Ruben Cruz Jr.

When do sports figures become heroes? The word “hero” is sometimes used far too freely nowadays. Many athletes have been called heroes, even if they make all sorts of fumbles in their personal lives, often failing to match the heroic feats they show in their respective sports.  

Before the pandemic, many Filipino families did not rule out a private school education for their children because of the cost. But as the pandemic raged on, many parents increasingly sought out public schools, unable to afford the price tag of private schools.

John Cena, an American actor and entertainment wrestler who stars in the latest Fast and the Furious sequel, was recently seen on social media delivering an apology that sounded quite contrite but was also rather rambling and vague.

The families of workers receiving fixed wages would not be surprised at all with the findings of a recent study, which showed Manila as the third most expensive city among six cities in Southeast Asia despite having the lowest average salary.

One doesn’t need to see the weather bureau’s records of average everyday temperatures to know that this summer is scorching.

Daily virus cases in Metro Manila and its surrounding provinces of Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna and Rizal have reportedly been declining after they were placed under enhanced community quarantine from March 29 to April 11, and then under modified ECQ from April 12, which will last until May 14.

Are we the only ones who find it ironic that the Duterte administration would seek to cut red tape in government by adding another government office that seeks to cut red tape in government?

The late Brazilian Roman Catholic Archbishop Helder Camara, one of the most prominent liberation theologians of Latin America, who was also called the ‘Bishop of the slums’, once famously said:  “When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why they are poor, they call me a communist.”

The authors of the Telecommuting Act in Congress, more popularly known as the Work-from-Home (WFH) law, probably never imagined that it would become the norm for many businesses the way it is now because of pandemic-induced lockdowns.

Beijing’s belligerence and bullying of the Philippines is made obvious even in the way it deals with our government officials.

People are dying in Myanmar during this pandemic and not from Covid-19 either.

An article in the New York Times last March 13, titled “Covid? What Covid? Taiwan Thrives as a Bubble of Normality”, is instructive of what life is like in a country that has so far been relatively successful in its battle against the Covid-19.

Our identity as a country and people goes beyond the words that are stamped on our passports. There are surely a lot of things that divide us, but many things can unite us as well.

Adapting to distance learning has posed tremendous challenges for schools, teachers, students and their families. This is true for all levels of education, as well as all socioeconomic levels.

The lockdowns that were imposed across the country starting March 2020 or one year ago to contain the Covid-19 pandemic completely disrupted the country’s economy.

A vigorous national defense cannot exist without strong, security alliances with other nations. It is nice to have the assurance that those foolish enough to threaten our country would be confronted not only by our own military but those of other nations who are our allies.

The economic crisis created by the Covid-19 pandemic calls for urgent policy responses from the government to support households and businesses trying to stay afloat.

At a time when countries all over the world should be working together to contain a virus that originated from China, which has already infected over 100 million people and impoverished millions more, here comes the Chinese government passing a law that will surely cause distrust and division.

Joyce Kilmer’s poem, Trees, goes: “I think that I shall never see /A poem lovely as a tree”… and many of the older generations can recite the rest of it by heart, perhaps because it is one of the first poems they learned in school or from their parents at home.

Flight attendant Christine Dacera’s untimely death bears painful evidence of the country’s lack of emergency medical services and the need to improve our capacity to deal with health emergencies.

The House committee on constitutional amendments is set to reopen charter change hearings this week, with congressmen promising to focus only on amending the economic provisions of the Constitution, in particular those that prevent foreign ownership of land and certain businesses in the country.

WE have dedicated, intelligent, honest and hardworking policemen in the Philippine National Police. But there are many corrupt cops whose criminal activities have been destroying the image of the PNP. Their rogue and often violent behavior erodes the people’s trust in those mandated to protect them.

WE have heard it said that a crisis is like a magnifying glass. It enlarges our understanding of our helplessness and helps us see clearly our need for God.

There is no better argument in favor of a smaller, less costly and more accountable government than the absurdity of the House of Representatives having 32 deputy speakers.

