "columns",
    - "columnists",
    - "latest opinion"
    ],
  - "creator": null,
  - "description": "A lot—meaning enough to cause statistically significant change—must have happened in the last week of the campaign. This is my basic conclusion from comparing the final preelection survey of Stratbase Consultancy with Social Weather Stations (SWS), fielded on May 2-6 (see “Survey evaluation time,” 5/10/25), with the latest report of the Commission on Elections on",
  - "content": "A lot—meaning enough to cause statistically significant change—must have happened in the last week of the campaign. This is my basic conclusion from comparing the final preelection survey of Stratbase Consultancy with Social Weather Stations (SWS), fielded on May 2-6 (see “Survey evaluation time,” 5/10/25), with the latest report of the Commission on Elections on the results of the senatorial election of May 12. Preelection surveys. Let us deal with surveys fielded (a) before the election, about voters’ intentions for election day, (b) on election day itself, about whom voters said they chose at their precincts earlier that day, and (c) after the election, to clarify if and how voters modified their voting intentions when casting their ballots. Many surveys on voter preferences are conducted to prepare for an election. Virtually all of these are confidential, for obvious reasons. The most important, to me, are those about the electability of certain candidates. These would be done long before the election, based on guesses as to who the contenders might be. Then there are surveys close to or during the campaign. Only during the campaign are the lineups known for sure. The Stratbase-SWS project did six surveys in all, every month since last December 2024, in order to clarify the election race. The final round is a de facto survey prediction since very little time is left to campaign. The names and numbers behind the perfect 12-for-12 SWS experience in 2022 are in: “Special Report: SWS April 19-27, 2022 final pre-election closely matched Commission on Elections (Comelec) 2022 senatorial results” (www.sws.org.ph, posted 5/9/25). These were known to many political experts, and surely generated very high expectations for the 2025 election. The May 2025 survey results are not far off. The first 12 in the survey have nine winners; its 3 apparent losers are No. 13 Ben Tulfo, who was fifth in the survey, No. 14 Bong Revilla, who was 11th, and No. 15 Abby Binay, who was seventh. The most unexpected winner, Rodante Marcoleta, was 18th in the survey, just one step off from Stratbase president Dindo Manhit’s feeling that the race was winnable up to the 17th placer, namely Kiko Pangilinan, now the No. 5 winner. The No. 2 winner Bam Aquino had been 16th in the survey. It is the vote percentage, not the rank, by the way, that makes a finding statistically significant, or not merely due to sampling error. The apparent winners’ vote percentages range, so far, from No. 1 Bong Go’s 38.6 percent to No. 12 Imee Marcos’ 19.0 percent. But the 17.3 vote percentage of No. 13, Ben Tulfo, would not be distinguishable from No. 12 by a survey of less than 3,500 respondents. Day-of-election surveys or “exit polls.” It is the surveys taken on election day itself, after the respondents have already voted, but before any official results get released, that should be tasked to identify the winners perfectly. SWS has done this successfully, notably in the 2016 and 2010 elections, thanks to media sponsorship. Unfortunately, there have been no exit polls since then. It is standard for exit polls to record the voters’ age, sex, education, religion, home-language, party affiliation if any, etc. This is how we know, for instance, that the Iglesia ni Cristo vote has been about 80 percent solid. The official Comelec reports show the location of the votes, but nothing else. The Gen Z hypothesis is but a guess without statistics. In its past exit polls, SWS has asked when the final choice of candidates was made, and discovered that as many as one-fifth made their decision on election day itself. We have also asked if the choice of candidates was based on the platform or on the personality of the candidate, and found the bulk of answers being “platform.” The original objective of exit polling was to learn the election result ahead of the official count, which took many days, even weeks, in the manual counting days. Exit poll interviews can start as soon as voters leave the precincts, and reach adequate numbers even before the polls close. This is how the US media networks can call elections within hours after polls close, and relate them to party affiliation and many voter-demographics. Of course, it takes experience with exit poll accuracy, in the past, for the losers to concede defeat. Postelection surveys. The very first SWS survey, in partnership with Ateneo de Manila University, was in May 1986, after the February Snap Election, Edsa People Power, and under the new government of then President Corazon Aquino. When that national survey asked about the respondent’s vote in the snap election, it found 64 percent voting for Cory, 27 percent voting for Ferdinand Marcos, and 9 percent no-answers. (see my book “The Philippine Social Climate” (Anvil, 1994), chapter 16, “The history of the 1986 electoral surveys”) Forthcoming surveys can still probe into voters’ experiences in the last week of the campaign. How many saw a ground-war or a cyberwar? How many had personal knowledge of vote-buying? How many knew about the International Criminal Court arrest of former president Rodrigo Duterte, and the impeachment of Vice President Sara Duterte, and what do they feel about these matters? Are there statistical correlations with their votes? —————- Subscribe to our daily newsletter By providing an email address. I agree to the Terms of Use and acknowledge that I have read the Privacy Policy . Contact: [email protected] .",
  - "pubDate": "2025-05-16 21:02:25",
  - "pubDateTZ": "UTC",
  - "image_url": "https://opinion.inquirer.net/files/2024/10/social-climate-mahar-mangahas-file.jpg",
  - "video_url": null,
  - "source_id": "inquirer",
  - "source_name": "Inquirer",
  - "source_priority": 9835,
  - "source_url": "https://www.inquirer.net",
  - "source_icon": "https://i.bytvi.com/domain_icons/inquirer.png",
  - "language": "english",
  - -
    "country": [
    - "philippines"
    ],
  - -
    "category": [
    - "politics"
    ],
  - "sentiment": "neutral",
  - -
    "sentiment_stats": {
    - "positive": 0.1,
    - "neutral": 99.65,
    - "negative": 0.25
    },
  - -
    "ai_tag": [
    - "elections"
    ],
  - "ai_region": null,
  - "ai_org": null,
  - "duplicate": false
  }
],
"nextPage": null

}

Sub-Categories

top sports technology business science entertainment health world politics environment food