As we look back at the twelve months that have shaped 2025, it is impossible not to feel the collective weight of the season. For many of us, this year has felt like a long trial—a period where the foundations of our patience, our faith, and our local resolve
December 20, 2025
A few days ago, I had the good fortune of serving as a judge for the 2025 Red Cross National Moot Court Competition in International Humanitarian Law (IHL), watching brilliant law students argue complex issues of IHL. For those who haven’t been part of this world, it’s a simulation where
November 24, 2025
The 6.9 earthquake hits. Kanlaon erupts. Iloilo City floods again. We are stuck in a repeating loop of disaster, reaction, and inefficiency. We know the script. We see the heartbreaking images. We hear the calls for donations and the promises of investigations. We wait for normalcy to return. Then, we
October 28, 2025
When our future as a nation is potentially defined through the facility of a pen’s tip, done within a day in no more than an hour, would we not choose the best, most qualified, and the most competent leader? The political consciousness fueled by mainstream media and other online platforms
May 9, 2022
From a macro-perspective, the EDSA People Power was a confluence of the sovereign’s political and economic crisis prevailing at the time. History saw the assassination of Ninoy Aquino as the commencement of the political crisis which, in reality, was preceded by an economic crisis. During the 1970s, the World Bank
February 26, 2022
The 2022 national elections campaign period officially kicked-off last February 8, 2022. Proclamation rallies simultaneously took place in strategic areas all over the country which subsequently launched a more dynamic, engaging, and discursive political climate. Nevertheless, the grassroots’ voices behind the rallies are not equally situated. The citizenry in the
February 12, 2022
We are not a First World state; a Big Brother State no less. Anything novel in the field of epidemiology is a long process to be campaigned for before it can be universally accepted. Vaccine hesitancy of the populace has become a focal public policy consideration nowadays. Vaccination for a
January 20, 2022
The Philippines is one of the signatories to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), an international human rights treaty that guarantees the fundamental rights and freedoms of all children regardless of socio-economic and cultural differences. As a State Party thereto, several positive aspects of development
January 19, 2022
On top of the virtually perpetual extension of mobility restrictions with corresponding pandemic responses known to anyone, the legislative department of the country tackles yet another matter – term extension. A Resolution of Both Houses No. 7 was lodged by a lawmaker – a part of which proposes for a
January 11, 2022
Laypersons may have the tendency to question the partiality and accuracy of election polls staging its visibility in the months drawing near the 2022 elections. However, it is not a novel experience that election survey mechanism is assailed but its existence is attributed to the esoteric legal disquisitions which finally
December 14, 2021
In light of the recent suspension of the Philippine “war on drugs” by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in response to the country’s deferral request on November 10, 2021, several human rights groups have called upon the ICC to continue the probe on the accountability of all those involved
November 29, 2021
By Atty. Anfred P. Panes, LLM The national legislation inscribed in the letters of Section 13 of Republic Act No. 9369 or the Automated Election System Law, that any person who files his certificate of candidacy shall only be considered a candidate at the start of the campaign period for which he filed his certificate
October 30, 2021