“Inchoate” means imperfectly formed or formulated: formless, incoherent, the Merriam-Webster dictionary says, to which the Cambridge dictionary adds, “not completely developed or clear.” When Sanjoy Chakravorty, professor of global studies at Temple University, Pennsylvania, called the fever of street protests around the world in 2019 “inchoate displays of anger,” “inchoate” can only mean futile and desperate.

ACROSS THE WORLD, from Hong Kong to Ecuador, Sudan to Iraq, angry protesters are filling urban streets and squares, clashing with police, smashing shops and burning tires. They do not have a clear leadership. Yet, even in hopelessly sectarian Lebanon, demonstrators seem defiantly united against their rulers. And they have claimed three major scalps already: the leaders of Sudan, Algeria, and Lebanon.

Most of the analysis done on the impact of the rice tariffication law make use of fairly recent data, as in what happened to rice imports, palay and rice prices in 2019. It may be useful to look slightly farther back, say in the last 10 to 15 years. Had the changes observed this year been unprecedented? If they had occurred before, the chances of our rice farmers, millers, and traders surviving what would seem now to be extremely adverse situation for the industry are high.

In baseball, a grand slam is a home run hit with all the bases loaded. That means that each base has a runner and that the single home run, the grand slam, scores four runs (points), in one fell swoop.

COMMUNICATION CAN be indirect. Words uttered especially by leaders need not be taken literally. They may be coded with body language emphasizing (pounding on the table) or contradicting (wink of an eye) what is being ordered with a loud voice for eavesdroppers to hear.

THE PHILIPPINES has recently been plagued with fraudulent and unethical online lending behavior. This has prompted fintechs in the country to take much needed measures to combat issues related to financial literacy -- like introducing industry standards for responsible lending following a circular by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The Marcoses have been asking for closure on the public debate over their late patriarch’s martial law regime and its impact on Philippine politics, culture, and economy -- and most of all, on the Filipino people’s lives and fortunes. Many are buying into the idea of relegating that period to just another meaningless episode in history that deserves forgetting either because they can’t remember how things were during that period, or just don’t know enough about it.

Perhaps ghosts do exist. Perhaps the question we should really be asking is: what exists?

It is the blame game at its finest, or rather, at its worst. The administration admits to the colossal failure of the war on drugs after three years of non-stop killings. To distract the public and prove its incompetence, the Office of the Vice-President is challenged to solve the drug problem.

WHAT DIVIDES the right and the left? Not 50 years ago, or 20 or even 10 years ago, but right now?

The spread of African Swine Fever (ASF) among local pigs is already wreaking havoc on the local food production chain. As hog producers face losses due to dropping farm gate prices, as a result of a declining demand for pork, food processors are also now calling for a temporary ban on the use of local pork for canned and processed meat production.

Upon the invitation of the Ateneo School of Government, I attended the project launch of the Access to Sustainable Energy Program-Clean Energy Living Laboratories (ASEP-CELLs) in Xavier University (XU), Cagayan de Oro City on Oct. 28. It is an EU-funded project that targets to achieve 100% rural electrification through renewable energy (RE).