Opinion and Commentary

Ledesma: Our human frailties

October 24, 2019, 5:33 pm

THE peso and the stock market showed dramatic performance and the economy is seen to end with 6% growth. Young Filipino dabbling on science unlocked the challenged to convert noise pollution into electrical energy. Elsewhere in the globe, Egypt and Ethiopia lock horns over water that flows in the… Read More

Ledesma: Davao City tops in peace and economic growth

October 17, 2019, 2:25 pm

BUSES to replace rolling coffins salvaged and smuggled to Davao and underground cabling in city thoroughfares plus 14 insurgency free barangays in what used to be a CPP/NPA bastion -Paquibato District - are among the highlights in brief but the only-real-data-filled state of the city address of… Read More

Ledesma: Death wish, bad wish

October 9, 2019, 2:57 pm

BEWARE of what you wish and pray for. It could boomerang. Jim Paredes is so consumed with his hatred for Pres. Rodrigo Duterte, he plastered his face on Facebook angry at the man he cannot accept has at least 16-million fans who voted him to office instead of a wimp he had hoped will succeed… Read More

Ledesma: What’s happening in Davao del Norte

October 4, 2019, 2:13 pm

MINDANAO'S biggest dollar-earning agricultural industry is (cavendish) bananas. At an average of one employee for every 1-1/2 hectares, not counting the administrative staff, the industry accounts for the biggest number of labor force. Last year’s January to November export revenues contributed… Read More

Ledesma: Canine behavior of US politicians

September 30, 2019, 1:34 pm

THE problem that besets America is the overdose of hubris and severe prejudices of some of its political leaders against other nations. I like America and its people and this is the same reason why not a few Filipinos opted to live, work and visit the country every so often. America, after all,… Read More

Balanza: Day of the homeless poor

September 19, 2019, 1:38 pm

THERE is a day that the Pinoy homeless poor should celebrate: September 6, 2019. On that day, government agencies and various stakeholders with a heart and mission to provide a home to every Filipino homeless family congregated to map out a plan to strengthen the government's socialized housing… Read More

Ledesma: Modus Vivendi in DPWH

September 16, 2019, 3:43 pm

THE Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) should start blacklisting contractors who do not have the wherewithal to accomplish jobs at the shortest possible time. In Davao City, home of Pres. Rodrigo R. Duterte, DPWH does not seem to worry about the efficiency of contractors and the… Read More

Ledesma: Don’t starve our farmers

September 10, 2019, 10:39 am

DEAR Sec. William Dar sir.  You do not solve the problem of rice farmers by asking the local government units to buy their palay (unmilled rice). Neither will you be able to solve their plight by extending them palliative monetary dole-outs. You should not pass the buck to the LGUs. That is not… Read More

Ledesma: What’s eating Lagman?

August 29, 2019, 8:45 pm

SUBLIME idiocy can surprisingly emerge from an idle mind. Sen Christopher “Bong” Go was busy going around the country setting up Malasakit Centers where it is most needed by people who are deprived of decent medical and financial assistance and out of the blue Albay Congressman Edcel Lagman… Read More

Ledesma: Bato’s waggly tongue

August 23, 2019, 9:36 pm

BECAUSE of simple math that theoretically extrapolated numbers of rare days of good conduct by an inmate that serves seven life sentences, the nation went agog when rapist and multiple-murderer Antonio Sanchez was said to be a candidate for deliverance. It would have just been a conjecture except… Read More

Ledesma: Of gifts, omission and commission

August 20, 2019, 11:02 am

THE last three years of the Duterte administration is the most crucial.it is noteworthy however that he has the leadership of the legislative department on his side because the achievement of his political and development agenda would depend largely on the lawmakers and the members of the… Read More

Ledesma: Campus activism over dead ideologies

August 14, 2019, 11:54 am

STUDENT activism has been commonplace in college and university campuses. We were all lured into it in the mid-1960s. I am not sure now which came first - the Communist Party of the Philippines, the New Peoples Army or the Kabataang Makabayan but each has the fingerprints of Jose Ma. Sison. It… Read More

Badoy: Love story for Teddy

August 12, 2019, 11:14 am

AWING Apuga was 5 years old when he was taken away from his parents to be educated in Salugpungan Ta’tanu Igkanugon Learning Center, Inc (STITILCI) --a school his father, the chieftain of the Ata Manobo tribe of Talaingod, Davao del Norte, Datu Guibang Apuga help found. Together with other tribe… Read More

Ledesma: Davao City grand Kadayawan Festival

August 11, 2019, 10:37 pm

GO south, fly south! For the whole month of August starting from Day 1, Davao City celebrates Kadayawan Festival which will culminate in grand festivities on August 16 replete with activities that include an array of colorful tribal dances at their best performances and originality, fruits and… Read More

Ledesma: DENGUE and PRRD’s mosquito net

August 7, 2019, 5:00 pm

LETHARGY is a syndrome in the bureaucracy.  In government, it is quite acute especially with the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) and the Department of Health. The COMELEC is busy before during and after elections, all for about 60 days, which happens once every three years but the poll body is… Read More

Ledesma: STL and Lotto are legal fronts

July 30, 2019, 8:49 am

THE gospel in last Sunday Mass was about the total destruction Sodom and Gomorrah on account of the detestable things they do before the eyes of God. The story of the annihilation of these degenerate towns appeared not only in the Bible but also in the Koran. When Abraham heard of this severe… Read More

Ledesma: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

July 24, 2019, 3:59 pm

IN his State of the Nation Address, Pres. Rodrigo R. Duterte leafed through the pages of his performance report. Despite the magma of critical issues that were highlighted by organized coteries of critics that are out to discredit his administration, Duterte read through the pages among these were… Read More

Ledesma: Digong must have done something good

July 20, 2019, 2:36 am

NO amount of incendiary verbiages spiced with twisted statistics that come from the moribund political opposition and foreign interlopers can bring down the Philippine President Rodrigo R. Duterte. You can fault him for his expletives but that actually defines his hatred against crime, corruption… Read More

Ledesma: Oh Iceland and Mexico how could you?

July 12, 2019, 2:57 pm

ICELAND authored a resolution to conduct a probe of (extra-judicial) killings related to the drug campaign waged by the Duterte Administration. This stemmed from the allegation that over 27,000 perished in the government’s war against drugs. I do not know where this figure came from but judging… Read More

Ledesma: A serious fish talk

July 11, 2019, 3:40 pm

THE Philippines has its own versions of politicians and characters who are advocates of aggressive foreign policy. Think of this. A fishing boat anchored in Recto Bank was figured in an accident and side-swiped by a Chinese fishing vessel in an inky dark sea and the hawks are one to invoke the… Read More