Indigenous peoples

In 1917, the provincial board of Mindoro passed a resolution requiring all “non-Christians” belonging to the Mangyan tribes to live in a permanent settlement near Lake Naujan.  They were to immediately abandon the vast forests in which they lived, and settle down in a reservation designated for their exclusive use.  Failure to comply with the … Read more

Peace premises

Peace follows war.  That is the logic of any peace agreement.  It comes after a period of conflict, seeking to erase the basis for war. Yet what we have in Mindanao today seems to be the exact opposite. A peace agreement has provoked renewed conflict.  What happened? What lessons might we draw from this turn … Read more

Modernity and the Bangsamoro

The Bangsamoro problem is entangled in so many historical, legal, cultural, and political questions that it is irresponsible to talk about it in a simplistic way.  Every attempt to capture the issues in a single frame is bound to inflame passions and exacerbate prejudices. Reason demands that we step back and attempt to sort out … Read more

Lorenzo Tanada and his times

He lived much longer than his contemporaries.  Born in 1898, a few months after Aguinaldo proclaimed independence from Spain, Lorenzo Tanada was 93 when he died.  Had he lived like a Japanese centenarian, he would be 110 tomorrow, August 10. The Martial Law generation referred to him as the “Grand Old Man of the Opposition.” … Read more

Legitimacy and the VAT

There are many reasons for the growing clamor to reduce the VAT on oil products. But the two most important are: first, because the VAT on fuel rises with every increase in the price of oil, the public sees it as an infinite burden; and second, because the utilization of the windfall revenue from the … Read more