Disclaimer: I am not a linguist nor an expert in language. I am simply a journalist who has been writing Filipino TV scripts for the past twenty years. I've always been fascinated with the Filipino language and the origin of certain words. The stories featured in this video are from some of the books and articles I've read, as well as from my conversations with anthropologists and experts on language/culture. I am not entirely sure if these theories/stories are all correct but nevertheless they make for an interesting piece of conversation. I hope I do not offend anybody. No hate please.
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Friday, April 28, 2023
One of world's oldest newspapers to end daily print run
Apr 27, 2023 10:10 PM
VIENNA, Austria -- One of the world's oldest newspapers still in print, Austria's Wiener Zeitung, will primarily move online, after a decision Thursday by the country's parliament.
The development marks the final step in a years-long dispute between the Austrian government and the newspaper about the future of the state-owned daily.
Founded in 1703 under the name Wiennerisches Diarium, and later renamed Wiener Zeitung in 1780, the formerly private bi-weekly paper was nationalised by Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria in 1857, becoming the country's official gazette.
"It is adopted with a majority," Norbert Hofer, the third president of the parliament, said of a new law to primarily move the publication online from July 1.
The paper will maintain a minimum of ten print publications per year, depending on the funds available.
A woman holds the current issue of the "Wiener Zeitung" newspaper from April 27, 2023, with its front page illustrating the newspaper's age of 320 years, in Vienna, Austria, on April 27, 2023. The Wiener Zeitung is one of the world's oldest newspapers. (JOE KLAMAR / AFP)
The Wiener Zeitung was in 2004 ranked as one of the oldest newspapers still in circulation, the World Association of News Publishers told AFP.
The newspaper's role as official gazette, it's main source of revenue, will move to a separate state-owned online platform.
The government argued that this was in line with a European directive to centralise and publish official information online.
Meanwhile, the Wiener Zeitung will establish a media hub, a content agency, and a training centre for journalists.
"Some fear that the government just wants to keep the Wiener Zeitung brand with its 320-year-old history, while nobody knows what the future publication will look like -- whether it will still be serious journalism," its vice managing editor Mathias Ziegler told AFP.
Almost half of the newspaper's over 200 employees -- 40 of whom are journalists -- could be laid off, according to its trade union.
The Wiener Zeitung has a circulation of about 20,000 on weekdays and about twice as much on weekends.
EU Commission Vice-President Vera Jourova told Austrian news agency APA that she was "not happy with the situation".
"I think the Wiener Zeitung played a good role in informing people over the years".
Several hundred people took to the streets in Vienna on Tuesday to protest the government's move.
Metro Manila Covid-19 positivity rate increasing, may reach 20% — OCTA
The Covid-19 positivity rate in Metro Manila is still rising, according to the most recent monitoring of the OCTA Research.
OCTA Research fellow Dr. Guido David reported on Thursday, April 27, that Metro Manila's seven-day positivity rate increased from 8.4 percent on April 19 to 13.4 percent on April 26.
Moreover, he does not completely rule out the possibility that Metro Manila's Covid-19 positivity rate will continue to rise in the days to come.
“This is expected to increase further, perhaps up to 20 percent,” David said.
Metro Manila’s Seven-Day Positivity Rate as of April 26, 2023 (OCTA Fellow Dr. Guido David / Twitter)
The OCTA fellow previously stated that the Covid-19 Omicron subvariant XBB.1.16 spreading in the country may be the cause of the increasing Covid-19 cases.
Positivity rate refers to the number of individuals who yielded positive results from among those who have been tested for Covid-19.
The benchmark for the positivity rate set by the World Health Organization is 5 percent.
On Thursday, the Department of Health announced 781 new Covid-19 cases across the country.
David projected that the country may record 900 to 1,100 new Covid-19 cases on Friday, April 28.
Marcos asks media to take lead in helping Filipinos discern real information, fake news, propaganda
President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. has urged the fourth estate to help the citizenry discern between real information and propaganda at a time when fake news threatens the country's stability and objectivity.
President Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Marcos Jr. (Noel Pabalate)
Speaking at the 50th anniversary of the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas (KBP) on Thursday night, April 27, Marcos recognized that the media industry has been facing various issues such as the challenge of ensuring the integrity
and credibility of information.
"Well, we started with mistaken information, then it became more active, disinformation, and misinformation and now, out-and-out, fake news," Marcos said.
He said these are among the negative effects of technological advancement and the social media age.
"However, it is something that is to be expected considering how powerful the tool social media has become," he further said.
"And like any powerful tool, it cuts both ways. And it is up once again to the KBP to bring a measure of stability, a measure of objectivity, to help our people discern what is the real information and what is propaganda," he added.
The President said in this situation, the fourth estate stands as "the stalwart partner of our conscientious and peace-loving citizenry, also of our legitimate and equally conscientious government."
He stressed that the press and broadcast media are instrumental in informing the citizenry, in shaping public opinion, and triggering social mobilization and change.
"Therefore, I exhort the KBP to continue your very important work with our people and with the government, addressing and remedying the issues and challenges that we face," he said.
"Take the lead and foster public discussion, truth and credibility, the rule of law, especially in the practice of broadcasting, news reporting and information-dissemination," he added.
'Continue to be the strong voice'
Marcos also encouraged the KBP to "continue to be the strong voice, it always has been."
