DRIVING around Iloilo City today this Christmas month may not be fun due to heavy traffic. There are so many new vehicles on the streets – some with temporary, makeshift plate numbers — that the Land Transportation Office (LTO) has found a way to cite them as the biggest reason for its
December 11, 2024
THERE have been reports about the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) organizing a prayer rally in support of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s call for lawmakers not to file an impeachment complaint against Vice President Sara Duterte over graft-and-corruption issues, as in malversation of confidential funds. What do you make of that? Is
December 9, 2024
THE House of Representatives has a herculean task that may be easier said than done as far as the two impeachment complaints filed against Vice President Sara Duterte are concerned. The Constitution provides that only one-third of the congressmen – or 105 of the 316 of them – constitutes the sufficient number
December 6, 2024
MY friend Joe Escartin, a political analyst, shared to me his views on why the break-up of the “uniteam” of President Ferdinand “BBM” Marcos and Vice-President Sara Duterte would impinge on the politics of Antique. Let me summarize Joe’s talking points: It will undermine the tandem of incumbent Governor Rhodora Cadiao, who
December 4, 2024
THIS writer wonders why the House Quad Committee (Quadcom) investigating the extrajudicial killings (EJKs) and war on drugs during the Rodrigo Duterte administration has not thought of inviting former Vice President Leni Robredo as a resource person. Lest we have forgotten, former President Rodrigo Duterte appointed VP Leni as his “anti-drug czar”
December 2, 2024
IF you have become “addicted” to evening newscasts on GMA-TV, you must have noticed its daily video coverage of bumper-to-bumper traffic in Metro Manila even in late nights. A valid explanation is the proximity of the Christmas month when people go out to attend pre-Christmas parties, shop in the malls, or travel to
November 29, 2024
HERE goes an anecdote is said about two famous American novelists in the 1920s, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway: “The rich are different from you and me,” Fitzgerald quipped. “Yes,” Hemingway reacted, “they have more money.” I remembered that story while having coffee with my friend Berd Vargas (a former radio/TV broadcaster) at
November 27, 2024
AS the month of December is about to unfold, we fantasize about the Christmas presents we hope to give and to receive. But some of us have yet to fully pay debts incurred in Christmas 2023. To them, there is never enough income to make both ends meet. Because of the fast
November 25, 2024
ONCE there was a radio jingle, “Ang utang ay dapat bayaran, nang tayo’y pagkakatiwalaan.” Yes, we have to pay our monetary debts, lest we earn the ire of our creditors. It’s somewhat a different matter, however, when what we owe is a debt of gratitude – utang na loob in Tagalog, utang nga buot or utang nga
November 22, 2024
THE Magna Carta of Filipino Seafarers, signed into law by President Marcos on September 23, 2024, aims to protect and improve the opportunities of Filipino seafarers. Since there are already applicable labor laws covering exploited seamen, the Magna Carta — principally authored by Senator Raffy Tulfo — mainly seeks to enlighten them
November 20, 2024
YESTERDAY’S TV newscast showed residents of Tagkawayan, Quezon rushing to evacuation centers to escape the wrath of super typhoon Pepito. Among them was a mother of five minor children. Her husband, she cried, had become jobless. How would they survive? I could not help but empathize with her anxiety. I remembered my
November 18, 2024
THE last time I was in Anini-y, Antique, it was for the sole purpose of “time travel” to the 17th century through the town’s oldest tourist attraction, the baroque Roman Catholic Church. A plate marker “greeted” me at the huge door. Installed by the National Historical Commission, the marker identifies the edifice as
November 15, 2024