The post Why is the peso so weak? first appeared on Iloilo Metropolitan Times.

Suddenly, a melody by Paul McCartney, recorded in 1967 and featured on the album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, echoed in my mind.

In their 1967 song of the same name, the Beatles, where McCartney belonged, asked whether a partner would still need and feed them “When I’m Sixty-Four.”

The track explores aging, domestic life (such as renting a cottage on the Isle of Wight, gardening, and knitting), and whether love will endure into old age.

Number 64 is often viewed as a sign of transition, balance, and quiet personal rediscovery after long-term commitments or caregiving roles.
It also represents support, nurturing, and maintaining stability while encouraging us to trust our path and personal abilities.
 
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According to reports from the Bankers Association of the Philippines, the currency closed that day at P64.17 against the greenback, marking a new record low.

Analysts pointed to a strong US dollar, rising global oil prices, and broader economic pressures driving the peso to these record lows.

Persistent high US interest rates, elevated Treasury bond yields, and hawkish signals from the US Federal Reserve continue to strengthen the US dollar relative to emerging market currencies.

The Philippines relies heavily on imported fuel and commodities. Ongoing Middle East conflicts and high global crude oil prices have driven up demand for US dollars.

Another key driver of the Philippine peso’s decline is the country’s ongoing external payments and trade deficits, alongside a drop in foreign exchange reserves, which put sustained structural pressure on the local currency.

Cautious or measured responses from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas regarding aggressive market intervention have sometimes triggered short-term speculative selling or panic among market participants.
 
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P50,000,000 is a substantial amount of wealth in the Philippines, equivalent to roughly US $850,000 to $900,000 depending on current exchange rates.

If the Philippine government will only give the amount to tipsters who could help arrest International Criminal Court (ICC) wanted person, Senator Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa, it’s like throwing away a fortune just to catch one suspected criminal.

If we placed the amount in a high-yield digital bank or government bonds like Retail Treasury Bonds at a conservative 5 percent annual interest, it could generate P2.5 million per year (before taxes) in passive income.

It can also fully fund the entire K-12 and international college education—including tuition, housing, and living expenses abroad—for 2 to 3 children.

For an average Filipino family spending a comfortable P100,000 a month, P50 million can sustain their lifestyle for over 41 years without adjusting for inflation.

The money can completely cover the most expensive medical procedures, long-term private nursing, and top-tier critical illness insurance policies for an entire extended family at premier hospitals like St. Luke’s Medical Center.
 
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110 SUPER SNEAKY WEIGHT-LOSS SECRETS: 1. Never food-shop without gum 2. Ditch your Tupperware 3. Give your guy the first bite 4. Sip from only one type of glass 5. Dish it out 6. Eat after happy hour 7. End your workout with protein 8. Love pretzels 9. Lose the serving dishes 10. Drink after-dinner coffee. (Sources: Cornell University Food and Brand Lab; Nutrition and Metabolism Specialist Jana Klauer, M.D.)

EIGHT THINGS GUYS NOTICE ABOUT LADIES INSTANTLY: 1. How thick their hair is 2. If their smile is genuine 3. The size of their group 4. The pitch of their voice 5. Their hip-to-waist ratio 6. Their glowiness 7. What’s fake about them 8. Their eyes. (Source: Daniel Amen, MD, author of The Brain and Love)

WEIRD BUT TRUE TURN-ON. Our armpits are full of sensitive nerve endings that can send feel-good shivers down our spine. But it creeps some people out. (Source: Rachael Ross, MD, PhD)

SIX WORST THINGS A LADY CAN SAY TO A GUY: 1. You’re so much better than all the other jerks I’ve dated 2. Can you really afford that? 3. So, we are running a little late. Relax 4. He’s a great guy–you should be friends with him 5. She made me promise not to tell, but…6. Don’t be silly–I haven’t done that in ages. (Cosmopolitan, November 2009 issue)

SOME PRESIDENTS ARE BRAVER AND SMARTER THAN OTHERS: When he was still general during the Revolutionary War, George Washington refused to receive any salary. He did, however, file expense reports that critics claimed were more than his salary would have been. Hehe wise!

Alex P. Vidal, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor in chief of two leading daily newspapers in Iloilo.—Ed

The post Sixty-four first appeared on Iloilo Metropolitan Times.

