Food security (FS) has rarely been studied from the adolescent’s perspective. This paper describes FS, dietary diversity scores (DDS) and their predictors among Filipino boys and girls (aged 10–16 years) living in rural areas of the municipality of Nagcarlan, Laguna Province. Dietary intake (24-h recall) and other data were collected from adolescents and their caregivers before (T1: October–December 2019; N 285) and during (T2: August–October 2020; N 152) the COVID-19 community quarantine and analysed using multivariable Poisson regression. Perceived household FS by the adolescents increased from 34·7 % (T1) to 46·4 % (T2). At both timepoints, being a girl predicted better FS, whereas mental health problems were inversely related. At T2, mobility restrictions impacted FS negatively, whereas engagement in both food barter and edible gardening showed better FS. Dietary diversity improved from T1 to T2 (median DDS at T1:3, DDS > 5:23·2 %; and at T2:4; 26·4 %). Either number of siblings (T1) or household size (T2) was inversely related to DDS. At T1, better education of the household head and having a household member working overseas predicted better DDS, whereas at T2, mobility restrictions and belonging to the highest wealth tertile showed inverse associations. We conclude that FS and dietary diversity of Filipino adolescents in rural Nagcarlan did not deteriorate during the first months of COVID-19 community quarantine. Whereas mobility restrictions affected both FS and DDS negatively, food barter and edible gardening showed to be successful coping mechanisms. Further investigation should clarify the inverse relationship between wealth index and DDS and the role of food aid during the pandemic.

This paper develops ontological security theorizing beyond its Eurocentric focus by probing the Filipino pantayong pananaw (from-us-for-us perspective) movement as a potentially decolonial intellectual and political framework. Drawing on Lacanian theorization of ontological security, I argue that pantayong pananaw can be thought of as a master fantasy that guides the desire for and quest by a formerly colonized group to become coherent, complete, and indivisible Filipinos. Amidst the inescapable ontological lack and anxiety deeply entwined with their colonial experience, the pantayong pananaw fantasy operates as a protective mechanism that promises a resolution to an original deadlock: the absence of Filipinoness. Owing to its inherently Self-versus-Other orientation, however, the pantayong pananaw fantasy inevitably imposes a closure based on a singular version of social reality aligned with an idealized vision of the Filipino identity, homeland, and nation-state. The result is neocolonial decoloniality, that is, a condition where the pursuit of intellectual and political decoloniality paradoxically creates and entrenches existing (neo)colonial structures and arrangements that perpetually marginalize certain groups within a postcolonial society. Such a dilemma has significant implications for the ethos and practice of decoloniality both as an intellectual and a political project.

This article explores how people imagine a 21st-century persona-indexing register as emanating from a 19th-century person-indexing register. The persona in question is the Philippine conyo, regarded as spoiled, empty-headed, rich kids who speak a distinct style of “Taglish” (Tagalog-English). The person in question is José Rizal, one of the most celebrated Filipino historical figures. Drawing on ethnographic and media data, I trace how Rizal is regarded as “the original conyo,” as its first author or animator. Examining how this type-token interdiscursive link between persona and person plays on the inversion of a chronotopic frame, I consider what conceptualizing elite historical continuity accomplishes socially and economically. I argue that citing Rizal creates a channel to move value.

This article examines the forgetting of the collective memory of the Filipina “comfort women” prior to the 1990s transnational redress movement. It argues that the prevailing social norms around prostitution, postwar narratives of heroism versus collaboration, and the interests of state and elite actors contributed to the initial silencing of this memory. However, shifts in societal norms towards sexual slavery and the return of democratic spaces in Asia enabled the later remembering and eventual mobilization of the “comfort women” memory which facilitated the emergence of the redress movement in the Philippines, challenging the state’s homogenized official memory of the Asia-Pacific War.

This research examined the role of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in community transformation through the experiences of six Philippine-based development NGOs and their community partners, who were winners/finalists of the nationwide Galing Pook Citizenship Awards. We used a combination of a backward mapping approach and a multi-case study design in gathering narratives through 16 interviews and 20 focus group discussions with 39 NGO leaders and staff as well as 122 members and leaders of communities who have successfully undergone transformation. Results show that community readiness and buy-in, NGO leadership and brand equity, and support from local government and funding partners helped enable the change. Transformation strategies utilized by the NGOs with the community that catalyzed and helped sustain the change include building trust, empowering the community through capacity building, adhering to standards and constantly monitoring the programs, sustaining responsiveness through emerging programs, and aligning initiatives with local government goals. These responsive and holistic approaches helped enhance the quality of life in the community, enabled community engagement and commitment to change, and institutionalized programs through local government policies/support. The study presents valuable theoretical insights synthesized through a proposed model for engendering community transformation that highlights cocreation and co-ownership of change by NGOs and communities.

