Lmst

#thoughtleaders

[Vantage Point] The ₱500 Noche Buena: Rewriting math, economics, and the laws of physics

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://www.rappler.com/voices/thought-leaders/vantage-point-noche-buena-budget-controversy-2025/

<p class="has-drop-cap"><em>It seems DTI’s ₱500 Noche Buena claim has struck a national nerve — our inbox proves it. Thank you to everyone who urged us to take this topic on. And thank you, too, for your unwavering support and the kind (and often very candid) suggestions that help keep <a href="https://www.rappler.com/topic/vantage-point-column/">Vantage Point</a> bold, relevant, and fun to read. Our gratitude for you continued trust, the thoughtful insights, and the loyalty you’ve shown us through the years. Your engagement is the reason this column keeps evolving. Very much appreciated.</em></p>

<p>The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has finally solved one of the great mysteries of our time: how to feed a Filipino family on Christmas Eve with only ₱500. </p>

<p>In a country where <a href="https://www.rappler.com/business/explainer-rise-onion-prices-why-late-imports-do-not-help/">onions once flirted</a> with <a href="https://www.rappler.com/business/red-onion-increase-suggested-retail-price-december-2022/">gold-standard pricing</a> and where ham now comes in artisanal micro-sizes, DTI has done the impossible. They have bent arithmetic so far that Euclid — father of geometry — would file a complaint: transforming policy into a performance art.</p>

<p>It began innocently enough. The agency released its <a href="https://www.dti.gov.ph/dti-latest-news/dti-releases-2025-noche-buena-price-guide-assures-no-price-hikes-select-holiday-staples">annual Noche Buena price

[In This Economy] When corruption drowns growth: The PH economy in 2025

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://www.rappler.com/voices/thought-leaders/in-this-economy-when-corruption-drowns-growth-philippines-2025/

[OPINION] Luneta, EDSA, or Pilipinas

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://www.rappler.com/voices/thought-leaders/opinion-luneta-edsa-or-pilipinas/

[Pastilan] Cult of personality: From Charles Manson to Rodrigo Duterte

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://www.rappler.com/voices/thought-leaders/pastilan-cult-personality-charles-manson-rodrigo-duterte/

<p>It is one of the darker ironies of our political age that a former president, once lionized and strutting as the high priest of toughness, appealed for temporary liberty before the very tribunal he once mocked. On November 28, the appeals chamber of the International Criminal Court (ICC) <a href="https://www.rappler.com/philippines/icc-appeals-chamber-denies-rodrigo-duterte-interim-release/">denied Rodrigo Duterte’s plea</a> for interim release.</p>

<p>One factor was that the ICC judges looked, not only at Duterte, but also at the people who orbit him. They saw the DDS, the Duterte Diehard Supporters, and the digital herd that repeats whatever they are told, like a congregation chanting liturgy without understanding a word of it. The court saw this online battalion, along with Duterte’s <a href="https://www.rappler.com/philippines/duterte-grandson-supporters-slam-icc-inhumane-denial-release/">family members in power</a> and his other associates, as a network over which the former president maintains overwhelming influence.</p>

<p>From the ICC’s vantage point, this network would make any grant of temporary liberty hazardous, because the DDS have long been a cult of personality that rivals some of the strangest cases in recent years.</p>

<div class="related-article ">
<div class="related-article__container">
<div class="related-article__text">
<div class="related-article__eyebrow">Must Read</div>
<div class="related-article__title">
<a class="r

[Newspoint] A forced choice

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://www.rappler.com/voices/thought-leaders/newspoint-forced-choice-marcos-jr/

[Vantage Point] Why the Philippines should slow down on offshore wind transition

https://web.brid.gy/r/https://www.rappler.com/voices/thought-leaders/vantage-point-why-philippines-should-slow-down-offshore-wind-energy-transition/

[OPINION] The politics of ‘rehabilitation’ and relegitimation

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://www.rappler.com/voices/thought-leaders/opinion-politics-rehabilitation-relegitimation/

