There have been calls for the abolition of the party-list system in the Philippines from several quarters, foremost of which is from my good friend and former boss at the defunct Daily Express, now Inquirer columnist Neal H. Cruz. Neal pointed out that 99% of the accredited party-list groups do not represent the marginalized sectors of society and… Read More »
“Today is a great day of hope. A day which sees the dawn of a new beginning for the people of Mindanao,” thus said Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak during the signing of the Framework Agreement between the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. With those simple, yet eloquent words, the Malaysian prime minister, whose… Read More »
The circus is in town. The game is on. Let the games begin. However you see it, the circus or game called Philippine election is back with all its hoopla and hullabaloo. That the elections would be just another game of the entrenched politicians was evident on the first day of filing for the certificates of candidacy. Chairman… Read More »
It was September 40 years ago when President Marcos cracked down on one of the freest press in the world with the declaration of martial law through Proclamation 1081. For 14 years since, we journalists at that time had to live through censorship in the first few years when military censors actually watched over the newsroom, and self-censorship… Read More »
The recent controversies involving Senator Antonio Trillanes IV and former DILG Undersecretary Rico Puno exposed two obvious weaknesses in the administration of President Aquino – the apparent lack of trust in his senior Cabinet officials and the lack of consistent and coherent direction in government policies. The lack of trust first became evident when Aquino said that Puno… Read More »
Frustrated by the continued proliferation of jueteng in the Philippines, retired Arhbishop Oscar Cruz once said: “There are three things that are exempted in the President’s matuwid na daan: Jueteng, Hacienda Luisita and the KKK (kaklase, kaibigan, kabarilan).” President Aquino has yet to disprove his allegations. Hacienda Luisita, owned by the President’s relatives, continues to defy court orders… Read More »
The brouhaha over an alleged attempt by DILG Undersecretary Rico E. Puno to enter the condominium unit of the late DILG Secretary Jesse Robredo on the very first day the latter went missing after a plane crash couldn’t have come at a worse time for Puno’s shooting buddy and benefactor President Noynoy Aquino. Aquino didn’t even have… Read More »
The appointment of two Liberal Party stalwarts to highly sensitive Cabinet posts signals the start of a three-year long campaign of President Aquino’s party to hold on to Malacanang for six more years after Aquino’s term expires in 2016. Last week, Aquino named LP president Mar Roxas, his running mate in the 2010 elections, as head of… Read More »
While the appointment of the young and brilliant Maria Lourdes Sereno as the new chief justice may be viewed as a boost to judicial reforms, it may not necessarily mean that President Aquino will start seeing favorable decisions from the Supreme Court. On the contrary, the President may now find it more difficult to sway the high tribunal… Read More »
“Be a listening Church,” a professor of Jesuit-run Ateneo de Manila University, Mary Racelis, said on Sunday as she appealed to irate bishops to “listen to the laity who understand what the families and the women from the grassroots are going through.” Racelis was reacting to the adamant protests of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP)… Read More »