Almost 40 years after the 1987 Constitution pledged to prohibit political dynasties, the strongest push for action has come, not from Congress, but from the courts. In March 2024, members of the University of the Philippines College of Law Batch ’76 filed a petition for mandamus at the Supreme Court, docketed as G.R. No. 272370....
Category: Opinion
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Diagnosing the ‘Maduro script’: institutional health as the Philippines’ sovereign defense
In global politics, the diagnostic frame used to interpret power shifts often dictates the response. During a recent small-group clinical colloquium in Manila, the discussion shifted from research breakthroughs to the United States’ capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in January. To observers, the US operation resembled a swift, invasive appendectomy that left the regional...
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Black Venom of Malevolence and the ‘public servants’
EDITOR’S NOTE: With this section called Young Voices, CoverStory opens space for young people feeling their way into the world and trying to formulate the rhyme and reason behind the paths they choose to take. In the beginning of time, when survival was the center of living, greed and prejudice prevailed. From the land, from...
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Collective calls for accountability on various fronts mark February
The past year ended with a whimper. The public pressure brought to bear on the administration to produce results in assorted inquiries into the corruption scandal did not amount to much (and now requires recalibration). To be sure, due process takes time (in these parts, too long a time). But with the huge amounts of...
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Dear artist, am I a joke to you?
An artist stands before a blank canvas, anticipating how the greatest blues of this planet—the sky and the ocean—can exist together in a single frame. The brush rises, heavy with pigment, ready to tinge the untouched surface in pursuit of imitation. With every stroke, the canvas feels its pure surface become covered in clashing colors....
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Sovereignty under siege: Witnessing life and resistance in Venezuela
Caracas has long lived under the shadow of siege. Well before any single headline, the city learned to recognize the familiar signals: airspace violations recast as “exercises,” mercenary plots cloaked in deniability, economic strangulation sanitized as “sanctions,” and an unrelenting media narrative that treats regime change as inevitable. In recent days, these pressures converged once...
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Let us make it a happier new year
As children, we realize quickly the falsehood of elf workshops, Rudolph, and Santa Claus. In our maturity, the next myth we debunk is that of a merry Christmas. Indeed, while Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You” replays for the 13th time in a neighbor’s home, while guests biding time to bow out move on...
An unfinished flood control project in Tagbac, Jaro District in Iloilo City —PHOTO BY ARNOLD ALMACEN
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On the cusp of 2026, where are we at in the corruption scandal?
Catalina Cabral died under mysterious circumstances on Dec. 18 and Rossana Fajardo has quit the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI) effective today, Dec. 30. Where are we at in the inquiry into the corruption scandal involving the institutionalized looting of public coffers? Christmas has come and gone and the new year approaches on winged feet,...
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Running late for class, running late for home: the cost of progress in Antique
PANDAN, Antique—I clutched my jacket tighter as the cold, damp breeze brushed against my skin. The stillness of dawn carried just enough quiet to stir my thoughts. Around me, fellow passengers hurried on, each eager to reach their destination. It’s 5:30 a.m. “Hindi kaw karian ma-late?” My friend’s message read. Right, I have a 10...
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Committed writing and the necessity of resistance
EDITOR’S NOTE: These remarks were delivered as a message from the family at the close of the 5th Edel Garcellano Conference with the theme “Resistance, Contradiction and Critique: Committed Writing Now,” held at the Ateneo de Manila University last Nov. 29. It’s extraordinary that the conference honoring Edel Garcellano and his work is now on...