Prospects of demographic dividend in the Philippines and key lessons from East Asia’s experience [Note: This article was published by IBON on 4 April 2021] At the turn of the millennium, there were about 28 million Filipinos aged 0–14 who depended on 45 million people of working ages. …

Today was my first time to commute to work since this lockdown started. I was nervous, of course, but I was amazed at the level of discipline demonstrated by everyone I met from home to office. Buses, jeepneys, and tricycles, strictly operating at limited capacity, put up plastic dividers to…

Online polls have become a very convenient and popular strategy for gathering data. After all, online survey forms are easy to create, with the help of free applications such as Google Forms and Survey Monkey. They do not require a sampling frame, which is almost impossible to obtain anyway. The…

There are at least three occasions in which Metro Manila cannot casually hide the poor in plain sight: local elections, national elections, and a global pandemic. While all are catastrophic in their own right, the virus and the lockdown have proven exceptionally disastrous for at least 4.5 …

The Eiffel Tower is dim in comparison to the Gilets jaunes or the yellow vests that have filled the streets of France for four weeks now. All romance has left Paris. …

“Only you know what this means.” The manggagamot, a young Masbatena in her early 30s, gave me a sinister look and pointed to what looked like an umbilical cord, which extended from the object formed out of melting the candle. I looked at my parents, perplexed and ashamed for no…