Opinion and Commentary
Ledesma: Online selling fuels economic activity during pandemic
November 19, 2020, 3:29 pm
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
November 19, 2020, 3:22 pm
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… Read More
Ledesma: Who should Biden believe?
November 13, 2020, 8:25 pm
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
November 11, 2020, 9:49 pm
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 launch:… Read More
Ledesma: The expensive price of disobedience
November 9, 2020, 9:25 am
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?
November 6, 2020, 3:35 pm
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
November 2, 2020, 1:02 am
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 breathe fresh… Read More
Ledesma: The battle of 'isms' and Red-tagging
October 30, 2020, 2:03 pm
WHAT’S the big fuss over communism and being a communist? Communism had been decriminalized a long time ago. The problem here is that Jose Ma. Sison refused to dismantle the New People’s Army and that is the root cause why Red tagging becomes a controversy. If the government has Bureau of… Read More
Laurel: Xi’s Korean War warning to preserve peace
October 26, 2020, 5:28 pm
THE West really turned its head east and widened its eyes and ears when last October 23, President Xi Jinping, presiding over a major commemoration of the 70th anniversary of China’s entry into the Korean War or the “War to Resist American Aggression and Aid Korea,” spoke of the push back… Read More
Ledesma: To Sir and Ma’am, with love
October 26, 2020, 5:18 pm
ASK any group of children what they want to become when they grow up, and the majority will reply... “I want to be a Teacher!” It’s a dream profession for many, including this writer. Ask any group of teenagers who their first crush was, and the majority will shyly confess... “It’s my… Read More
Ledesma: DepEd’s display of profligacy
October 24, 2020, 10:02 pm
SECRETARY Leonor Briones of the Department of Education (DepEd) should be ashamed of herself. Buying 254 units of Mitsubishi pickups with a price tag of P1.4-million each (https://www.topgear.com.ph/news/industry-news/2020-mitsubishi-strada-specs-prices-features-a962-20201023) is not only… Read More
Ledesma: Ganging up on Pialago
October 22, 2020, 5:35 pm
CELINE Pialago, the articulate and straight-to-the-point spokesperson of Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) was on the receiving end of hysterical flak from the phalanx of human rights activists, leftist propagandists, and some ignoramuses in the movie world. These stemmed from her remarks… Read More
Ledesma: Kindness knows no quarantine
October 16, 2020, 5:37 pm
ONE of the silver linings during the Covid-19 pandemic is the random act of kindness from ordinary citizens. While the government continues to provide for our needy brothers and sisters through the Bayanihan Acts 1 and 2, a number of private individuals were silently doing their own fundraising… Read More
Ledesma: Lord and the gavel
October 14, 2020, 9:11 pm
IRREVOCABLE resignation and the symbolism of mace are now irrelevant. As the last string to cling to the speakership of the House, a faithful subaltern of Rep. Bebot Alvarez quickly took hold of the mace believing he or she who is in possession of the mace is the legitimate speaker. In a… Read More
Ledesma: And the survey says ...
October 8, 2020, 12:56 pm
I DON'T know who commissioned Pulse Asia to conduct a survey on the sentiments of the people amidst the pandemic which, like other countries worldwide, shook the foundations of every government and private institution. The Philippines is not spared and considering the density of our population the… Read More
Ledesma: Metrics that matter
October 5, 2020, 5:04 pm
EVERYDAY, we are being bombarded with negative news, gloomy forecasts, and government inefficiencies and ineffectiveness. If we are to believe everything that these naysayers are saying, it looks like the Philippines and the Filipinos can no longer recover from the ill effects of the pandemic. If… Read More
Ledesma: Gap in the Davao-Samal bridge project
October 3, 2020, 10:51 pm
THE proposed Davao-Samal Bridge still remains to be an elusive dream. The groundbreaking ceremony scheduled in September hit a snag and the problem seemed to have compounded. Let’s rewind the narratives years back. The first viable feasibility study was done by the Japan International… Read More
Laurel: President Duterte and Xi's visionary UNGA statements
September 29, 2020, 4:53 pm
“THE future we want, the United Nations we need: reaffirming our collective commitment to multilateralism” is the theme of the 75th United Nations anniversary commemorated by the global institution last September 21, 2020. Stressing Multilateralism, which is commonly understood to mean “an… Read More
Ledesma: A time for everything
September 28, 2020, 3:20 pm
PRESIDENT Rodrigo R. Duterte has been in the receiving end of debasing criticisms from the time he entered the Presidential derby. He has been called “taga bundok” and one who lacks decency by people in filmdom who themselves wallow in the murk of indecency. An ex-diplomat who felt she is the… Read More
Ledesma: The digital world of insurance
September 25, 2020, 2:55 pm
THERE was a time when selling an insurance product and servicing a policyholder requires physical presence and involve tons of paperwork. My late father was an insurance agent (with then Filipinas Life) for about 3 years before becoming an OFW. I remember every night he will take out all those… Read More