You would be lucky to find a Filipino who still believes Congress no longer has any pork barrel just because the Supreme Court in 2013 declared the legislators’ Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) unconstitutional.

Former Sen. Rodolfo Biazon once said that any insurgency, any rebellion, cannot be quashed just by rounding up and killing the government’s “enemies.”

Climate change is a convenient culprit and excuse for certain tragedies but we fail to remember that climate change is caused by human activity and it can also be mitigated by responsible action.

The record turnout of voters in the recent U.S. presidential election is a lesson in civic participation that all Filipinos could learn from.

The Department of Energy’s recent decision to stop endorsing new coal power plants should be lauded and welcomed. Indeed, it took a long time coming.

Pope Francis has often rattled the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church, with his fresh and at times controversial messages. His recent statement on same-sex civil unions, which appear in the documentary “Francesco”, was bound to perk up people’s ears regardless of which side of the issue they stand on.

The economic crisis brought about by the pandemic makes the “Buy Filipino” campaign even more important.

It is quite difficult to make an elected official give up an office, especially in this country, but sometimes it does happen. On August 3, 2011, Senator Miguel Zubiri resigned as senator, after his victory in the 2007 midterm elections was questioned before the Senate Electoral Tribunal.

Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez said in an interview with ABS-CBN News Channel (ANC) that there are still about 4 million potential voters who need to get registered. They are the young people who have recently become eligible to register to vote for the May 2022 elections.

The recent spate of road accidents involving buses has the same sickening culprit: bad, irresponsible driving.

Filipino Catholics observed the 92nd birth anniversary of the departed Manila Archbishop Jaime Cardinal L. Sin on August 31.

The damage to the job market caused by the pandemic looks likely to be deep and long lasting as Covid-19 cases continue to rise in the country.

The recent easing of quarantine restrictions in Metro Manila came with a “uniform” 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew that was announced by presidential spokesperson Harry Roque without much-needed clarity and guidance.

The Covid-19 pandemic is having an unprecedented negative impact on the country’s tourism industry, which accounted for 12.7 percent of the country’s gross domestic product and 13.5 percent of national employment in 2019.

“Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and unto God what is God’s.”

Doing the right thing can never be the right thing for all workers all the time in the labor sector but certainly, if you are a party-list group in Congress that professedly represents the welfare of workers, it would be somewhat expected of you to go against a measure that would render a lot of workers jobless, especially during this pandemic when joblessness is at an all-time high.

More than a few companies have continued to let their staff work-from-home (WFH) even after quarantine measures have been relaxed in Metro Manila and other areas. Some businesses are even thinking of adopting this arrangement for good or at least for some time, a commendable policy as the number of Covid-19 cases continues to surge in the country.

After years of waiting, nurses working in government hospitals finally get their promised pay hike after the Department of Budget and Management issued a circular that implements Section 32 of Republic Act 9173, or the Philippine Nursing Act of 2002, which mandates a minimum monthly base pay of P32,053 to P34,801.

IN parliamentary language, tabling a bill does not automatically mean killing it. Under the rules of parliamentary procedure, it can mean setting a bill aside or putting it on hold until such time when the debate on it can be resumed.

IT took a pandemic for the government to seriously promote bicycle riding for everyday transport and consider ways to ensure the safety and convenience of bicycle riders. Better late than never.

The war against global terrorism should never curtail democratic rights and civil liberties enshrined in our Constitution and the laws of our land.

Easing Metro Manila into general community quarantine (GCQ), a softer version of the government’s strict quarantine measures, involves a delicate balance of trying to restart our battered economy without fueling a second wave of Covid-19 infections.

What would education be like in the midst of this unprecedented crisis brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic?

Trending photos of crowded malls and congested roads in Metro Manila under modified enhanced community quarantine have elicited negative comments on social media against some people who ignore social distancing protocols.

One wonders why people think banning something is the only way to stop it. Take the liquor ban, implemented by a number cities when lockdown measures were imposed. The liquor ban did not stop the availability of contraband liquor in these areas. It only encouraged citizens to violate quarantine by going out to other cities, like Makati, where liquor is being sold legally.

