Randy David | PUBLIC LIVES

When the Iglesia Ni Cristo speaks, politicians have to listen.  Of the country’s numerous religious communities, the INC alone commands the kind of organized vote that can make or unmake politicians. To a lesser degree, El Shaddai wields a similar political clout.  This is the power of small but tightly organized groups.  The Catholic Church … Read more

There is an approach to politics that equates power with the ability to impose one’s will on others through the effective marshaling of strategic forces under one’s control.  In foreign affairs, it is called realpolitik.  Modern politics is often conceived in these terms.  It is politics without values. The study of politics in stable societies … Read more

The proposed “Anti-Terrorism Act of 2005” defines terrorism as “the premeditated, threatened and actual use of violence or force or by any other means of destruction perpetrated against persons, properties, or the environment, with the intention of creating or sowing a state of danger, panic, fear, or chaos in the general public, group of persons, … Read more

Though I am not a lawyer, I am, as a citizen and as a sociologist, interested in the exercise of state power in a republican system like ours.  It seems to me that the crisis of the presidency, given the defensive responses of its current occupant, will increasingly put the doctrine of separation of powers … Read more

“I’m tired of chasing the bullies around the schoolyard,” Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo told a gathering of local officials in Pampanga the other day.  “Those who would heed my call for unity and reconciliation, they are welcome.  But those who would keep on creating disturbance, we’re on top of the situation.  Our barangay officials will enforce the … Read more

Our country is an aircraft, and its name is Philippine Airlines.  We are its patient passengers. This plane is long-delayed for a host of reasons – a bomb threat from nowhere, a malfunctioning engine that has seen better days, chaotic procedures, and a crew that is too timid and too uncaring to explain the situation … Read more

At a student leaders’ conference in the University of the Philippines the other day, Bam Aquino of the National Youth Commission ran a quick survey with the audience. To every question, he requested the participants to stand up to register their response.  The last question was: “How many of you are confused about the present … Read more

Many truths about our lives and the world largely pass unnoticed. But, in our country, the one truth that agitates almost everyone, except maybe Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her allies, is whether she conspired with former Commission on Elections Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano to manipulate the results of the last presidential election.  This is the truth insinuated … Read more

Here is a cynical view of the country’s political system:  Electoral fraud is an integral part of Filipino politics.  Every politician knows that cheating occurs in every election and is factored in the overall calculation of a candidate’s chances.  Paying homage to the law is an obligatory ritual in our political culture, but it is … Read more

No word perhaps has been more maligned in the vocabulary of politics than “pragmatism.” It connotes lack of scruples, ruthlessness, and even immorality.  Pragmatic persons are thought of as those who will use any means available, no matter how dishonest, to achieve an end. In its philosophical sense, however, pragmatism simply refers to a way … Read more