It’s difficult to say what exactly defense chief Delfin Lorenzana and his strategists at the Department of National Defense intend to do, following the DND’s unilateral termination of a 1989 agreement that binds the military and the police to coordinate with University of the Philippines authorities when there is a need for state security forces … Read more

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic and the issues surrounding the acquisition of safe and effective vaccines, it is easy to forget other significant events that shook the country and profoundly shaped the course of our politics in the succeeding years. One of these is Edsa Dos (Edsa 2), whose 20th anniversary falls exactly today, Jan. 17. … Read more

Political observers who take more than a passing interest in American politics typically do so for the purpose of knowing how US democratic institutions function to get the nation through its most difficult political crises. This is especially so for us in the Philippines, a former American colony whose institutions were consciously modeled after those … Read more

2020 was the year the world came to a halt. It may as well be stricken off the calendar, the way the number “13” is omitted from elevator panels. It was the year a threat we could not see caused us to sequester ourselves in our homes and cease all but the most essential physical … Read more

The eldest of my granddaughters, Julia, whose early childhood exploits filled quite a few of my columns many years ago, surprised me with a question over lunch the other day. “Lolo, what keeps you going?” I was at a loss for words. It’s one of those questions that could be understood in any number of … Read more

The title of this column is inspired by John Lennon’s 1974 No. 1 single “Whatever Gets You Thru the Night.” I have learned that he himself picked up this line from a black televangelist, Reverend Ike, who, one evening, was telling his late-night viewers: “Let me tell you guys, it doesn’t matter, it’s whatever gets … Read more

Built in the late ’60s, what we today call expressways were originally known as “diversion roads.” They were meant to divert traffic from the national highways that traversed busy town centers. Funded by taxpayer money, the first such roads, one going North and one going South, proved convenient to long-distance travelers. They offered access to … Read more

Until I can get an Autosweep RFID sticker for the South Luzon Expressway (SLEx), I have resolved to skip any trip south of Metro Manila. My weekend flights from pandemic house arrest will henceforth be entirely northward. I decided to prioritize securing the Easytrip RFID because I have always felt more at ease navigating the … Read more

Growing up in the small town of Betis in Pampanga, a village of proud artisans and carpenters, I came to know of the nation’s heroes early in my childhood. Dr. Jose Rizal’s name was not just the most important in the list. Indeed, he seemed, for a time, to be the only one deserving of … Read more

Since the announcement two weeks ago by the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer that it has successfully tested a vaccine for COVID-19 that is both safe and efficacious, hopes for an end to the pandemic have risen. Pfizer reported an efficacy rate of more than 90 percent. A week later, Moderna, a smaller company, followed suit, claiming … Read more