I remember the first time I drove a motorcycle on the expressway.  It was 1967, and the new North Diversion Road, as it was then called, was almost finished, although it had not yet officially opened. I realized that some motorcycles were made for open highways, while others did better on city roads.  The concept … Read more

If there is one public official in our country today who does his work seemingly without regard for the political consequences, that person has to be Bayani Fernando, the current chairman of the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA).  In a just society, he would be a model public servant.  But in our kind of society, … Read more

The Hello Garci controversy posed two important questions that, to this day, remain unanswered.  First, did the military undertake operations, including wiretapping, for partisan political purposes during the 2004 presidential election?  Second, did President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo conspire with election officials to manipulate the results of the 2004 election? The taped conversations at the center … Read more

All of us carry in our minds a map of the place in which we live or work – as natives or as settlers, as residents or as commuters.  This map will never correspond point by point with the area it seeks to represent.  There will be many other maps of the same place, reflecting … Read more

In mature democracies, the majority governs and the minority opposes.  This is how the political system serves the larger society. The majority forms the government, and the minority shadows it. In this manner are issues clarified, and collectively-binding decisions made. The principal actors in this process are political parties, not individual politicians.  Parties are presumed … Read more

Posted on YouTube last July 26 are video clips from a United States Congressional hearing on the controversies spawned by the $600 million US Embassy construction in Baghdad.  Two of the testimonies refer to the circumstances under which Filipino workers were brought into the work site by their employer, the First Kuwaiti Company, and the … Read more

A State of the Nation Address (Sona) is interesting not only for what it says but also for what it does not say.  The nation hears not only the speech but also its silences.  Every Sona reveals a president’s way of seeing, and there is no way of excusing its blind spots by referring to … Read more

Philippine administrations love to anchor their legitimacy on the total demonization of a past regime. They see nothing worth pursuing in their predecessor’s policies and programs, finding them corrupt to the core, and preferring to dismantle everything. Our political system seems to thrive on an ethic of discontinuity. We have, for instance, succeeded in depicting … Read more

One of the most difficult problems we face today as a modernizing society is how to strengthen the division of labor among our various institutions. The traditional way is to assign to key institutions the power to speak for and trump the others. The modern way is to keep these institutions apart so they do … Read more

Some days are sacred to individuals, couples, families, nations, and religious communities.  We call them holidays.  On such days, people pause to summon memory, and to bask in the mixed sentiments it evokes.  They may be sentiments from a deprived or happy childhood, a shared life, a heroic and difficult struggle, or a recurring promise … Read more