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

Of the many questions that have been asked since the nation first became aware of the “Hello Garci” tapes, two have stood out. Did President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo conspire with Election Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano to rig the canvassing of the 2004 election results in Mindanao?  Did the Armed Forces of the Philippines allow its personnel and … Read more

In chess, a gambit is a calculated move that offers the sacrifice of a pawn or another piece in order to secure a positional advantage. Former election commissioner Virgilio Garcillano made a clever one, and the nation took it. He has re-appeared, and so he is no longer missing.  He has talked to the media, … Read more

My daughter Kara asked me the other day, “Papa, do you know what happened in Barrio Mapaniqui, Candaba on Nov. 23, 1944?”  A documentary she has been researching on Filipino “comfort women” has led her to this little village in Pampanga. From her interviews, she has learned that the residents of this place have suffered … Read more

If the only issue the “Hello Garci” tapes raise is cheating in an election, what, indeed, is new?  All Filipino politicians are known to cheat in one form or another.  The whole organization of our elections encourages it.  But access to cheating is fairly distributed, and so the candidate who emerges victorious is in all … Read more