Kate Angelie

 As we grow older, we cannot really deny that the world is also changing. But one thing that bothers me all the time is that, is the spirit of christmas really gone?or we just grew that much and we cannot feel the excitement anymore? Because as far as I remember, when I was a child, I used to be reallyy excited about the thoughts of celebrating christmas with bunch of gifts and delicious foods. Now that I am a teenager, it feels like just a normal day. Well, I can't tell what exactly the reason why because I am also wondering.   This year, I had holiday blues, for the 2nd time in a row. Maybe because my father is miles away from me and it is now my 2nd christmas without him. Another thing is that I am only having Noche Buena with my grandparents and what made me even more sad is when my lolo said "huwag niyo nalang ako gisingin ng 12, wala rin naman tayong kasama so hindi ko rin feel". It breaks my heart hearing those words coming from him, so maybe that's why I didn...

VAWC: TIME TO RAISE AWARENESS THROUGH ADVOCACY In our society, cases of abused women and children has exploded over the years.  More than 70% of sexually abused children are between 10 and 18 years old. Among those victims, 20% are under 6 years old. Cases of child sexual abuse are one of the most common issues that the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has to handle after abandonment and neglect.  Despite the Anti-Rape Law of 1997, rape remains the most frequent type of sexual abuse, followed by incest and fondling. 98% of rape victims are women. The incest percentage is another alarming data: 33%. ● 98% of these sexually abused children are girls. The 2015 Child Protection Network Annual Report states that 87% of all cases of sexual violence are girls, 11.7% of which occurred in the family home. While victims of sexual exploitation for commercial purposes are predominantly 13 to 18 year-old girls, some of them were forced into prostitution from age 10 for t...

  HALFWAY THROUGH SUCCESS  Looking back on this 2nd quarter journey, I really had a roller-coaster of emotion. Just like when we were still on the 1st quarter, but this time, I don't have much things to talk about. To be honest, there's nothing you can see here on my reflection (only some of the things that are important for me - lol.)  One of the reasons why I said this would be just a short recap is that I didn't have a lot of time to embrace this another chapter since I had a really busy schedule and I wasn't able to attend everyday class. It was really hard for me to multitask since I had my intensive journalism training/sessions and I only get to spend some time with my friends during my free time.  However, I still enjoyed things we did because of my classmates — especially my friends who helped me overcome my doubts and also helped me cope up with the things I have missed since my training days.  Even though I had a hard time doing the activities, they ma...

LIFE BEHIND AN ICONIC LEADER/HERO: THE LATE ELPIDIO QUIRINO Elpidio Quirino (born Nov. 16, 1890, Vigan, Phil.—died Feb. 29, 1956, Novaliches) was a political leader and the second president of the independent Republic of the Philippines. After obtaining a law degree from the University of the Philippines, near Manila, in 1915, Quirino practiced law until he was elected a member of the Philippine House of Representatives in 1919–25 and a senator in 1925–31. In 1934 he was a member of the Philippine independence mission to Washington, D.C., headed by Manuel Quezon, which secured the passage in Congress of the Tydings–McDuffie Act, setting the date for Philippine independence as July 4, 1946. He was also elected to the convention that drafted a constitution for the new Philippine Commonwealth. Subsequently he served as secretary of finance and secretary of the interior in the Commonwealth Government. Quirino, after World War II, Quirino served as secretary of state and vice president unde...

CELEBRATING EVERY TRIBE, EVERY LIFE  One of the roles of indigenous people in the Philippines is to conserve distinctive biodiversity, which is dependent on the knowledge, inventiveness, and traditions of indigenous and local communities that live in close contact with nature. According to the Global Environment Facility (2019), ancestral domains are home to 85% of the nation’s important biodiversity hotspots. The governance of IP communities is important for maintaining and protecting the Philippines’ surviving natural forests. However, parts of the land and forests that have become the ancestral lands of the Indigenous people are gradually being destroyed in order to build buildings, housing projects, mine, and other things since our nation strives to be a developed country. According to Cabico (2022), registered ancestral domains were in conflict with 49% of the nation’s mining operations and 87% of the forest areas that had undergone extensive logging. Projects that were consid...

SAVE THE EARTH: SAVE LIVES Climate change impacts our society in many different ways. Drought can harm food production and human health. Flooding can lead to spread of disease, death, and damage ecosystems and infrastructure. Human health issues that result from drought, flooding, and other weather conditions increase the death rate, change food availability, and limit how much a worker can get done, and ultimately the productivity of our economy. Climate change affects everyone, but the impacts are uneven across the country and around the world. Even within one community, climate change can affect one neighborhood or person more than another. Long-standing differences in income and opportunity, or socioeconomic inequalities, can make some groups more vulnerable. Communities that have less access to resources to protect themselves or cope with impacts are often the same communities that are also more exposed to hazards. But let me tell you, this problem could not only be solved by resi...