The forgotten gift of fog

In remote highlands and coastal deserts where rain rarely comes, dense fog or moist air can be more dependable than seasonal rainfall. Wind pushes humid air through vertical nets — fine-mesh “fog catchers” — where water vapor condenses on the fibers. Droplets join and run down into gutters and are collected in tanks. From these humble nets pours life-giving water: enough to drink, irrigate, raise livestock, and feed entire villages.

One prominent example: on a mountainside in Morocco’s Anti-Atlas, a project using the 3D-mesh system called WaterFoundation’s “CloudFisher” network gathers water without pumps, fuel, or electricity — just fog, wind, and human ingenuity.

In Chile’s hyper-arid Atacama Desert — a region that sometimes records less than one millimeter of rainfall per year — fog-harvesting nets have become a lifeline. Researchers installing mesh collectors found they could pull in up to 10 liters per square meter per day under favorable conditions: enough to help with drinking water, hygiene, or small-scale irrigation.

From life necessity to luxury commodity

Today, this straightforward, zero-energy method stands in stark contrast to the new wave of electricity-powered “fog machines” marketed widely — but justice demands we ask: why monetize what the sky freely gives?

Large corporations and tech firms now sell expensive, energy-consuming fog-capture devices — machines many small communities cannot afford. What was once communal resilience, passed through generations, risks becoming a privilege of the few. In effect, water — “life from the skies” — becomes yet another commodity for trade.

This isn’t just about where the machines come from. It’s about who gets access. In a world where many drink from deep, overdrawn wells or pay exorbitant prices for delivered water, it’s troubling that a simple fog net — cheap to build, easy to maintain, functional without power — could be out of reach.

Water for the people — not profit

What I love about fog harvesting is its democratic spirit. Build a mesh of netting and a few poles, orient it to the prevailing wind, collect drip-by-drip what the fog delivers. Cost? Minimal. Energy? Zero. Maintenance? Simple. And yet — in the right location — yield is real. Some projects have recorded daily outputs of 200 – 400 liters per day from single nets under ideal fog conditions.

Why then do we constantly chase ever more complex, expensive, energy-hungry fixes — desalination plants, deep wells, tanker trucks — when the sky literally gives us water for free?

For small coastal or highland barangays, especially in water-stress zones, this ancient technique could be a game-changer. With community effort, maybe some plywood or bamboo, a few net panels, and a little elbow grease — we could build our own fog-catchers. Water supply doesn’t have to wait on big projects or deep pockets.

A call for action — from communities, for communities

I want to ask: who among our barangays — or among civil society, youth groups, environmental advocates — can sketch a simple schematic diagram of a fog-catcher? Who can turn this into a grassroots project?

I’m ready to help. I’m willing to compile and distribute free designs (open-source, of course) that can be built with locally available materials. And I believe this work doesn’t need to wait on big government funding or corporate “solutions.” What it needs is good leadership, imagination, and community spirit.

Because water should not be a business. It should be a shared gift from the sky — one that we can catch, together, in the simplest nets, under the humblest conditions.

We don’t always need to dig deep into the ground. Sometimes, all we have to do is look up.

BY RAMON IKE V. SENERES
www.facebook.com/ike.seneres iseneres@yahoo.com senseneres.blogspot.com 09088877282/10-28-2026

The post Catching water from the clouds first appeared on Iloilo Metropolitan Times.

IN a democratic society, criticism is essential and important because it provides an objective, external perspective that drives personal growth, refines skills, and prevents blind spots.

In fact, those working in government and holding higher positions must encourage constructive criticism because it acts as an objective tool to improve accuracy, break through the danger of comfort zones, and spark creative problem-solving.

Philippine Defense Secretary Gerardo “Gilbert” Teodoro, Jr. probably forgot this ethos, judging by his emotional outburst over a social media criticism of the mid-air collision that killed four Philippine Air Force (PAF) pilots.

He reacted angrily and strongly condemned as “traitors” those who criticized the bizarre jet collision on October 23, 2026, in Lipa City, Batangas.

Teodoro’s rage was unnecessary and unpalatable, to say the least.

A critic does not become a traitor for expressing spoken or written disapproval over certain subject matters. Traitors wish for our destruction. Critics help us grow, improve, and correct our imperfections.

The critic’s views, no matter how unacceptable or undesirable, are normal and necessary in a democracy because power must be held in check, and public debate drives accountability and progress.

Passionate feedback and disagreement show that people have a stake in their communities, signaling whether policies actually serve the public good.

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Teodoro Jr., popularly known as “Gibo,” blasted as “sarcastic and inhuman” social media comments regarding the mid-air training accident involving two SF-260 aircrafts.

