The road to Sagada

For the longest time, my friend, the late Cordillera-based historian William Henry Scott, had been inviting me to come to Sagada.  But I never found the opportunity to visit this magical place that he called home.  The closest I got to Sagada was in the late ‘70s, at the height of the Cordillera resistance to … Read more

The promise of politics

The public has watched with great interest the almost weekly visits of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to Pampanga, particularly to the province’s second district, where she is a registered voter.  These unusual visits, too numerous to ignore, have fueled speculation that Ms Arroyo may be preparing to contest the district’s seat, either as representative in the … Read more

On being Filipino

The awareness of being Filipino does not come naturally.  We may be surrounded by all the symbols of nationhood – the flag, monuments, maps, pictures of our national heroes and the historic events in which they figured – but, though these may conjure stirring images of the nation, they do not necessarily bind us to … Read more

House of Gloria

The members of the House of Gloria (HOG) have discovered the instability inherent in language.  And they have decided to make political capital out of it.  Sec. 1, Art. XVII of the 1987 Constitution states: “Any amendment to, or revision of, this Constitution may be proposed by: (1) The Congress, upon a vote of three-fourths … Read more