We often hear educated Filipinos blame the kind of government we have on the kind of public officials that the “bobotantes” choose during elections. The derisive term is a clever blending of two words: “bobo,” meaning stupid, and “botante,” meaning voter. It is applied to voters whose electoral choices are presumably uninformed by any understanding … Read more
When Pulse Asia released its latest Ulat ng Bayan this July, one could almost anticipate the following day’s headlines: Vice President Sara Duterte leads the 2028 presidential race at 49 percent. That’s a horse-race reading, inviting the reader to see if her ongoing impeachment trial would affect her viability as a presidential candidate. It is … Read more
The past six days of Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial have produced familiar frustration. The proceedings seem bogged down in objections, repetitive, and distant from the only question that needs to be answered: Is she fit to hold office? Some advocacy groups and commentators have called on the Senate to move faster, to focus … Read more
It is fascinating how “impeach,” an almost archaic word, has become part of our everyday vocabulary. Quite often, we use it to mean removal from office, as in: “Former Chief Justice Renato Corona was impeached.” At other times, it simply means to formally accuse a high official, as in: “This is the second time Vice … Read more
The United States and the Philippines once shared July 4 as a date of supreme significance—a founding day from which sovereign nationhood was said to begin. Yet the day never meant the same thing to both. Not simply because one people declared independence from another nation while the other was cast as beneficiary of a … Read more
All the moves at the Senate these past two weeks by the political figures identified with the Dutertes are designed to thwart one thing: the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte. This is the broader context of the ongoing battle for control of the Senate leadership and its key committees. The importance of that … Read more
We do not even know exactly how many were killed during former President Rodrigo Duterte’s violent drug war. Rather than treating this lack of agreement as a reason to abandon inquiry, that single unpleasant fact should be the starting point of any independent commission seeking to uncover the stories behind the killings. It was Carlos … Read more
Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, the former chief of the Philippine National Police under former President Rodrigo Duterte, is now a fugitive—hunted by the very institution he once commanded. He slipped out of the Senate in the early hours of the morning to evade an International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant, leaving behind a chamber … Read more
Some laws are ahead of their time. Their enactment may have been initially performative—intended primarily to signal adherence to international norms and thus convey a sense of belonging to the wider community of civilized nations. Such laws are typically forgotten until unforeseen events rouse them from dormancy. Like stars unexpectedly aligning, they provide the perfect … Read more
One of the startling conclusions in Senate blue ribbon committee Chair Sen. Panfilo Lacson’s report on the flood control investigations is that the corruption uncovered there was a replica, on a grander scale, of the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) or pork barrel scam that roiled the country in 2013. That scheme, masterminded by Janet … Read more