The recent cases of maltreatment by bludgeoning that resulted in the death of a (docile) golden retriever in Bicol is just a manifestation of the dismal state of animal welfare in the Philippines. Samples of animal cruelty to animals are abandonment, starving animals in barangay pounds– where the dogs and cats are just waiting to be slaughtered, and in some private homes leaving them locked up or tied on areas without roofs, water and care. This earns us a grade of zero in terms of animal care.

PH still blind to animal welfare

An interesting study published in the Conversation website last April 13, says that the eyes can reveal a lot about our brain’s health and that problems with the eyes can be one of the earliest signs of a cognitive decline.

Eyes can predict dementia

The obsession to lie about the country’s growth projections– including controlling inflation at all cost– would be the biggest mistake of this administration.

AO20 is anti-farmer, fisherfolk

A proposal by the Management Association of the Philippines– an influential business group, whose officers and ranks perhaps have the biggest fleet of operating cars and other modes of transport in Metro Manila– had asked the Marcos administration to declare a state of calamity in MM for traffic. Another of its proposal is to designate a traffic czar/tsar– a term used for dictators and those with absolute power like a ruler or emperor in Russia. Up until the 20th century the ruler in Russia was called a czar, who really held the citizens with his might. But that is Russia– a dictatorship up until now under President Vladimir Putin, the perpetual strongman.

The nastiness of MM’s traffic jams

The headline which caught my attention yesterday was DOJ, PNP warning its members from cooperating with the International Criminal Court on the investigation it is conducting on former President Rodrigo Duterte over his extrajudicial killings and his violent war on drugs.



What threat to sovereignty?

Even if this administration is able to equip farms with (even the most basic to the ultra-modern) farm machinery, we can never really call the agriculture sector as modernized for as long as farmers’ income, welfare, food availability and accessibility do not improve, but continue to retrogress.

Agriculture is far from modernizing

No amount of reminders or prodding by the President to government officials and employees to take the lead in obeying traffic rules and be models of road discipline can make them toe the line.

Politicians think they are above the law

Introduced to us by the Spaniards, sugar was one commodity that was not endemic to the Philippines and which historically was marketed locally by the Chinese merchants (who still dominate the local sugar market).

Importations signal ‘death knell’ for sugar

Faced with yawning unemployment and underemployment and a poverty level that is being swiped and covered whenever foreign dignitaries and visitors arrive, the Philippines is far from being in the lower or middle rich country stage. So how much more an Upper Middle Income Country status? Being a UMIC seems to be an obsession of economists in both the government and private sector.

The obsession with UMIC status

I came across a beautiful piece about this topic from the website of Expert Editor written by Eliza Hartley last April 7, and I couldn’t help but agree with some, if not all, of her 12 point tips on overcoming loneliness with age.

Overcoming loneliness as you age

The Bare Truth column by OpinYon News columnist, Rose De La Cruz.

Bare Truth

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