Clik here to view.
Philippines' war vs drugs: It has been bloody
“I told you to avoid me,” reluctant presidential candidate Rodrigo Duterte warned the nation last year. “It’s going to be bloody.” From the beginning of his candidacy until his first weeks in office...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Remembering the decency of Emmanuel Jose Pavia
For the third day in a row this week, I just came home from Emmanuel Jose Pavia’s wake.While it’s understandable that several Filipinos never had, or will never have, the pleasure of personally getting...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Change in the Philippine national budget?
Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno is difficult to place. On the one hand, Diokno has vowed to drop the multi-billion-peso “Bottom-up Budgeting” (BUB) scheme of the Aquino administration, calling it a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Why acceptance of killings is at all-time high
So has the criticism of the extrajudicial killings of late hardly made a dent on the public mind? Why are approbation and apathy toward these brutalities at their all-time high? Why is President...
View ArticleClik here to view.
War on drugs: A spurious disjunction between firmness and due process
President Rodrigo Duterte delivered what many thought to be a “rambling” SONA. It was. He extemporized, and what the President’s men had forecast to take only 35 or so minutes took all of an hour and a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A foreigner's take on 'endo'
In 2001, I was hired as Security Manager at Oakwood Premier Ayala Center, the Makati hotel made famous in the Oakwood Mutiny.(Note: Oakwood Premier in Makati no longer exists, and is not connected to...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Duterte’s calibrated approach to change
The first State of the Nation Address (SONA) of President Rodrigo Duterte has been met with nearly unanimous appreciation from various sections of the country’s political spectrum.Almost 3 times longer...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Bisayang Dako
I grew up Bisayan and also spoke English.My encounters with Tagalog (Filipino) were peripheral, boring and forgettable: Joseph Estrada or Fernando Poe Jr movies on the one hand, and the formal teaching...
View ArticleClik here to view.
SONA 2016: Duterte, don’t get caught in the fog of global warming
In previous statements, President Duterte explained his point in not honoring the commitments made by the previous administration. He doesn’t believe in setting limits to CO2 emissions. He thinks it...
View ArticleClik here to view.
#AnimatED: The very imperfect Perfecto Yasay
Something wrong happened in Vientiane, Laos, at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) foreign ministers meeting. This was the first big ASEAN gathering that took place after the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Communists, rapists, drug addicts, pushers also have human rights
I am not the type to keep clippings or recordings of my public appearances. My experience after having been around for several decades in this media-driven world is that any ordinary person can...
View ArticleClik here to view.
[Dash of SAS] Including minors in HIV response
Yuan Sintoy is concerned. His clients lining up for an HIV test are getting younger and younger –and that poses a problem.Under the current law, minors cannot get a confirmatory HIV test without...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Mandatory ROTC? How about no?
Palace officials have begun deliberating the move to reinstate the mandatory nature of the Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC), with President Rodrigo Duterte's cabinet including the topic in their...
View ArticleClik here to view.
West Philippine Sea: Why China can’t just ignore Hague ruling
In a curious essay, eminent political scientist Graham Allison essentially downplayed international criticism of China’s blatant rejection of an unfavorable legal verdict at The Hague. By pointing out...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Con or Ass: We can misbehave!
While it re-writing a Constitution, especially when the goals are urgent, should not take as much time as it takes the Supreme Court to dispose of some cases that have languished in its dockets for...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Extrajudicial killings: Police self-defense?
Based on a research being conducted by a major media company, about 770 Filipinos have already died allegedly due to the Duterte administration's "War Against Drugs." As of May 2, at least 470 were...
View ArticleClik here to view.
What now? AFP modernization in the time of Digong Duterte
More than ever, the Armed Forces of the Philippines is faced with a very complex and challenging external and internal security environment.The passage of RA 10349, also known as the Revised AFP...
View ArticleClik here to view.
What do we do with UP's registration problems?
I do not claim to be an expert on the registration procedures of UP Diliman (UPD). I just hope to shed some light on the problems that pervade the registration process in UPD every semester and, if...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Will vocal Duterte supporters read this article from start to finish?
I hate to say it, but I don't think many of them will. It doesn't matter if it's a straight-up news report, or an in-depth interview, or an opinion piece. More often than not, if you check the comments...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Time for a Ramos model in the West Philippine Sea?
The year 2012 was not the first time that the Philippines lost a land feature in the West Philippine Sea to China. The shock of creeping Chinese intrusion into Philippine-claimed waters came much...
View Article