Zero-casualty   BURNS and amputation and other firecracker-related injuries that year-after-year plague us will not stop unless we ban the firecrackers. A doable strategy to achieve that is through the municipal and city government levels – and there’s Davao City to look at as an example with its local government…

Endings   TYPHOON Yolanda, having struck at the tail end of the year and leaving devastation so extensive even by international disaster benchmarks, will perhaps go down as the one event that we will collectively remember about 2013. And not forgetting is a good thing. But what is even better…

A gentle Christmas   CHRISTMAS has taken on a fresh meaning this year with the tragedy that was Yolanda. The gravity of the losses suffered by the victims forces us to re-assess the sense of the season and what values we should hold dear. We remember that Christmas is not…

Swindling the government   TAX declarations, based on Philippine laws and court decisions, are not conclusive proof of ownership and these by no means replace a title. But in many rural parts of the country, there are still many land parcels that are just covered by a tax declaration, which…

Tribal mentality   WHEN a town’s peace and order situation is deemed unstable, what are local government officials supposed to do? Initiate dialogues with the parties involved in disrupting the harmony, bring in the authorities, and assist the police in controlling or arresting if necessary those who refuse to cooperate…