By ARTHUR L. ALLAD-IW

Politics is already being felt this early. Certain candidates are already seen on TV with their political advertisements despite campaign period still approaching. Look at those ads, as if Filipino situations have improved due to them. I am reminded of the nature of our politics – dominated by “trapos” or traditional politicians.

Related with our rotten political system and one of the hottest is the issue on political dynasty. Political dynasty was adopted as a provision of the 1987 constitution to address the political patronage system in our society, where the positions are controlled by the same people coming from the same clans or families. It started from the creation of Philippine state, where politics were dominated by the same names; who worked not for the interests of the people but for their selfish and their foreign masters’ interests. Read the rest of this entry →

By MARY ANN MANJA BAYANG

With the objective of minimizing pollution and traffic along Session Road, the City Government implemented a traffic scheme disallowing parking along Session Road between 6:00 A.M. to 9:00 A.M. and between 4:00 P.M. to 7:00 P.M., which are the rush hours in the city. This scheme, however, brought inconvenience to motorists and customers of businesses along Session Road.

First, the problem on pollution cannot be solved or minimized by prohibiting parking along the road because vehicles parked do not emit pollutants. Read the rest of this entry →

By KATHLEEN T. OKUBO

Last week, the Philippine Press Institute (PPI) in cooperation with the Department of Health and the Department of Agriculture conducted a seminar-workshop with the help of UNICEF for members of the northern Luzon based journalists as part of the international campaign to contain the bird flu pandemic.

Among the twelve in attendance, three of us came from Baguio: Sonia Daoas from broadcast, Jane Cadalig and I from the print media. Sonia and I thought it was good to get away from the cold spell in Baguio but actually, it was away from the natural cold climate into the artificially cold air-conditioned rooms in the venue. Whether that was good or bad depended on our ability to control the temperature when needed otherwise it was also too cold. Read the rest of this entry →

By ALDWIN QUITASOL

Joan works in Company A inside an Export Processing Zone (EPZ). She and her co-employees make insulator tubes for Company B inside the EPZ. Everyday, they have to produce 10,000 to 15,000 pieces of tubes within eight hours as needed by the company they are supplying.

One day, their boss told them to “re-fabricate” the tubes because they were “deformed”. Joan’s boss claimed Company B would not accept the “deformed” tubes. Their boss ordered them that they have to work overtime to “re-fabricate” the tubes without pay. Joan and her companions complained, their boss said that the company has the right to let them work overtime. Their boss argued that the Philippine Labor Code states that overtime work is legal and necessary to save their company’s reputation. Read the rest of this entry →