In Context Archives | Page 11 of 12

Philippines’ Right versus China’s Might: Facts and Views on Sea Issues

CHINA’S DE-FACTO occupation of almost the entire South China Sea has emerged as the most serious external security concern for the Philippines since World War II. The military installations built by China on reefs in the Spratlys have been accomplished without the benefit of a treaty nor scrutiny...

Why fact check—and why Rappler and VERA Files

By Luis V. Teodoro THE DESIGNATION by the social media giant Facebook of Rappler and VERA Files as fact- checkers of its news feeds was in recognition of the well-established truth that false information, or as it is popularly known today, “fake news”—an oxymoron because the primary characteristic of...

Understanding the Commission on Human Rights

Photo from the Commission on Human Rights official Facebook page ONE HUNDRED nineteen votes was what it took for the House of Representatives to downsize the budget of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) to a piddling PHP1,000 for 2018. Congressmen, who acted on a motion by SAGIP Representative...

Up Close and Personal: Bloggers in the “People’s Palace”

“WE’RE IN interesting times wherein we are seeing bloggers with names become bigger than anyone… It’s a phenomenon that we have to embrace, at the same time we also have to control,” Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar said in a February 20 press release. Social media played a...

UN Special Rapporteur Visit: Reporting the Non-negotiable Procedures

OVER 6,000 people have fallen since President Duterte’s election. Even before the president was sworn to office, the media began reporting killings of drug suspects or pushers as early as June. In July, local and international communities expressed their criticism of the continued violation of human rights and...

How to Get Away with Machismo: An Easy Pass for Duterte

AS CANDIDATE for the presidency, Rodrigo Duterte was open about his domestic affairs. His complicated marital status includes two families, one with his common-law wife and the other with his first wife who had their marriage annulled. He further admitted to having had two girlfriends at the same...

From Fugitive to Ally: The Missing Story of Misuari’s Return

NUR MISUARI, the country’s foremost Moro rebel who launched the separatist movement in the late ‘60s, is no stranger to the limelight. He has waged war against the government and has been hounded for it. His foray into mainstream politics in the ‘90s and his subsequent removal from the...

The Executive Order on FOI: A Freedom of Exceptions?

TWENTY-NINE (29) years since the first Freedom of Information (FOI) bill was filed, the transparency measure still has not made it to law. Not surprisingly, President Rodrigo Duterte’s executive order (EO) mandating access to information held by agencies in the executive branch was hailed by government officials, by...

Knowing Your Source: Think Before You Click

THINK BEFORE you click. You may be sharing propaganda as truth—and thus, helping to dumb down people who access the Internet and social media. The Internet, as a wide and open platform, provides space for a vast number of websites of dubious reliability, which are nevertheless, widely quoted and...

Duterte’s Hitler Comparison: The President’s Outrageous Mistake

ANOTHER DAY, another outrageous statement—and yet another frantic attempt at damage control. On Sept. 30, President Rodrigo Duterte gained worldwide notoriety anew when he compared himself to Adolf Hitler in his willingness to “slaughter” three million drug addicts. At least, this was how many understood the president’s statements....