“The Philippines is part of the coalition of the willing.” So declared President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in her speech before the graduating class of the Philippine Military Academy. Her statement came almost at the same hour the United States began its attack on Iraq. As President of the Republic, she speaks for the Filipino nation. It … Read more
People have viewed Sept. 11 in various ways. Many think it awakened America to a vulnerability it did not recognize before. Others believe it made America look into itself. I think Sept. 11 closed the American mind when it put patriotism above reason. Nothing can be more dangerous for any nation than to place its … Read more
We do not equate the American people with George W. Bush, a man Nelson Mandela described as someone who “cannot think properly.” For we know there are many thoughtful Americans who spend a lifetime critically examining the impact of their country’s institutions and policies on their citizens and on other nations. So too we cannot … Read more
Both wars project American military presence, and the recent past gives us sound reasons to doubt the United States government’s motives, and not to allow ourselves ever again to be drawn into America’s wars. American presidents, from Kennedy to Johnson to Nixon, all lied to their own people to justify the invasion of Vietnam. Books … Read more
What the government is doing in Mindanao and the rest of the country is finally becoming clear. To put it bluntly, the Philippine government is trying to put an end to the Moro rebellion, the communist insurgency, and the mass poverty that breeds them, by riding piggyback on the American war on global terrorism. We … Read more
Here we go again in Mindanao, launching a war that defies all reason. A full-scale assault has suddenly been launched by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in communities identified as mass bases of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). We thought all along that a ceasefire was supposed to be in force, and … Read more
Toward the end of his speech before the Security Council of the United Nations on Feb. 5, US Secretary of State Colin Powell declared: “For more than 20 years, by word and by deed, Saddam Hussein has pursued his ambition to dominate Iraq and the broader Middle East using the only means he knows: intimidation, … Read more
Immediately after September 11, the focus of the hunt was Osama bin Laden and the so-called al-Qaida. Bin Laden and his henchmen were supposed to be hiding in Afghanistan, under the protection of the Taliban. The US demanded that the Taliban surrender Bin Laden. When they refused, Afghanistan was bombed. The archaic regime of the … Read more
At the height of the lahar flows in Pampanga, which buried a great part of the historic town of Bacolor, I took photographs of our old house in the adjacent town of Betis, and reconciled myself to the thought that this home of our memories would someday also vanish. But, almost by a miracle, while … Read more
It all began with troubling images of the way the presidency was being conducted. President Joseph Estrada, elected by a popular vote in 1998, was carrying on as if he was intentionally showing his contempt for formal institutions, the very structures from which he drew his authority. Complaining of aching knees, he stopped going to … Read more