Randy David | PUBLIC LIVES

Responding to a petition filed by affected residents, Chief Justice Renato Corona the other day issued a “Writ of Kalikasan” requiring the owners of a leaking petroleum pipeline to respond to concerns about the effects of the leak on the public’s health and the environment.  It is the first time such a writ has been … Read more

There’s a theory in the study of social relationships that became quite popular in the 1960s.  It was called “dramaturgical sociology.” Its author, Erving Goffman, adopted the Shakespearean insight that “all the world’s a stage,” and worked out a cool set of concepts that view human actions as sequences in the elaborate art of impression … Read more

Choosing a president for the University of thePhilippines, the country’s national university, is a complex process.  The UP Charter provides that the president of UP is to be chosen by its Board of Regents.  But, many assume that the regents’ vote merely formalizes a choice made by the president in Malacanang. The general public regards … Read more

When families are mired in poverty, it’s the children – in all their innocence – who become the principal victims.  Their future is at once compromised. They grow up without proper nourishment, their young bodies battered by disease and parasites against which they have little protection.  Their schooling, even if free, becomes a haphazard experience, … Read more

We cannot question the right of governments to warn their citizens of the dangers they may face when they travel to particular places abroad. Indeed, the failure to warn, especially when warranted, makes a government vulnerable to possible class suits by their citizens.  But, if these governments are our friends, then the safety of their … Read more

When Barack Obama won the presidency in 2008 after a stunning electoral campaign, the tidal wave of optimism this sent throughout the United States and the rest of the world completely eclipsed the financial crisis whose dimensions were only then beginning to be known. I remember saying how lucky America is to have an intelligent … Read more

In a column I wrote in July this year (Inquirer, 07/17/10), I tried to interpret an intriguing photo that appeared in the Inquirer showing Globe Asiatique’s Delfin Lee with top officials of Pag-ibig (Home Development Mutual Fund).  The photo carried the following caption: “Globe Asiatique and Pag-ibig Committed to Working Together.” If this was a … Read more

It is quite obvious, from the way it seeks to double the magnitude of the previous administration’s Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program or 4Ps, that the P-Noy government has decided this will be its immediate response to poverty.  Whether conditional cash transfers will also define its strategic approach to this nagging social problem is not yet … Read more

In a recent ponencia, Supreme Court Associate Justice Mariano del Castillo used citations from journal articles without attribution.  And so they appeared in the document as if they were the product of his own reflection.  Law professors from the University of the Philippines called attention to the fact that these were actually lifted from the … Read more

There was a time in the development of our society when it was not necessary to invoke written contracts and formal laws to enforce rights and obligations.  Courtesy and honor made people act according to what was generally expected of them without waiting to be prompted by anyone.  There may still be a few isolated … Read more