Archive - Commentary

National Police Chief Debold Sinas got some flak for saying the public would be advised not to take videos or photos when witnessing a crime because it is “very tricky.” Coming from the head of the law enforcement institution who was caught on camera violating strict quarantine protocols, which he was expected to implement, such a statement wasn’t surprising at all.

The 20 December killing of two unarmed civilians, Sonya and Frank Gregorio, has rightly met with widespread condemnation and ignited the debate about the need for police reform in the Philippines.

Without fail every December, siblings Imee and Bongbong remind us on social media that were it not for their father, the late Ferdinand Marcos Sr, Filipino workers would not be enjoying their 13th month pay.

Without fail every December, siblings Imee and Bongbong remind us on social media that were it not for their father, the late Ferdinand Marcos Sr, Filipino workers would not be enjoying their 13th month pay.

“When Manila sneezes, the Philippines catches a cold.” So goes the quotable quote of the prodigious Nick Joaquin, 1976 National Artist for Literature (Manila, My Manila, Anvil Publishing 1990), expressing his own sentiment on the pejorative epithet Manila imperialism.

Celine Pialago seems to be getting the wrong notion that careless statements and emotional outbursts could gain her popularity points. That’s how she got to be known anyway.

Lawyer Lorenzo “Larry Gadon” wants Supreme Court Associate Justice Mario Victor “Marvic” Leonen removed for alleged wrongdoings, based mainly on newspaper reports. He wants the House justice committee, using its subpoena powers, to gather the evidence for him against Leonen.

Judging by the sparse review population, there continues to be hardly any broad public interest on two biographies of Rodrigo Duterte that came out in the past two years.

PDP-Laban parries impressions that Sen. Manny Pacquiao’s assumption of the ruling party’s presidency is an indication of his presidential bid in the 2022 elections. It’s too early to talk about it, according to the party’s executive director Ron Munsayac. However, the senator sounded much like a candidate already when he spoke of his new advocacy of going against corruption and taking up the cudgels for the poor.

The promotion of Metro Manila police chief Major General Debold Sinas early this month to the top position of the Philippine National Police (PNP) mirrors the Duterte administration’s disregard for the rules and its high regard for loyalty.

Seeing the devastation of a string of typhoons from Quinta to Ulysses that recently visited the country was truly heartbreaking. Worse than this was seeing the country’s top government leaders bickering in the aftermath of the destructive calamities, leaving thousands of poor Filipinos without shelter and food.

It may be in poor taste to talk about politics at this time when thousands of families are still cleaning up the debris from recent storms, and in the middle of the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic at that. But then, these disasters present opportunities for us to evaluate the competence of the politicians around us and be guided by it in choosing our future leaders.

Supertyphoon Yolanda battered Benigno Aquino III’s vaunted reputation before the world as a competent Philippine president.

Ruben Carranza cooked a green curry with beef, bought take-away adobo from a Filipino turo-turo and had fresh mangoes, mochi and plenty of hot coffee on stand-by. “It will be the most stressful election night ever,” he says.

Are there secrets in the Duterte SALN? Ombudsman Samuel Martires’ Memorandum Circular 1 restricting public access to Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth applies retroactively to the president. Coming soon is a script qualified for Ripley’s Believe It or Not where SALNs will again play a major role: while the president’s 2018 and 2019 SALNs remain publicly undisclosed, Solicitor General Jose Calida has appealed to the Supreme Court to release justice Marvic Leonen’s SALN that many read as groundwork for a quo warranto case against the high court’s third most senior justice. As in the Sereno ouster, it appears to be a Calida-Larry Gadon plot.

Some people in government have become experts in squandering public funds even as the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic continues to make life miserable for more Filipinos.

ARMY Lt. Gen. Antonio Parlade Jr. has been taking a beating from various sectors lately as a consequence of his remarks against beautiful ladies who showed courage by speaking out on women’s issues such as injustice.

Civil society and non-government organizations as well as the media and the public at large ought to be more vigilant on how the House of Representatives will craft the proposed P4.5-trillion budget for 2021.

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.