Randy David | PUBLIC LIVES This school year, when public school teachers begin using 12 of the country’s mother tongues as languages of instruction in the first three years of grade school, they may find that employing the local language for writing and reading won’t be as easy as speaking it. They have to persist and not give up easily. … Read more
Twice during the impeachment trial of then Chief Justice Renato Corona, petitions were filed before the Supreme Court praying for its intervention in the unfolding process at the Senate. The first sought to abort the trial on the ground that the complaint endorsed by the majority in the House of Representatives was not properly verified. … Read more
One can sympathize with Sen. Koko Pimentel’s dilemma as he ponders the wisdom of joining the senatorial slate of the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) for 2013. How can he run in the same party, campaign on the same stage, and endorse the candidacy of a person he has accused of electoral fraud? Koko was the … Read more
RIGHT AFTER being removed from his position as Chief Justice, Renato Corona announced that he would go on a lecture tour to launch a crusade for transparency and judicial independence. No doubt, this is an important and timely crusade. But one can’t help asking if the former Chief Justice is the right person to spearhead … Read more
Forty years ago, a radical philosopher by the name of Ivan Illich rocked the world of education by suggesting that children’s learning needs would be better served if they were not made to go through the institutional “funnels” of regimented formal education. He advocated, as an alternative, the formation of “educational webs which heighten the … Read more
If I were a young parent today with the choice of where to send my child for basic education, which school would I choose? There is no simple answer. One’s choice of school would depend, first of all, on the kind of education one thinks his child needs. In turn, this would depend on the … Read more
Most of us do not get to know the names of the members of the Supreme Court because, unlike politicians, they are seldom in the public eye. Neither do we remember how they look, apart from the thick robes they wear. It is as it should be. We stand in awe of the members of … Read more
Justice wears a blindfold because it is supposed to only hear the voices of the individuals that come before it, and not see and be affected by the statuses they carry with them. The tenacity of justice is especially put to a test in an impeachment process, an institution that has been devised precisely to … Read more
On the 40th day of his trial, Chief Justice Renato Corona himself took the witness stand. The head of the impeachment court, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, graciously welcomed him, assuring him that he would be treated with utmost respect befitting his position and the institution he represents. Barely acknowledging these gestures of courtesy, the … Read more
In many ways, tomorrow’s (Monday) caucus of the senator-judges is probably as crucial to the impeachment case as the much-awaited testimony of the accused Chief Justice Renato Corona. We may recall that some of the senators, after hearing the explosive testimony of Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales, expressed a need to verify her findings by summoning … Read more