A nuclear level alert should be jolting the electorate now because of the mega dynasties competing in the May election. Voters must be reminded that a clear majority of political families own construction companies. And they should also take note of the 2025 budget where public works and infrastructure got
February 18, 2025
Beijing, like a peacock on shabu, has been flexing its maritime muscle directly at our faces these past weeks. Its mighty armada, including its vaunted “Monster Ship”, has been illegally traversing our EEZ. The question that should be lingering in our minds now is why we do not have a
February 4, 2025
A commissioned Pulse Asia survey showed that 61% of Filipinos approve of the Quad comm hearings. Expectedly, lawmakers were quick to promote this result as a public endorsement of their effort to investigate crimes committed by officials from the previous administration. Thanks to those who commissioned this survey, lawmakers will
January 21, 2025
Mirisi, merese, or meresi is actually a form of victim-shaming. But it is hard not to feel this way for lawmakers who felt shortchanged by the bicameral conference of Congress in regards to the 2025 appropriations bill. Note that only a few lawmakers protested when President Bongbong Marcos certified the
December 21, 2024
The past couple of weeks have not been good for Vice-President (VP) Sara Duterte. She is being accused of committing several crimes by her political adversaries. And it appears that they equate removing her from her post and permanently disqualifying her from holding any other public offices as the way
December 10, 2024
There has been a flurry of inquires in both the Senate and House of Representatives that are advertised as “in aid of legislation”. But given the overstated actuations of the protagonists involved, these “hearings” appear to be just about capitalizing on as much free airtime as possible before the campaign
November 26, 2024
Baffling that this is even newsworthy. Apparently, the viral baby hippo, Moo Deng, correctly predicted Donald Trump’s win. Beating out respected academics, grizzled political pundits, and American showbiz royalty. Although, insane as it may sound, this story is actually the perfect metaphor to explain the ethos underpinning Trump’s decisive electoral
November 12, 2024
Fat political dynasties dominating our politics has all but obliterated meritocracy in governance. And the dire state of affairs (i.e. floods, carmageddon, food insecurity, education crisis, to name a few) fuels the public’s disgust for dynastic politicians. Sadly, this profound anger never has any perceptible impact on election day.
October 26, 2024
Two weeks ago, I had the privilege to spend a week in Japan to do a series of seminar lectures in the Graduate School of Law and the Law School of Hitotsubashi University and give a talk in a brown bag seminar organized by the university’s Institute for Global Governance
October 12, 2024
Taxpayers spend so much for lawmakers to cosplay as police, prosecutor, and judge that they should be asking themselves what is actually achieved by these so-called inquiries in aid of legislation. I say “so-called” because these investigations do not actually claim any legislative objectives. Take for instance, the four committees
September 17, 2024
The Davao police has shown a readiness to enforce the arrest warrants that could be issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) this month, if certain political personalities are to be believed. The operation to arrest Pastor Quiboloy was palpably well-planned. With a few exceptions, the police personnel on site
September 3, 2024
In 2011, respected academic Björn Dressel wrote a paper entitled, The Philippines: how much real democracy?. A noteworthy query because the Philippines played such a key role in the democratization wave that passed through Asia in the 1980s through the 1990s, i.e. 1986 EDSA People Power Revolution. Pertinently, Dressel correctly
August 20, 2024