He deplored the sarcastic posts as “unacceptable” and a “slap in the face” to the sacrifices of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

The defense boss went as far as calling those who were supposedly poking fun at the tragedy as “traitors to the Republic” who “do not deserve to be called Filipinos.”

The country’s 23rd national defense secretary dismissed claims of military incompetence, explaining that tactical training requires tight formation flying, and rejected attempts to link the crash to external tensions with China.

The defense chief, a lawyer, honored the fallen pilots for choosing military service over commercial careers while deferring final conclusions to the official Air Force Safety Office investigation, noting that the PAF temporarily grounded its SF-260 fleet.

Processing feedback correctly strengthens emotional self-control, deepens self-awareness, and helps separate identity from output.

It is widely believed that when delivered constructively with supporting evidence and clear criteria, criticism prevents arguments, solves problems, and deepens mutual understanding.

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Anxieties have taken roots six days before the November 3, 2026, U.S. midterm elections even as overwhelming predictions point to Democrats winning control of the House of Representatives.

“But what is remarkable about the Senate is that, so close to Election Day, the battleground map is still wide and unsettled, making both parties nervous,” observed Patricia Mazzei of New York Times.

“The spending reflects the ongoing Senate fight: Republicans are outspending Democrats on advertising in the seven Senate races considered tossups by the nonpartisan Cook Political Report. By comparison, Republicans have only a narrow spending edge in House races.”

Mazzei noted that several scenarios remain possible. Competitive Senate races could tighten in Republicans’ favor as they get their most loyal supporters to the polls.

Democrats, she added, could do well in red states but struggle in some bluer ones. Or the bottom could fall out for Republicans in a potential wave that Democrats are too apprehensive to consider after past disappointments.

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LOLLYPOP. Some of our greatest words go back to the mother country, and lollypop is one such example. Even in some parts of England today, lolly is the word used for tongue. Take a piece of candy that pops in and out of your mouth (as in the case with Americanized sucker) and you’ve got lollypop! (It just sounds more proper than our word, don’t you think?)

WHITE AND BLACKMAIL. If there’s such a thing as blackmail, is there a whitemail? Yes! Scottish farmers in the mid-16th century paid their landlords by either silver (known as whitemail) or produce (blackmail). The latter was the least preferred, so it was often abused. When greedy landlords forced cashless tenants to pay far more in goods than they would’ve paid in silver, blackmail took on its negative connotation.

GOD BLESS YOU: Why would we have “God bless you” after a sneeze? In much the same way that it was believed man could part body and spirit and be beside himself, the ancients believed a good sneeze could literally blast your soul right out of your body! To ensure that no bad spirits moved into the vacancy, “God bless you” was said to clear the way so soul and body could reunite.

SAVING OUR PLANET: Panel in warmth. We must choose wood paneling for our bathroom to help keep in heat and reduce air pollution. But we have to make sure we wax rather than varnish it–varnish releases fumes when it gets warm. Wooden floors are a good choice, too. (1001 little ways to save the planet).

Alex P. Vidal is based in New York City and used to be the editor-in-chief of two leading daily newspapers in Iloilo, Philippines.—Ed

The post Gibo Teodoro’s disturbing temper first appeared on Iloilo Metropolitan Times.

The post Who protects the protector’s wife? first appeared on Iloilo Metropolitan Times.

That is about as scary as scary can get.

For years we comforted ourselves with the idea that plastic pollution was “somewhere out there” — in the oceans, in landfills, in distant ecosystems. But science is now telling us that what we casually throw away doesn’t stay away. It comes back to us through the food we eat, the water we drink, and the air we breathe — and now, even into the most protected organ of all, the human brain.

A recent study published in Nature Medicine revealed something chilling: compared with samples from 2016, human brain tissues examined in 2024 showed about 50% higher levels of microplastics. One researcher even estimated that the human brain today could be 99.5% biological tissue and the rest plastic. That may sound like a metaphor — but it is grounded in laboratory measurement using advanced chemical analysis.

Even more disturbing, the brains of people who had dementia were found to contain five times more microplastics than those without dementia. Scientists are careful to say this does not yet prove cause and effect. But how can anyone look at that data and not feel uneasy?

How did we get so deep into this nightmare?

Perhaps we always knew — at least intuitively — that the plastic we discard would someday return to haunt us. But no one imagined it would do so inside our bodies. Fish eat microplastics. We eat the fish. Microplastics enter the bloodstream. And now, studies suggest they can cross the blood–brain barrier — the very wall that is supposed to protect our minds from toxins.

