Her candidates may have been clobbered in the senatorial race by the opposition and her most strident critics, but Gloria Macapagal Arroyo knows better than to complain.  The defeat of her candidates strengthens the system over which she presides, and effectively removes the issue of her own contested legitimacy from the national agenda.  Despite the … Read more

She came into the world a year ago today, the first grandchild of my sister Raquel.  Her parents named her Erin, a lovely Gaelic word derived from “Eire” or Ireland.  On this blessed day, they have ordered a cake and balloons for the little girl, acutely aware that her first birthday could also be her … Read more

Pampanga’s pride today is no longer Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who, for a growing number of Filipinos, represents everything that is decadent in Philippine politics.  It is its newly-elected governor, the priest, Father Eddie T. Panlilio, whose campaign for the governorship against Ms Arroyo’s two well-funded candidates brought out the passionate volunteerism of Pampanga’s young professionals, entrepreneurs, … Read more

In a survey conducted shortly before the May 14 election, 40% of the respondents said they expected the administration to cheat, while 56% said they did not believe the administration would do so. It is clear by now that a climate of pernicious distrust attended and shaped the conduct of the last election. This explains … Read more

In the campaign leading up to tomorrow’s election, political platforms or programs of government – the basic ingredients of a functioning democracy — predictably took a backseat.  This sad reality not only mirrors the relative immaturity of the country’s politics, it also explains the lack of coherence in the nation’s governance. As in previous elections, … Read more

Pampanga is Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s bailiwick, the only province in all of Luzon where she actually won in the 2004 presidential election.  GMA did not grow up here, nor does she have a good command of the language, but the province regards her as its most illustrious daughter. Her father, the late President Diosdado Macapagal, a … Read more

A building or structure collapses when its pillars and trusses fold into one another, making them unable to perform their support function. Strong societies, like strong buildings, distribute their weight efficiently among a number of differentiated support systems.  When one of these systems fails, the framework may be compromised, but chances are it will remain … Read more

(The following is an abridged version of what I read at a recent forum on volunteerism organized by the UP Kalipunan ng mga Mag-aaral sa Sosyolohiya) The early history of volunteerism bears the mark of institutional interests operating behind the selflessness of the individual volunteer. As long as this was the case, volunteers were viewed … Read more

The theory is that if a society has to deal effectively with the challenges of an increasingly complex world, it must itself grow in complexity.  This means it must evolve differentiated and autonomous institutions.  This is what modernity is about. Traditional societies assign multiple functions to dominant institutions like the family, the church, and the … Read more

Maybe because I am the brother of a priest, I am often invited to speak at seminaries and Catholic schools, as well as before religious congregations.  This is quite ironic because in our family I count myself as the least religious, if church attendance is the measure. My education has been entirely secular, my philosophical … Read more