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

Jose Rizal lived in Europe at a time when sociology, the scientific study of society, was just beginning to be formalized. It is interesting that he did not seem to have made the acquaintance of this new discipline.  His rich insights into the mechanisms and consequences of colonial society could have been framed better with … Read more

Whoever came up with the small-minded idea of using this year’s Independence Day celebration to trumpet outgoing President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s alleged achievements has done the Filipino nation a great disservice.  Is nothing sacred? To conflate the nation’s progress with the Arroyo administration’s supposed accomplished agenda is to add insult to injury.  The problems of … Read more

After I finished high school, there was only one career that my father had in mind for me: law.  And there was only one school in which he thought I should get an education: the University of the Philippines. His lifelong dream was for me to follow in his footsteps. I had no problem embracing … Read more