Just compensation for civil servants

On a visit to Singapore in 2012, my wife and I listened in amazement as our taxi driver ranted about the excessive salaries that, he said, government officials in his country were paying themselves. “Their lives get better every year,” he went on, “while the rest of us ordinary folks slide into poverty no matter … Read more

A reversal of roles

The observant will not miss the irony: The senators who, not too long ago, stood in judgment of a chief justice, now find themselves, as defendants in the pork barrel cases, having to address their appeals for fairness and leniency to a court of justice. There is more: One of the accused, Sen. Juan Ponce … Read more

Equality before the law

The highly anticipated arrest and detention the other day of Sen. Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. on charges of plunder proceeded quite smoothly, despite the brief jostling among the media, security people and horde of bystanders in the premises of the Sandiganbayan building. Surely, the police and the court’s security personnel could do better next time … Read more

The ‘normal’ school

In the transition to the new K-to-12 curriculum, according to a recent news item, college teachers who may at one point find themselves without jobs will be allowed to teach high school subjects. This seems like a no-brainer at first glance, but the issue is far more complex. Not every college teacher is trained to … Read more

Father’s values

I guess it is perfectly understandable that Father’s Day was established almost as an afterthought to Mother’s Day. Sonora Smart Dodd, who started it all, thought of it as a way of paying tribute to her father—a single parent who raised six children all by himself. It is mothers, more than fathers, who exemplify the … Read more

The unbearable privilege of pettiness

In the not-too-distant past, when a Filipino senator invoked personal privilege in order to speak, the Senate set aside the business of the day in anticipation of hearing someone of the caliber of Claro M. Recto, Lorenzo Tañada, Jose W. Diokno, or Jovito R. Salonga fill the chamber with stirring words of wisdom, patriotism, and … Read more

A challenge to the Ombudsman

In most legal complaints filed in the courts, we may encounter the phrase “contrary to law” at the end of a summation of the facts. We can imagine these three words peppering the plunder charges that the Ombudsman has filed against the three senators and their chiefs of staff, the heads of the implementing agencies … Read more

Time now to hear the Ombudsman

The belief that events are being willfully manipulated by clever individuals to shape the way the public experiences them tends to flourish during times of confusion.  The form it usually takes is the conspiracy theory. One such moment is the crisis spawned by revelations of the widespread fraud that has attended the disbursement of the … Read more

Education and work

A conversation I had the other day with Toto, a 21-year-old high school graduate who could not find a job, got me to think about the nature of today’s basic education and our young people’s attitude toward work, as compared to that of my generation. By the time I finished high school, I knew how … Read more