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...
Tag: democracy
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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...
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A time for sacrifice, a time for statesmanship
The strength of a democracy is measured not only by the quality of its leaders but also by the resilience of its institutions. Among these institutions, the Senate occupies a unique place. Designed by the Constitution to be a deliberative body and a check against the excesses of power, it is expected to rise above...
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Reflections on Edsa@40: Young people are reclaiming the spirit of People Power
Forty years after the Edsa People Power revolution that restored democracy in the Philippines, the historic highway was once again filled with similar voices, chants, sentiments and hopes, but largely from a new generation echoing the story that triggered an uprising known to it only through books, testimonies and challenged historical distortions. The simple slogan...
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No joint commemoration of 40 years of the Edsa revolution among progressive groups
The nation celebrates and commemorates this week the 40th anniversary of the Edsa People Power Revolution, a seminal event in Philippine history. But the hope and expectation that the main forces and their allies that worked to dismantle Ferdinand Marcos Sr.’s dictatorship would march shoulder to shoulder on the now-world-famous avenue to mark the historic...
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An antidynasty law is a long-delayed constitutional promise
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....
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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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Unforgettable: More than a million mourners turned up for Ninoy Aquino’s funeral
Editor’s Note: Exactly 42 years after the fact, have Filipinos come closer to finding out who ordered the murder of the former senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr. at the airport that now bears his name? The ranks of those who should know have thinned considerably, and knowledge of who masterminded the deed is in clear...
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True power can be ours if we put our values and principles beyond the corrupt
Here we go again. Time was when every exhortation by then President Rodrigo Duterte to kill or threat to kill (“I will kill you”) was dismissed by his apologists as hyperbole or exaggeration. Until the dead bodies started piling up and no amount of deflection and denial could cover the fact that he meant what...
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The journalism of our future
Deep in the south of Egypt a young woman once told me, “Being a journalist at a local newspaper has given me the opportunity to discover and assert who I am. What my community is and what it needs. Not be told who we are and are supposed to be.” As we near World News...