Sen. Imee Marcos, 12th in the “Magic 12,” was first to be proclaimed among the winning senators at the Manila Hotel today, May 17, and in her brief remarks she gave thanks to her mother and her children, and then to the former president Rodrigo Duterte and his daughter. Thus did she indicate where her...
Author: Rosario A. Garcellano (Rosario A. Garcellano)
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The surveys have listed the likely winners, but young voters hold their destiny in their hands
It’s less than two days before the midterm polls, and one’s sense of foreboding takes on deeper proportions with the Social Weather Stations’ final pre-election survey suggesting the composition of the next Senate. Earlier surveys have already suggested the future makeup of the chamber, with observable differences only in the placements of those in the...
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How the Comelec means to fight sex and hate in the election campaign
Incredibly, the disgraced congressional candidate in Pasig City doesn’t get it. In another campaign event he trotted out a member of his team and commented on her looks, prompting the Commission on Elections to again order him to explain why he should not be charged with a poll offense. It’s the second show-cause order issued...
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Duterte’s arrest is about crimes against humanity, not ‘pamumulitika’
Too bad that after the daylong wait on Tuesday for President Marcos Jr. to enlighten the nation on the arrest of Rodrigo Duterte, no one thought to ask, when he agreed to take questions, what he thought of his sister’s statement lamenting the supposed failure of Filipinos to learn from the past. Minutes after the...
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Diamonds are forever
There was something profoundly moving in old friends saying prayers in a misty morning, their lives squarely in the hands of a mild-mannered man expertly steering the vehicle. The voices coming together in a steady hum, the familiar cadence of the words, doubtless stirred many memories. But for the intervening decades, they could have been...
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Interregnum
Three impeachment complaints against Vice President Sara Duterte are pending in the House of Representatives, filed respectively by members of civic organizations, activist groups, and a coalition of priests and lawyers. A fourth complaint is reported to be in the works. The first two complaints were filed with the expectation that action would be taken...
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Mary Jane Veloso’s Christmas miracle
Mary Jane Veloso’s return to her motherland under a prisoner transfer agreement between Indonesia and the Philippines is the ultimate Christmas gift to those who love her. After close to 15 years of imprisonment, she is now 39. Her parents have aged; her two sons approached adulthood beyond her motherly embrace. But the death row...
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Words of rage and murder
The once-formidable UniTeam continues to implode, providing circus-like spectacle as the country tries to get back on its feet after the devastation wrought by an unusual cluster of weather disturbances. In a virtual presser that began shortly before 1 a.m. Saturday in the House of Representatives, an enraged Vice President Sara Duterte unleashed startling words...
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Risa, Leni show the way
True to form, Sen. Risa Hontiveros battled mightily to prevent the dignity of the Senate, such as what it has become, from being fully shredded at the start of the inquiry into extrajudicial killings during Rodrigo Duterte’s brutal “war on drugs.” But for Hontiveros’ efforts the upper chamber would have been in complete thrall to...
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Story for our times
Kerwin Espinosa’s testimony at the Oct. 11 hearing of the House of Representatives’ quad committee dredged an 8-year-old case from the swamp of oblivion. The killing by state forces of his father, Mayor Rolando Espinosa of Albuera, Leyte, while incarcerated at the Baybay Sub-Provincial Jail, was a shocking development in President Rodrigo Duterte’s young administration....