The chief executive then committed that the government will continue to ensure transparency and good governance, freedom of expression and of the press, and the protection of media practitioners and their rights in the practice of their profession.
He also vowed that the government will work hand in hand with the press to improve the Philippines' ranking in the World Press Freedom Index, where the country sits at 147th place.
"Onward to many more decades of important and relevant existence, may you genuinely dedicate them to upholding the truth, freedom, and social justice for the benefit and upliftment of the present and of succeeding generations of Filipinos," he said.
The KBP is a non-government and non-profit organization created on April 27, 1973. It advocates for professional and ethical standards geared toward promoting responsible and free broadcast media, as well as maintaining a relevant role for its members in society when it comes to press freedom.
Heat index likely to hit 40 C in Metro Manila – Pagasa
April 28, 2023 20
WITH the easterlies expected to bring hot, humid weather across the country, residents especially in Metro Manila may experience as high as 40 degrees Celsius heat index on Friday, according to the state-run weather agency.
Weather specialist Benison Estareja of the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) reminded the public anew that going outdoors, especially during noontime and early afternoon when the heat is most intense must be limited.
"But if it is really necessary, make sure to cover your body against the sun and keep hydrated by drinking plenty of water to avoid heat cramps and heat exhaustion, among others," he told The Manila Times.
Other areas like Tuguegarao City, Dagupan City, Cabanatuan City, Laoag City, Legazpi City and San Jose (Mindoro) will also experience even higher heat index, Pagasa said.
Although weather disturbance is unlikely until Labor Day, May 1, the state weather bureau said the inter-tropical convergence zone (ITCZ) spotted near the Mindanao area may enter the Philippine Area of Responsibility over the weekend or on the first day of May.
"This may bring rain showers over the eastern sections of Visayas and Mindanao where a low pressure area may be formed within the ITCZ," Estareja said.
ITCZ, according to Pagasa, is an imaginary line where the northern and southern air meet and bring cloudy skies with scattered rain showers and thunderstorms.
In particular, Pagasa said that Metro Manila and the rest of the country will likely have partly cloudy to cloudy skies with occasional downpours and thunderstorms due to the easterlies and localized thunderstorms.
Preparing for El Niño
Philippine Daily Inquirer / 05:07 AM April 28, 2023
With the official weather bureau forecasting an 80-percent probability of El Niño in the coming months, pertinent government agencies have no excuse to dawdle on their job and should now speed up preparations for this catastrophic but expected weather phenomenon. According to the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration, the probability of an El Niño occurrence has increased from 55 percent to 80 percent in June, July, August, and September, with an El Niño alert set to be issued next month.
El Niño, which is caused by the seasonal warming of the Pacific Ocean, upsets normal weather patterns and brings heavy rainfall in some countries, and dry spells and drought in others, including the Philippines. Fishermen from South America first noticed the phenomenon in the 1600s, and noted that it usually occurred toward the Christmas season, hence the name El Niño which refers to the child Jesus. Climate change however has broken that pattern such that El Niño may be expected in other months of the year.
This extreme weather condition has been known to cause the outbreak of diseases, heat stress, and respiratory ailments, as well as wreak devastation on agricultural lands that result in lower crop yields and, consequently, longstanding food shortages. Over the past decade, the Philippines has incurred P463 billion in damages from extreme weather events, 62 percent of that in the agriculture sector. The fisheries sector has not been spared, with warm ocean waters dispersing and driving schools of fish into deeper waters and drastically reducing one’s catch. Severe temperatures and lower ocean waters have also exposed and bleached fragile coral reefs, killed plankton, and triggered fish kills. Forest fires, degraded water sources, and other environmental risks can also be expected.
While there’s little that humans can do to influence El Niño’s onset, duration, and intensity, its severe effects can be mitigated with sound policy interventions, preemptive government actions, and long-term strategies informed by science. Expected to lead these initiatives is the Department of Agriculture (DA), and its acting secretary, President Marcos himself.
So far, the DA has outlined its plans to help the fisheries and agriculture sector cope with El Niño’s effects, including putting up more water-related infrastructure such as hydroelectric power plants, irrigation canals, and diversion dams. Small scale irrigation projects would also be developed or rehabilitated, and made available to farmers. The DA also said that it has already identified hybrid varieties of rice and other high value crops that can be planted during dry spells.
All well and good, though it remains to be seen if the agency blamed for spotty policies behind the skyrocketing prices of sugar, rice, and onions could follow through its plans and prove detractors wrong.
For his part, the President could have expounded on his announced plan for the government to slowly convert the country’s dependence on water supply from underground to surface water, since conventional wisdom has it that groundwater, being less polluted, is easier and cheaper to treat than surface water. Knowing about the risk of groundwater depletion and the reduction of water in streams and lakes, as well as the deterioration of water quality, should be enough to convince most people to go for it. The plan to help local government units install their own water supply systems should rain prove insufficient is sound, however. As is the executive order that the President said he had signed to create an office to manage the country’s water resources.
Just as noteworthy is the mitigation and adaptation plan set up by the Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Unit that includes the promotion of drought-tolerant and early maturing crop varieties, organic fertilizer to increase retention of soil moisture, the adjustment of the planting calendar, and crop shifting.
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