Is this nature’s way of collecting on a long-overdue debt? Is this the price of murdering our oceans with convenience and packaging?

I do not want to be an alarmist, but I see enough reason for the government to seriously consider treating this as a national health and environmental emergency. This problem is no longer just about turtles and coral reefs. It is about our children’s brains.

What should be done?

First, we must stop the flow of plastics into the oceans — decisively and visibly. This means strict enforcement of waste laws, real bans on unnecessary single-use plastics, and accountability for major plastic producers.

Second, we must conduct random inspections of fish and fish products in our markets to determine microplastic contamination. Consumers have the right to know what invisible toxins they are ingesting.

Third, I suggest the creation of two national task forces. One for prevention, led by the DENR — to attack plastic at its source. Another for remediation and health monitoring, led by the DOH — to study exposure, risks, and early-warning indicators in humans.

Scientists estimate that the average person may now ingest or inhale up to 250 grams of microplastics a year — about the size of a dinner plate. Let that number sink in.

On the individual level, experts advise simple steps: avoid heating food in plastic, use glass or stainless steel containers, filter drinking water, reduce synthetic fabrics that shed plastic fibers, and say no to disposables. These are small acts — but multiplied by millions, they matter.

Still, I must admit: this problem is so vast and so baffling that I myself may have run out of ideas.

That is why I now issue a call for crowdsourcing. If you have an idea, a solution, a policy proposal, a new technology — let us bring it forward and submit it to the government. This is not just an environmental fight anymore. This is a fight for the integrity of the human mind itself.

We once asked if plastic would destroy our oceans.

Now we must ask: Will it destroy us from the inside out?

RAMON IKE V. SENERES
www.facebook.com/ike.seneres iseneres@yahoo.com senseneres.blogspot.com 09088877282/10-25-2026

The post What? Microplastics can travel to our brains? first appeared on Iloilo Metropolitan Times.

I do not know about you, but I would probably remember the first half of that sentence.

That was what bothered me about Chinese Ambassador Jing Quan’s recent remark that China could “easily win” if it chose to use force against the Philippines. He immediately added that China would not do so because it loves peace. Beijing later insisted that the ambassador had been taken out of context. Our DFA still found the remark serious enough to summon him and call it provocative and unacceptable. President Marcos said it sounded like a threat.

And those words did not land in a vacuum. We have seen Chinese vessels block, ram, shadow, and water-cannon Philippine vessels in the West Philippine Sea. Filipino fisherfolk have felt that pressure firsthand. Against that background, saying China could easily defeat us sounds rather different from a casual comparison of military strength.

Of course China is stronger. Nobody is pretending otherwise. We cannot match it ship for ship, plane for plane, or missile for missile. But as Senator JV Ejercito said, “We are not pro-war. We are not pro-U.S. We are just pro-Filipino.”

Somehow, that simple distinction keeps getting muddled.

Speak up against Chinese intimidation and somebody will eventually ask if you want war. I have never understood that logic. If someone keeps shoving you out of your own chair, saying “Tama na” is not an invitation to a fistfight. Sometimes you simply want your chair back.

The legal side is clearer than our political noise sometimes makes it appear. The 2016 arbitral award rejected the legal basis for China’s sweeping claims of historic rights within the nine-dash line where these exceeded what UNCLOS allows. China rejects the ruling. The Philippines continues to invoke it. But our rights do not shrink because China has more ships. If international law worked that way, small countries would need lawyers only until a bigger navy arrived.

I understand the instinct for caution. We trade with China. Filipinos live and work there. Nobody sensible wants armed conflict. Our government itself continues to say that dialogue and cooperation with Beijing should remain open even while it protests actions it considers unacceptable. There is nothing cowardly about diplomacy. In fact, with two countries this unequal in military power, diplomacy matters enormously.

But diplomacy is not the same thing as keeping quiet so the bigger country does not become irritated.

That is where some of our own political conversation becomes difficult to understand. There are legitimate arguments over how assertive the Philippines should be, how closely we should work with the United States and other allies, and how much risk we should accept. Even Kabataan Party-list, which opposes Chinese harassment, has also rejected greater U.S. intervention and called for an independent Philippine foreign policy. One may agree or disagree with that position, but at least it begins with the same question: What serves the Philippines?

