I will not mention her name here.  It was bad enough that I had to ask her what she was doing in Hong Kong.  But then, how could I presume what job a B.Sc. in Agriculture graduate from UP is prepared to take on these days? UP students have this illusion that they belong to … Read more

This title, and such other morbidly graphic phrases as  the “spectacle of the scaffold”, “gallows speeches”, or the functions of “punitive rituals”,  are taken from  Michel Foucault’s book Discipline & Punish. To Justice Secretary Teofisto Guingona and Senator Ramon Magsaysay Jr., who have both recommended TV coverage of public executions, I enthusiastically endorse this  fascinating … Read more

Long after they have delivered them into the world, mothers continue, for some mysterious reason,  to feel deeply responsible for their children, for what they have become or will become.  It is a burden that is not as often associated with or as intensely experienced by fathers. Children are more properly seen as their mothers’ … Read more

I’ve always been a reluctant speaker at graduations.  I’ve always suspected that graduates everywhere would rather get on with the ceremonies than listen to stale sermons.  Besides,  what can one really say on such occasions that will not sound trite? But it was very difficult to refuse the invitation of UP Cebu Dean Socorro Villalobos, … Read more

Paulo po, he said – Paulo Parungao was his name.  I was doing some last minute shopping at Baguio’s vegetable market in-between a late lunch at Rosebowl and the 3 p.m. Victory Liner bound for Cubao.  A platoon of kids of varying sizes and ages blocked my path, selling plastic bags and offering to carry … Read more

In general, our motorists are law-abiding citizens.  The few deviant elements who delight in deliberately flouting the law are exceptional. The many who seem to violate every conceivable norm of decent driving do so, I think,  not maliciously but ignorantly.  They are just unfamiliar with the culture of driving. If this thesis is correct, our … Read more

Rape must rank as a woman’s darkest nightmare for it represents the most total of all possible invasions of her body.  The crudest assertions of power have always had the physical body as their object.  That is why the first spoils claimed by victors in war are the local women.  That is also why in … Read more

While lecturing at the National Autonomous University of Mexico early this year, I had the rare chance of witnessing the signing of the first peace accord between the Mexican government and the Zapatista Army of National Liberation or EZLN.  That historic event reminded me of the Moros’ own negotiations with the government.  I began to … Read more

Graft or corruption is a modern crime.  It presupposes the existence of a modern bureaucratic State and a culture of law.  Strictly speaking, there was no graft in traditional societies ruled by custom.  It was not illegal for a ruler to help himself to the community’s wealth and not provide for the needs of his … Read more

In the wake of the Ozone disco tragedy, the press has called for more militant regulation of establishments that cater to the public.  The main problem of our society, however, is not the absence of good laws, nor the inability to implement these.  Our main problem is the general absence of civility as a value … Read more