Randy David | PUBLIC LIVES The rise of moral symbols in politics always provides a dramatic starting point for a society’s transformation. Figures like Mohandas Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela, Fernando Lugo of Paraguay, Aung San Suu Kyi of Burma, and Cory Aquino quickly come to mind. In an instant, they symbolize everything that their people aspire to … Read more
If there is a country in Southeast Asia whose politics has been as vibrant as ours, that country has to be Thailand. The parallelisms in the political saga of these two countries over the last twenty years are truly amazing. Both countries have a “Southern” problem – an Islamic secessionist movement that has waged an … Read more
The election of Catholic priest Fr. Eddie “Among Ed” Panlilio in 2007 as governor of Pampanga was nothing short of phenomenal. Although “Among Ed” won only by more than a thousand votes, his triumph signified for many Filipinos a watershed in the country’s political life, a stunning breakthrough in the longstanding quest for good governance. … Read more
In 1917, the provincial board of Mindoro passed a resolution requiring all “non-Christians” belonging to the Mangyan tribes to live in a permanent settlement near Lake Naujan. They were to immediately abandon the vast forests in which they lived, and settle down in a reservation designated for their exclusive use. Failure to comply with the … Read more
Peace follows war. That is the logic of any peace agreement. It comes after a period of conflict, seeking to erase the basis for war. Yet what we have in Mindanao today seems to be the exact opposite. A peace agreement has provoked renewed conflict. What happened? What lessons might we draw from this turn … Read more
The Bangsamoro problem is entangled in so many historical, legal, cultural, and political questions that it is irresponsible to talk about it in a simplistic way. Every attempt to capture the issues in a single frame is bound to inflame passions and exacerbate prejudices. Reason demands that we step back and attempt to sort out … Read more
He lived much longer than his contemporaries. Born in 1898, a few months after Aguinaldo proclaimed independence from Spain, Lorenzo Tanada was 93 when he died. Had he lived like a Japanese centenarian, he would be 110 tomorrow, August 10. The Martial Law generation referred to him as the “Grand Old Man of the Opposition.” … Read more
There are many reasons for the growing clamor to reduce the VAT on oil products. But the two most important are: first, because the VAT on fuel rises with every increase in the price of oil, the public sees it as an infinite burden; and second, because the utilization of the windfall revenue from the … Read more
On the eve of her 8th State of the Nation Address (Sona), the polling firm, Pulse Asia, sought to quantify the public attitude toward President Arroyo’s speeches before the joint session of Congress. Only 13% of the 1,200 randomly selected informants said that Ms Arroyo’s previous Sonas were “truthful,” while 40% believed they were “not … Read more
This fascinating phrase comes from the book of Frantz Fanon, “Black Skin White Masks.” Fanon, the black psychiatrist from Martinique, and author of the classic “The Wretched of the Earth,” diagnoses the neurosis of wanting-to-be-white as a product of the internalization of colonial subjugation. “If there is an inferiority complex,” Fanon writes, “it is the … Read more