Randy David | PUBLIC LIVES

Not too long ago, a couple of bishops of the Catholic Church who were attending an important meeting of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) were invited to have a meal with some Malacanang officials.  The purpose of the meeting ostensibly was to brief the prelates on what the government was doing to … Read more

In our daily lives, we experience the state of our nation as a series of random events with no visible logic or coherence.  We see only what we see, and remain blissfully unaware of the partial nature of our vision.  A mother might see life as a never-ending cycle of meals to prepare or an … Read more

For the longest time, my friend, the late Cordillera-based historian William Henry Scott, had been inviting me to come to Sagada.  But I never found the opportunity to visit this magical place that he called home.  The closest I got to Sagada was in the late ‘70s, at the height of the Cordillera resistance to … Read more

The public has watched with great interest the almost weekly visits of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to Pampanga, particularly to the province’s second district, where she is a registered voter.  These unusual visits, too numerous to ignore, have fueled speculation that Ms Arroyo may be preparing to contest the district’s seat, either as representative in the … Read more

The awareness of being Filipino does not come naturally.  We may be surrounded by all the symbols of nationhood – the flag, monuments, maps, pictures of our national heroes and the historic events in which they figured – but, though these may conjure stirring images of the nation, they do not necessarily bind us to … Read more

The members of the House of Gloria (HOG) have discovered the instability inherent in language.  And they have decided to make political capital out of it.  Sec. 1, Art. XVII of the 1987 Constitution states: “Any amendment to, or revision of, this Constitution may be proposed by: (1) The Congress, upon a vote of three-fourths … Read more

There is a view of politics that Filipino politicians have been professing lately.  “Politics is a numbers game,” they love to say.  And they say it as if that is all there is to politics.  Of course the statement is true – in a shallow sense:  If you have the numbers, you get to make … Read more

The issue of whether former President Joseph ‘Erap” Estrada should be allowed to run again for president is a legal question. Because it touches on a specific provision of the Constitution, it is bound to reach the Supreme Court the moment he files his certificate of candidacy.  The high court will no doubt declare it … Read more

If you type the word “subsidiarity” on the computer, chances are it will be red-lined by the word-processor, signifying its non-recognition as a term.  The word is not listed in most dictionaries.  Yet, it appears extensively in the social teachings of the Catholic Church.  It is also a key concept in the European Union’s draft … Read more

Often, when we demand of others that they act decently, we admonish them to rise above their animal instincts.  In such mindless ways do we insult animals.  Frans de Waal, a primatologist, who has observed chimpanzees for a long time thinks that animals living in groups are governed — no less than humans — by … Read more