THE next 12 months of Pres. Duterte’s administration will be most crucial and a test to Malacanang’s propaganda and communications machinery in the battle for public acceptance and support.

There are reasons to believe, though, that President Duterte and his allies in Congress were anticipating this media war.

P2.7-B Budget

That explains why the Office of Press Secretary Martin Andanar got over P2.7-Billion this year, reportedly several times higher than the regular budget for a year given to this office during previous administrations.

Sources inside Malacanang, though, insist that this P2.7-Billion regular budget given to Andanar was…

Read more: IS ANDANAR READY?

By James Veloso and Rosemarie Señora

FULL of surprises .That in three words would best describe the year 2016.

There is no doubt however that the biggest surprise of 2016 is President Rodrigo Duterte’s landslide victory in the May elections over his more established rivals and the subsequent controversies he generated spiked by his acerbic statements and stands on various issues.

Even social media giant Facebook has listed President Duterte and the Philippine presidential elections as among the most talked about topics in the world in 2016.

In our final issue for this year, OpinYon’s Board of Editors has decided…

Read more: 2016 YEAR IN REVIEW

EVERY new president that sits in Malacañang appoints a department head and bureau chiefs, who are indebted one way or the other to a religious group, a political party or incumbent politician, or a campaign supporter or donor.

As such, a new layer is added into the bureaucracy each time a new bureau head is appointed by the incoming department secretary with the old appointees clinging hard to their post—never mind if they are placed on floating status or in the freezer.

The expected consequence of course is a declining quality of service and failure to meet targets and objectives,…

Read more: WHY THE COUNTRY SINKS DEEPER INTO CORRUPTION?

IT is a confirmed fact that our country has one of the highest electricity rates in Asia which explains why we remain as one of the poorest economies in the world.

While giant power firms such as Meralco and others feast with their billions of pesos in earnings through their highly scandalous power rates, the country and the people continue to wallow in poverty. 

Clearly, something must be done to solve this unpleasant situation if only to rescue our people from continued poverty and deprivation brought by these opportunistic conglomerates.   

Symbol of Abuse and Corruption

Therefore, the…

Read more: WHITE ELEPHANT NO MORE?