Iloilo’s data-driven disaster management is worth scaling up
EACH YEAR, our country is battered by an average of 20 tropical cyclones. Disaster preparedness is therefore is not optional; it is essential. But...
Rethinking the meaning of ‘safe’
IN THE 2024 typhoon season, Iloilo Province was fortunate. Not one typhoon made direct landfall. Yet despite this, lives were disrupted, livelihoods threatened, and...
Rethinking Iloilo’s road safety strategy
FOR TOO LONG, road safety in the Philippines has been treated with a reactive mindset — crackdowns after a tragic crash, checkpoints after mounting...
A regional roadmap to safer streets: Why localized solutions matter
THE LAUNCH of the Western Visayas Road Safety Action Plan (WVRSAP) 2026–2028, as recently reported by this paper, is a groundbreaking moment in the...
The real test of the WV Road Safety Plan
AS REPORTED by this paper yesterday, Western Visayas has taken a bold and laudable step with the launch of the Western Visayas Road Safety...
The promise of community-based drug reformation programs
WE HAVE long been plagued by a punitive and often militarized approach to illegal drugs, thus the rise of community-based reformation programs offers a...
Vote-buying and the deeper ills of our democracy
WHILE the Commission on Elections (Comelec) Region 6 reported a flood of complaints on alleged vote-buying across Western Visayas, most were dismissed for lack...
A historic first –women at the helm of Iloilo City
FOR THE FIRST time in Iloilo City’s political history, the top three posts — mayor, vice mayor, and congressional representative — will be held...
Noncommunicable diseases in Iloilo’s countryside
IN THE QUIET towns and far-flung barangays of Iloilo Province, a health crisis is taking root — quietly, persistently, and dangerously. While much attention...
Choosing with courage and conscience
AS THE COUNTRY prepares once again to elect its leaders, we are reminded that voting is a profound moral responsibility, not merely a civic...