My latest @rappler.bsky.social article, an overview of the government's ayuda programs, what they're for, and how they ballooned in recent years (especially in the 2025 budget).
www.rappler.com/voices/thoug...

Israeli forces killed an estimated 490 Palestinians in the first nine days of 2025, reports Al Jazeera’s correspondent from the war-torn enclave where people face a daily “battle for survival.”

🔴 LIVE updates: aje.io/8s4crb

The making of an early Christmas season chaos...

It's only past 1 in the morning in Manila, and this is already the scene at the Terminal 2 of capital's airport, NAIA.

Elliott Eastman, an American vlogger abducted in my home province of Zamboanga del Norte in the Philippines last October, believed dead:

www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/...

Impunity Cycle: The first to go is outrage; the next, memory; the last, resolve. The one thing that remains, after all these are gone, is regret. This is how impunity prevails. #Ampatuan #ML #DrugWar #NeverForget #NeverAgain

Plane and trainspotting in Manila.

New addition to Metro Manila's public transport system. We need more of this if we want to keep up with the still rapidly growing population of this megactiy, which has an estimated daytime population of up to 21 million*. (Reference: mb.com.ph/2024/10/22/m...)

My earlier story on the case, part of a crackdown that has crushed Hong Kong’s once vibrant pro-democracy camp www.wsj.com/world/china/...

After so many years spent abroad, I'm calling Manila my base once again. It's harder than I thought, easing back. I have been practically gone since 2002, so I'm still trying to find my way around. Welcome back to Manila, older self.