What troubles me more is when the anger seems directed mainly at Filipinos who speak against Chinese intimidation, as though our insistence on our maritime rights were the real source of the problem. Beijing itself has publicly attacked Philippine officials it calls “anti-China,” and its embassy recently told lawmakers critical of it that they were now “on the list.” At some point, one has to ask why Filipinos defending Philippine claims are expected to explain themselves more carefully than the foreign government pressuring them.

Calling this out does not make anyone anti-Chinese. China is larger than its government. Chinese people are not the Chinese Communist Party, just as Filipinos are not interchangeable with whichever administration happens to occupy Malacañang. We can value Chinese culture, friendships, trade, tourism, and peaceful relations while opposing Beijing’s conduct in the West Philippine Sea. Those ideas fit perfectly well in the same head.

Neither should every Filipino advocating restraint be branded a traitor. That word is too serious to throw around because someone favors a different foreign-policy strategy. But every public official, whatever the political camp, faces a simple question: When a foreign power pressures the Philippines, whose interests come first?

Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro has warned that when Chinese narratives go unanswered long enough, they can start sounding normal. Perhaps that is the quieter danger here. “China is too powerful.” “Do not provoke China.” “What can we do anyway?” Repeat those often enough and intimidation begins to disguise itself as realism.

I do not want war with China. I doubt most Filipinos do. I would rather see Filipino and Chinese ships passing each other without water cannons, collisions, threats, or another angry press conference afterward. I would rather our fishermen worry about the weather and the day’s catch than whether another vessel will drive them away.

But peace cannot mean teaching ourselves to accept less because the country across the water happens to be stronger.

China is powerful. We know.

The Philippines is smaller. We know that, too.

But our size does not diminish our rights. We may be the smaller neighbor, but what is at stake is still ours to defend: our maritime rights, our food security, and our dignity.

Doc H fondly describes himself as a ”student of and for life” who, like many others, aspires to a life-giving and why-driven world grounded in social justice and the pursuit of happiness. His views do not necessarily reflect those of the institutions he is employed or connected with.

The post The Philippines will not kowtow first appeared on Iloilo Metropolitan Times.

Even if it isn’t China, the invader or group of invaders will make mincemeat of the “inferior” and fractious Filipinos. We will be massacred in our own homeland.

There will be resistance, of course, but it won’t be enough to repulse the enemies.

We don’t underestimate the courage and resilience of our compatriots, but courage or valor and resiliency alone can’t win a war.

Why are we saying this?  

We need a sophisticated army and logistical support from our Big Brothers like the United States and the European allies, if possible. And the greatest weapon of all: a united Filipinos.

Unfortunately, we don’t have the “united Filipinos.” We don’t have harmony and solidarity. Therefore, we don’t have that great weapon.

When a nation is not internally united, it faces severe political, economic, and social instability.

This internal division can lead to polarized governance, stalled public services, economic decline, and in extreme cases, civil unrest, regional secession movements, or violent civil war.
 
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Even without actual invasion, we already quarrel; we are at loggerheads and cannot unite behind a common stand and principle against China.

While majority of the Filipinos rue China’s bullying of our fishermen in the South China Sea, there are traitors—prominent politicians included—who don’t only tolerate the harassment, but also side with the enemy.

Instead of rallying behind their fellow Davids, the traitors cuddle Goliath.

Our vulnerability to foreign interference will be crystal clear. Rival nations will be tempted to exploit our internal disunity through propaganda, cyberattacks, or financial backing for opposing factions.

If there is breakdown of trust and confidence, citizens lose faith in democratic institutions, the legal system, and public officials, leading to widespread civic apathy or protest.

Even without the actual invasion, we are already being bedeviled by paralysis, because in disunity there is weakness.

If we are weaklings, it’s only a matter of time before we collapse and get destroyed.
 
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American voters have consistently ranked the cost of living as the top issue this election cycle, according to latest news related to the November 3 U.S. midterm election.

Half of registered voters surveyed in a recent Reuters/Ipsos poll cited the cost of living as the most important factor in how they will vote.

In the same poll, voters highlighted healthcare, gasoline, food and housing as the top household bills lawmakers should focus on.

Republicans’ top legislative achievement was a tax cut extension that slashed roughly $1 trillion in spending for Medicaid, the government health insurance program for low-income Americans, and other health programs.

Democrats last year forced a government shutdown over a failed effort to extend expiring health subsidies that benefited 24 million Americans.

