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Finger-pointing on Mamasapano
No additional information on the incident can take away the pain of those who lost loved ones in the Mamasapano encounter. Nor can it diminish the sacrifice that the SAF 44 made in the service of the...
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A military that fights with its heart
No field manual or doctrine is expected to survive the quick changes in this uncertain and complicated operational environment. After all, violent conflicts in every maturing democracy are the mark of...
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Death in 'El Dorado'
Whenever I invite foreigners to the Philippines, most of them would ask me the same question: "Is it safe there?" I would always laugh at their worrisome question and mention to them that they are not...
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Life of a doctor in the barrio
Here's the start to a nice story: you are fresh out of 5 years of medical school – two of which were spent holed up in a hospital with a host of seniors double-checking everything you do. A few months...
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Is your peso really just worth 67 centavos today?
A few days ago news about the peso's diminished purchasing power circulated widely in social networks.The Association of Labor Unions (ALU) recently pointed out that as of December 2016 the value of...
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#AnimatED: Leadership breakdown in PNP
The murder of South Korean business executive Jee Ick Joo in October last year right in the seat of the Philippine National Police (PNP) is, so far, the most brazen atrocity committed by the police...
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Why not abolish the PNP?
READ: Part 1: PNP as the people's oppressorsAs coercive apparatuses of a particular political and socio-economic system, police and military forces are the only agencies legally permitted to use...
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Trump's ban: It's not about national security
President Donald Trump’s executive order banning people from seven predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States even if they are already permanent residents has nothing to do with...
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[Newspoint] An end to the ugly war
Nothing can be more consoling than the news that the police’s war on drugs has been called off. With 7,000 lives claimed by it in just the last seven months, the war has been such a moral scandal we...
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Beyond quick fixes: What we should do about the drug problem
President Duterte’s decision to suspend the drug war, though very much belated, is welcome.The exact terms of his order remain unclear as of this writing, but it nevertheless signals, at the very...
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[Newspoint]: A runaway train
President Duterte's communication secretary, and effectively public-relations man, Martin Andanar, has floated the idea of accrediting bloggers as members of the presidential press corps. I find that...
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War on drugs, war against the poor
As Analyn* was preparing a bottle of milk for her infant child, she heard a knock at the door. One of her husband’s friends answered it. She heard him say, “Sir, please don’t. There’s nothing here,” –...
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#AnimatED: Death penalty + impunity = kamatayan ng tunay na hustisya
“Buhay para sa buhay na inutang.” “An eye for an eye”. “Karma.” “Makatarungang paghihiganti.” “Death penalty is retribution for victims – Rep Frendenil Castro.”“Kailangan ng ‘deterent’ o panakot sa mga...
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Duterte regains momentum in peace talks; is there still hope?
Leave it to Duterte to surprise everyone. First he lifts the government’s ceasefire with the New People's Army (NPA), then the next day calls a stop to talks altogether.Angered by NPA attacks on the...
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Socialists: the opposite of terrorists
Duterte is not a socialist. And if he is, I am not one.The President has uttered several lies during his candidacy and presidency, but among those I find most appalling, is his profession that he is a...
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Call to Filipinos: Stay vigilant, protest xenophobia in U.S.
On February 4, 2017, I set off to spend my second weekend in a row at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). In the wake of United States President Donald Trump's January 27 executive order barring...
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Why the death penalty is unnecessary, anti-poor, error-prone
To address the country’s drug and crime problem, President Duterte has called on Congress to resurrect the death penalty after it was abolished in 2006. In response, the House of Representatives...
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Choosing between Hell with Duterte and Heaven with the CBCP
If I must choose between going to hell with President Duterte in pursuit of the war on drugs in the Philippines or going to heaven with Archbishop Soc Villegas because neither he nor any of the...
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Resume peace talks, resume interim ceasefires
The call to resume the peace talks between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) is only right and just because their...
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#AnimatED: Love in the time of Duterte
It ended as swiftly as it began – the ceasefire between the Duterte government and the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) – that one wonders whether both sides were prepared for it in the first...
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