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Opinion Opinion Feature

To each their own

“Maganda nga, retokada naman.” A few months ago, as I was on the train back home from school, I heard what was probably one of the most degrading statements uttered on public transport. Two girls were talking about a Filipina model who had just admitted to getting work done. Apparently, it was a big deal…

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Opinion Opinion Feature

Let the indies reach the people

The Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) is envisioned as a festival that develops and encourages the production of quality Filipino films. Despite giving artists an opportunity to showcase artistry and originality, the MMFF, in the past years, has almost always featured movies that were money-making mediocrities. The goal of the MMFF swerved from uplifting the…

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Opinion Opinion Feature

Saving the MMFF

Last year’s Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) ran from December 25, 2016 until the first week of January 2017, and was the 42nd edition of the annual tradition to take place. Since 1975, the yearly festival has been putting the spotlight on local films by only allowing Filipino films to be screened in theatres during…

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Opinion Opinion Feature

The problematic tax

Just recently, House Bill No. 4723 or “An Act Imposing Excise Tax on Cosmetic Products, Amended for the Purpose Section 150 of the National Internal Revenue Code of 1997, as Amended” was submitted to Congress. Many netizens took to social media to express their discontent for the proposed 10 to 30 percent tax to be…

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Opinion Opinion Feature

Mental health amidst social media

The year 2016 has caught us by surprise. Among recent events were the victory of Donald Trump in the recent presidential elections of the United States, the monumental 9-5 decision by the Supreme Court, and the sudden burial of the dictator Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani (LNMB). Meanwhile, social media sites remain…

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Opinion Opinion Feature

Authenticity in Anonymity

Who doesn’t love calling out liars red-handed? From a senator guilty of plagiarism, to a pop singer lying about song lyric permissions, the media thrives on exposing tall-telling public figures. MTV even produced a spin-off of an indie series centered on ‘catfish’, revolving around what else—people deceiving other people. Business is good, apparently, with the…

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Opinion

The price of remembering

We would often rather forget all the bad things that happen to us. Embarrassing experiences. Failed classes. Bad break-ups. Unlike in that one episode in Black Mirror, we can’t just go through our memories and relive them whenever we want. Therefore, with our limited storage space, why waste it on the bad stuff? And as…

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Opinion

Drawing the Line

Just recently, President Rodrigo Duterte in a speech in Malacañang issued a threat to human rights activists, telling them that he will be forced to kill them should they continue interfering with his war on drugs campaign. Because these people pin the rising number of casualties and killings on Duterte, he also stated that such…

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Opinion Opinion Feature

Project management

Eat, sleep, study, and work. A never ending cycle of doing what you have to do and not what you want to do. This is how I felt the moment I started working on multiple on-call part-time jobs. I never even realized it until one of my friends asked me on the progress of my…

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Opinion Opinion Feature

The temptation of authoritarianism

After having a debate about democracy and authoritarianism, my professor asked my class which form of government we’d prefer. To her surprise, those who spoke up chose authoritarianism. At the time, I myself was one of those in favor of authoritarianism with the condition of an exceptional leader. I am not sure if my decision…