Opinion and Commentary

Ledesma:  2020: The year that was

EVERYONE is excited to end 2020! Just a few more days and finally we bid goodbye to the year that changed our lives and our perspectives of life. There is no argument that 2020 is a year that will forever be etched in our memories for both the good and the bad it brought us. Before we... Read More

Ledesma: Missing the train

THERE is so much ado about members of the Presidential Security Group getting inoculated with  Covid 19 vaccines from China’s Sinopharm. Elsewhere on this planet, no one can tell as to how many have procured and managed to obtain doses of vaccine outside of what governments have... Read More

From the Mail: Why Christmas and communism can't genuinely go together

By Lt. General Antonio Parlade, Jr.I POSTED this December last year (2019) and I am reposting it again to explain why the AFP does not want a ceasefire during the holidays. Around this time last year, after the Communist Party of the Philippines - New People's Army (CPP-NPA) declared a holiday... Read More

Ledesma:  Be the source

IT'S just a few days before Christmas! Filipinos are known in the whole world to have the longest celebration of the Christmas season which usually starts in September, the first of the “ber” months. This is the merriest and most anticipated season in the Philippines.  While... Read More

Ledesma: Two options left for NPAs

JOSE Ma. Sison is furious President Rodrigo Duterte had called it quits as far as peace negotiations with the Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed elements, the New Peoples Army, is concerned. He is blaming the President for the failed talks claiming that Duterte wants to perpetuate... Read More

Ledesma: 13th-Month Pay: How to spend thee? 

IT'S the time of the year which every employee looks forward to... the season of Christmas Bonus and 13th-month pay (for some it’s even more)! Though some are still uncertain if they will receive one or not, for the majority of the employee force, Bonus it is! As may be expected, the... Read More

Ledesma: Red Army losing men, ground

FOR the last 10 days the  Armed Forces of the Philippines scored big against the New People’s Army of the Communist Party of the Philippines in various places in Mindanao. It started with the killing of Jevilyn Cullamat, an armed medic of an NPA band operating in Marihatag, Surigao... Read More

Ledesma: The bad, the ugly, and the beauty

WE'RE six weeks away to ending the year 2020 which we can all agree was not that kind to the Philippines.In the span of 12 months, we have seen the bad and the ugly that can happen to a country.Just as we were starting 2020, Taalvolcano erupted. That fateful day of Jan 12, about 43 years from its... Read More

Laurel: Kissinger to Biden: Go easy on China

WHILE China and its leadership continue on a one-track express train towards the multi-polar world, helping build (with ASEAN) the gigantic RCEP (Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership) that will include 30% or the world economy and population into one trading bloc, the US continues its... Read More

From the Mail: UNESCO FIASCO: Travesty of justice for Ampatuan massacre victims

By Atty. Perry L. Solis Jr.ACCORDING to a recent Reuter’s headline, “too much politics leaves UNESCO fighting for life.” Indeed, there is much to be desired about the recent actions of the once esteemed United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s... Read More

Ledesma: ‘Tis the season to go local and small

DURING this uncertain time, it is just expected that most people will spend more on the basics and eliminate most luxuries. People are more cautious when it comes to spending and budgeting every centavo is a must.It is also during this uncertain time that our small local businesses are most fragile,... Read More

Ledesma:  Davao City getting out of the woods 

STRICT implementation of health protocols and restrictions against Covid-19 is all that is needed to control the spike of Covid-19 cases in Davao City.  For now, the earlier proposal to place 35 barangays under lockdown had been set aside. The culprit it is turning out was the lifting... Read More

Laurel: China Covid-19 vax in developing countries

AS Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the now world-renowned US American immunologist who had served as director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease and one of the lead members of the Trump White House Coronavirus Task Force until their falling out, in an interview with JAMA (Journal... Read More

Ledesma: Online selling fuels economic activity during pandemic 

WHEN you go to the malls, department stores, restaurants, and groceries, you would see very few people inside. Not many activities can be seen in these establishments. And since we are a country that is known to prefer doing shopping in the actual stores and prefer eating out, seeing these... Read More

Ledesma: Rescue and aid are not for show

TO save people from danger and distress is an innate virtue to Pres. Rodrigo Duterte and Sen. Bong Go. This is known quite well to us Dabawenyos when the President was still Mayor of Davao City and the Senator his executive assistant. Both of them had served in those capacities for over 20 years and... Read More

Ledesma: Who should Biden believe?

THIS early, American President-elect Joseph Biden has articulated the Republican interventionist foreign policy that looks at other nations he describes as allies but treats them as the US vassal states.In his post-election speech, Biden warned that America will only extend help to countries that... Read More

Laurel: Of China and Biden

WHAT Trump’s four years of trade and tech war with China proved and left no doubt about it that the US cannot do and will not heal without cooperative relations with China.Trumps’ trade war that intensified in his last two years in office did not deliver a single promise made upon its... Read More

Ledesma: The expensive price of disobedience

TO help the country bounce back from the economic backlash brought by the Covid-19 pandemic, several provinces and cities were put in a more relaxed quarantine status. Under the Modified General Community Quarantine (MGCQ), which is the least restricted of all the quarantines, more business... Read More

Ledesma:  Missing Duterte?

SEVERAL days ahead of Typhoon Rolly’s landfall, announcements were made through hundreds of media outlets that the howler is extremely powerful it could cause severe destruction along its path. Bicol Region, The Southern Tagalog Region, Metro Manila, and Quezon Province had been alerted and... Read More

Ledesma: Balancing act 

IF there’s one thing that really benefited from the pandemic and from the quarantine...it’s Mother Nature! After so much use and abuse by the people who should be protecting them, Mother Nature had its much-deserved rest! With lesser cars and motorists on the streets, one can... Read More