Archive - Commentary

How can we trust these politicians and their business cohorts behind Cha-cha, who resort to underhanded tactics to get what they want in the guise of economic development?

Away from the country for seven years now, Lascañas received a very unusual communication on December 23, 2022 from Lyon, France. It was from the Interpol. It said that the General Secretariat of the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) certified that Lascañas was not the subject of an Interpol notice or diffusion.

The truth of the matter is that Mindanao independence has had no basis in history more than being a self-serving call at the expense of its people, now numbering approximately 27 million.

It is time for Mindanaoans to hold their leaders accountable in public spending, delivery of better services, improvement of their welfare and protection of human rights.

Before tinkering with the Constitution, legislators should prioritize reforms to promote honesty and integrity in the public service and take positive and effective measures against corruption.

A total of 183 governments are scheduled to meet in Panama City, Panama from 5-10 February 2024 for the tenth session of the Conference of Parties (COP) to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC). The WHO FCTC protects the fundamental right of all people to enjoy the highest standard of health. The Philippines is a Party to this treaty, and at the COP10, fierce debates are expected around electronic smoking devices (ESDs); harmful tobacco products that the tobacco industry is aggressively marketing to the youth.

The Marcos Jr. administration has much convincing to do to dispel insinuations that with the “Bagong Pilipinas” slogan, we may end up as G*gong Filipino.

Trust lawmakers to find creative ways to tuck in funds for their pet projects in their districts or for assistance programs that they can brag about when they go around for meetings and consultations, particularly during the campaign season.

It is a dramatic scene we are now familiar with. Paolo Duterte was fuming mad when the House stripped him of 2B pesos in funds for his district.

The deceptions in shortcutting the Cha-cha process should unmask the politicians’ self-serving agenda to extend their term and change the form of government to allow them to stay on.

It was characteristic Rodrigo Duterte venom, said with neither veracity nor restraint, and – as we all know well by now – without objectivity.

How will the Marcos administration deliver on its BBM projects without leaving behind a Philippines sinking deeper and deeper into debt?

Can the Marcos administration, if at all, bring down the prices of consumer goods without heavy reliance on importation before its term ends in 2028?

Until this very day when the year is almost ending, Sara Duterte still has not explained how she had spent her 125M Pesos in only 11 days.

Law enforcers need to get tougher on these criminals, and regulatory agencies must be hard on telcos who fail to protect subscribers from spam and scams.

How can more senators and longer term limits solve the country's problems? How can the Cha-cha move ease poverty, bring down prices and curb corruption?

After getting killed extrajudicially in Rodrigo Duterte’s so-called “war on drugs,” many of the dead were buried in “apartment graves” that had to be leased only temporarily.

Is he the “Ka Eric” he claims to be? A first person account of one who knew Jeffrey Celiz has contested that he was no cadre ever in the CPP-NPA-NDF.

God, in most religious iconographies, is said to be benevolent – perfectly good and charitably kind. As such, god cannot be malevolent – displaying ill will and having an evil influence. Which of these two is Apollo Quiboloy, the self-proclaimed “appointed son of god”?

What the drug war showed was his "pusong bato" against persons merely suspected of involvement in illegal drugs but were summarily killed without any semblance of due process.

Marcos could show the world that it respects human rights and is serious about advancing accountability by cooperating with the ICC in its probe.

The government asks China to honor the arbitral tribunal’s ruling on the West Philippine Sea, but refuses to follow the Supreme Court’s 15-0 decision on the ICC.

Duterte, who faces being summoned by the ICC over drug-related killings during his term, says with a veiled warning: “Wala akong away kay presidente, unless you want to join into the fray.”

It was a black September day in 2016. That was the day when senators killed the rule of law in the chamber that they fondly call august (August: respected, illustrious, prestigious; words that no longer apply by any means, even faintly, to our present Senate).