<p>Why do public officials tainted or implicated in corruption scandals see the need to keep running again and again or at least be reappointed to public office? Why, for instance, have 15 politicians indicted or even convicted in the<a href="https://www.rappler.com/philippines/44076-sc-junks-pork-barrel-unconstitutional/"> Priority Development Assistance Fund</a> (PDAF) pork barrel scam taken this path, with 14 of them, at some point, running again for public office, some even several times, and three becoming Cabinet members?</p>

<p>The simple answer to the questions above would be political “rehabilitation” and relegimitation. </p>

<p>Political rehabilitation is the process by which a public official who has been been tarnished, tainted, disgraced or ostracized due to past actions or associations regains public acceptability, respectability, credibility and influence. Rehabilitation is very much related to relegitimation (or relegitimization), that is, regaining the trust of voters or the general public.</p>

<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img alt="" class="wp-image-3119831" height="700" src="https://www.rappler.com/tachyon/2025/11/image-28.png" width="1024" /></figure>

<p>But why are rehabilitation and relegitimation so important? For honest public officials who have been wrongly implicated, rehabilitation and relegitimation are necessary for them to be able to continue or resume their engagement in earnest public service without hindrances or inhibi

[OPINION] Hybrid constitutional solution to crisis

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://www.rappler.com/voices/thought-leaders/opinion-hybrid-constitutional-solution-crisis/

[The Slingshot] The governor’s favored supplier?

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://www.rappler.com/voices/thought-leaders/the-slingshot-governor-favored-supplier/

[Vantage Point] Why global investors see PH flood control scandal as systemic red flag

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://www.rappler.com/voices/thought-leaders/vantage-point-global-investors-see-flood-control-corruption-philippines-red-flag/

[Pinoy Criminology] Undersecretaries: White collar criminals in Philippine bureaucracy

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://www.rappler.com/voices/thought-leaders/pinoy-criminology-undersecretaries-white-collar-criminals-philippines-bureaucracy/

[Edgewise] Grocery prices and the ‘Eps Files’ put Trump on the ropes

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://www.rappler.com/voices/thought-leaders/edgewise-economy-epstein-files-impact-trump-presidency/

<p>At checkout a few days ago in Safeway Supermarket on Mission Street here in San Francisco, an elderly woman complained, “I can’t believe it, even pasta is getting more expensive.” </p>

<p>The big, white, and paunchy clerk, eyes narrowing, shook his head and harrumphed, “Don’t get me started with <em>that</em> guy.”</p>

<p>President That Guy, as expected, keeps speaking from both sides of his mouth. He blames the Biden presidency for the high prices while claiming there’s no problem at all: “Our Economy is BOOMING, and Costs are coming way down,” he posted on Truth Social.</p>

<p>Few people are buying it. Truth be told, <a href="https://www.rappler.com/people/p39839355-donald-trump/">Donald Trump</a> is on the ropes and flailing, pummeled by economic troubles of his own making. And, oh, by the Epstein files. Trump’s approval rating has fallen to a record low of 38%, down 9 points since January, and only 26% approve of his handling of the high cost of living fueled by inflation and unprecedented tariffs.</p>

<p>Due to his tariffs on imported goods (purportedly needed to bring back manufacturing to the US, yet manufacturing jobs have sunk by <a href="https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MANEMP">194,000</a>) the average US household could pay $2,400 more annually, according to the Yale Budget Lab. Still Trump keeps gaslighting that tariffs are paid for by foreign exporters, not passed on to consumers. </p>

<div class="related-article ">
<div class="related-artic

[OPINION] How should the Philippines access the Loss and Damage Fund?

