In retrospect, President Benigno S. Aquino III needed to make that trip to the United States if only to give himself time to study the report of the Incident Investigation and Review Committee (IIRC) on the hostage-taking incident.  Time, as he is finding out for himself, is the first casualty of mass communication. The speed … Read more

After the disgraceful exit from the presidency of Joseph “Erap’ Estrada in January 2001, the new government of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo went through the routine of waging a war on illegal gambling. Estrada had been charged with, among other things, taking bribes from gambling lords. Ms Arroyo wanted to show she was different, notwithstanding the fact … Read more

It is fascinating to read Pope Benedict XVI’s speech the other day before members of the British parliament.  The Pope spoke on “the proper place of religious belief within the political process.” Having just visited Ephesus and Urfa, two of the most important religious sites in Turkey, I could not have been more primed to … Read more

Istanbul.  By a stroke of luck, I have found myself in Turkey, enjoying a ringside view of a political event seldom seen in this part of the world — a democratic referendum aimed at erasing the last vestiges of authoritarian rule. This delicate exercise is bound to change the way this staunchly secular nation with … Read more

I am writing this on September 11, nine years after the tragic attacks on American civilian targets by religious fanatics belonging to the Al-Qaida movement of Osama bin Laden.  I’m in Istanbul, the ancient former capital of the Ottoman Empire.  I woke up this morning to the first call for prayer coming from a nearby … Read more

Rolando Mendoza, the gunman in the August 23 hostage-taking incident, had lost control of his mind. We don’t need a psychologist or a psychiatrist to tell us that.  Anyone who hijacks a tourist bus at gunpoint and holds its passengers hostage — only to demand that he be restored to the job from which he … Read more

Entropy, a concept from physics, has found its way into information theory.  Melanie Mitchell who writes about the science of complexity defines entropy “as a measure of the energy that cannot be converted into additional work but is instead transformed into heat.”  Analogously, a lot of information can produce more heat than light. Hoping to … Read more

In our society, when something goes wrong, people ask: who’s to blame? Remedy is instantly sought in the replacement of officials rather than in the review of systems. In other societies, the prior question that is asked is: what went wrong? Only after this is answered do heads roll.  The focus on personalities is not … Read more

The day after the hostage crisis involving tourists from Hong Kong ended in tragedy, nearly everyone who had anything to say on the incident became an instant specialist on police matters, hostage situations, weaponry, governance, diplomacy, law, psychology, communications, mass media coverage, etc.  Name it: everyone knew what should have been done under the circumstances.  … Read more

Anyone who has ever traveled abroad as a tourist would know what it means to be vulnerable.  You cannot tell what is unusual from what is ordinary. You are unable to get into the rhythm of the society; you can neither understand its language nor figure out its manners.  In a lot of ways, you … Read more