It is hard to say what prompted President Duterte to brandish the threat of a revolutionary government. Some people may have mentioned it to him as a bolder option than declaring martial law, citing President Cory Aquino’s rule by decree under a “Freedom Constitution” during the first year of her presidency. It is clear that … Read more
So long as Filipinos believe that President Duterte is the country’s last card in its bid to survive the challenges facing it, so long will they stand by him regardless of the cause he espouses or the position he takes on any issue. This, to me, is what the recent opinion polls of the Social … Read more
Within a week after I wrote about the President becoming a purveyor of fake news, someone decided to teach me a lesson by setting up a Facebook account using my name and an old photo of myself riding a motorcycle. It looked authentic enough, except for the fine print listing my title as “Ediotor” (sic) … Read more
Critics of President Duterte accuse him of undermining the nation’s institutions — especially those charged with upholding the rule of law and maintaining the constitutional mechanisms of checks and balance — by attacking their current occupants. Mr. Duterte’s avid supporters, on the other hand, accuse his critics of destabilizing the presidency and laying the ground … Read more
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
At the recent inauguration of a production facility for solar panels in Santo Tomas, Batangas, President Duterte once again deviated from his prepared speech to talk about his favorite topics — the war on drugs and the extent of corruption in the country. There he recalled his election promise that he would finish the drug … Read more
In the not-so-distant future, after we have awakened from the nightmare we are going through, someone will propose the creation of a truth commission to inquire into the brazen killings that have attended the so-called “war on drugs.” Perhaps, while still in a daze, a chastened Filipino public would be seeking answers to troubling questions. … Read more