Randy David | PUBLIC LIVES

In general, no tax is ever acceptable to a people.  This is even more so if the government that collects it is perceived to be useless, illegitimate, and corrupt.  A good government is one that is able to show the public that the taxes it demands are collected justly – i.e., according to one’s earnings … Read more

If the participants of Edsa 1 and Edsa 2 were to be asked today if they would join another people power uprising, they would likely say no. They would say that people power promises many things but delivers nothing.  That it substitutes the shortcut of a political surgery for the long painstaking task of building … Read more

The word has crept in quietly in recent discussions of administrative and fiscal reform.  If taken seriously, it could spell the beginning of political modernity in our country. The vigor with which it is being opposed is an indicator of the staying power of obsolete interests.  It shows us that corruption in our society is … Read more

There are many ways of classifying leaders.  One way I find particular useful to our current situation in the Philippines is based on a scheme developed by the American sociologist Amitai Etzioni.  He differentiates leaders by the type of power they use and the kind of compliance they elicit from those they govern. He says … Read more

When one approaches retirement, the desire to communicate life’s lessons to one’s children tends to grow in proportion to their own increasing wish to be left alone to design their own lives.  I suppose it is as it should be, for the problems our children will face are not necessarily going to be the same … Read more

Two venerable national figures this week offered blunt solutions to the problems confronting our society.  National Artist and novelist F. Sionil Jose called for a “revolution” in a lecture at the University of the Philippines.  Business leader Washington Sycip told a forum of the League of Corporate Foundations that the country might benefit from a … Read more

Outside the church where his remains lay in state, Fernando Poe Jr.’s movies were being played for the common folk who lined up and waited for hours to take a last quick look at their idol.  No scene more graphically captures the substance of Filipino culture. An FPJ movie has the same effect on his … Read more

When a man as popular and as deeply-loved as Fernando Poe Jr. dies, we can be sure that many will try to claim him as one of their own.  But FPJ always knew where he belonged – with the masa.  Da King is not dead; he lives in their consciousness. He was their hero, their … Read more

Never before has this conflict become as obvious as it has today – the clash between the interests of the government’s creditors and the interests of its own citizens.  The 2005 proposed national budget says it all. Of the P907.8 billion total budget for next year, the biggest chunk of P301.7 billion (33%) will go … Read more

I’ve sometimes wondered why “corruption” is the word used for acts of dishonesty committed by people in positions of trust.  Corruption means debasement, decay, deterioration, weakening.  These terms are usually applied to metal and, in particular, to living matter.  So, what is it that decays, deteriorates, or weakens in corrupt people? Is it morality?  Virtue?  … Read more