Stories written by Yen Makabenta

Bloomberg sees PH as Asia’s turnaround story in 2019

The new year as a season of possibility is looking better and better for the Philippines. Better than the SWS surveys that said that most Filipinos are looking at 2019 with optimism, and that more Filipinos rate themselves as poor, is Bloomberg’s upbeat report on the Philippine economy.

Why skepticism is the best attitude to take on UN climate catastrophism

The climate change debate has become more complicated as the United Nations continues to double down on its forecast of climate catastrophe in response to near-global rejection of its warning. The situation will intensify this December as nearly 200 countries meet for COP 24 in Katowice, Poland (the curious acronym stands for Conference of the Parties) to discuss a global plan of action against climate change.

Extreme weather not proof of global warming, NASA on global cooling

To comprehend the complex arguments and abstruse terminology of the climate debate, I have been helped by the advice of one scientist who said it is essential to grasp the difference between weather and climate.

What’s in a Word? A Single Word Makes All the Difference

I have been lately mesmerized by the awesome power of words, even just a single word to alter the perception of reality, or trigger outrage.

Yolanda (Haiyan): Remembrance, Reflection and Responsibility

In the arcane world of natural disasters, names matter a great deal—not only because of history and science, but because people need them in order to remember or mourn what and whom they have lost.

On This, Church and State Agree, Population Should Grow, Not Shrink

I thought of writing this essay on population at this time when our thoughts are turned towards both the dead and the living with equal reverence.

Moment of Clarity in Marawi and the War on Terrorism

“Wars are always clarifying” is a line that I jotted down from a column in the New York Times that was written two years after the attack on the twin towers on September 11, 2001. The subject was ostensibly “9/11” and the war on terrorism that it set off (Thomas Friedman wrote the line).

Why Honesty Is Best Policy: It Feels Better

A new university research study has added a twist to the saying, “honesty is the best policy,” which has been immortalized by the Holy Bible, William Shakespeare, Benjamin Franklin and countless mothers.

In His Let-bygones-be-bygones Tour, Why Did Obama Skip the Philippines?

First read In “The Interpreter” op-ed column in the New York Times, Max Fisher reported that President Obama, during his final year in office, spent time in acknowledging United States’ misdeeds in various countries that he has visited.

Obama-Duterte Mix-up: Dopey Human-Rights Dispute Should Not Have Happened

First Read Having expounded on the “rule of law” in my previous column (“Rule of law: The principle Duterte has not trampled on,” Manila Times, September 6, 2016), I feel bound to also do the same on the subject of “human rights,” especially because the issue has driven a wedge in Philippine –American relations, and has momentarily unhinged Philippine standing in the United Nations.

Drug killings an international issue now

First Read Because in the first draft of this column, I used the word “Draconian” to describe the unprecedented measures that President Duterte has adopted in his war on drugs, I was led by my research to the story of Draco, from whose name the word was taken.

Dawn of a new era

‘Whatever else shall pass away, this must remain’  THIS is the standard that I privately apply to the inaugural addresses of Presidents and Prime Ministers, in this country or elsewhere. Oftentimes, the speeches just perish on the page or on the computer monitor. But a few remain and grab mind and heart, eliciting occasional recollection and quotation.



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