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That’s how The New York Times billed this head of state in a front-page article early this week. How so? Recent surveys show that he is “undeniably popular,” aided by a “weak, divided opposition” and a “pliant news media.” Soon after his election victory, via a...
Among 113 countries surveyed in 2017 on adherence to the rule of law, the Philippines emerged with the biggest drop in ranking – from 70th to 88th (or 25th from the bottom). Billed as the Rule of Law Index, the survey involved getting inputs from 110,000 households...
Through bullying tactics the House “super-majority” last Tuesday approved, by a voice vote (“ayes” and “nays”), Concurrent Resolution No. 9 which calls for Congress to act as constituent assembly or “con-ass” to revise the 1987 Constitution. The purported goal: to...
Two conflicting viewpoints have arisen on how Congress can transform itself into a constituent assembly, as prescribed by the 1987 Constitution, to amend or revise the Charter and enable a shift from a unitary to a federal form of government – a key project of...
Three Facebook postings I read on Christmas eve tugged at my heart and triggered in my mind parallel and kindred recollections and sympathetic responses. First was that of Sonora, my elder daughter (Nona to her friends, Ningning to our family) who has lived in...
On Dec. 13, on its last session day before the holiday break, the 17th Congress of the Philippines, dominated by the “super-majorities” of President Duterte’s political allies, took two controversial actions both of which will have negative impacts on the lives of...
By signing Proclamation No. 374 last Dec. 5, President Duterte has formally declared the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army as a “designated/identified terrorist organization” under RA No. 10168, or the Terrorism Financing Prevention and...
Today up to Nov. 27, the fifth round of formal negotiations in the GRP-NDFP peace talks had been scheduled to take place in Oslo, Norway. The two sides had been all set to tackle a three-point agenda hammered out in a series of discreet back-channel discussions in...
Observing its 50th year of existence, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) edged slightly onward on a raft of previously agreed plans, blueprints, treaties, and consensual agreements, cited in 144 items of the Chairman’s Statement, at the end of its...
“Let me state it publicly here and now, wala akong problema sa America (I have no problem with America)… We remain to be the best of friends with America.” That’s what President Duterte said a day before flying to Vietnam Wednesday for his first face-to-face...
Apparently stung by the steep drops in his satisfaction and trust ratings, as shown by the latest Social Weather Stations survey, President Duterte has taken a one-step backward in his widely criticized and condemned bloody anti-illegal drug campaign, led by the...
For ten days (Oct. 16-25) peasants from Mindanao, Visayas, and Luzon motored, sailed, and trekked to the National Capital Region in what they called “Pambansang Lakbayan ng Magsasaka para sa Lupa at Laban sa Pasismo.” Having camped outside the gate of the...
Sensing that his ground base of support has been softening, President Duterte is conjuring a specter of conspiracy to oust him from power. Growing more bilious and truculent towards those whom he accuses of scheming to besmirch him with allegations of corruption,...
The recently concluded (September 18-26) “low-key” US-Philippine joint military exercise, dubbed “Tempest Wind,” signals three interrelated foreboding situations: First, – after so much presidential anti-US blustering and threat to cut off relations and chart an...
“Never again to martial law!” was the emphatic, defiant cry that resounded in all of the protest actions held nationwide last Thursday (Sept. 21), the 45th year of Ferdinand E. Marcos’ martial law declaration that ran for 14 years. Although the same cry has been...
Last week, in the nth attempt over the last 29 years, proponents of a national identification system managed to get the House of Representatives to approve a bill instituting such a system in the country: 142 voted yes, only seven (the Makabayan bloc) voted no. In...
I wrote this piece for two reasons. Firstly, to honor, once more, persons I have known who lived simply and with deep dedication to serving the interest and welfare of the common people. Secondly, to turn away our minds, even for only a while, from the grisly and...
President Duterte is turning more and more confrontational towards mounting criticisms and protest actions against his government’s bloody war on drugs, war against the Maute Group in Marawi, extended martial law declaration in Mindanao, “all-out war” against the...
Of course, during the presidential campaign last year he already talked in a favorable light about martial law and expressed sheer admiration for the deposed dictator Ferdinand E. Marcos. But did anyone anticipate that within his first six months in office,...
President Duterte was more combative during his second state-of-the-nation address last Monday than was during his first SONA. Venting on his prime advocacy, the fight against illegal drugs, and against a wide range of perceived enemies and critics, he came out...
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