The Ilocos Times

The number of children living in poverty in the Philippines continues to climb despite the country's recent economic gains. According to a study titled “Child Poverty in the Philippines” by state think tank Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS), there were already about 13.4 million Filipino children living in poverty in 2009. “This number represents 36 percent or more than one-third of all Filipino children aged below 18. Being poor, they suffer from deprivations of food, shelter, health, and education," said Dr. Celia Reyes, PIDS senior research fellow and lead author of the study. Using data collected from national surveys and administrative records of various government agencies, the key findings of the study demonstrate that both the number and severity of poverty among Filipino children have been increasing through the years. Around 10 million of these children face at least two overlapping types of severe deprivation in basic amenities wh

Agmulatayo iti bukbukel Amado I. Yoro Ewa 9/25/0214 Daytoy ti bukel ti ayat Bay-annak a mangitukit dita barukong ken iti imeng dayta pusom iti namnama nga agrusing ken agtubo iti kaunggam: semilia ti biag ! Daytoy ti bukel ti isem Bay-am nga isangbay dagiti mailandayag a panagbukar dagiti agsapa kas met iti sabong iti muyong iti ayat ken pateg ti nakaparsuaan: ibabangon ti init! Daytoy ti bukel panagserbi Bay-am dagiti ima, takiag ken dakulap ti panawen a mangsakruy dagiti kaasi ken ayat ta itdenna ti pannakaagas dagiti babassit a sugat nga imbati ti duadua ken naglumen a pammati:  nakaukrad a takiag! Daytoy ti bukel pannakaawat pammakawan met daytoy a mamaglunit ti rikki ti susik dagiti saan a naannadan a rikna ken diktar ti panawen: rekonsilasion! Daytoy ti bukel ti katawa ti ragsak, ti namnama ti panagrangpaya ken panagsantak talinaay talna, kappia ken talged.

I am glad , dear karikna , that Ilocano gays, through the Sunflowers Organization, have finally made their voices heard on pressing issues faced by the LGBT community, particularly today on the case of Jennifer Laude, a transgender who was allegedly murdered by an American serviceman. It was actually your karikna who prodded Benly Academia (Pasuquin Sunflowers president, organizer of Asia's oldest pride march) and Kristina Cassandra (Miss Ilocoslovaklush 2014) to issue a joint statement on the case. They immediately obliged with a well-crafted and insightful statement. Here it is: “We join the whole LGBT community in condemning the brutal killing of Miss Jennifer Laude, and we urge our law enforcement agencies to do everything within their means and power, and with neither fear nor favor, to bring justice to the victim—she who lived a life of courage but who died at the hands of a bigoted coward. “We further request the media to report on the unfortunate case alwa

Biannual FAO Food Outlook report and new Food Price Index released Rome —Food markets are more stable and prices for most agricultural commodities are sharply lower than they have been in recent years, according to the latest edition of FAO's biannual  Food Outlook  report and a new update to the Organization's monthly  Food Price Index , both out today. Bumper harvests and abundant stockpiles are key factors helping drive down international cereal prices, according to the report. World wheat production in 2014 is forecast to reach a new record, it says. For coarse grains, prospects for near-record production levels, combined with already-high inventories point to a very comfortable world supply and demand balance in 2014/15, especially for maize. While rice outputs could decline slightly this year, stockpiles remain "huge" and are sufficient to cover over one-third of projected consumption during the 2015-16 period. All told, world cereal pr

It’s been a busy month for me and I would like to share some of the insights I got from the meetings, conversations, workshops and research presentations I had recently to advance futures literacy, futures research and strategic foresight in government reforms, city futures, social innovation, learning and leading in an Asian century.   The task in these conversations was to unpack the Filipinos ways of imagining and knowing the future and to develop new tools and techniques or to modify some of the most impressive foresight tools to suit local nuances, knowledge, worldviews, languages and creativities. To facilitate these conversations I used the futures triangle method and scenarios, a deceptively simple tool, to explore the Filipinos futures landscape and map the drivers of change (how the present is understood), their visions (futures – their hopes, fears and aspirations) and the structures and thinking habits that prohibits people and institutions (the weights of history

By Dominic B. dela Cruz Staff reporter Laoag City —Vice mayor and Sangguniang Panlungsod presiding officer Michael V. Farinas has ordered the committee on laws to review the issuance of barangay clearances. Mr. Fariñas issued the order after 53 units of residential building were constructed at Brgy. Zamboanga without barangay clearances. The housing units are located within the vicinity of a subdivision in the area. Laoag councilor Edison Bonoan, committee on infrastructure chairperson, reported that Brgy. Zamboanga chairperson Elmer Lorenzo informed him their barangay has not issued any clearance for the said construction. He added that Mr. Lorenzo said the owners of the housing units should have secured barangay clearances first before they began the construction. During their regular session, Engr. Roy Tomas, the city’s building official said a barangay clearance is not a requirement under the national building code. He explained that it was only during th

IT is in the Letter of St. James that we are told about taming our tongue. It’s just a small part of our body, and yet its effect, good or bad, is great. “The tongue is indeed a little member and boasts great things. Behold how small a fire kindles a great wood,” (3,5) it says. We’re warned that taming it is indeed so difficult that when we manage to dominate it and direct it properly, we can be described as having reached our perfection. And the simple reason for that, to my mind, is that the tongue is the first to express to the outside world what truly is the state of our soul. It practically can reveal our true identity. It’s not our appearance that marks our identity. And our works come only later to show who we really are and what we are capable of. It’s the tongue that first shows where our mind and heart tilt in an abiding way. And so it can also draw immediate reaction from everyone. More than that, our tongue, and the word that comes through it is supposed to reflect the