Yahoo Philippines' opinions that mattered most in 2021

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  • 2022 Philippine Elections
    2022 Philippine Elections

Yahoo Philippines reviews the opinions and analyses that made the most sense this year.

The Philippines needs a president like Leni. But do we deserve one?

Philippine Vice President Leni Robredo speaks during a press conference to announce she will run in the 2022 presidential race, in Quezon City on October 7, 2021. (Photo: MARIA TAN/AFP via Getty Images)
Philippine Vice President Leni Robredo speaks during a press conference to announce she will run in the 2022 presidential race, in Quezon City on October 7, 2021. (Photo: MARIA TAN/AFP via Getty Images)

Why it would have been a great disservice to millions of Filipinos had Vice President Leni Robredo decided not to run for president, according to this writer.

Why lawmakers must raise the age of statutory rape

Why lawmakers must raise the age of statutory rape. (Photo: Getty Images)
An sad little boy sits alone unhappy. (Photo: Getty Images)

Shockingly (or not), sexual intercourse with a child as young as 12 is NOT automatically considered rape, in the Philippines. These children will have to go through a series of court hearings to prove the absence of consent, opines this writer.

A critic’s tribute to former President Noynoy Aquino

President Benigno
FILE PHOTO: President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino Jr., gestures during a news conference at the Malacanang Presidential Palace in Manila August 18, 2010. (Photo: REUTERS/Romeo Ranoco)

This critic was not a fan of the late Philippine President Benigno S. Aquino III. Noynoy was far from perfect, but back then, those who dared to question his policies were not locked in jail cells or worse, brutally murdered.

Philippines' school reopening feels like it's 2020 all over again

The Philippines has finally reopened 100 public schools in low-risk areas to join the Department of Education’s pilot run of limited face-to-face classes on November 15, 2021, after nearly two years of lockdown. (Photo: DepEd Philippines)
The Philippines has finally reopened 100 public schools in low-risk areas to join the Department of Education’s pilot run of limited face-to-face classes on November 15, 2021, after nearly two years of lockdown. (Photo: DepEd Philippines)

The Philippines’ school reopening on November 15 seems a deja vu of 2020 for this writer. The temperature scanners and contact-tracing sheets at the door and the plastic barriers at the armchairs are, if anything, visual reminders of the Philippines’ horrible and embarrassing past.

No, we can’t have another autocrat wannabe in power

Policeman keep watch as activists carry signs as various groups protest marking the fifth and final year in office of President Rodrigo Rodrigo Duterte near the Malacanang Palace in Manila. The groups condemned the Duterte administration for its alleged human rights violation for the thousands who have been killed under the governments war on illegal drugs and criminality including the death of activists and critics. Philippines. (Photo by: Basilio Sepe/Majority World/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
Policeman keep watch as activists carry signs as various groups protest marking the fifth and final year in office of President Rodrigo Rodrigo Duterte near the Malacanang Palace in Manila. (Photo: Basilio Sepe/Majority World/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

This writer warns that you must not be fooled by the changing face of autocracy. An autocracy today is already run by a group of elite people who are not assembled together by shared ideals of a flourishing and affluent nation, but by shared interests of power and total control over that nation.

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