Reuters reported that gas prices have spiked since the US and Israel launched military strikes on Iran in February. The national average price of gas is $4.28 — $1.20 higher than it was a year ago, according to AAA. The average cost of diesel is $6.32 — a $2.70 increase from a year earlier.

Alex P. Vidal is based in New York City and used to be the editor-in-chief of two leading daily newspapers in Iloilo, Philippines.—Ed
 

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The post Nakakap#t@ng-in@ng ‘2 Valid IDs’! first appeared on Iloilo Metropolitan Times.

I HAD $26 in cash in my wallet when I left Flushing, Queens, for Manhattan on the afternoon of October 19.

At Union Square in Manhattan, I made a $5 payment on my Capital One credit card.

With $21 left, I went into McDonald’s and spent $7.93 on a chicken burger and a juice. I left home with a $13.07 cash.

When I checked the exchange rate, one US dollar was already equivalent to Philippine Peso 63. Thus, if I had $26, it was worth P1,638 in the Philippines.

With $13.07, my money in the US is equivalent to P823.41 in the Philippines. What can a P823.41buy for one household in the Philippines? 

I just learned that a 25-kilogram sack (half-sack) typically costs between P1,150 and P1,600.

A half sack of rice (typically 25 kilograms, since a standard full sack in the Philippines weighs 50 kg) will last anywhere from two weeks to about two months, depending heavily on the size of one household and how often rice is eaten.

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A breakdown by household size (using a 25 kg half sack) will show the following:

-solo/single person: Lasts about 1.5 to 2.5 months (consuming roughly 300–400g of dry rice a day across meals).

-couple /2-person household: Lasts about 3 to 4 weeks.

-family of 4 (2 adults, 2 children): Lasts about 1.5 to 2 weeks.

-larger family (6+ members or heavy rice eaters): Lasts about 7 to 10 days.

Whew!

If I had not paid my debit card and had not dropped by the McDonald’s that Monday afternoon, I could have fed one family for a month if I had sent the $26 to the Philippines.

The economy isn’t showing signs of growth, as well. While the Philippine peso is being pummeled from pillar to post in the currency exchange rate, the Philippines’ headline inflation rate was 7.2 percent as of September 2026, accelerating from 6.1 percent in August 2026, according to data from the Philippine Statistics Authority.

The key inflation details as of September 2026 were as follows:

-year-to-Date Average: The average inflation rate from January to September 2026 stands at 5.4 percent.

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-core inflation: Rises to 4.7 percent (excluding selected volatile food and energy items) from 4.1 percent in August.

-bottom 30 percent income households: Inflation for lower-income groups climbed higher to 9.0 percent, driven heavily by essential food and utility expenses.

Main drivers of inflation are:

-transport: Increased by 14.6 percent, driven by oil and energy cost pressures.

-housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels: Rose by 8.4 percent.

-food and non-alcoholic beverages: accelerated to 6.7 percent (with food inflation specifically hitting 6.8 percent, heavily impacted by vegetables, tubers, and cooking staples).

-restaurants and accommodation services: Increased by 7.0 percent.

This could only mean one thing: the Philippine economy is facing a significant slowdown and growing financial strain in 2026, driven by high inflation, a weakening currency, and contracting public spending.

To improve the Philippine economy, international financial institutions and economists emphasize moving beyond a purely consumption- and remittance-driven model toward high-productivity, structural transformation.

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According to Dough Schoen and Carly Cooperman of Fox News, Democrats could well be on the cusp of a major wave midterm election on November 3 with an 8-point lead on the generic congressional ballot among their highest of the cycle.

“We say this based on historical trends and the current political mood. At this point in 2018, the last blue wave, Democrats led the generic ballot by roughly 7 points before gaining 41 House seats,” they wrote.

Moreover, the president’s party losing seats in midterms is essentially law in American politics.

It has reportedly happened in all but three elections since the Roosevelt administration.

From 1934 through 2018, the president’s party lost an average of 28 House seats and four Senate seats, and over the past five midterms, the average net loss for the president’s party has been 31 House seats, explained Schoen and Cooperman.

To be clear, Republicans could make up ground for a number of critical reasons: Democrats remain divided ideologically, lack a message and an identity other than being anti-President Trump, and Republicans have a considerable cash advantage.

Alex P. Vidal is based in New York City and used to be the editor-in-chief of two leading daily newspapers in Iloilo, Philippines.—Ed

The post My $26 is ‘enough’ to feed one family in the Philippines first appeared on Iloilo Metropolitan Times.