Opinion and Commentary
Ledesma: Tax
December 22, 2017, 2:40 pm
TRAIN is a gift of the Duterte administration to the small income earners which comprise over 99% of our population. Some critics scoff at the new tax measure, but to a wage earner of P250,000 annually the tax exemption of PHP50,000.00 can tell the difference between misery and modest relief.… Read More
Ledesma: Who is afraid of Martial Law?
December 18, 2017, 5:47 pm
We have heard the same refrain from the same faces that comprise the moribund opposition both from the Senate and the House of Representatives and too, the social media. They tried the same scare tactics like how and what they did the first time Pres. Rodrigo R. Duterte placed the entire island of… Read More
Balanza: Life after Joma
December 10, 2017, 2:06 pm
This piece is about two men and a bird that flew away: Jesus “Jess” Dureza and Silvestre “Bebot” Bello III and the scuttled peace talks with the leftist troika — Communist Party of the Philippines, New People’s Army, National Democratic Front (CPP/NPA/NDF). Jess, Presidential… Read More
Ledesma: 'Eh buhay ka pa naman...'
December 6, 2017, 10:43 am
How can one ever forget the horrible scene of death and destruction in Tacloban when typhoon Yolanda slammed that coastal city? How can one just simply dismiss how government officials wantonly allocate among themselves the billions of pesos from foreign aids and emergency funds and leaving the… Read More
Balanza: To kill or not to kill
December 5, 2017, 5:29 pm
Vice President Leni Robredo was swamped with a tsunami of criticisms over her comment regarding President Rodrigo Duterte’s order to the military not to spare New People’s Army (NPA) rebels during armed encounters. President Duterte said communist rebels should be killed, as they would anyway… Read More
Ledesma: Why a RevGov
December 2, 2017, 3:52 pm
The crowd and the numbers tell it all. One survey done prior to November 30, when the pro-revolutionary government came out in hordes to show their support for the revgov, revealed a huge majority of Filipinos favored the radical move to address the ills in the government, crime and the sluggish… Read More
Balanza: The last road to peace
November 29, 2017, 9:05 pm
We write this piece fervently praying that the guns of the communist rebels will remain silent amid rising temperatures following President Rodrigo Duterte’s scuttling of peace negotiations with the Communist Party of the Philippines/New People's Army/National Democratic Front Philippines… Read More
Ledesma: Tightening the noose
November 28, 2017, 11:37 am
The fate of Jose Ma. Sison, better known as Joma, is virtually in the hands of his pet peeve — Pres. Rodrigo R. Duterte. Both the United States and the European Union had declared the Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed wing, the New People's Army, (CPP/NPA) as terrorist… Read More
Balanza: NPA Corporation
November 24, 2017, 7:41 pm
President Rodrigo Duterte has delivered a death blow to the peaceful means of putting an end to the communist insurgency by writing finis to peace negotiations between the Government of the Philippines (GRP) and the leftist Communist Party of the Philippines/New People’s Army /National… Read More
Balanza: Silent Guns
November 21, 2017, 6:37 pm
Critics of the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte are on a continuing holiday of silence since government forces in late October obliterated the Maute group and freed Marawi City from the grip of the IS-linked local terror group after five months of a bloody siege that killed more than a… Read More
Ledesma: The death of an infant
November 21, 2017, 5:41 pm
The treachery and ambuscade of the New People's Army on a police patrol and a civilian car seemed to have been stonewalled and consigned to oblivion. The Commission on Human Rights, the garrulous cabal of leftist political fronts and their allies in the streets are eerily quiet. A four-month old… Read More
Ledesma: Oxford researchers cheated?
November 18, 2017, 4:06 pm
With the astounding success of the ASEAN Summit and the Philippine economic growth now surging at 6.9 percent, the administration critics are fishing for issues to degrade Pres. Rodrigo Duterte and his management team. An opposition stalwart found one. Caloocan Rep. Edgar Erice… Read More
Mediante: Making a difference among ASEAN leaders
November 17, 2017, 9:30 pm
Just this week, Pulse Asia came out with the result of its survey declaring President Rodrigo Duterte as the most approved and trusted president among the last four chief executives of the Philippines. Getting an 80 percent rating, Filipinos’ trust and approval on President Rodrigo Duterte… Read More
Ledesma: My country today
November 12, 2017, 2:15 pm
Welcome delegates and guests to the 31st Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit and the ASEAN 50th Anniversary. The Philippines is populated by over 105 million people of diverse ethnic tribes and cultures, religious affiliations living in unique harmony. We are an archipelagic… Read More
Ledesma: The dying ember of the Yellowtards
November 7, 2017, 7:58 pm
The Human Rights Watch in an apparent effort to redeem itself from the embarrasment and the discombobulated political front has managed to wangle an award for jailed Sen. Leila De Lima. The former Commission on Human Rights chairperson was deliriously happy but 10 thousands plaques proclaiming her… Read More
Ledesma: Success trumps dissent
November 1, 2017, 9:32 am
Newly-appointed Palace spokesperson Harry Roque warned dyed-in-the wall Duterte bashers not to try their luck too far saying "for every stone that the critics throw at the President he will throw back hollow blocks". Well, with the bull-headedness and desperation of the Yellowtards and their… Read More
Mediante: Social media is citizen journalism
October 31, 2017, 1:19 pm
“Traditional academic assumptions say that traditional media is "all that is good and holy" and the new media/bloggers/etc. are, at minimum, highly suspect and probably poor quality…,” was a remark I read from a media analyst. He essentially talked about how news… Read More
Ledesma: Duterte, Trump, Jinping together in drug war
October 30, 2017, 5:02 pm
US Pres. Donald Trump has declared an all-out war against drugs. Shocked by the recent death statistics attributed to drug addiction, Trump announced before an assembly of medical practitioners, lawmakers, state governors Federal law enforcers an unprecedented campaign against drug… Read More
Ledesma: What great leaders are made of
October 27, 2017, 9:29 am
There is something diabolically dubious and desperate in the political opposition strategy to discredit and demonize Pres. Rodrigo Duterte. On the heels of the success of the government to decimate and permanently neutralized the vicious Maute ISIS which earned the Philippine Armed Forces and… Read More
Ledesma: Battlefronts
October 26, 2017, 7:05 pm
The Commander in Chief and his brave soldiers and police forces have won a decisive war against one of the most vicious terrorist band in the world — the Maute ISIS. The cost is not cheap. We lost scores of our own brave soldiers, policemen and innocent civilians, women held captives raped and… Read More
