Over time, a country is bound to change and develop, including its people and citizens, particularly through their lifestyle. Moreover, it is worth noting that the Philippines’ Constitution is already 37 years old. With that, as a country evolves, its Constitution must adapt accordingly to remain relevant to the current context. It is essential to recognize that the goal of a charter change should be people-centered, with the aim of improving the entire country. However, this is not the case with the Philippines, as every attempt to push for a charter change is consistently met with resistance from its people.
Category: Probe
Reopening the Unsolved Case of Charter Change: Comelec and its P12-billion Budget Increase
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) received an increase in this year’s budget for the conduct and supervision of elections, referenda, recall votes, and plebiscites—amounting to a whopping P14 billion, which is a PHP 12 billion raise compared to the initially-proposed PHP 2 billion by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM). The sudden increase in the allocated budget faced several concerns, particularly from Independent Minority Congressman, Albay, 1st District Representative Edcel Lagman, who asserted that the aforementioned additional budget would be used for a “Charter change rampage,” as it was placed under the conduct and supervision of elections, referenda, recall votes, and plebiscites category.
Left in the Dark: Termination of Senior High School
In the upcoming school year 2024-2025, the Senior High School (SHS) Program will be discontinued in state and local universities and colleges (SUCs and LUCs). According to the Department of Education (DepEd), 17,751 Grade 11 students are currently enrolled in SHS programs being offered in SUCs and LUCs. As thousands of students are displaced from senior high school, they are left with the choice to enroll in either public or private schools and utilize the voucher program. This also leaves them alone to fend for themselves due to the lack of funding in both secondary and higher education.
Pursuing the Truth in the Shadows
In the media industry, the pursuit and dissemination of truth in service to the public stand as the responsibility of journalists who wield the power of their voices to do so. However, this pursuit becomes a challenge for women journalists in a male-dominated country. With this in mind, we can only ask: What is it like for a woman to use her voice in amplifying the marginalized in a country where men receive more attention and are more likely to be heard?
Challenge and Hope: A Closer Look at Marcos’ Presidential Priorities
It was definitely a night to remember as the British rock band Coldplay kicked off their Music of the Spheres World Tour in the Philippines almost seven years after their first concert in the country. “Where better to start 2024 than the Philippine Arena…We are so happy to be back in Metro Manila, can’t wait to get going,” the band shared on ‘X’ before the aforementioned event.
Of Prom and The High School Experience
The Junior Promenade and Senior Graduation Ball, now known as Senior’s Night, are coveted as the highlights of one’s high school life. Organized by the Batch Project Committee (BPC), with the guidance of the Assembly of Class Officers (ACO), these events act as a celebration of both students’ teenhood as individuals and the bond they share as a batch. As the pressure and excitement build from the organizing perspective, student attendees have also started to feel the building anxiety revolving around the weight of this big night.
Muzzled Perspectives: Modern Education in the Midst of Indisposition Prevalence
As another semester dawns upon the Ateneo Senior High School, the institution, committed to the refining and improvement of its policies in accordance with the demands of the current time, is continuously challenged to learn from the experiences and events of the past—especially those, in particular, that have notably affected the community.
KFD 2023: A Community Under Fire
The Katipunan Fund Drive (KFD), a yearly fundraiser event where classes band together to showcase their business management skills for a cause, is deemed by many as the greatest rite of passage for Atenean students. As this year’s KFD comes to its conclusion—and the event gears up in other basic education units following the senior high’s footsteps—students and teachers alike look back at the fruits of this event; not only reaching their monetary goals, but also touching the hearts of many. However, along with these successes, looking back at this year’s event may expose a lingering sentiment that this was not simply a mere right of passage, but a trial by fire instead.
A Path to the Sustainable Development Goals: The Ateneo Way
Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU) stands tall as a beacon of academic achievement in the Philippines, perfectly bringing together its Catholic background with a sincere commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These goals include universal health and well-being, overcoming cultural divides, integrative ecology, and educational transformation.
The First Semester Storm: Is the ASHS truly prepared for Post-Pandemic Schooling?
As the ASHS wraps up the first semester of the school year, we take a look back at all the firsts made in the transition to a full face-to-face environment. With the junior batch having been the first to take ASHAPE post-pandemic, and with the seniors being the first to face a fully onsite school year after a global health crisis, it begs the question: Is the ASHS truly prepared for what Post-Pandemic Schooling holds?
HiLites ASHS 