By William Casis | FilAm Star Correspondent The air in Baguio City, the Philippines’ summer capital, is still breathable, said the City Environment and Parks Management Office (CEPMO). The commenf was made following a report by the World Health Organization (WHO) report that it is one of the most polluted cities in the country. CEPMO’s Cordelia Lacsamana explained the WHO report was based on consolidated reports dating back to 2013. Because of this, she noted that...

By Macon Araneta | FilAm Star Correspondent Sen. Richard Gordon expressed dismay over the deterioration of the Subic Bay International Airport (SBIA) and Clark International Airport (CIA) which have been both turned into “non-performing assets.” “We let the wolf near the sheep or we allowed the snake to come near the chickens,” said Gordon, who served as Olongapo City mayor and Subic Bay Metropolian Authroity chairman. Gordon said the government is using only the Nin...

By Corina Oliquino | FilAm Star Correspondent MANILA – In the Second Quarter 2016 Social Weather Survey conducted between June 24-27 this year, days before President Duterte (and his all-out war on illegal drugs) was launched, the figures showed that 62 percent of Filipino families feared drug addicts in their area –a record-high tally according to SWS. The survey was released last October 03 and was first published in BusinessWorld and during the current Senate investi...

PerryScope By PERRY DIAZ President Rodrigo Duterte’s ascension to the Philippine presidency happened at a time when the country was anxiously waiting for the Permanent Court of Arbitration’s (PCA) ruling on China’s maritime claims in the South China Sea (SCS). And when the ruling was finally released on July 12 invalidating China’s “nine-dash line” claim and that China had no historical rights to the rocks, reefs, and shoals in the SCS, the newly installed president fou...

As I See It By ELPIDIO R. ESTIOKO As the November 8 presidential elections is fast approaching, leading candidates, for president most especially, are wooing voting blocs in order for them to boost their chances of winning the elections. They are after African-Americans, Hispanic voters, women voters, white voters, and religious voters. These are known blocs that could sway the result of the elections. A voting bloc, by the way, is defined by Wikipedia, as a group of...

Dual Voice By FEDERICO A. ESPIRITU The King of Golf is dead and the fairways are mourning these days. The iconic legend and idol of the gentleman’s sport, Arnold ‘Arnie’ Palmer, finally rested his clubs and will no longer be hitting balls. The golfing world already anticipated his imminent last breath. The opening of the 2016 Masters saw an incomplete Big Three, with his duo friends Gary Player and Jack Niclaus only showing up sadly sans Arnie in the ceremonial opening ...

Health@Heart By PHILIP S. CHUA, MD, FACS, FPCS Since Sir Alexander Fleming, a Scottish biologist, pharmacologist, and botanist (a 1945 Nobel laureate), first discovered penicillin in 1923, hundreds of more potent wider spectrum antibiotics have been added to the medical armamentarium. These life-saving drugs have been a boon to medical care and benefited hundreds of million patients around the globe. However, like many good things, antibiotics have been abused by so...