Editorial 3/23/16 (water, employment, Philippines, elections, politics, military, divorce,)

Philippine Star "Water and jobs"

Think about it: if people in underdeveloped communities do not have to trek for several hours just to get water for their households, they could instead spend those hours learning livelihood skills or, for children, in getting formal education. The United Nations estimates that about 1.5 billion people work in sectors where water plays an important role, including fisheries, farming, manufacturing and energy generation. Their work, earnings and quality of life could be improved with the efficient delivery of clean water. As World Water Day is marked on March 22, the UN is focusing on the links between water and jobs, and consequently to poverty alleviation. Adequate supply of clean water is also indispensable in public health and sanitation. This is important in developing countries such as the Philippines where millions of households still lack piped water and modern toilets. [full text]

Sun.Star Cebu "Crucial swing votes"

Sen. Grace Poe and Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte shared the lead in the survey Pulse Asia conducted for ABS-CBN from March 8 to 13, a week before the latest presidential debate. Of 4,000 voters surveyed, 26 percent went for Poe, while 25 percent chose Duterte. The margin of error stood at plus-minus 1.5 percent. In the same survey, Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr. (25 percent) and Sen. Francis Escudero (24 percent) also shared the lead in the vice presidential contest. Five percent of the respondents said they still had to decide on a presidential candidate. Six percent said the same of the vice presidential race. In races this tight, the parties and the candidates’ core supporters will go all-out to get that last five percent to swing their way. [full text]

Mindanao Times "(We yield this space for meditation for the Holy Week) Betrayal and faltering loyalty to Jesus"

MEDITATION: Jesus’ disciples were put to the test as Jesus prepared to make the final and ultimate sacrifice of his own life for their sake and for all the world. What was different between Peter and Judas? Judas deliberately betrayed his Master while Peter, in a moment of weakness, denied him with an oath and a curse. Judas’ act was cold and calculated. Peter, however, never meant to do what he did. He acted impulsively, out of weakness and cowardice. Jesus knew both the strength of Peter’s loyalty and the weakness of his resolution. He had a habit of speaking with his heart without thinking through the implications of what he was saying. [full text]

Manila Bulletin "5 EDCA joint bases"

Under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA), American forces have been granted access to five bases in the country – one military reservation and four air bases. The 35,467-hectare military reservation at Fort Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija will have enough space for joint training for air and sea operations, jungle survival, and guerrilla warfare. The four other sites are Basa Air Base in Pampanga and Antonio Bautista Air Base in Palawan, both close to the South China Sea; the Benigno Ebuen Air Base in Mactan Cebu, which served as a transit point for American planes and troops during the Vietnam War; and Lumbia Air Base in Cagayan de Oro, facing southern Mindanao. Clark and Subic, which used to be the biggest American bases outside the US mainland, are not in the EDCA list of five bases. Their inclusion would have added fuel to the protests of those who do not want American forces back after the Philippine Senate rejected in 1991 a new treaty allowing them to remain at Clark and Subic. [full text]

Inquirer "Divorce and death"

At the second presidential debate sanctioned by the Commission on Elections and held in Cebu on Sunday, the candidates were asked to answer three questions without explanation, simply by raising their hands if they were in favor and keeping still if they were against. It was a made-for-TV format, but the exercise proved to be a welcome respite from the often heated exchanges that characterized the debate. The up-or-down format used by TV5 was also a helpful guide to the candidates’ views on long-simmering, much-discussed issues. On the question of allowing divorce in the Philippines, none of the four candidates—Vice President Jejomar Binay, Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, Sen. Grace Poe, and former interior secretary Mar Roxas—raised their hands.
To those who have only intermittently followed the so-called Duterte-serye, the melodramatic twists and turns of the Davao mayor’s unlikely run for the presidency, the unanimous opposition to allowing divorce in the Philippines must have come as a surprise. After all, isn’t Duterte known for his romantic entanglements, cheerfully admitted both in private and in public? [full page]