The gods of Padre Faura once again gave face to arrogance and abuse of power. They anew demonstrated that they are above and beyond the Constitution. Interpreting the Constitution is a duty that belongs to the Supreme Court. In over a decade, the Supreme Court has used this exclusive power to
August 2, 2025
By Artchil B. Fernandez The resurrection of the Pink movement is one of the biggest political events of the year. It ranks with the impeachment of Vice President Sara Duterte and the arrest and handover of her father to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague as one of the most significant political episodes
July 26, 2025
By Artchil B. Fernandez The political comeback of the Pink movement in the 2025 midterm elections was stunning. Written off for good after three election debacles (2016, 2019, and 2022), the group’s come-from-behind recovery in this year’s election is impressive. The political landscape of the country was drastically altered by the remarkable feat of the
July 19, 2025
One unintended consequence of the ongoing epic struggle between House Duterte and House Marcos is the exposure of the often overlooked, simmering rivalry – if not outright enmity – between the Marcos siblings: Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. (BBM) and his elder sister, Maria Josefa “Imee” Marcos-Manotoc. Their competition for who holds
July 12, 2025
By Artchil B. Fernandez Chiz Escudero is the personification of the cancer that ravages the Philippine body politic. He is the rot that gnaws at the constitutional foundation of the nation. For this ignominious dishonor, a new term was coined to define the Age of Escudero – Chiztitution. Doesn’t Chiztitution rhyme with prostitution? Chiztitution is
July 5, 2025
By Artchil B. Fernandez In a democracy, the government is owned by the people. Democracy—to pirate a phrase from Abraham Lincoln—is a “government of the people, by the people, and for the people.” Public officials owe their position to the people who elected them. Sovereign power and authority in a democracy reside in and belong
June 28, 2025
By Artchil B. Fernandez The Senate, according to the Constitution, should preside over the impeachment trial of an impeached public official—in the current case, Vice President Sara Duterte. It turned out, it is not Sara Duterte who is on trial now but the Senate. Today, the Senate is the most lambasted and heavily criticized branch
June 21, 2025
Senate President Chiz Escudero once again hoodwinked the Filipino people. On the last session of the 19th Senate, two days before it adjourns sine die, he declared the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte commences. Yet the day before, June 11, 2025, Escudero and allied senators pulled another insidious and
June 14, 2025
By Artchil B. Fernandez The 19th Congress will adjourn sine die on June 13, 2025. Two days before adjournment is also the reset date for the start of Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial. Senate President Chiz Escudero originally scheduled the start of the trial on June 2, 2025, when Congress resumed session after the
June 7, 2025
By Artchil B. Fernandez President Bongbong Marcos (BBM) was visibly shaken by the setback suffered by his administration in the 2025 midterm election. His cobbled coalition slate, Alyansa para sa Bagong Pilipinas, managed to win five or six seats, the second-worst midterm election performance of a sitting administration in the post-EDSA regime. Stung by the
May 31, 2025
By Artchil B. Fernandez There is a long-standing taboo in the Catholic Church: As long as the United States of America is a global superpower, there can never be an American pope. The logic is understandable. Given the geopolitical power wielded by the U.S., giving leadership of the world’s largest religious organization to an American
May 24, 2025
Wild. Crazy. Confounding. These are some of the words that describe the recently concluded May 12, 2025, midterm election. The results were a complete surprise. It was not the outcome pundits, experts, and survey outfits predicted, projected, or estimated. There was nothing like this in recent political history of the country.
May 17, 2025