Fifty-four years have passed but the wound inflicted by Ferdinand Marcos Sr.’s imposition of martial law remains unhealed. The number of organizations engaged in commemoration nationwide indicates it; the government acknowledges it, with reportedly more than 17,000 police personnel deployed, and more on standby, to keep order. The police deployment appears to be also intended...
Category: Opinion
Post
The most consequential number in Philippine politics
Sometimes history turns on wars, elections and revolutions. Sometimes it turns on a denominator. The Senate impeachment court is confronting what initially appears to be a question of arithmetic: How many votes are required to convict Vice President Sara Duterte? Sixteen? Or can the number change if some senators are legally or practically unable to...
Post
Why are we blaming everyone else but the police?
It seems that in some countries, the availability of guns has become a complex problem. When Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was assassinated, the fatal bullet was fired from a gun assembled from parts fabricated with a 3D printer. Even with the strictest gun control laws, Japan saw its once most powerful person downed by...
Post
Pax Silica: A case for caution and a better path forward
Pax Silica is top of mind right now—impossible to escape in the headlines, the protests, the discussions, the arguments online. Before anyone signs anything, it is worth asking what, exactly, we would be agreeing to. The pitch is familiar: quality jobs, major investment, a seat at the table in the global AI and semiconductor value...
Post
The monkeys in our midst, Chinese and Filipino
There are far more monkey species and monkeys in China than in the Philippines. In China, out of about 20 monkey species, the most numerous with an estimated wild population of 100,000 is the rhesus macaque. Before the Covid-19 pandemic, China was also the leading supplier of monkeys for medical research. On the other hand,...
Post
Why Sen. Pia Cayetano should consider recusing herself from the impeachment trial
One of the oldest principles of justice is also one of its simplest: Justice must not only be done, it must also be seen to be done. This principle explains why judges routinely inhibit themselves from cases in which their impartiality may reasonably be questioned. The issue is not always actual bias. More often, it...
Post
Why the INC mobilization was not another Edsa
Last week’s Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) mobilization along Edsa, later moved to Liwasang Bonifacio in Manila, has invited comparison with the two great People Power uprisings that changed Philippine history. The comparison, while absurd, is understandable. The gatherings occupied the same symbolic space. They involved large crowds. They attracted national attention. But beyond these superficial...
Post
The INC mobilization is a test of Philippine institutions
Public demonstrations often become defining moments not because of the number of people in the streets but because of the constitutional questions they raise. The unannounced mobilization on June 30 involving members of the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) following the Ombudsman’s announced plan to charge Sen. Rodante Marcoleta, an INC member, with plunder is one...
Post
Can the truth prevail in dark politics?
People are truthful by default. In theory, this should create a fair and honest world with fewer heartbreak, less crime, better education, and bigger tax refund. Yet here we are, seemingly trapped in a political enterprise where liars get to lead and fools follow. We can all lie, indeed, even a squirrel or a 2-year-old...
Post
What I have learned from the Jesuits
It is not often that I reflect on the formal education I received from the Jesuits, which was from elementary school to sophomore year in college at Xavier University Ateneo de Cagayan. But the tragic drowning of Ateneo de Manila University men’s basketball players Rene Baterbonia and Divine Adili on June 8 and Ateneo’s mishandling...