When your country is frequently ravaged by typhoons, as a government your priority should be to strengthen measures to reduce risks, manage the calamity, and enhance recovery efforts.

But the Duterte administration has been doing the opposite, they have undermined our country’s ability to cope with these calamities.

-Eddie Justin Cua, AB Political Science

This country’s history of private armies controlled by people in power is real. One only needs to think of the Ampatuan massacre in Maguindanao, where the perpetrators have remained unpunished for close to 10 years, to know that the gun culture is not only endemic, it’s thriving. There seems to be a real polarity with the gun culture in the Philippines. On one hand it makes us proud to be among the top 10 on the world stage in sports, on the other hand it brings us great pain to be a top 10 country for gun related deaths. Once upon a time the colt 1911 was used by colonizers to kill us. Now, the filipino killer (colt 1911) is being used by filipinos to kill our own.

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton