When hear the word “squatter”, the images that come to mind are those that have been formed over the years by mindless movie and television scripts, ignorant government reports, and shallow social science.  These accounts tell us of a strange migratory breed of people, who multiply like rabbits and lead dissolute lives, who have no … Read more

I had to go on a one-day return trip to Cebu last Friday to fulfill a commitment to the Sentro ng Wikang Filipino of the University of the Philippines (UP).  I left my house in UP at 7 a.m. and made it to the domestic airport at 9.  Not bad at all, I was told.  … Read more

Before me is a copy of “Primed for Life: Writings on Midlife by 18 Men”, edited by Lorna Kalaw-Tirol and published by Anvil.  I think one has to be of a certain disposition to appreciate the courage that went into the writing of each one of these fascinating contributions.  At midlife, the best of one’s … Read more

In a globalized world, what will happen to national identity?  Will it continue to have moral and political relevance in the lives of people? Globalization compresses time and space.   It creates a reality far too elusive for any single nation-state to manage.  In such a setting, the national identity that the sovereign state zealously promotes … Read more

Andrew Cunanan was born in the US of a Filipino father and an Italian-American mother,  was raised in American neighborhoods and educated in American schools.  His father, Modesto, who once worked in the US Navy is now most likely a US citizen.  Yet melting-pot America refuses to assimilate Andrew Cunanan, the prime suspect in the … Read more

Like the many who have so little of it, I’ve often wondered what rich people do with the material wealth they accumulate.  Bill Gates, for example,  or the Sultan of Brunei, or our very own Tan Yu, Henry Sy, and George Ty – all recently listed as among the world’s billionaires. What do they do … Read more

Highly unusual, and most certainly illegal – this is how human rights lawyers have described Mayor Alfredo Lim’s order to spray-paint the homes of arrested drug pushers with anti-drug graffiti.  A petition for injunction they will file seeking to stop the mayor from pursuing this unorthodox campaign will likely be resolved in favor of the … Read more

I’ve often wondered why some people joke about suicide as being Sweden’s national pastime.  It is hard to believe that a society so prosperous,  so seemingly intimate and relaxed, and so communal in the way it attends to basic needs, could produce one of the highest suicide rates in the world.  But then maybe, we … Read more

I wasn’t sure the organization was real, but on my way home from a conference in Stockholm a few weeks ago, I found myself stopping over in London to accept an invitation to speak before the NPA – the National Pampangueno Association. The NPA, one of 2 ethnic associations from my home province operating in … Read more

Rizal refined his concept of nationalism while living in Europe.  It was the age of colonialism, when the right or duty of a “higher”  power to occupy a “lower” people in the name of civilization was taken for granted as natural. In the hands of the colonized, nationalism became a progressive weapon because it provided … Read more