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When former President Fidel V. Ramos visited my university as guest lecturer last Thursday, I took the opportunity to ask what he thinks the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) must do to be more relevant in the coming years. President Ramos has a deep appreciation of the ASEAN. His father, former Secretary of Foreign [...]
Notwithstanding Asia being the destination of Hillary Rodham Clinton’s first foreign trip as President Barack Obama’s top diplomat, it remains unclear to me whether Asia would indeed occupy a prominent place in the new US administration’s foreign policy. As many pundits on this site and everywhere note, the Philippines has gone off the Americans’ radar. [...]
Much is being said about the Philippine Baselines Bill, especially now that it has been approved by a bicameral committee of Congress. Some feel that the bill is a sell-out on the part of the Philippines. Some, on the other hand, fear that the bill might cause a “shooting war” with China. But what is [...]
Last week, Isabela Governor Grace Padaca went to my school (where she graduated) and talked about good governance. She spoke of her past uphill election battles with the powerful Dy Dynasty of her province, and how she is trying hard to bring about change in Isabela. She draws from her experience a profound optimism about the future of the country. [...]
Colleague Patricio Mangubat gives us another argument in favor of the creation of the Bangsamoro Juridical Entity (BJE): regional security. Using the radical Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF)’s split from the secular Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) as an analogy, he argues that if the memorandum of agreement (MOA) on ancestral domain does not push [...]
I can’t argue Constitution with our distinguished colleague Abe Margallo. But I have to disagree with him- not as a lawyer but as a Filipino- that the agreement between the Arroyo regime and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) creating an all-powerful Bangsamoro juridical entity (BJE) will, as if by magic wand, bring about lasting [...]
A while ago I listened to a progressive-minded and brilliant young member of the Catholic clergy, Rev. Msgr. Gerardo O. Santos of the Archdiocese of Manila, talk about the role of the Church in Philippine governance at a forum organized by the Center for Philippine Futuristics at the Asian Institute of Management in Makati City. [...]
The Senate recently passed on third reading Bill 1882, which aims to establish a “provident personal savings plan” to be called the Personal Equities and Retirement Account or PERA. The law, according to the Manila Times, aims to “establish the legal and regulatory framework for an alternative pension fund that will give tax breaks to [...]
There are a lot of a lot of angles to look at when analyzing the effects of the recent cyclone in Burma that killed over 100,000 people and destroyed millions of dollars in properties.
One implication that would most certainly affect the Philippines is another surge in global rice prices. It is reported that the damages on agricultural land in the affected areas are so dire that Myanmar officials are already stopping its rice exports. In fact, the Nyawpyitaw junta is expected to actually start importing rice to feed the people.
The blogosphere has a lot of defects. Mainstream media has a lot of strengths. But to suggest that blogging isn’t as reliable a source of information, or that the mainstream media has a monopoly on credibility, is something I can’t accept.
Fundamentally, I think a writer should be judged not by the medium he uses or for the entity he writes for but by whether he writes the truth- nothing more, nothing less.
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