It all began from the first day she assumed the vice presidency. Flushed with their success at the polls, President Duterte and his people acted as if she did not exist. To them, she was just an annoying reminder that their electoral victory was not total. She was not invited to the inaugural at the … Read more
Today is my mother’s birthday. She would have been 97. She died of a kidney ailment in 2000 at the age of 78. The other day, while standing in front of the small crypt that bore her remains, I tried to summon from memory the last time we talked. While recalling the tone of that … Read more
Like many analysts who have criticized the Duterte-led drug war for its murderous brutality and antipoor bias, I have been at pains to understand how Vice President Leni Robredo managed to persuade herself to accept President Duterte’s dare for her to lead the administration’s war on drugs. As I wrote in my column last week, … Read more
Even on the assumption that he wasn’t just being sarcastic, or worse, misusing the Filipino language, President Duterte’s statements the other day are the clearest admission that his much-touted war on drugs has failed. He has run out of ideas. And so, he is asking Vice President Leni Robredo, who has been critical of the … Read more