Archive - Commentary

How long has Jefry Tupas been associated with Revsan Ethelbert Elizalde, that one who acts as Sara Duterte’s gatekeeper and primary apologist would motor all the way to Mabini, Davao de Oro, a good 94 kilometers from Davao city, for Elizalde’s drug-cocktailed birthday festivity?

The political circus in the past few days, involving President Rodrigo Duterte's family and their allies, showed how selfish interests obscure whatever good intentions they may have in seeking public office and how low they regard voters.

A few years back a fad swept America, with the letters “WWJD” appearing on walls, on bumper stickers, on shirts and wristbands. Standing for “What Would Jesus Do?” it was a campaign meant to conscienticize the public and cause them to pause and think during a heated or controversial moment, before finally acting or reacting in what is hopefully a much more reasoned manner.

Do we still need to divine the striptease of Inday Sara Duterte? No, we don’t.

From his age to the zillions of assets that his family owns, Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. has been accused of lying; more so now that he is running for president.

Eleven days to go and then we’d know the real score: will Mayor Sara run for president or vice president or mayor?

The evidence presently unraveling on Bongbong Marcos’ educational attainment has brought out another distressing angle: It was poor Juan de la Cruz who subsidized it.

With the 2022 elections drawing near and the Duterte administration's approval rating in fighting corruption dropping by 12 points in the latest survey, Malacañang appears to be slowly distancing itself from the Senate probe into Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp.'s multibillion-peso contracts with the government.

Magnanakaw! Mandaraya! Sinungaling!! Mamamatay-tao! What else have you heard said about the politician you love to hate? All of the above, and more - and if you’ve lived long enough like me, you will surely have a long list of epithets that you hear over and over again, every three years or so, part of what makes our electoral process so colorful.

The small office in coastal Mediterranean Spain that attends to Filipino migrants had asked me what my profession was. I said I was an opinion writer seeking the refuge of Europe from death threats in the Philippines. The Filipino across me immediately started a tirade that Nobel Peace Prize awardee Maria Ressa was not Filipino, but Indonesian. I was tempted to ask the man the names of Ressa’s Indonesian parents, but he was nowhere near to putting a period to his long diatribe. I myself did not know the truth. The man was successful in gaslighting me: I myself doubted if I really knew who Maria Ressa was. I was pounded into submissive silence.

Last minute switching of political color and affiliation in the first week of October made it more obvious that political parties and ideologies have become of little consequence in Philippine elections.

Of all the declared candidates for President - as of this writing at least - I am most interested on two - Vice President Leni Robredo, and Manila Mayor Francisco Domagoso.

I have a story to tell from the first-person perspective. The Philippine Daily Inquirer had censored me.

Because of relentless mudslinging, name-calling and fearmongering even before the campaign season begins, voters don't really get to be offered a good choice of candidates vying for public office.

“One lesson I learned from 2004 is never to run as an orphan”.

It was an editorial guidance said to have come from ”top management.”

IT is doubly sad that Jose Luis Martin “Chito” Gascon succumbed to the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) at a time when the International Criminal Court (ICC) is about to begin formal investigation of alleged crimes against humanity related to the Duterte administration’s campaign against illegal drugs.

Samira Gutoc has become a turncoat.