The mass media devoted considerable attention to the recent filing by obscure individuals of their certificates of candidacy for the presidency. The news accounts mocked their improbable claims and outlandish statements and provided the public all the reasons to label them nuisance candidates. Though the form used was one of dismissive derision, such reportage is … Read more
Considering how almost every major event in our nation’s political life since 1972 has led to more problems, we may wonder why we hope that another presidential election might produce anything different. The answer lies, I think, in our people’s inexhaustible faith in new beginnings. It is our most important source of strength. We may … Read more
It must have been one of the many spokespersons of the President. Someone from Malacanang recently made a point of saying that Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is president in “the real world.” The remark was clearly meant to draw a sharp contrast between GMA, a “real” president, and FPJ, an aspirant from the imaginary world of … Read more
She used to say she was Bubbles, the gentlest of the Power Puff girls. Before that she was Po, the sweetest of the Teletubbies. These days she is Piglet, the smallest and wisest of Winnie the Pooh’s friends. To Kara, her mother, she is no one else but Julia. But to me, she will always … Read more