Fugitive pastor Apollo Quiboloy, without doubt, is the most famous person in the country today, with only Alice Guo, dismissed Bamban mayor, also a fugitive, staking the same claim. Both are linked to the Dutertes, directly or indirectly. Quiboloy is a personal friend of the Dutertes, while Guo is a poster
August 31, 2024
The tables have turned. The Dutertes are now facing the kind of scrutiny they once imposed on their adversaries. In less than three years, they are experiencing the consequences of their actions during the rule of former President Rodrigo Duterte. During Duterte’s administration, the full power of the state was used
August 24, 2024
The Marcos administration’s stance towards the International Criminal Court (ICC) has shifted in tandem with its relationship with the Dutertes. The current administration is now taking a different approach regarding the ICC’s investigation into the previous administration’s bloody war on drugs. When the UniTeam alliance was still intact, President Bongbong Marcos
August 17, 2024
Carlos Edriel Yulo is the current toast of the nation. He achieved what no Filipino athlete had done before—winning two gold medals in a single Olympiad. When Hidilyn Diaz became the first Filipino to bring home the elusive Olympic gold medal in nearly a century (96 years!) at the 2020 Tokyo
August 10, 2024
Bongbong Marcos (BBM) delivered his third State of the Nation Address (SONA) in a highly charged political environment. The UniTeam has crumbled, and the competition for power between Team Agila and Team Tigre is intensifying. The SONA highlighted the collapse of the UniTeam. In his speech, BBM emphasized the significant departure
August 3, 2024
By Artchil B. Fernandez This week marks the twentieth anniversary of this column. It first appeared on July 23, 2004. Two hundred forty months and 1,025 articles later, it celebrates two decades of engagement in the public sphere. The public sphere, a concept developed by sociologist Jürgen Habermas, is defined as a social space “made
July 27, 2024
On Monday, July 22, Bongbong Marcos (BBM) will deliver his third State of the Nation Address (SONA). He will present this traditional address to the nation amid a changed political environment. The UniTeam has crumbled, and a new center of competition to BBM’s rule, led by his erstwhile allies—the Dutertes—has emerged.
July 20, 2024
The decimation of the Dilawans was one of the highlights of President Rodrigo Duterte’s illiberal rule. This was an astounding political development considering that the preceding administration ended on a high note. President Benigno Aquino III remained relatively popular, and the Philippine economy steadily grew by an average of 6.2 percent,
July 13, 2024
The demise of the UniTeam has reconfigured the country’s political landscape, affecting not only erstwhile allies but also their opponents from the last elections. This political realignment has placed the pink movement at a crossroads. The victory of the dilawans in the 2022 election was the greatest nightmare of the Marcoses
July 6, 2024
“The truth can never be suppressed, and in the end, it will blast away the lies, including the liars.” These words appeared in this space on October 28, 2017, denouncing the injustice inflicted on Leila de Lima by President Rodrigo Duterte and his administration. Leila de Lima was Duterte’s fiercest critic.
June 29, 2024
Finally, the façade is removed; the charade is over. The gloves are off. The play-acting has ended. It must have been agonizingly hard for both sides to maintain the pretense. It’s now open war, and the long-awaited exciting part is here. The raging war was first silently waged in the digital
June 22, 2024
The Philippines is once again the largest rice importer in the world, according to a projection by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Latest Social Weather Station (SWS) survey shows 46 percent of Filipino families rated themselves poor. Peso-US dollar exchange rate is almost 59 pesos to 1 US dollar.
June 15, 2024