| February 26, 2013 | By Christopher Chanco under University |
In a pre-dawn crash early this year, the American minesweeper USS Guardian smashed into 1,000 square metres of Tubbataha reef, ravaging one of the last remaining marine biodiversity hotspots in the world on Philippine sovereign territory. Recent estimates of the damage pull up the figure to up to four times that (a). The reef is a Unesco World heritage site, part of the ecologically-sensitive Pacific…
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| December 16, 2012 | By Christopher Chanco and Michelle Sta Romana under Headlines, University |
“Ibalik, ibalik! 12,923 ektaryang APECO, ibalik, ibalik!” cried 125 native Casiguran fisherfolk and farmers, who marched from Aurora to Manila, demanding back their ancestral lands and indigenous rights. Overcoming heat and exhaustion, marchers against the Aurora Pacific Economic Zone and Freeport Authority (APECO) took a 20-day, 370-kilometer journey flagged as “Lakad Katarungan, Lakad Matuwid na Daan (Walk for Justice, Walk the Straight Path)”. Representatives from…
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| November 24, 2012 | By Christopher Chanco under Headlines, Opinion |
Last month, President Aquino found himself on the line in an interview for Radio New Zealand, in which a reporter questioned his administration’s spotty human rights record. Aquino promptly dismissed such allegations as having come from the ‘’leftist community’’ who are ‘’good at propaganda’’ and then went on – with subsequent help from his spokesman Edwin Lacierda – to point to the low poll…
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| September 25, 2012 | By Christopher Chanco under University |
Heaven’s gates are on hiatus. With the tempest turned loose, the rain keeps pouring. The water keeps rising. Thunder keeps booming. By ten in the morning, Liza Hilario is ready to leave. All around her, more keen ears keep constant vigil of radio reports that warn of a high tide – but she and her family are nowhere near the sea. Come noon, a surge…
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| August 22, 2012 | By Christopher Chanco under Menagerie |
Along a stretch of road between a marketplace and the dumpsite is a two-storey concrete building. An unassuming red gate with a sign is all that spells the difference between a run-down apartment block and a house church straight out of the New Testament. Mang Erning pauses before entering. Its huge impact on the lives of hundreds of families like his belies its small stature.…
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| August 22, 2012 | By Christopher Chanco under Menagerie |
It’s present at every major life event imaginable, from baptisms to funerals to school graduations to your regular Sunday mass. It’s a national symbol. It’s the cradle-to-grave Filipino flower. It’s also the stuff garlands are made of, strung together to create something of a cross between a pearl necklace, a rosary and the Hawaiian lei, flowery wreaths draped around the necks of tourists and sweethearts.…
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| August 22, 2012 | By JR Rebellon and Christopher Chanco under Menagerie |
“ The land of the free and the home of the brave… ” The closing words to a song now sung in privatized state schools throughout the nation; which, by the way, have partnered with private enterprise to provide uber-high-tech, sustainable, eco-friendly (on paper anyway) hydroponics farms for every farmer in the countryside. Only this isn’t in America – nor have we stumbled upon some…
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