By Lady Ann Salem (Manila Today) On December 19, President Rodrigo Duterte signed into law the 2018 national budget and the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN), saying the TRAIN is “the administration’s biggest Christmas gift to the Filipino people.” To those who have long voiced out their opposition to TRAIN, no statement could ⇒

By Jess Diaz (The Philippine Star) MANILA, Philippines — Buoyed by the wide support President Duterte enjoys from the public, his allies in Congress are mulling over a term extension of at least two years for him and five years for them, opposition congressmen claimed yesterday. Under the plan, the nation would have a new Constitution ⇒

Adding insult to injury: By Erika Cruz (Manila Today) On December 13, it took the majority of Congress members about four hours to approve President Rodrigo Duterte’s request to extend martial law in Mindanao for another year. Ten days prior to that, it only took minutes for elements of the Philippine Army to kill eight ⇒

The International Association of Democratic Lawyers (IADL) passed a resolution on November 30 in its meeting in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam to ‘urge the Philippine government to commit to end extrajudicial killings in the “war against illegal drugs”’ and ‘end extrajudicial killings, illegal arrests and other human rights violations against the people and members of ⇒

A student from Leyte bested 11,000 young learners from 178 countries to bag the third annual Breakthrough Junior Challenge (BJC) Prize, earning over PHP20 million worth of prizes. She is the first Filipina to win the Challenge. Hillary Diane Andales, 18, from the Philippine Science High School (PSHS) Eastern Visayas Campus in Palo, Leyte personally ⇒

Rappler.com MANILA, Philippines (3rd UPDATE) – A September 2017 survey by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) showed a drop in both the net satisfaction rating and net trust rating of President Rodrigo Duterte. Of 1,500 adults surveyed, 67% said they were satisfied with Duterte’s performance while 19% said they were dissatisfied. The rest were undecided. ⇒

By Kathy Yamzon ManilaToday.net Ephraim Escudero, 18-year old and latest extrajudicial killing victim, was laid to rest today. Relatives and friends joined the funeral march from Escudero’s residence to the Castasus Cemetery in San Pedro City, Laguna. They called for justice for Escudero’s untimely death. Escudero, a father of two kids, went missing on September ⇒

By MARYA SALAMAT Bulatlat.com MANILA – The crowd was a friendly, cheerful mix of old and young. There were schoolkids, millennials, middle-aged and seniors. Their placards and printed out tarps were witty yet angry and committed to fighting the return of, or tendencies toward, Martial Law, extra-judicial killings, corruption, and tyranny. They clapped, chanted and ⇒

By Manila Today Staff – Sep 20, 2017 “And as a mater of fact, I’m giving you all the space, all the streets. Wala nang permit-permit. Sige, bahala kayo. Hindi ko nga rin kayo mahuli kung manghingi ako ng permit because that is guaranteed under the Constitution, the right for a redress of grievance, the ⇒

By Rey Panaligan Manila Bulletin The Supreme Court (SC) has ordered the release of “all detainees whose pending cases have gone beyond the mandated periods for the conduct of preliminary investigation, or whose cases have already been dismissed on inquest or preliminary investigation, despite pending appeal, reconsideration, reinvestigation or automatic review by the Secretary of ⇒