We have been hearing the phrase “rule of law” much too often since Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo assumed the presidency. In the context in which it is used, it appears to be a way of telling people that when they are penalized for being out of line or falling short of the standard, it is nothing personal. … Read more
Shortly before the winds of Typhoon Milenyo began battering Metro Manila, the public utilities that form the lifeline of modern communities ground to a halt. Electricity was the first to be shut off, followed by the telephone service. I expected the water supply to be next. To my pleasant amazement, in the UP campus where … Read more
Institutions are clusters of formal rules and informal norms that draw their power from the shared values and moral instincts of a people. These are the tools by which a society conducts its life. Institutions shape our individual choices, acting as a brake on impulsive and selfish behavior. They are strong or weak, adequate or … Read more
Typhoon “Milenyo” came and went like an haughty star performer with a million-dollar name. Its arrival was announced just the day before, but in less than an hour of its lightning visit, it was gone. In its wake it left a devastation the likes of which Metro Manila hasn’t seen in a decade. In an … Read more
The Sept. 19 military coup in Thailand bears more similarities to the January 2001 ouster of Joseph Estrada than to previous coups in Thai history. This is a coup that displaced a democratically elected leader – a politician despised by the elite and the intelligentsia but adored by the urban and rural masses. The generals … Read more
Thirty-four years ago, the then incumbent president, Ferdinand Marcos, invoked an obscure provision in the 1935 Constitution to free his presidency from basic constitutional restraints. The imposition of Martial Law, which was meant to preserve the State, was supposed to last only for the duration of the imminent threat to public order. But Marcos shrewdly … Read more
The transformation of air travel, particularly into the United States, into a tedious, time-consuming, and often humiliating activity is only the most obvious effect of 9/11. It is perhaps the least important. The paranoia that 9/11 spawned has produced a new international security doctrine that is undermining democracy everywhere. It has given a new warrant … Read more
There is something perverse in the way the leaders of Sigaw ng Bayan are peddling the shift to a parliamentary system. They advertise it as if it were a miraculous cure for all our problems. They claim that it will treat political instability and end political adventurism among our soldiers; that it will spur economic … Read more
Profiting from test leaks is probably as old as testing itself. Advances in the technology of retrieval and duplication of information, coupled with the heightened competitiveness in almost all professions, may have made resort to it easier and more tempting. Even so, we may assume that the methods and principles for preventing it and managing … Read more
The state of national emergency that Gloria Macapagal Arroyo declared on Feb. 24, 2006 was supposed to have lasted only one week. But events in the last six months suggest a different conclusion: emergency rule may have, in fact, become Ms Arroyo’s paradigm of governance. In various parts of the country today, the military conducts … Read more