For decades, Filipino politicians have courted the poor in their campaigns, and with good reason, of course, the poor having the most number of votes and being the most gullible among the nation’s voting groups. Most of those who associated themselves with the poor or who claimed to champion their cause have won election to important posts in… Read More »
With the shameless Supreme Court decision to allow Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to appoint the next Chief Justice despite the constitutional prohibition on presidential appointments two months prior to the election up to the end of her term, Arroyo has virtually covered all her bases for an extended stay in Malacanang. The controversial ruling all but ensured… Read More »
Sen. Manny Villar, being a true Nacionalista Party stalwart, obviously believes in the political philosophy popularized by the late Mr. Nacionalista, Eulogio “Amang” Rodriguez who said: “Politics is addition.” Having set his sight on the presidency for years, Villar picked people from various persuasions and political beliefs to form his ticket for the May presidential elections,… Read More »
It is infuriating that 24 years after the Filipino people brought down a dictatorship and restored democracy, some military personnel act like martial law was never rejected resoundingly by the militants at EDSA. It seemed generations ago when the brutal soldiers of the Marcos dictatorship terrorized the Filipino people, and yet from time to time in this supposed… Read More »
There’s more than meets the eye in the two-page advertisements that the Philippine Information Agency (PIA) has been running in three major newspapers in the Philippines heralding the alleged accomplishments of the Arroyo administration in the economy, social development, public works, law and order, job generation, agriculture, energy, environmental protection and digital infrastructure in its nine… Read More »
In the first week of January, the Commission on Population estimated that by year’s end, the Philippines’ population would reach the 94-million mark. It warned that the additional two million Filipinos would mean two million more mouths to feed, two million more heads to give shelter to, two million more to educate, and two million more… Read More »
At about this time last year, there were talks of a plot to impeach Chief Justice Renato Puno over the non-promulgation of a supposed en banc decision of the high court dated July 15, 2008 upholding the disqualification of Rep. Jocelyn Limkaichong (First District, Negros Oriental) allegedly because she was not a Filipino citizen. One of the litigants,… Read More »
Some Filipino businessmen call it the “lost decade,” the first 10 years of the third millennium that was characterized by scandals, graft and corruption, political violence and intense political divisiveness that, in turn, resulted in lost opportunities for them and more difficult conditions for the Filipino people. It was a decade ushered in by hope and… Read More »
For Filipinos who have been outside of the Philippines for years, Christmas is both a time for rejoicing and a time for remembering. Even as the Filipino in America begins to feel the holiday mood immediately after Thanksgiving when people start shopping for gifts and Christmas decors, he feels at the same time a longing for… Read More »
More than a year after the Supreme Court slapped a temporary restraining order on the signing of a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines and the Muslim Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the MILF has now been reported as having sought the assistance of the United States to mediate in… Read More »