MANILA The seasonal madness that engulfs the Philippines is upon us again, its election time once more. Unfortunately, the list of candidates isn’t inspiring. Actually it’s depressing. On the first week of October, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) here opened its doors to would-be candidates, filing their certificates of candidacy for the positions of senators, congressmen, governors, mayors,… Read More »
HELLO, TORONTO! First, Comm. Kim Henares of the Bureau of Internal Revenue expressed her feelings of betrayal over a favoured Senate version by Sen. Ralph Recto of the Sin Tax Bill. If approved, the Recto version would greatly reduce the projected government income through sin tax from 60 to 15 billion pesos (Php 60billion down to Php 15billion).… 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 »
Philippine press was once one of the freeest – if not the freeest – press in the world. Not anymore. Today, freedom of the press, as we once knew it, is a relic of the past. Members of the Fourth Estate would defend their freedom like they would defend their own lives. Indeed, 72 journalists have been killed… 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 »
Similarities? They are opposite poles in society’s standards. There are more differences than likenesses between the two. But that is why I’d like to focus on how they are alike. In a democratic setting, the Haves and the Have-nots are supposed to be equal. They have the same rights before the law; that is, if the law is… Read More »
It’s bad enough when two colorful senators throw insults at one another but when it leads to an international crisis – involving the president no less – it gets ugly… very, very ugly. Yes, no less than the indomitable Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile is involved in the “word war” at one end. At the other end is… Read More »
HELLO, TORONTO! While many bosses of households throughout the country have expressed non belief that this thing could have happened for such length of time without the victim doing something about it (escape from the house or retaliate), many more have condemned the spouses Marzan (Reynold and Analiza ) of Quezon City for the maltreatment they have subjected… Read More »
CHICAGO (jGLi) – How do you feel if a teacher gives you an assignment while you are in a time-out room? You might grudgingly agree. After all, the teacher will not really be able to find out if you are doing your “roomwork” or not. Your only problem: the teacher had installed a monitoring camera that would record… Read More »