Randy David | PUBLIC LIVES

Karl Marx, the ideologue of communism, did not think that the peasantry could be a force for socialist revolution.  There were two reasons.  First, since their quest was limited to owning land, peasants tended to be politically conservative. Second – and I think this was the more important point – the peasants in their farms, … Read more

How have we become the world’s favorite transshipment point for opium, cocaine, and heroin? How have Filipinos become the favorite couriers for such high-value drugs? The reports say that as many as 630 Filipinos are being held today for drug trafficking in various jails all over the world.  Of these, 205 are detained in Chinese … Read more

Philippines February 1986, Egypt January 2011 – both are examples of contemporary political upheavals that social scientists now call “extraordinary” moments in politics.  They signal a departure from “normal” politics — from statist politics, from institutional procedures and rituals of representation, from government by political elites and professional bureaucrats. Such moments point to the promise … Read more

To call love an ideology would seem to trivialize what is generally assumed to be a deeply personal and indescribable experience.  The word “ideology” is normally associated with politics. It suggests a particular vision of the world, a set of concepts, and a proposed way of acting that is consistent with this vision and illuminated … Read more

Suicide is a complex phenomenon.  It is both a deeply personal act that is almost inaccessible in its meanings, and a social phenomenon that mirrors significant shifts in the life of a society. Former Armed Forces Chief of Staff, General Angelo T. Reyes, was evidently a person in great distress when he took his own … Read more

Between the promise of change and the threat of chaos lies the wish for an orderly transition. The old order is dying but the new cannot be born.  Even before the first flush of victory starts to fade, anxiety grips the forces of change.  Suddenly, the road ahead appears complex and uncertain.  This crucial moment … Read more

The word “graft,” now only rarely used, is probably more descriptive of illicit office practices found in transitional societies like ours than “corruption,” its semantic cousin. The term comes from horticulture. Here is how Dictionary.com defines it: “A bud, shoot, or scion of a plant inserted in a groove, slit, or the like in a … Read more

At the Senate investigation into the plea bargain agreement between the Ombudsman and the former Armed Forces comptroller, retired General Carlos F. Garcia, the inquiry last Thursday turned to the entrenched system of graft inside the military.  A retired budget officer, Colonel George Rabusa, who used to work at the comptroller’s office, testified in detail … Read more

Anyone who reads or tunes in regularly to the mass media nowadays cannot fail to be gripped by a sense that Philippine society is headed for a systemic breakdown.  Criminals appear more brazen.  The police seem more helpless, or in cahoots with the criminals themselves. Prosecutors are unable to pin down the guilty; the courts … Read more

I have always been fascinated by the special role that taxi drivers play as observers of their own society.  Their interaction with a wide variety of people, including foreigners, in the course of a day’s work gives them a unique vantage point from which to view their lives. They also tend to be amazing communicators, … Read more