Archive - Commentary

Embarrassing situations involving high-profile leaders diminish what's left of the integrity and credibility of Congress as an institution, making it important to think about options in the next elections.

Alan Peter Cayetano and Lord Allan Velasco, congressmen of Taguig-Pateros and Marinduque, respectively, are like children fighting over the speakership of the House of Representatives as if it were a toy or a lollipop.

Mikey Arroyo, son of former president Gloria Arroyo, is seldom heard since his mother left Malacañang in 2010. Currently a member of the House of Representatives representing the second district of Pampanga, Mikey Arroyo said something senseless last week, it became news

The government opened its showcase Manila Bay white beach Saturday to impress the public with the beautification that the Department of Environment and Natural Resources had done to the historic harbor. What we saw were hypocrisy and inconsistency.

BECAUSE the Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Networth (SALN) is a primary tool in checking the lifestyle of public officials and employees suspected of amassing questionable wealth, the new guidelines limiting access to it by no less than the Office of the Ombudsman is quite revolting.

Earl Parreño’s latest book, a political biography of Rodrigo Duterte, enjoyed a brief burst of publicity when it came out in late 2019. There were book launches and TV talk shows. Now, people seem to be turning to it for insights into the President’s psyche.

President Rodrigo Duterte’s granting of absolute pardon to U.S. marine Joseph Scott Pemberton on Sept. 7 placed his spokesman Harry Roque in an awkward situation. A man with self-respect and delicadeza would have quit his position when in such an uncomfortable situation.

The environment department’s project to beautify Manila Bay smacks of insensitivity to the people’s difficulties in coping with the 2019 coronavirus disease (Covid-19) and contradicts President Duterte’s vow to spend public money judiciously, particularly in this time of pandemic.

In his last public address on the 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, President Rodrigo Duterte gave clear and specific statements that the billions of pesos allocated for COVID-related programs and activities would all be accounted for up to the last peso.

As we celebrate this year’s National Heroes Day, the issue of who should be a hero continues to kindle patches of heated arguments. Or, at the very least, it remains fodder for propagandists wanting to spew rehashed vitriol against one particular member of the pantheon, Ninoy Aquino.

Families of desaparecidos marked the International Day of the Disappeared August 30 with deeper concern and sadness as the list has become longer in the last four years of the Duterte Administration.

The PhilHealth mess is still unfolding and it seems that we have not seen the worst of it.

There are unmistakable signs that Vietnam may have already reached the point of no return in its maritime dispute with China.

Persons behind the renewed movement for a revolutionary government have no love for country and its people. It is an unnecessary distraction in the midst of a health pandemic that the administration could not competently handle.

One week after Malacañang denied rumors that President Duterte was airlifted to Singapore on Aug. 15, the item continues to circulate in social media’s private chats with more dubious details.

About 4 p.m. Monday (Aug. 17), my friend, Marilyn Robles, was disturbed to hear DZRH's Deo Macalmatrying to verify reports that President Duterte was in Perpetual Hospital.

The country’s health chief has dodged so many controversies that one of at least 14 senators who have called for his resignation wondered aloud what amulet he has that President Rodrigo Duterte just can’t seem to fire him.

President Duterte prides himself of being a man true to his words. Although VERA Files fact checks belie this, let’s give him the benefit of the doubt and see to it that he makes good his promise made during his late-night briefing last Aug. 11 to be the first to be tested with the Russian vaccine.