As of 26 April 2020, Taiwan, which has a population of close to 24 million (the 17th most densely populated country in the world) only has 429 confirmed cases of Covid-19, with 281 recoveries and 6 deaths.

Taiwan’s relatively successful containment of the virus—despite its close proximity to China and the frequency of travel between China and Taiwan, and despite it being shut out of the World Health Organization—deserves to be emulated.

One of the highly contentious issues since the Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) throughout Luzon took effect is the ban on the sale and consumption of liquor, which is being enforced by several LGUs in Metro Manila as well as by other cities and provinces outside of Luzon.

President Duterte has already thanked China twice in two public addresses on the Covid-19 pandemic. Since then, the government has received more than 100,000 test kits from China. The Chinese government has also sent a team of 12 medical experts to share their knowledge in handling Covid-19 cases with Filipino medical professionals. They brought with them 5,000 PPEs, 300,000 surgical masks, 30,000 medical N95 masks, 5,000 medical protective face shields, and 30 noninvasive ventilators from the Chinese government.

Even with the government-mandated quarantine, curfew and other restrictions in effect, a good number of Filipinos still find ways to help our health workers save lives and try to contain the Covid-19 pandemic.

Many students of both private and public schools, universities and colleges saw their facilities close due to the Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) that President Duterte enforced from March 13 until April 15 to combat the Covid-19 pandemic.

WHEN do people become heroes? Definitely the word “hero” is used far too freely nowadays. All sorts of people, including athletes, celebrities and politicians are called heroes when, at times, they shouldn’t be. There have been many so-called heroes who have faltered in real life, even while they were hailed and adored publicly. Too often, we also put our heroes on a pedestal, and then wait for them to self-destruct and fall. 

Farming is where the money is. This may be hard to believe in a country where farmers are mostly old and poor. Based on a 2017 survey of the Department of Agriculture (DA), the average age of farmers in the Philippines is 60 years old. And their average income is around P100,000 a year, according to the latest Family Income and Expenditure Survey, or just over P8,000 a month, which is well below the poverty line.

Many Filipinos have joined millions all over the world in mourning the death of basketball great Kobe Bryant.

As of this writing, the bumper harvest of gold medals of Team Philippines in the 30th Southeast Asian Games already assures our country of the overall championship.

IN last Tuesday’s editorial, we made a case for the necessity of newspapers in a world where more and more people are increasingly getting their news from various sources on the Internet.

The last time the Southeast Asian Games (SEAG or SEA Games) was held in the Philippines, our country won its first-ever overall title. That was in 2005, our third time to host the regional multisport event.

Despite intensifying global efforts, our government agencies are having a hard time tackling the growing poaching crisis that threatens to wipe out our critical wildlife species, like the Philippine pangolin and marine turtles.

According to its chairman, Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, the priorities of the Senate Committee on Energy in the 18th Congress would include the creation of “a national policy and framework to encourage the uptake of electric vehicles [EV] in the public and private sectors.”

Deals and quid pro quos are nothing new in Philippine politics. Nevertheless, members of the House of Representatives are taking horse-trading to a new level.

Millennials might not believe this but there was a time in Metro Manila when those who went to Simbang Gabi had to wear coats, not just for porma (to look good) but to really keep warm from the cold that could fog up the breaths of massgoers. Indeed, there was a time one need not go all the way to Tagaytay or Baguio to see morning fog creeping up the streets, because Manila had it during the holidays, even as early as ‘BER’ months.

Archbishop Oscar Romero in his Christmas Eve homily in 1978 said, “No one can celebrate a genuine Christmas without being truly poor. The self-sufficient, the proud, those who, because they have everything, look down on others, those who have no need of God—for them there will be no Christmas. Only the poor, the hungry, those who need someone to come on their behalf, will have that someone. That someone is God, Emmanuel, God-with-us. Without poverty of spirit, there can be no abundance of God.”