Conservation science is constrained by conditional visibility, an epistemic trap whereby recognition depends on alignment with Global North priorities. This phenomenon represents the operational intersection of the Matthew and Matilda effects, compounded by the feminization of poverty in the Global South. By marginalizing Indigenous and local knowledge, this structural filter severs global mandates from grounded ecological realities, leading to maladaptive conservation interventions. To bridge this gap, we propose specific interventions targeting the financial, administrative and evaluative pillars of the discipline. By matching structural reform with internal empowerment, we move beyond rhetoric to ensure effective planetary stewardship.

In the Philippines, bans on the use of plastic bags have been enacted in 489 cities and towns as a means of stemming waste, while proposed legislation for a nationwide prohibition has been pending for several years. The national single-use plastic (SUP) ban is a significant step forward in mitigating plastic pollution and climate change, but it will have economic and employment impacts on firms and workers. This study fills in a gap by estimating the employment impact of a national ban using firm-level data from official surveys. An exploratory labour-centric methodology interrogates workers’ perceptions of a ban through interviews with unionists. The study finds the employment effect to be significant, as 32,000 workers in almost 500 SUP firms will be directly affected, and another 9.000 workers in the midstream plastic industry will be indirectly impacted. Workers have a range of opinions regarding a proposed ban – from opposition because of the expected layoffs to acceptance as a necessary solution to plastic pollution. However, support for a SUP ban is predicated on the existence of alternative employment for affected workers. The study reveals that workers are receptive to a message that integrates both environmental concerns and labour standards. However, there is a serious lack of information dissemination from plastic firms and government agencies about the proposed SUP ban and the necessary adaptation measures to prepare workers for a transition. The economic, sociocultural, and institutional barriers to an effective just transition for SUP workers are substantial but not insurmountable.

In this article, we investigate the semiotic practices of Filipino K-pop fans (KpopStans) who supported the 2022 presidential bid of former Philippine Vice President Leni Robredo. Through digital ethnography, we analyze the ways in which fans entextualized and resemiotized signifiers of K-pop (e.g., lyrics, imagery, fancams) to create hybrid political messages that translated familiar fandom aesthetics into forms of electoral participation. We argue these practices constitute “civic stanning”—enactments of fan-based citizenship that leverage the cultural resonance of K-pop to build solidarities around Robredo, exercise political agency, promote values of conviviality and progress, and navigate the restrictive political climate of the Philippines. The study highlights the role of popular culture in mediating transnational flows and shaping emergent modes of political activism.

Drawing on a range of fieldwork interviews, this paper discusses the opposition of civil society to nonferrous metals mining in the Philippines. The efforts of the Philippine government to enhance development by encouraging the extraction of the nation’s mineral resources by foreign corporations is discussed, as is the opposition of Philippine civil society to these efforts. This opposition to nonferrous metals mining has involved protests, litigation, administrative proceedings, and implementation of mining moratoriums by local governments. The paper concludes with an examination of the respective costs and benefits of a mining-based development paradigm in the context of the way in which many Filipinos view foreign extraction of their nation’s resources.

This paper discusses an emerging role for Philippine NGOs—building and maintaining intersectoral cooperation among various sectors of society to tackle key issues like agricultural development, HIV/AIDS, and agrarian reform. The three case studies elaborated in the paper show that Philippine NGOs play important intermediary and bridging functions crucial for the success of multistakeholder partnerships. NGOs are well equipped for this because of their middle-class and professional nature and because of various characteristics like autonomy, flexibility, and the ability to mobilize resources.

The Philippine nonprofit sector, including nongovernmental organizations, have enjoyed an enabling and facilitative state environment since the People Power Revolution of 1986. It currently faces a legitimacy challenge in terms of its ability to represent the people, to be accountable to them, and to show its autonomy and difference from the state. It also confronts the challenge of how it can deliver services more effectively as it expands and professionalizes. Raising resources through government, philanthropy, and income generation also continue to be major challenges.

Using novel nighttime lights and high-resolution atmospheric reanalysis, this paper exploits exogenous fluctuations in temperature and precipitation to identify the causal effects of weather disturbances on local economic growth in the Philippines – the world’s most disaster-prone country. Our findings reveal that heightened temperature variability significantly dampens growth, but only in poor municipalities. This effect persists for at least 2 years after the initial shock. Furthermore, the relationship between weather shocks and growth is nonlinear. We also demonstrate that adverse weather events impede growth by disrupting agricultural productivity and essential service sectors, including wholesale and retail trade, health and education. Overall, our results highlight the importance of understanding the distributional impact of climate change within countries, its underlying mechanisms, and how economic development policies can help shield poor municipalities from the vagaries of the weather.