What was being fertilized with the P728-million fertilizer fund was not agricultural land but the barren soil of traditional politics.  And this was carried out not by a shrewd solitary operator, but with the consent and connivance of a large number of politicians and public officials.  The fund, originally set aside for agriculture, was released … Read more

He was, by any measure, the superior candidate:  clear and eloquent where his opponent often mumbled and stuttered, cool and eventempered even when the other would dish out sharp rebukes.  Barack Obama projected a high-mindedness that made the veteran John McCain sound petty and insular. He was charming and attentive, where the latter appeared condescending … Read more

As a young boy growing up in the provinces, I used to go to the cemetery at this time of the year, not to visit the dead, but to fly kites. There, on top of the blocks of tombs that housed the dead, I would set my frail paper kite against the chilly November wind.  … Read more

My brother, Bishop Pablo David (“Bishop Ambo”) became auxiliary bishop of San Fernando Pampanga two years ago. In this role, he assists Archbishop Paciano Aniceto, the head of the diocese. In the Vatican’s roster of bishops, however, Bishop Ambo carries the extra title “Vescovo Titolare di Guardialfiera.” Where is Guardialfiera? And what does it mean … Read more

No one who has watched Barack Obama’s meteoric rise in American politics in the last four years can fail to be intrigued by what he represents.  More than his charismatic presence and eloquence, I think it is Obama’s deep understanding of the major themes of American culture that has given him an intimate connection to … Read more

We do not know when exactly the term “civil society” first entered the vocabulary of Philippine politics.  But sometime in the early ‘80s, just before Edsa 1, it gradually replaced the awkward phrase “causeoriented organizations.” And, while it includes in its ranks diverse types of non-government organizations or NGOs, the name “civil society” itself increasingly … Read more

The crisis that has pushed the American financial system to the brink of disaster is spawning its own moral economy.  The new object of fixation is blame-worthiness, rather than credit-worthiness. The high-flying executives on Wall Street who invented those ingenious financial instruments known as “derivatives” are being singled out for special flogging.  Not too long … Read more

In a somewhat parallel way, though not with the same level of gravity, two of the world’s largest economies – the United States and China – are being battered by internal problems requiring swift government intervention. The US economy is struggling to get out of the quicksand of subprime loans and rotten properties, while China’s … Read more

The rise of moral symbols in politics always provides a dramatic starting point for a society’s transformation.  Figures like Mohandas Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela, Fernando Lugo of Paraguay, Aung San Suu Kyi of Burma, and Cory Aquino quickly come to mind.  In an instant, they symbolize everything that their people aspire to … Read more

If there is a country in Southeast Asia whose politics has been as vibrant as ours, that country has to be Thailand.  The parallelisms in the political saga of these two countries over the last twenty years are truly amazing. Both countries have a “Southern” problem – an Islamic secessionist movement that has waged an … Read more