Archive - Commentary

As the second year of COVID-19 comes to a close, we Filipinos are learning to accept the reality that there is more than just death and taxes that are inevitable in life. In the Philippines, at least.

You’ll be astounded by the staggering numbers when you Google the number of TikTok accounts the Marcoses and their supporters have. Even more confounding is the exponential capacity of those accounts to share posts.

The issue involving alleged nonpayment of tax deficiencies by presidential aspirant Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. has degenerated into a battle of certifications as the date set by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) for its first hearing on the former senator's disqualification from the 2022 elections draws near.

The appropriate place for foul-mouthed lawyer Lorenzo "Larry" Gadon is in the gutter, not in the Senate. Never.

​ One of the attributes of Facebook (now called Meta) that attracted many to the platform, which is now the biggest in the universe (with 2.89 billion users), is anonymity.

When I pick up a political conversation with the Omicron Generation and talk turns to Marcos and Martial Law, I either end up answering questions about how it was during the ML years or end up as if I were talking to a blank wall.

The dictator Ferdinand Marcos was fond of referendums. Mostly sham, of course, his five referendums were an impostor’s way of forging both popularity and legitimacy.

Despite more than half a century’s worth of evidence detailing tobacco’s deadly health consequences, the tobacco industry still lures millions of people worldwide and remains deeply entrenched in society, thanks to a strong political lobbying and well-funded marketing to interfere with public health campaigns.

When he announced that he was withdrawing from the 2022 presidential race, Sen. Christopher Lawrence "Bong" Go somehow likened himself to Andres Bonifacio whom he described as "the president who never was."

With six petitions filed with the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to thwart his presidential bid in 2022, former senator Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. has yet to speak up and clear his name of the allegations against him. He has been leaving the talking to his spokesperson and his adoptive political party, the Partido Federal ng Pilipinas (PFP).

How did he become the Appointed Son of God? Apollo Quiboloy relates his “anointment” story.

“If I will be their chosen one, thank you in advance.”

Even in a small village, some candidates resort to underhanded tactics to get votes. It's good, however, that more people are coming out to expose the attempts to deceive voters and manipulate the election results.

When I was a college student sometime in the late 70s, my sister’s family invited me to watch the first-ever concert in the Philippines of hitmaker Dionne Warwick.

President Rodrigo Roa Duterte, if the most rabid DDS is to be believed, is perhaps the greatest world leader that mankind has ever produced.

How we wish that when presidential candidates show us their performance record, they would resort to truth telling to empower freedom of choice of Filipino voters. But this is regrettably remote from the truth in the case of Bongbong Marcos.

Between tobacco tax and public health, the government's choice is clear — money.

President Duterte threw the Philippine political world into a tizzy last Saturday when he accompanied trusted aide Sen. Bong Go to the Comelec so the latter could file his candidacy for president.