People pursue public office for a variety of reasons.  For some, politics is just another livelihood.  For others, it is the best way to protect the wealth of their families.  A rare few enter the political arena because they like the feeling of holding in their hands “a nerve fiber of historically important events.” In … Read more

If you were an Iraqi today who cares deeply for his country, what would you do?  Your country, previously one of the most modern in the Arab world, has been reduced to rubble.  A weak government, installed by the United States, desperately tries to enforce order in a society wracked by sectarian violence and an … Read more

I was one of those who opposed the Visiting Forces Agreement when it was being negotiated during the final months of the Ramos presidency.  I was convinced that the country did not need it; we faced no external threat. I also felt vaguely that it was not the right time to invite US troops back … Read more

At a certain age, almost all conversations turn to diets, disorders, and health matters.  The starting point could be politics, or sports, the economy, or family – it doesn’t matter.  Talk inevitably drifts to the one thing we usually spend a lifetime abusing, and a fortune desperately recovering: health. For some it starts as early … Read more

What the country needs, says the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines is not Charter change but character change.  I think what we need today is neither Charter change nor character change, but a change in our priorities – a change that reflects a greater resolve to put our national destiny in our hands rather … Read more

Political leaders have a duty to make sure that the decisions they produce in the nation’s name are not only legal but also legitimate. Politicians cannot perform their tasks as if they were mere consumers of a political order’s legitimacy; they must themselves continuously reproduce that legitimacy. The traditional politicians in Malacanang and in the … Read more

The issue seems simple enough: Can the House of Representatives, acting alone and without the concurrence of the Senate, exercise the constituent powers of Congress? The House majority says it can. Commonsense tells us it cannot.  The constitution-making powers of Congress, like its law-making powers, are lodged in Congress as a bicameral structure. Section I, … Read more

With at least 400 people dead in Bicol and Southern Tagalog in the wake of super typhoon “Reming,” we may expect, yet again, another round of national reflection aimed at gathering lessons and lecturing our people on natural disasters.  This is a favorite sport of politicians. Unfortunately, such reflection yields little by way of self-understanding … Read more

Less than two years from now, the University of the Philippines will mark its centennial.  It will do so in a world far more complex than the colonial era that saw its founding.  Additional campuses and new curricular offerings mirror the basic changes in function that it has assumed as a State university.  Over the … Read more

Nothing perhaps more bluntly shows the present government’s authoritarian bent than the recent filing of rebellion charges against former University of the Philippines President Francisco Nemenzo. In both its legal and ordinary senses, rebellion means taking up arms against the government.  Nemenzo has not taken up arms against the state, nor has he advocated its … Read more