Standpoint
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Should The Philippine Government Apologize?
Three Years after the Manila hostage crisis that resulted in 8 fatalities and many wounded, the Hong Kong government is still adamantly demanding an apology from the Philippine president. It has threatened to impose sanctions if a presidential apology is not given. Sanctions include scrapping visa-free access to Filipinos with other unspecified economic sanctions. They would also most likely include the Philippines in a travel blacklist. (Photo credit to the owner.) If these sanctions are put in place, Filipinos looking for employment in Hong Kong may be affected by this but there are plenty of other options for them. For Filipino tourists, this would hardly be a problem as there…
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The Real Cost Of Rising Prices Associated With Higher Education
In the wake of the dramatic health care modifications associated with Obamacare, it is easy to forget about the Obama Administration’s promises concerning education reform. The Huffington Post article “Obama Education Promises Face Rocky Path Forward” reminds us of the ambitious goals announced on the campaign trail concerning America’s pursuit of higher of education. Make U.S. #1 In National Populations With Greatest Number Of College Graduates Incentivize Price Lowering Initiatives Among Colleges And Universities According to the article, the U.S. is one of the rare developed nations where retiring members of the workforce are more educated than the people expected to fill their positions. The result is a less globally…
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A Call and A Challenge To Conserve Water
While reading this, you might left your faucet open. Kindly, turned it off first. Imagine, if you’re so thirsty but when you tried to get water from the faucet, you just squeezed a drop. Can you cook without water? Can you keep a good personal hygiene without water? In short, can you live without water? If you answered NO, then you must act now. Recent studies showed that the Philippines is facing a water crisis over the next 10 years unless new sources are developed to meet growing demand. “There is a [Japan International Cooperation Agency] study that says that in 2025 if we will not conserve water, there may…
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Pay Your Taxes First Before You Complain
Taxes. Just the mere mention of that word makes the working man cringe. After slaving away for hours each day, he comes home with a salary that has been greatly reduced by withholding taxes. He buys food for his family and every single item of food he buys is also subjected to tax. Next thing you know, he’ll also be paying taxes for the air he breathes. Though we dread it like a plague, taxes are much needed by the government to fund its social programs. These are used to provide health services to the underprivileged, to build more public schools and classrooms, to ensure our safety and to build…
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Is Poverty an Excuse to Commit Suicide?
The death of Kristel Tejada, a student of the University of Manila who committed suicide allegedly due to her inability to settle her account with the said university, has sparked many arguments about the state of education in our country, about poverty, and about the emotional state of today’s youth. While many blame the current system of the University of the Philippines, there are those who believe that this problem alone should not have pushed Tejada to take her own life. This incident has raised questions on whether poverty is an excuse to commit suicide. Although researchers have documented a link between socioeconomic status and mental health, there are no…
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Providing Convenience To Vets
Everyday, you can see a long line of the living veterans of war in the Veterans Affairs Office at the main military headquarters. They may have traveled from afar and unfortunately they are no car for vets provided for them. Lucky for those veterans who have few kind family members and relatives to help them in processing their claims for pensions and other benefits from the government. Surely, the process to get their old age pension, death pension, disability pension, hospitalization, educational benefit, burial assistance, total administrative disability and the like usually undergo through tedious steps. There are satellite offices of Veterans Affairs Office in the provinces, however, not all…
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Election 2013: Campaign Jingles That Cost More Than Song
You know that campaign season has officially started when many television viewers and radio listeners would rather just put their headphones on and listen to their favorite playlists than to hear campaign jingles and ads. Campaign jingles have been part of elections for decades now. Though they never guarantee that a candidate will win in the election, a well-composed jingle is effective in getting a name through the voters and becomes an indispensable branding tool. These do not come just for a song though. These campaign jingles do come for a hefty fee though with some going for around 25,000 pesos to as much as 150,000 pesos. This amount does…
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Are Taxes Really Working For The Citizens?
If I answer this is in the affirmative, many will say that it’s pure rubbish. And many people believed that the taxes we pay merely find their way into the pockets of powers-that-be and are used to fund their luxuries. Unfortunately, there is a little bit of truth to this and former government officials charged with graft and corruption furnished enough proof of this. This is one of the primary excuses of those who refused to pay their income taxes. They assert that they do not see their taxes working for them and are therefore not wont to pay for them. This does not necessarily ring true as taxes, although…
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The Inviolable Separation of Church and State
It was as clear as the sun. The Article II, Section 6 of the 1987 Constitution of the Philippines stated that, “The separation of Church and State shall be inviolable.” Furthermore, Article III, Section 5 also states that, “No law shall be made respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. The free exercise and enjoyment of religious profession and worship, without discrimination or preference, shall forever be allowed. No religious test shall be required for the exercise of civil or political rights.” Apart from these two, no other provision further clarifies the parameters of separation of Church and State. Presumably, this gives the Church a freedom…