The Pantawid Pamilya Pilipino Program (4Ps), the first conditional cash transfer (CCT) program of the Philippine government, has become a popular approach aimed at improving the health and educational status of disadvantaged households. Its implementation is expected to advance the government’s health agenda, particularly in terms of child mortality reduction and maternal health improvement. Despite the growing evidence on the positive health outcomes resulting from the implementation of CCT programs, evidence remains limited to the qualitative evaluation of health care service utilization among beneficiary households. In this regard, by employing key interviews and focus group discussion, this study aims to examine the impacts of 4Ps on health and nutrition as experienced and perceived by beneficiaries at a community-level implementation. After subjecting the interview transcripts to thematic network analysis, the results reveal six dominant themes: enhanced health practices, improved uptake of health care services, increased awareness on health issues, improved living conditions, responsive program implementation, and persisting implementation challenges. While it is evident that the positive impacts are reflective of the beneficiaries’ strict compliance to meet the program conditionalities, there is still much to be done to ensure the sustainability of the program. The provision for adequate health care should then be supplemented with reinforced delivery of the program’s learning component (family development session) and support mechanism to the implementers.

The surviving passion for cockfighting or sabong among Filipinos has made it a culturally and legally acceptable form of gambling. As an established cultural phenomenon, sabong has largely influenced the ways its practitioners make a living. It is in this context that this qualitative study explored the experiences of two old Filipinos who had been engaging in the blood sport for a very long time. This study employed an in-depth interview technique and was guided by the principles of an indigenous research method known as pagtatanong-tanong or ‘asking questions.’ Through a thematic analysis of the responses obtained from the interviews, this study has surfaced six key themes that characterized the informants’ experiences: (1) cockfighting as an all-consuming pastime, (2) cockfighting as a thrill-seeking activity (3) family influence on cockfighting, (4) cockpits as venues for socializing, (5) betting as a way of earning money, and (6) gambling as a family issue. Such experiences could be regarded as both positive and negative illustrations and consequences of gambling in later life.

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As an engaging learning strategy, digital storytelling provides students opportunities for developing competencies as they immerse themselves in a meaningful learning experience. The study presented in this article explored the potential of digital storytelling as an instrument for the promotion of historical understanding. Thirty first-year teacher education students, who were divided into eight groups, participated in a digital storytelling project that required them to produce their own digital stories. The project was designed as an 8-week activity, which consisted of activities that guided them throughout the pre-production, production, and post-production phases. After the final week of the project, the students participated in focus group discussions. Aside from the focus group responses, data were also obtained from their reflection journal entries and digital stories. The qualitative data were subjected to thematic network analysis, surfacing six organising themes, namely historical significance, historical imagination, perspective taking, continuity, historical emphasis, and values and traits identification. These findings suggest specific courses of action for integrating technology in a history classroom.

Climate change poses challenges and risks to coastal communities, and the adaptation of local residents is a critically relevant issue that needs to be addressed in the policymaking process. The main purpose of this paper is to determine the perceptions and experiences of climate change among coastal community residents in the Philippines. This study used a combination of methods, such as participatory mapping exercises, focus group discussions, key informant interviews, and document analyses. The data, which were primarily collected from three coastal villages in the province of Bulacan, were subjected to a thematic network analysis. The findings revealed four dominant themes pertaining to climate change adaptation in a coastal community setting: vulnerability conditions, risk awareness, risk perceptions, and climate change awareness and perceptions. In particular, it was found out that the communities were exposed to the threats of natural hazards like flood and storm surge. Such exposure highlighted the residents' concerns over the risks of hazards on their livelihoods and properties. The residents also observed the unpredictability and the worsening effects of climate change. With their direct experiences of the natural hazards' impacts and awareness of the presence of risks, residents had undertaken actions to build their adaptive capacity. This study then highlights the value of integrating local knowledge into the mapping exercises, revealing crucial information regarding vulnerabilities, risks, and adaptation practices.