When President Duterte casually stated in a recent television interview that he was the source of the false foreign bank account numbers purportedly belonging to his political nemesis, Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, perhaps he did not realize that, by this admission, he had become the nation’s chief purveyor of fake news. Keen to clear his … Read more
The 1987 Constitution is the product of a sustained reflection on the lessons of martial law. It is a document of emancipation. Its principal objective is to make dictatorship a thing of the past. Its laborious language and lengthy provisions cannot be fully appreciated without referring to the social and historical context in which it … Read more
Tomorrow, Sept. 11, is the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos’ 100th birthday. His centenary is a big day for his family. Ilocos Norte Rep. Imelda Marcos and her children are celebrating this day with a Mass, a program, and a lunch at the Libingan ng mga Bayani — to which they have invited the nation’s highest … Read more
A little-known feature of the government’s war on drugs is the enlisting of local residents as “police assets” for the purpose of identifying drug suspects, particularly in congested neighborhoods. This practice resurrects a dreaded figure from the nation’s traumatic past — the traitor who betrays his own neighbors, typically wearing a bayong (a native bag … Read more