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://www.rappler.com/voices/thought-leaders/opinion-how-should-philippines-access-loss-damage-fund/

[OPINION] The paradox of Juan Ponce Enrile

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://www.rappler.com/voices/thought-leaders/opinion-paradox-juan-ponce-enrile/

<p><a href="https://www.rappler.com/people/p61346098-juan-ponce-enrile/">Juan Ponce Enrile</a> has long been a paradox in Philippine legal and political history. He is both architect and beneficiary of Martial Law — its chief implementer and later its survivor. His name evokes fear and cunning, brilliance and betrayal. Yet what is most striking about Enrile’s long presence in Philippine jurisprudence is how often he appears as a litigant invoking the Bill of Rights — the very charter of freedoms he once helped suppress. </p>

<p>The irony could not be sharper: the man who orchestrated detentions without warrant and censored dissent would later be protected by the same constitutional guarantees he trampled upon.</p>

<h5 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-enrile-during-martial-law">Enrile during Martial Law</h5>

<p>In Aquino v. Enrile, decided in 1974, the Supreme Court upheld the legality of Senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr. ‘s detention under martial law, ruling that President Ferdinand E. Marcos’ proclamation validly vested the executive with extraordinary powers to arrest and detain individuals without judicial warrant. </p>

<div class="related-article ">
<div class="related-article__container">
<div class="related-article__text">
<div class="related-article__eyebrow">Must Read</div>
<div class="related-article__title">
<a class="related-article__title-link" href="https://www.rappler.com/philippines/statements-reactions-death-juan-po

[In This Economy] Economic malaise grips the Philippines

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://www.rappler.com/voices/thought-leaders/in-this-economy-economic-malaise-grips-philippines/

[OPINION] From Berlin to Belém: 30 years as a climate leader

https://web.brid.gy/r/https://www.rappler.com/voices/thought-leaders/opinion-berlin-belem-philippines-climate-leadership/

[OPINION] Super typhoons and the value of geological hazard assessment

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://www.rappler.com/voices/thought-leaders/super-typhoons-geological-hazard-assessment/

<p>On November 7, 2025, the country quietly remembered the wrath of <a href="https://www.rappler.com/topic/super-typhoon-yolanda/">Super Typhoon Yolanda</a> (International Name: Haiyan) 12 years ago. STS Yolanda ranks as the deadliest and costliest Philippine typhoon on record, killing more than 6,000 individuals and causing infrastructure and agricultural destruction in the billions of dollars. More recently, other super typhoons that have hit the country in the month of November include <a href="https://www.rappler.com/philippines/weather/updates-news-typhoon-ulysses-philippines-2020/">STS Ulysses</a> (Vamco) in 2020, and <a href="https://www.rappler.com/philippines/weather/typhoon-pepito-forecast-track-wind-signals-rain-damage-rescue-relief-updates-november-2024/">STS Pepito</a> (Man-yi) in 2024. </p>

<p>Today, the entire country awaits the landfall, around Quezon and Aurora provinces, of <a href="https://www.rappler.com/philippines/weather/tropical-cyclone-uwan-forecast-track-wind-signals-rain-damage-relief-updates-november-2025/">Super Typhoon Uwan</a> (Fung-wong) later in the evening. Landfall refers to the event when the eye of a storm passes over land. The effects of the storm such as gusty winds and heavy rains, especially if its wind-rain diameter is large such as that of STS Uwan, however may already be felt ahead of the landfall. </p>

<p>Typhoons (“hurricanes” in the eastern Pacific, Caribbean and Atlantic; “cyclones” in the Indian Ocean and Austra

[Pinoy Criminology] Cebu flooding: The anatomy of a white collar crime

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://www.rappler.com/voices/thought-leaders/pinoy-criminology-cebu-floods-typhoon-tino-anatomy-white-collar-crime/

[Time Trowel] The Michelin Guide and authentic Filipino food

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://www.rappler.com/voices/thought-leaders/time-trowel-michelin-guide-authentic-filipino-food/

The vindication of Gina Lopez

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://www.rappler.com/voices/thought-leaders/vindication-gina-lopez/

Client Info

Server: https://mastodon.social

Version: 2025.07

Repository: https://github.com/cyevgeniy/lmst