Apart from their “approval/disapproval” of the job performance of top public officials and government institutions, Pulse Asia asks its informants to estimate the amount of “trust and distrust” they have for these officials and institutions. The correlation between these two ratings is remarkably high, suggesting that perhaps, in the Filipino mind, there is no meaningful … Read more

Largely because of the scale of the human tragedy caused last year by Supertyphoon “Yolanda,” disaster management has become an increasingly politicized activity. Every calamity has become an occasion to judge the government’s suitability for public office. Every decision made by public officials has become a test of their electability. Finding themselves in the front … Read more

Perhaps not many people are aware that the Pope is not just the head of the Catholic Church but also the leader of a sovereign state, the Holy See. Its government is known as the Roman Curia. It maintains diplomatic relations with other states, receiving ambassadors from different countries and sending out its own. Thus, … Read more

Having written a few columns on politics, I am often asked to comment on the probable course of political developments in our country in view of the 2016 presidential election. Recently, a friend asked whether I thought there was any chance Vice President Jejomar Binay might shelve his presidential ambition to ease the pressure from … Read more

Recently, I discovered to my dismay that my students in an undergraduate class in the University of the Philippines did not regularly read the newspapers, or listen to the news on radio, or watch the evening report on TV. These are students of the country’s premier state university; most of them are expected to be … Read more

Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago objects to the passage of the proposed national budget for 2015 because, among other things, it harbors pork barrel allocations, and thus violates the Supreme Court decision striking down the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF). The administration acknowledges that it has indeed received and taken into account project recommendations from lawmakers for … Read more

We know only too well what it means to have an undocumented relative living abroad. A parent dies and one of the children could not be at the funeral. An explanation, about invalid papers, is offered in hushed tones: “Hindi pa ayos ang papeles.” Or, we ask why someone very bright, with a college degree … Read more

The mass media recently performed their most outstanding function in society by showing the disturbing picture of a severely emaciated child lying naked on the cement floor of what was supposed to be the reception facility for Manila’s street children. That function has to do with the provision of information that “irritates” society by contradicting … Read more

The word “politics” or “pulitika” has been so abused and so misunderstood in our society that there is probably a need to clarify what it means. The concept comes out so badly in everyday usage that it is no longer recognizable except as a synonym for everything that is negative in public life. If it … Read more

If Vice President Jejomar Binay wishes to put a stop to the Senate blue ribbon subcommittee’s hearings on the corruption allegations against him, the person to talk to is not President Aquino. P-Noy is neither a senator nor a member of Binay’s party. Why would he use his own political capital to bail him out? … Read more