THIS corner lauds retired Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Carpio, retired Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales, and former Commission on Elections (COMELEC) chairman Christian Monsod, for leading various cause-oriented groups in filing before the Supreme Court a petition for certiorari and mandamus to compel Congress to enact a law prohibiting political dynasties. The
April 7, 2025
ANO ang balita? What’s the news? As a guest speaker in a Journalism class. I quoted its briefest definition in the dictionary: “Any previously unknown information.” I recalled a “history” that was news to me on my first day as a Journalism student at Manuel L. Quezon University (MLQU) in Manila. There walked into
April 4, 2025
FORMER President Rodrigo “Digong” Duterte must have realized the futility of the “bring him home” demand by his supporters in well-funded rallies here and abroad. This became very evident when his daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte, said, “Hindi na siya maibabalik. Hindi na mababalik si Pangulong Duterte sa Pilipinas.” She said so before
April 2, 2025
WHY do Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas and Congresswoman Julienne “Jam-jam” Baronda attack each other below the belt — on stage and on the air — when they are not running against each other? You only have to listen to their radio ads to know them. In fact, Treñas is not running for any position. It’s his
March 31, 2025
An Unbelievable Senatorial Survey ARE we so naïve as to make sense of the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) senatorial survey showing reelectionist Senator Christopher “Bong” Go and ACT-CIS Party-list Rep. Erwin Tulfo on top, sharing 42% of the “magic 12”? If you think so, why? I don’t think so because I
March 28, 2025
ON the radio program “Tribuna sang Banwa” — sponsored by the Free Legal Assistance for Seafarers and Heirs (FLASH) on Aksyon Radyo — we tackle questions from seafarers with labor problems. For this column, is a seaman terminated prior to expiration of his contract entitled to full compensation. This is a queer
March 26, 2025
WHAT happens when the oil cartel announces price hikes of petroleum products? As sure as the sun rises tomorrow (assuming the hike proceeds as announced), motor vehicles will fall in line at the gas stations for “full thank”. We have gotten so used to cartelization among oil firms that we no longer
March 24, 2025
CERTAINLY, you have heard of the oil cartel that fixes uniform prices of various brands of oil products. But have you wondered whether there’s a cartel of political pollsters who come up with similar or near-similar “magic 12” frontliners in periodic surveys running up to May 12. 2025 senatorial race? “Amazing” is
March 21, 2025
IN our coffee talk at Hotel del Rio, Iawyer Edwin R. Catacutan shared to me his “incursion into Christian theology” as discussed in his decade-old book Creation, Fall, and Redemption. His book is one of the few books that can rightly be judged by its cover: a colorful telescope image of an outburst
March 19, 2025
IF you were one of us who viewed on TV the “quad committee” hearing at the House of Representatives on November 14, 2024, you will remember what former President Rodrigo Duterte exactly said: “I am asking the ICC to hurry up, and if possible, they can come here and start the investigation
March 17, 2025
WHO could have imagined former President Rodrigo “Digong” Duterte nose-diving from top to bottom? As I was writing this, the former strongman had arrived at The Hague, Netherlands, taken into custody by the International Criminal Court (ICC) following his arrest in Manila on murder charges linked to his “war on drugs” in
March 14, 2025
IS it necessary to privatize the Iloilo International Airport? If we listen to Department of Transportation (DOTr) Secretary Vince Dizon, it is because of the need to expand it to accommodate more flights and plane passengers. The ₱21.16-billion rehabilitation of Iloilo International Airport, however, has not yet been approved by the National
March 12, 2025