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Continue reading →: Senate’s Soft Touch Scandal: Lacanilao’s 48-Hour Free Pass Sparks OutrageBy Louis ‘Barok‘ C. Biraogo — April 27, 2025 WHEN Ambassador Markus Lacanilao waltzed out of Senate custody after a mere 48 hours for dodging questions about Rodrigo Duterte’s ICC surrender, Senator Imee Marcos didn’t just cry foul—she detonated a political bombshell. Branding the detention a “favored” farce, Marcos accused…
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Continue reading →: China’s Hidden Hand: The Threat to Philippine Democracy in 2025By Louis ‘Barok‘ C. Biraogo — April 27, 2025 IN A modest barangay in Quezon City, Nora Dela Cruz, a 62-year-old schoolteacher, sifts through her Facebook feed, her eyes narrowing at posts decrying the U.S.-Philippine Balikatan exercises as a peril to peace in the South China Sea. The messages, cloaked…
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Continue reading →: Davao’s Broken Promises: Millions for Seminars, Misery for the DisabledBy Louis ‘Barok‘ C. Biraogo — April 26, 2025 IN A cramped Davao City barangay, 14-year-old Jessa, who has spina bifida, waits for a wheelchair the city promised her family two years ago. The cost to repair her broken one? Less than P20,000—about the price of a single coffee break…
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Continue reading →: Rice at ₱20: The Philippines’ High-Stakes Bet to Feed Its PeopleBy Louis ‘Barok‘ C. Biraogo — April 26, 2025 IN A cramped shanty in Manila’s Tondo slum, Maria Santos, a 38-year-old mother of four, stares at a nearly empty rice sack. Last week, she skipped her hypertension medicine to buy a kilo of rice at ₱48, a choice that haunts…
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Continue reading →: Comelec’s SCO Against Camille Villar: Dynastic Smackdown or Political Witch Hunt?By Louis ‘Barok‘ C. Biraogo — April 24, 2025 THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) has slung a show-cause order (SCO) at Camille Villar, senatorial aspirant and heir to the Villar dynasty’s throne, for allegedly flirting with vote-buying at a cash raffle in Imus, Cavite. With her brother, Mark Villar—former DPWH…
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Continue reading →: Blood on the Bench: Dicdican’s Murder Rap Shatters Judicial SanctityBy Louis ‘Barok‘ C. Biraogo — April 25, 2025 Introduction: A Judiciary Bleeding Trust The Supreme Court’s April 23, 2025, charge of gross misconduct against retired Court of Appeals Justice Isaias Dicdican for allegedly masterminding the 2020 murder of Atty. Joey Luis Wee isn’t just a scandal—it’s a gut-punch to…
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Continue reading →: SC’s Beachfront Smackdown: Illegal Shacks Get the BootBy Louis ‘Barok‘ C. Biraogo — April 24, 2025 FOR half a century, the Calimlims ruled Matabungkay Beach with their videoke dens and eatery empire—until the Supreme Court dropped the hammer, calling their setup a public nuisance. The January 2025 ruling greenlights demolition, but leaves small-time vendors in the dust.…
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Continue reading →: Steel Dreams or Smoke and Mirrors? The Truth Behind China’s Promise in SaranganiBy Louis ‘Barok‘ C. Biraogo — April 23, 2025 IN THE quiet coastal town of Maasim, Sarangani, Rosadelima Mangelen once tilled land her family owned, coaxing life from the soil. Today, that land is transforming into a sprawling steel plant, a $1 billion project by China’s Panhua Group that promises…
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Continue reading →: Manila’s High-Stakes Dodge: Can the Philippines Skirt a Taiwan War Without Constitutional Chaos?By Louis ‘Barok’ C Biraogo — April 24, 2025 Introduction: A Legal Tightrope Over a Geopolitical Volcano The Philippines is perched on a geopolitical fault line, with Taiwan’s fate dangling like a lit fuse. China’s saber-rattling looms just 88 miles from Batanes, while the U.S. pumps iron through joint Balikatan…
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Continue reading →: Waves of Wrath: A Fisherman’s Fight in the Shadow of WarBy Louis ‘Barok‘ C. Biraogo — April 23, 2025 Caught in the Crosshairs: A Fisherman’s Plight In the predawn haze off Palawan’s coast, Juanito, a wiry Filipino fisherman with calloused hands and a weathered cap, steers his outrigger toward the Spratly Islands. The sea, once his family’s lifeblood, now feels…






