Reclaiming public services

Philippine Daily Inquirer/OPINION/by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo In the country last week were experts who spoke about how public services have been or are being reclaimed by citizens who had been in the grip of private enterprises that made profit out of dispensing public services. The gathering was a good prelude to this week’s activities commemorating 1986 People Power that reclaimed freedom and democracy and ended more than a decade of tyranny and martial...

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Dead in the freezer

Philippine Daily Inquirer/OPINION/by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo   "Dead in the water” is an expression that refers to something bereft of any outcome or future, like a crippled ship with nowhere to go but the dark depths below. In politics, it would apply to bills killed before they could see the light of day. And because yesterday was Valentine’s Day and also Ash Wednesday, the phrase might well apply to a starting fire reduced to a pile of ashes...

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Vaccine phobia; Flavier on my mind

Philippine Daily Inquirer/OPINION/by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo The bag of excrement has hit the ceiling fan. Vaccine phobia and a lynch mob, just to name a few toxic concerns, have been spawned, virus-like, because of the Senate and House hearings these past weeks on the Dengvaxia vaccine controversy and fueled by other motivated parties. Pardon the mixed metaphors. While the continuing hearings on the antidengue vaccine manufactured by French big...

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Pope Francis on fake news

Philippine Daily Inquirer/OPINION/by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo Call it synchronicity. While I was going over Pope Francis’ advance message for World Communications Day, the hearing of the Senate committee on public information and mass media was starting, with its chair Sen. Grace Poe conducting. It was difficult to get my eyes and ears off the TV set, especially with the jaw-dropping presentation of Maria Ressa, CEO of the beleaguered online news network...

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