Sex and the presidency

As a television host, I have spent the last 15 years asking questions in public.  But I don’t think I could have summoned the insolence to ask the president (or anyone for that matter) if she was still having sex.  One’s sex life is a very private matter. It was very bold of the journalist … Read more

Why US soldiers are still here

The death of an American soldier, a Green Beret sergeant first class, in the Zamboanga bombing incident the other day came as a surprise to many people.  Hardly anyone in Manila knew that there were remaining US troops in Mindanao.  The public assumed they all left in June, mission accomplished.  Abu Sabaya was pronounced dead, … Read more

Who’s afraid of FPJ?

If the function of elections were solely to elect leaders, we might be better off not having elections.  Elections are not only very expensive and often violent, they are also not the most efficient way to choose leaders. We expect our leaders to be skilled and knowledgeable in statecraft, yet elections yield the merely popular.  … Read more

Martial law and the middle classes

It has been thirty years since Ferdinand Marcos broke the traditional cycle of elite rule by seizing upon the martial law provisions of the 1935 constitution to install himself dictator.  However, a full assessment of the significance of that episode to our political life has still to be written. The Marcos years will continue to … Read more

A test for the UN

The ongoing 57th Session of the United Nations General Assembly is a defining moment in the history of this world body.  Its authority, long eroded by failure to act on urgent issues and by the willful noncompliance of some member-states with its resolutions, will be put to a final test over the Middle East. The … Read more

No man’s land

“No man’s land” is the title of one of the outstanding films in the recent Cinemanila International Film Festival. It tells the story of three wounded soldiers at the height of the war in Bosnia – one Serb and two Bosnians — who by chance find themselves trapped together in a foxhole on disputed territory.  … Read more

Nationalist fundamentalism

It is very difficult to characterize the Malaysian government’s recent action against Filipinos living in Sabah.  The cruelty is astounding. One can only call it “nationalist fundamentalism” – the belief in national identity, in this case Malaysian, as a source of rights, to the exclusion of all other human affinities.  If the situation had been … Read more

The absentee voting law

Almost everyone recognizes the right to vote of all qualified Filipinos residing abroad.  The 1987 Constitution explicitly instructs Congress to pass a law that will make absentee voting possible.  Sixty-four bills have been filed to give flesh to the constitution’s mandate, and five successive congresses have intermittently debated its provisions. Yet for the last fifteen … Read more

Political will

We often hear it said that what we lack as a nation is “political will.” The term varies in meaning depending on the context in which it is used. Sometimes it simply means clarity of purpose, and therefore a lack of political will means a failure to focus on essential problems.  Most of the time, … Read more

PR puff approach to crime

The president has explained why she is taking the initiative of personally presenting criminal suspects to the media.  By her presence, she says, the apprehension of criminals is given the widest media projection. There are three reasons why this is being done, says the president. The first is to teach criminals a lesson by exposing … Read more