ikeseneres

WHO AMONG US NEEDS PROTECTION FROM ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE? Artificial Intelligence (AI) is like electricity in the early 1900s—full of promise, but also full of dangers for those who do not know how to handle it. For me, the priority groups needing protection are clear: minors and older adults . In the Philippines, we define minors as anyone below 18, and “older adults” as our senior citizens , those aged 60 and above. These two groups are often the least equipped to recognize the risks created by rapidly advancing AI tools. And make no mistake: AI is already being used for harm. The Rise of AI Scams Scammers today are no longer satisfied with text messages or suspicious emails. With AI, they can now produce videos that look and sound like your own family members , claiming they’re in danger, asking for money urgently, or begging for help. This is the era of deepfakes —videos so convincing that even tech-savvy adults sometimes pause. How much more for a 12-year-old child or a 72-year-...

DEFEATING THE CULTURE OF CORRUPTION In Filipino, the word “ kalakalan ” evokes honest commerce — trade, exchange, livelihood. But over time, a darker meaning crept in. Now it often describes not legitimate business, but a system where every transaction has a price — a bribe, a standard kickback expected, part of a well-understood “standard operating procedure” (SOP). That is the corruption culture: a silent expectation that government approval, permits, infrastructure contracts — nothing moves without a price tag. Yes, recent scandals in agencies like the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) garnered public outrage. With new leadership, perhaps those abuses can be curbed. But even if the DPWH cleans up, do we honestly believe corruption will disappear from every agency and LGU across the archipelago? Unless we dismantle the very architecture that sustains corruption — discretion without transparency — we are only permuting its location, not ending it. Automation: One Potent...

HOW DO WE PROTECT YOUNG CHILDREN FROM THE DANGERS OF THE INTERNET? If there is one danger quietly creeping into every Filipino household today, it is not dengue, not pollution, not even crime on the streets—it is the unregulated, unfiltered, and often invisible world of the internet. And the ones most vulnerable are our youngest, those whose innocence is no match for algorithms engineered to capture their attention, harvest their data, and sometimes expose them to predators lurking behind screens. We tell parents to monitor their children, to set rules, to use parental controls. But is that enough? I have long believed that when it comes to children, society cannot rely solely on the vigilance of the family. We need structural safeguards—legal, technological, and community-based. Yes, we already have the Data Privacy Act. But let us be honest: it is a general law designed for everyone. Children, however, are not “everyone.” They require stronger, sharper protection. Without a separate ...

WHY ARE TOLL FEES INCREASING AND NOT DECREASING? I often catch myself wondering: why must we keep paying—and paying more—for roads and skyways that arguably should have been built decades ago, using our tax money? In an ideal world, the government would have built the essential highways and overpasses long ago. But instead we ended up with privatized expressways, elevated skyways, and tollways — infrastructure financed, maintained, and controlled by private concessionaires. Now we are not just users; we are clients paying user fees on top of the taxes we have long paid. And what’s more troubling: the toll fees keep rising year after year — seldom, if ever, going down. 🚧 Why Fees Go Up Private operators point to legitimate-sounding reasons: High construction costs. Building skyways, overpasses, and tollroads involves acquiring land, buying materials, hiring labor — massive upfront investments. They must recoup these costs somehow. Maintenance and upgrades. Roads wear out. Pavements c...