The Philippine power structure continues to highlight intriguing peaks and valleys, and attentive observers are recalling long-ago details after Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo ’s “demotion” from her lofty post as senior deputy speaker of the House of Representatives. Time was when Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez, now speaker of the chamber, was deemed a “favorite...
Category: Politics
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Marcos Jr. should learn from history, Biazon says in wake of military brass shakeup
The dictator Ferdinand Marcos kept Gen. Romeo Espino for nine years as chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to enforce martial law, causing deep division and disenchantment among the military officers and men. The rumblings eventually reached tipping point. Then Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile and the AFP vice chief of staff,...
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Continue to oppose Maharlika Investment Fund, says ex-central bank official
As the battle shifts to the Senate after the House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved the bill creating the Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF), a former official of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has called on the public to amplify its objections to the measure. Diwa Guinigundo, BSP deputy governor until 2019, said that while the...
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‘Maharlika Wealth Fund’: wrong in principle, thus beyond repair
Let us reflect on process and progress. The more common source of failure to progress is “circling”—moving round and round in circles, only to arrive at the original location. Many things have been said about the proposed “Maharlika Wealth Fund” (MWF). Now the framers are scrambling to make the legislation enabling it, House Bill No....
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‘Maharlika Wealth Fund’ is uniting Filipinos in resisting it
The cost of administering the Maharlika Investments Fund (MIF), the Philippines’ sovereign wealth fund to be established should the bill seeking its creation be passed into law, is alarming many Filipinos. Its ability to generate the “consistent and stable investment returns” that its proponents tout is also raising loud questions. One wonders how the Fund...
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Agrava reports didn’t answer question of why Ninoy Aquino was killed
Editor’s note: Former senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr. was shot dead on Aug. 21, 1983, upon arriving from exile in the United States at the airport now named after him. Fourteen months later, a fact-finding board assigned by President Ferdinand Marcos to look into the assassination submitted two reports—one by its chair and the other...
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Peace and the FVR presidency
In my assessment of the peace process during a conference examining the Fidel V. Ramos (FVR) presidency, I gave his administration the grade of 6 out of 10. Looking back at that event organized by then University of the Philippines president Jose “Pepe” Abueva, since deceased, I concede that it was a stingy grade. It...
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‘Project Gunita’: safekeeping pages of the Marcos regime’s history
On the night of Election Day on May 9, when Ferdinand Marcos Jr. was on the way to winning the presidential race according to the count of the Commission on Elections, one thought came into my mind: the martial law files. Why? Simple. He is the son and namesake of the ousted dictator Ferdinand E....
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The ‘battle for memory’
Reports of protesting Sri Lankans storming the presidential palace and forcing President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to run away and eventually announce that he would step down are triggering recollections of Ferdinand Marcos’ own flight from Malacañang in February 1986 as protesting Filipinos approached the gates. Written accounts of the ailing dictator’s last hours in the Palace—for...
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Covid-19 politics in Southeast Asia
The political situation in Southeast Asia in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic can be contextualized by the level of freedom in each country. The 2021 Freedom House survey of 210 countries worldwide rates “peoples’ access to political rights and civil liberties, including individual freedoms ranging from the right to vote to freedom of expression...