Randy David | PUBLIC LIVES

Politics is divisive, and it is absurd to object to it for being so. If it were not, it would not be able to perform its function of providing choice, building legitimacy, and checking abuse of power. Clearly, the other face of politics is integration. But, for integration to happen after a divisive exercise, political … Read more

PRESUMPTIVE PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte’s winning formula can now be formulated more clearly. The idea is to first get elected. What to do after can wait. For this to work, all that is needed is to grasp the public’s disaffection with government, and whip it into a heightened sense of frustration and exasperation so that no … Read more

He came from behind and from the margins, literally and figuratively. Those who had been cruising on the same highway for much longer didn’t see him coming. Then, on a bend, just as the road began to tighten, he picked up speed and barreled his way to the finish line. More than the frail borrowed … Read more

At the last presidential debate, the candidates were asked how they would deal with China’s incursions in the West Philippine Sea. Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte had a ready answer. He will tell the Coast Guard to take him to the middle of the sea, and, from there, he will ride a jet ski to … Read more

At the end of his rambling speeches before mesmerized crowds, presidential candidate and preelection poll frontrunner Rodrigo Duterte touches the Philippine flag that is brought to him on cue. He brings it to his lips, and solemnly proclaims: “Together let’s fix this country.” As he raises his clenched fist, the audience breaks into ecstatic applause. … Read more

IF THE PRESIDENCY were something that could be won in a town hall debate, it would be fairly easy to pick out the next President based on Sunday’s final debate. Mar Roxas would come out on top of my list as the best debater, way ahead of the others. Grace Poe would be second, followed … Read more

At this late stage of the ongoing presidential contest, the man to beat appears to be Rodrigo Duterte—until very recently an outsider to national politics whom very few thoughtful Filipinos took seriously. How does one account for the phenomenal rise to national stature of a local politician from a remote corner of Mindanao? Equipped with … Read more

It is rare in our personality-driven political system to hear candidates of the opposition openly champion an existing program of the administration they are seeking to replace.  But, such must have been the impact of the conditional cash transfer program, better known as the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), that this previously much-criticized program now … Read more

THOUGH IT is far from being an iconic structure, it is difficult to find another place in the University of the Philippines Diliman campus that is quite like the Faculty Center. Until it was gutted by fire last Friday morning, the FC, or Bulwagang Rizal, was the single biggest structure in the university to house … Read more

Without any doubt, last week’s presidential debate, the second in the series authorized by the Commission on Elections, was a watershed in Philippine politics. It set a new tone for political discourse by allowing the contenders for the country’s highest position to break the basic norms of civility and courtesy in a nationally televised conversation. … Read more