For the many who have enthusiastically supported or joined EDSA II, myself among them, the final push was almost certainly the failure of the constitutional process (the remedy of impeachment) to hold then President Estrada accountable for charges of multiple impeachment offenses. (President–elect Noynoy Aquino himself has threatened to go directly to the people the [...]
Final and infallible
May 20, 2010 By 163 Comments
The Supreme Court is neither final nor infallible. This constitutional truism is somehow easily illustrated by the manner the legal precedents imposing a ban on “midnight appointments” have been unceremoniously undone by the now infamous De Castro decision. On March 17, 2010, the all-Arroyo-appointed majority justices in De Castro have allowed a lame duck Gloria [...]
Thailand go bad, Philippines very good
April 14, 2010 By 9 Comments
Yes, we can!
March 28, 2010 By 18 Comments
In Constitutional Law litigation, there’s such a thing as the dynamics of “political settlement.” This happens in most cases when any of the three branches of the government exercises what is called statesmanship, or at times, just simple pragmatism, to avert a constitutional crisis. During the 2000 US presidential elections, it was however Al Gore, [...]
Kapihan at kampihan sa FV
March 12, 2010 By 19 Comments
Against a non-partisan People Power
February 28, 2010 By 34 Comments
Speaking at the ceremony commemorating the 24th anniversary of the People Power Revolution, our hardworking and prayerful President, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, bemoaned the “partisanship” that the notion of “people power” has acquired through the years, and arrogated unto herself the authority to define it: “It is not about whose politics one supports. It’s about the heroism [...]
The Politics of Owning and Remembering EDSA
February 25, 2010 By 57 Comments
A monopoly on history is a monopoly of power. A monopoly of telling the narrative can only match the writer’s ideological standpoint. What really happened in EDSA? Who were the protagonists? The bad guys? Those who chose to sit on the sidelines? What was the context in which the event happened? Was it planned or [...]
Who will carry forward the project of ’86?
February 13, 2010 By 37 Comments
The Spirit of ’86 remains an unfinished project. Take note for example the parallel in how easily the Nazis were de-Nazified and returned to business as usual in Germany and in how discretely the Marcos loyalists were de-Marcosified and allowed to restore themselves to their pre-EDSA statuses (think of Danding who fled with the dictator [...]
The Permanent Revolution of People Power
August 11, 2009 By 10 Comments
A few days ago, we were remembering yellow, remembering Cory. As the nation buried Corazon Aquino, the generation that I belong to got a taste of Power Power. We grew up never knowing the atrocities of Marcoss, and were either fledgeling to remember or too young to have lived through People Power. As we buried [...]
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