I wrote in January of this year that for at least an hour, everything stopped here in the Philippines. No traffic in the streets. No war between the military and the rebels. Crime rate was practically down to zero. No fighting in politics (but not the “politicking”). In my case, no lunch until around 3:00 [...]

The recent news on the “BIR Sex Scandal” reminds me of the PCIJ report on Peeping Toms going hi-tech (Inside PCIJ and i Report). According to the PCIJ:

By sustaining the unusual course taken by President Arroyo, we are traversing a very dangerous path. We are opening the way to those who, in the end, would turn our democracy into a totalitarian rule. While it may not plunge us straightway into dictatorship, however, it is a step towards a wrong direction. History must [...]

Almost every Filipino knows EDSA, although not everyone may know that it’s a major thoroughfare in Metro Manila. It’s a road that is [in]famous and unique for many things. EDSA One, EDSA Dos, EDSA Tres and the additional (?) episodes that will rival the plot of Starwars.

Responding to the open invitation to write at the Forum, Mr. Basilio submitted a timely article on the potential face-off between the Senate and the House of Representatives. Now that the Supreme Court has dismissed the petition of Lambino et.al., it’s expected that the same petitioners through the President’s allies in the Lower House would [...]

“The arguments used as basis in the Supreme Court’s decision were questions of facts, issues that should not be tackled by the Supreme Court. The [high] court is not a trier of fact but should only decide on issues of laws and jurisdiction,” [Atty. Raul] Lambino [of Sigaw ng Bayan] told ABS-CBN‘s Magandang Umaga Pilipinas.

a) Spend your vacation, your dollars, in our Philippines It is understandable for our OFWs, balikbayans and Pinoy expats to spend vacation in other countries. The world is truly beautiful and majestic. But please do spend some of your vacation, and some of your dollars, in our Philippines. Every dollar that you bring into our [...]

The Supreme Court dismissed the recent petition (Lambino, et al. vs. COMELEC) seeking to revise the Constitution through people’s initiative. In a 52-page decision, the SC ruled in part that the proposal to shift the present bicameral-presidential system to a unicameral-parliamentary system is contrary to the Constitution.

“This Court cannot betray its primordial duty to defend and protect the Constitution. The Constitution, which embodies the people’s sovereign will, is the bible of this Court. This Court exists to defend and protect the Constitution. To allow this constitutionally infirm initiative, propelled by deceptively gathered signatures, to alter basic principles in the Constitution is [...]

There is always a point in our career when one experiences a vacuum and finds himself not happy anymore. It is at this point when one has to make a choice of coexisting in pain or leave in order to find meaning in one’s life to live by your principles. – Col. Ariel Querubin, on [...]