Every year, at the opening of its regular session, the President is required by the Constitution to address Congress.  Following American tradition, this annual speech by the President is called the “State of the Nation Address” or Sona.  Yet such a speech need not be about the state of the nation.  In fact, there is … Read more

Nothing perhaps demonstrates more clearly the bankruptcy of our political life than the sight of former Pampanga Representative Juan Miguel “Mikey” Arroyo re-entering Congress wearing another hat – that of party-list representative of a group of security guards.  The early evening news has vividly captured this remarkable moment. We follow the son of Ex-President, now … Read more

These are the types of programs we find in today’s mass media.  The stuff of which they are made is information. Because it is easy for one program to shade into another, and for readers and audiences to miss the differences, modern mass media has made their differentiation the heart of its ethical codes. Thus, … Read more

IN AN orderly transition, a new government is expected to “hit the ground running.” This idiom became a mantra in 1992 when President Fidel V. Ramos took power on a slim electoral mandate. It conjures the image of a parachutist who, after floating in the air for sometime, not only lands solidly on his feet … Read more

The word “Ombudsman” formally entered our legal vocabulary when the 1973 Constitution mandated the creation of an office to be known as “Tanodbayan.”  As this Filipino term suggests, the office was to function as a watchdog in the service of the people — their principal protector against official abuse, inefficiency, and various acts of impropriety … Read more

Of the many campaign pledges that President Noynoy affirmed in his inaugural speech, the formation of a truth commission to be headed by former Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr. is likely to be the most challenging. Not so much because of Davide’s perceived closeness to the principal object of the commission’s investigation—the regime of former … Read more

Her name continues to flash like an unwanted reflex each time the word “president” is uttered. She has left the stage yet she haunts our collective psyche.  It may take a while before we can completely purge her out of our system.  More than nine years of intense “presidential branding,” as her image-makers termed this … Read more

Today belongs, of course, to our new president, Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III. That means it is also the first day we don’t have Gloria Macapagal Arroyo as president. What a great difference that realization instantly brings! It is as if a heavy curtain of demoralization is suddenly drawn, and quickly we regain our bearings.  Once … Read more

Ferdinand Marcos and Gloria Macapagal Arroyo share the dubious distinction of having ruled this country longer than anybody else. But unlike Marcos who was ousted by people power, Arroyo will leave Malacanang through the front door, formally escorted by her dulyelected successor. By any measure, that is a momentous achievement in political stability.  Yet the … Read more

On the ground that it promotes promiscuity, a learning module on sex education being piloted in public primary and high schools has come under attack by a group of parents and Catholic bishops.  A petition has been filed arguing that the teaching of matters pertaining to sexuality is a strictly family affair. The petitioners cite … Read more