Randy David | PUBLIC LIVES

Department of Health officials went on television the other night to announce the suspension of the government’s antidengue vaccination program. This move was prompted by the admission of Sanofi Pasteur, the pharmaceutical company behind the vaccine, that the administration of “Dengvaxia” could lead to more severe symptoms for people who have not been previously infected. … Read more

The latest development on this issue is that Myanmar and Bangladesh — the two countries most directly implicated in the Rohingya problem — have agreed to repatriate the more than 600,000 Rohingya refugees who have fled to Bangladesh to escape atrocities by Burmese security forces. The plan calls for their formal registration, preparatory to their … Read more

At the festival of summits to which the Philippines dutifully played host last week, three basic standpoints by which humanity describes and criticizes the state of affairs in the world vied for space. The first is the human rights standpoint, the modern version of the value placed by natural law on human dignity and equality, … Read more

Looking at the different summits that are taking place in our region this week, one cannot but be inspired by the high-mindedness that seems to have summoned the world’s most powerful statesmen to this part of the world at this time. Yet, one cannot miss the irony, too. Here gathered are presidents and prime ministers … Read more

Where people have access to more and diverse sources of information, the better the chances for democracy to flourish.  By empowering individuals to share information and opinion with a mass audience, using technologies of rapid and mass dissemination previously available only to communicators in traditional media, social media cannot but be good for democracy. But, … Read more

Every All Souls Day, our culture directs us to remember those who have passed on—relatives, friends, and other people who have had a profound influence on our lives. We do this by bringing flowers to their graves, saying prayers and lighting candles to hasten their souls’ journey to heaven. One might expect pensiveness on an … Read more

It is hard to say what prompted President Duterte to brandish the threat of a revolutionary government. Some people may have mentioned it to him as a bolder option than declaring martial law, citing President Cory Aquino’s rule by decree under a “Freedom Constitution” during the first year of her presidency.  It is clear that … Read more

So long as Filipinos believe that President Duterte is the country’s last card in its bid to survive the challenges facing it, so long will they stand by him regardless of the cause he espouses or the position he takes on any issue. This, to me, is what the recent opinion polls of the Social … Read more

Within a week after I wrote about the President becoming a purveyor of fake news, someone decided to teach me a lesson by setting up a Facebook account using my name and an old photo of myself riding a motorcycle. It looked authentic enough, except for the fine print listing my title as “Ediotor” (sic) … Read more

Critics of President Duterte accuse him of undermining the nation’s institutions — especially those charged with upholding the rule of law and maintaining the constitutional mechanisms of checks and balance — by attacking their current occupants. Mr. Duterte’s avid supporters, on the other hand, accuse his critics of destabilizing the presidency and laying the ground … Read more