The word “disaster” that is in everybody’s lips nowadays has its roots in the Greek word “astron,” meaning star.  A disaster literally is an event that is “ill-starred” – a way of saying that its occurrence is beyond human control.  By this definition, all disasters would be natural.  Yet, it is now usual to differentiate … Read more

One cannot fail to be impressed by the swiftness with which the leaders of the two chambers of Congress have agreed to convene the legislature as a constituent assembly and begin the process of amending the Constitution. What a difference a disinterested presidency makes! Previous attempts to amend the Constitution, from Ramos down to Arroyo, … Read more

As I write, a fast-growing tree I planted years back, whose name escapes me now, lies prostrate across my desolate garden, pulled out from its roots like weed by Typhoon “Pedring’s” furious winds.  Every year, someone comes to trim the trees in my yard and prepares them for the typhoon season.  But, the last time, … Read more

Not too long ago, the ideological rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union structured the competition among nations.  The question then was: Which system promised the better life—capitalism or socialism? Today, political system hardly figures as a criterion in the classification of countries. And neither is the standing of nations assessed singularly by … Read more

At one of the medical missions organized by my brother Bishop Pablo David for the Aeta and indigent folks of a remote barrio in Bataan, I saw in a graphic way the different stages in which social order in our society is stuck. Young and middle-aged people jostled against one another to have their names … Read more

William Shakespeare is the English world’s greatest poet and playwright. Though he lived in the 16th century, his works have shaped the way students everywhere use the English language in declamation and think of drama as a literary form. His plays and sonnets are taught in high school and, whether or not they are correctly … Read more

Twenty years ago, on Sept. 16, 1991, the Philippine Senate took a vote that forever changed Philippine-American relations. By a close vote of 12-11, a sharply divided Senate rejected a new treaty that would allow the United States to continue using its naval facilities in Subic for another 10 years after the expiration of the … Read more

Before Sept. 11, 2001, the United States mainland had never been attacked by any foreign power. The closest to this was the bombing of the US naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii on Dec. 7, 1941 by fighter planes of the Japanese imperial navy. The attack led the United States directly into the Pacific … Read more

The publication of stolen documents purporting to be highly-classified cables sent by various United States missions from all over has fueled all kinds of reactions in the countries that are the subject of the reports. Some take the form of wounded pride, others of a sense of having been betrayed. Last Sept. 1, more than … Read more

If you’ve been following the Senate investigation of the helicopter scam in which used choppers were passed off and paid for by the Philippine National Police as brand-new, you would likely welcome the filing of criminal charges against those who were involved in the deal. The case was filed before the Ombudsman the other day … Read more