Archive - Top Stories

IF you gather all the Philippine coins circulating in the market today, their combined weight would be equivalent to 24,183 jeepneys, according to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. Philippine coins in circulation run into billions --- 15.74 billion pieces to be exact. BSP says the huge quantity of coins is such that there are 193 coins for every Filipino. That is the ratio of coins to the present population of 92.2 million, excluding the 11 million overseas Filipinos.

By BOOMA CRUZ
THE smile vanishes as soon as she hears a deafening roar across the Abuan River in Isabela province. “I hate that sound,” former Isabela governor Grace Padaca says. “They’re really back.” “They” are hatcheros or chainsaw operators who are indeed back in business, cutting age-old trees at the northern Sierra Madre.

By KAREN TUASON and RODOLFO DESUASIDO
THE land dispute between the powerful Teves clan of Negros Oriental and 30 farmer-beneficiaries has left two persons dead. The killings remain unresolved, but the farmer-beneficiaries say they are agrarian-related.

LONG ago, in the days before the unats or straight-haired people took over their land, home to the Aytas of Bataan was the vast forest that stretched all the way to Zambales and included what is now the economic zone called Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA).
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By ROLAND G. SIMBULAN
DESPITE China’s emergence as an economic power, it should not replace the United States as the key partner of Southeast Asian countries as U.S. military presence is still needed to combat terrorism in the region, an American security analyst said Friday.

IN 2006, about 300 families of Sitio Agusuhin in Subic, Zambales were forcibly evicted from their land. The government had entered into a deal with Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction Co., owner of the biggest shipbuilding facility in the country.
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By ARTHA KIRA PAREDES
WHILE thousands of barangays all over the country still await the final results of the October 25 polls, eight of 10 barangays in Tubo town in Abra already knew their new set of officials about a month before election day.

By JAMAL ASHLEY ABBAS
POLICE Tuesday filed multiple, frustrated and attempted murder complaints with the North Cotabato provincial prosecutor's office against two suspects in the Rural Transit bus bombing that killed 10 persons and injured 30 others on Oct. 21.

By KRIZIA S. ARCANGEL
FOUR years after he walked out of prison, Jose Reyes returns to the Rizal Provincial Jail (RPJ) every Thursday, not to serve time for yet another offense, but to share God’s Word to inmates.

A CANADIAN diplomat said a Freedom of Information Law will make public servants more accountable and will be a tool against graft and corruption.

By RALPH TY
THERE seems to be no stopping the advancement in the country of the controversial stem cell technology that promises effective treatment of cancer and other life-threatening diseases.

By JON LINDLEY C. AGUSTIN
FILIPINOS know Quiapo as “old downtown,” when it was the center of commerce of the Philippine capital Manila

PRESIDENT Benigno Aquino III has disregarded the recommendations of the Incident Investigation and Review Committee to charge administratively Interior and Local Government Undersecretary Rico E. Puno and recently retired Philippine National Police chief Jesus Verzosa.

By CHIT ESTELLA
MANY Filipinos might have been pleased with President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III’s performance in the first 100 days of his term—but not his former professor at the Ateneo de Manila University.

By KIM ARVEEN M. PATRIA
AT first, politicians attend to needs. After some time, the needs turn to wants and desires. Soon the desire becomes greed. Then, to satisfy greed, they push the country to the brink of poverty.

THE May 10 election was characterized by a “high incidence and widespread occurrence of technical and management problems” that tainted the integrity, credibility and accuracy of the automated election system.

WHAT has the country got to do with the highly publicized marital case of television host and presidential sister Kris Aquino and basketball star James Yap? None, many might be quick to say. But for Kris, the speedy resolution of her petition to nullify her marriage to James will not only benefit her but the

CLARK FREEPORT, Pampanga.—A human rights group in Central Luzon is blaming former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo for the increased incidence of human rights violations here in her home province Pampanga. Aurora Broquil, president of the group Defend Central Luzon, said seven intelligence units have been deployed in Pampanga alone since late last year, including those