Randy David | PUBLIC LIVES

Thirty-eight years have passed since we Filipinos stumbled upon a peaceful way of toppling down an entrenched dictatorship. We called it “people power,” a massive protest gathering of people in a public place in sheer defiance of the coercive power of established authority. The world hailed it not just as a model for getting rid … Read more

Freed from foreign domination, China has attempted in various ways to consciously craft its own destiny and show the world that there is a way of organizing and developing society other than that charted by Soviet socialism or Western capitalism. This romantic view is the stuff of radical aspirations not only in the Third World … Read more

One of the most useful insights on education I have come across sums up the function of education as the preparation of individuals to live in future social systems. I’m paraphrasing the sociologist Niklas Luhmann, but the key word in his concept is “future.” It’s hard enough to prepare our children to live in the … Read more

The headlines of the major dailies the other day were about an incumbent senator’s simultaneous exoneration and conviction. The Inquirer put it thus: “Jinggoy guilty of bribery, cleared of ‘pork’ plunder” (News, 1/20/24). This was echoed by The Star’s header: “Jinggoy convicted of bribery, cleared of ‘pork’ plunder.” But the Manila Times summed it all … Read more

As yesterday’s Inquirer editorial (“When a Cha-cha ad backfires”) aptly put it, the paid ad that inundated primetime television early this week was “a poorly thought stunt that backfired if the intention was to gather public support for Charter change (Cha-cha).” That is if the intent was to mobilize broad support for constitutional change. But, … Read more

It took 18 precious minutes for Japan Airlines (JAL) Flight 516 to safely evacuate all its 367 passengers including eight infants, and 12 crew members, after colliding upon touchdown with another aircraft at busy Haneda International Airport in Tokyo last Jan. 2. By industry standards, that was quite long. Ninety seconds or less is the … Read more

It is hard to believe that a people that have gone through some of the worst disasters in the world and have seen their country drop from being the most developed to one of the poorest in Southeast Asia, can remain so hopeful about the future. But that’s exactly the finding of the country’s two … Read more

The other weekend, I went to visit an old friend’s organic farm with my brother Bong, a civil engineer who, like many retirees, has gone into farming. After showing us around his farm, our gracious host Philip treated us to a delicious snack of grilled cheese on toasted sourdough bread. The sharp burnt cheese made … Read more

The English translation “This is ours!” doesn’t quite specify the addressee. But the original Tagalog “Atin Ito!” does—it is addressed to Filipinos. As Edicio dela Torre, one of the leaders of the new advocacy group “Atin Ito Coalition” makes clear, this is a call to deepen Filipinos’ awareness of the contentious issues surrounding that portion … Read more

It has been 75 years since the United Nations (UN) General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), a foundational document that sets out the rights and freedoms inherent in and applicable to all human beings. Though not legally binding in itself, the UDHR with its 30 articles has served as a common … Read more