The annual celebration of a country’s Independence Day is always an occasion for kitsch.  On such a day, the state invites its citizens to pause from their ordinary preoccupations in order to imagine themselves as the collective inheritors of a great tradition of struggle and heroism. In the past, the high moments of that tradition … Read more

A friend visited me at home the other night.  Unable to state the real purpose of the visit over the family dinner table, this friend sent me a desperate e-mail that same evening,  followed by a fax version of the same message.  The contents of the letter were private, and I understood why they could … Read more

It is a typical day on television in the society of the spectacle.  In one channel, we watch the honorable senators of the Republic gravely intone their deepest reservations about a document they regard as a watershed in the nation’s life.   In another, all eyes follow the country’s representative to the Miss Universe pageant when … Read more

One year ago today, Joseph Ejercito Estrada ran on a pro-poor platform and became president of the country.  He made history by making the radical elimination of poverty the principal burden of political leadership. His moral slogan was as urgent as it was simple: Erap para sa mahirap. Cynics scoffed at the ordinariness of this … Read more

At this time of the year, once every six years, the University of the Philippines embarks on a quiet and dignified search for a new president.  The search process goes through the phases of inviting nominations, requiring vision papers, interviewing nominees, and consulting with various sectors of the university.  The information gathered is synthesized and … Read more

Over supper a couple of weeks ago, our youngest daughter, Jika, announced that the next day was going to be her last exam day – not just for the current semester but for her entire life as a university student.  “That means you would soon be graduating?” I asked, pretending not to know.  “Yup,” she … Read more

We rejoice in the return to their families of the soldiers and policemen taken as captives by forces affiliated with the National Democratic Front (NDF).  We salute the individuals who intervened at a most crucial moment to negotiate their release.  We commend the NDF for agreeing to the release, just as we commend the government … Read more

The Manila Times is one of the few newspapers I buy.  I genuinely appreciate the sobriety of its editorials and the reliability of its reports. I also have a tremendous respect for the young men and women who used to run it — professional journalists who try very hard to resist the tide of “envelopmental” … Read more

There was an unusual number of youths marching to their own Calvaries this Good Friday, hypnotically whipping themselves or perversely being beaten up by their companions — perhaps in payment for past sins, or in fulfillment of a vow, or to mark the start of a new life. Scanning their resigned faces, I tried to … Read more

It always baffled me as a child growing up in very Catholic Pampanga that the entire holy season beginning with Ash Wednesday and ending with Easter Sunday was marked with all kinds of food prohibitions. And yet, the following month of May was always treated as a merry season of fiestas, in which these same … Read more