Every time we allow politicians to steal elections with impunity, to rule without accountability, to rob the public coffers routinely, and to lie brazenly – we are creating the conditions for military intervention. Professional armies go hand in hand with strong democracies.  We are not a strong democracy; that is why the temptation to play … Read more

In the last analysis, some people must take responsibility for what happened at the Ultra.  Mass poverty set the stage for the tragedy, and mass media commercialism made it happen.  For the purpose of assigning liability, the legal system cannot avoid attributing motive and allocating blame. In search of better forms of solidarity, we cannot … Read more

Without mentioning my name, but quoting liberally from my column last Sunday, my friend and fellow Inquirer columnist, Amando Doronila, takes issue (PDI, 02/01/06) with me on my criticism of Consultative Commission Chairman Jose V. Abueva and newlyappointed Presidential Adviser for Electoral Reforms Hilario G. Davide, Jr. I welcome Doro’s defense of Abueva and Davide. … Read more

The word “pakyaw” appears in many of our languages.  It means “wholesale”, though it’s rarely used as a family name.  The family of Manny, our boxing champion, spells it “Pacquiao”, the Latin/Italian form in which the 16th century voyager Pigafetta rendered the words he first heard in our islands.  The word itself could have originated … Read more

It is amazing how people power, a form of non-violent political action that Filipinos accidentally developed in their struggle against a dictatorship, has suddenly become an embarrassment to its inventors.  Rather than draw strength and renewed commitment from its remembrance, those who mounted it now only feel disgust.  Its prime beneficiaries – those who came … Read more

Amending a constitution is serious business; writing a new one is even more so.  A mature nation does it for the right reasons – to take account of new realities in the world or in the country itself, to solve persistent problems that cannot be cured by ordinary legislation, etc. It is irresponsible to undertake … Read more

Today I turn 60.  I bow to time, to its effects, to its chanciness, and its promise of change.  With knowing smiles, my older friends welcome me to the land of senior citizens, where movies, meals, and medicines cost less.  But, I tell them: I rarely go to the movies, I mostly eat at home, … Read more

Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo might have called former Comelec Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano on January 1st last year to wish him the blessings of the New Year. Their brief harmless call could have been wiretapped, spliced and later mixed with other recorded material, to produce the controversial Garci Tapes. This is the gist of the theory recently propounded … Read more

I grew up believing that Christmas is a time of joy, merriment, and love – but never quite knowing why the birth of the infant Jesus in a barn should occasion such sentiments.  I learned that this was not an ordinary child — that he is God’s son sent into the world to save man, … Read more

The Secretary of Justice, who is himself no longer young, first called the defiant 80-year-old retired general “senile” and in need of a psychiatrist.  On second thought, he labeled him dangerous, and his declaration of a transitional government “an incitement to sedition.” He sent policemen in civilian clothes to effect a “citizen’s arrest.” In custody, … Read more