My columns for the week of February 10, 2025

UNRELATED to anything here, I'm having a bit of an age moment -- my youngest, David, is celebrating his 18th birthday today, which means that all of my children are now adults. I wish that we had left a better world for them, and I'm sorry we didn't, but hopefully they will be better than us. 

Here are my Manila Times columns for the week of February 10, 2025:

Tuesday, February 11, 2025: MMDA subjected to a well-deserved spanking, but now what? -- The Metro Manila Development Authority is a cross-jurisdictional agency in the capital, and is responsible for things such as traffic and solid waste management, as well as, somewhat inexplicably, the annual Metro Manila Film Festival. Rather than being run by urban planners or traffic engineers as would befit its stated purpose, it is instead a political patronage post usually filled by lawyers and accountants. While its most recent harebrained recommendation was savagely and properly shot down, something still needs to be done about the makeup of the agency.

Thursday, February 13, 2025: Are the climate scientists wrong? -- The above illustration, another of Steve Pabilinas' gems, accompanied this commentary. I wrote the headline to troll our in-house climate denier; my point in this is that the scientists may be "wrong" only in the sense that they have been entirely too optimistic about how quickly the climate is changing for the worse. 

Sunday, February 16, 2025: A change at the DOTr -- Somewhat unexpectedly, the Secretary of the Department of Transportation announced his resignation; this column offers some insights into the possible reasons why, and prospects under the new Secretary.