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Continue reading →: Concrete Dreams, Hollow Deeds: Marcos’ Housing Hope EntombedBy Louis ‘Barok‘ C. Biraogo — April 4, 2025 Trapped in a Slum’s Desperate Embrace THE stench of sewage fills Maria Santos’ tiny plywood shack, clinging to her clothes, her skin, her hopes. Outside, Manila’s skyscrapers shimmer in the distance—monuments to a prosperity she’ll never touch. Three years ago, President…
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Continue reading →: Congress Pulled a Heist on PhilHealth—and Justice Caguioa’s Ready to Call It a CrimeBy Louis ‘Barok‘ C. Biraogo — April 4, 2025 UNDER the cover of legislative darkness, Congress executes a stunning financial heist—P89.9 billion vanishes from PhilHealth’s coffers, reappearing in the national treasury’s shadows. But Justice Alfredo Benjamin Caguioa, armed with the precision of a seasoned investigator and the patience of a…
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Continue reading →: In the Philippines, Power Crumbles When the Rice Bowl EmptiesBy Louis ‘Barok‘ C. Biraogo — April 3, 2025 IN THE Philippines, where politics is as much about rice as it is about rhetoric, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is learning a brutal lesson: approval ratings don’t just dip—they can crater. The latest Pahayag First Quarter Survey, conducted by PUBLiCUS Asia…
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Continue reading →: Duterte’s Hand-Off, Malacañang’s Cop-Out: Who’s Afraid of Imee?By Louis ‘Barok‘ C. Biraogo — April 2, 2025 The Administration’s Great Escape—Caught Red-Handed WHEN former President Rodrigo Duterte was whisked off to The Hague faster than a drug lord dodging a raid, the Marcos administration strutted around like it had cracked the case of the century. Now, with the…
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Continue reading →: Supreme Court vs. Congress: Can Justices Smash the Political Dynasty Piñata?By Louis ‘Barok‘ C. Biraogo — April 3, 2025 Introduction: Democracy vs. Oligarchy The petition filed on March 31, 2025, by 1Sambayan, Sanlakas, and a posse of pissed-off citizens is equal parts moral crusade and legal kamikaze—a desperate lob at a Congress that’s spent 38 years deaf to the Constitution’s…
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Continue reading →: The Youth Have Spoken: Will the Philippines Listen or Lose Them?By Louis ‘Barok‘ C. Biraogo — April 3, 2025 WHEN 84% of a nation’s students demand change, it’s not a fringe opinion—it’s a warning. In the Philippines, a recent survey by the Center for Student Initiatives (CSI) claims that 84.4% of students—1,688 out of 2,000 polled—want Vice President Sara Duterte…
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Continue reading →: Starving in Silence: The Philippines’ Hunger Crisis ExposedBy Louis ‘Barok‘ C. Biraogo — April 2, 2025 MARIA stares at the nearly empty rice pot, the flickering light casting shadows over her cramped Manila tenement. Two small bowls sit on the table—barely enough for her children, but all she has left. Her stomach tightens, not from hunger, but…
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Continue reading →: ALERT: Philippine President Now Less Popular Than Traffic, Power Outages, and Expired Instant NoodlesApril Fool’s Surprise: President’s Staff Desperately Hopes Popularity Numbers Are Just a Practical Joke By Louis ‘Barok‘ C. Biraogo — April 1, 2025 THE Philippine Star’s resident Nostradamus, Alex Magno, has once again peered into his crystal ball (or possibly a malfunctioning Magic 8-Ball) and unearthed a shocking truth: President…
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Continue reading →: Kaufman vs. The Hague: Duterte’s Lawyer Plays the Jurisdiction JokerBy Louis ‘Barok‘ C. Biraogo — April 1, 2025 THE ICC’s case against Rodrigo Duterte is a brutal paradox: a ‘war on drugs’ that laughed at due process might just collapse because his own arrest played fast and loose with the rules. Step into The Hague’s wildest legal rodeo yet—jurisdiction…
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Continue reading →: Duterte’s ICC Legal Aid Bid: A Test of Court’s Integrity or a Corruption Smoke Screen?By Louis ‘Barok‘ C. Biraogo — April 1, 2025 RODRIGO Duterte, the tough-talking ex-president who promised to kill drug lords, now faces a far grimmer reality—detained in The Hague on charges of crimes against humanity. But here’s the kicker: the same man accused of amassing illicit wealth is now crying…






