How two presidents handle accusations
Presidents Donald Trump and Rodrigo Duterte have both been accused of criminal behavior, the former for allegedly obstructing justice and colluding with a foreign arch enemy, and the latter for…
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Revisiting Baguio City
Baguio City is one of the genuine tourism treasures of the Philippines. But for those of us who haven’t been to the City of Pines for years (especially those living…
Global Browning
The wedding of Prince Harry and bi-racial TV star, Meghan Markle, is a milestone in race relations as significant as the assumption of the U.S. presidency by half Black Barack…
All Kuwait on the Middle Eastern front
No, this is not a new movie version of Erich Maria Remarque’s classic, All Quiet on the Western Front. It is an unsolicited suggestion for a movie on the dramatic rescue of…
Eddie Garcia, national artist for film
TO be inducted into the Order of the National Artists of the Philippines (Pambansang Alagad ng Sining ng Pilipinas) is, doubtless, the apex of one’s achievements in the Arts, specifically,…
Boracay is just the tip of the garbage dump
I’m one of the few who have never been to Boracay, so I won’t know what I will be missing if President Rodrigo Duterte makes good his threat to close down…
The travails of a presidential spokesperson
IN a moment of pique, I recently posted on social media that I always thought Harry Roque, spokesman of President Rodrigo Duterte, was “marunong” (intelligent). And I added: “Bobo pala.”…
US Congressional Gold Medal for Filipino WWII veterans
On April 7, at the historic Presidio in San Francisco, surviving Filipino World War II veterans or their next of kin living in Northern California, will receive bronze replicas of…
Are Filipinos racists like Trump?
According to critics, President Donald Trump is not just a racist, he is also a barefaced liar and a coward who doesn’t have the cojones to admit his spiteful attitude…
Suggested New Year’s resolutions
The election of President Rodrigo Duterte in 2016 raised hopes of a clean, corruption-free government that was also progressive and dynamic (unlike the passive and pass-the-buck tenure of President Benigno…
An opportunity to modernize Parañaque
If EDSA has become known as “carmageddon” (or the Armageddon of cars) because of the horrible traffic, Sucat Road AKA as Dr A Santos Avenue in Parañaque easily qualifies as…
Of pushers, politicians and presidents
A FEW weeks ago, I posted on Facebook two anti-drug abuse ads that I created back in 1972. The headline of one read, “Is a pusher paying more attention to…
Preempting a looming power crisis
It is said that if hindsight is a perfect science, that makes scientists of our country’s national leaders and bureaucrats. In administration after administration, the would’ve-could’ve-should’ve syndrome has been a…
The browning of America
ADVERTISING is one indicator of changes in lifestyle, social mores, fashion and language. One such development that has become apparent in U.S. television commercials is the use of mixed race…
Making an apple look like a banana
In the wake of President Donald Trump’s self-serving assertion that any unflattering media reports about him are “fake news,” CNN, which has been among Trump’s most persistent critics, has launched…
The post-Marcos, post-martial law generation
CURRENT developments in the Philippines are bringing back the specter of martial law. President Rodrigo Duterte has given not-too-subtle hints about declaring it. And while he has been quick to…
Have the courts been displaced by the Senate and social media?
Whenever a major corruption scandal or a heinous crime exploded in the public sphere, oldtimers like myself followed the developments in the courts of law, as reported by the newspapers….
If Trump and Kim Jong-un unleash fire and fury
I was 5 years old when Gen. Douglas MacArthur made good on his promise to return to the Philippines. I was, therefore, old enough to remember how my family and…
Duterte and Fil-Ams can work on a common cause
DURING the Philippine revolution against Spain, the Katipunan had two mutually-hostile factions: the Magdiwang of Andres Bonifacio, and the Magdalo, which was identified with Emilio Aguinaldo. While they literally went…
Time for Pacquiao to retire?
There is no doubt in my mind that Manny Pacquiao won against Australian Jeff Horn. The CompuBox statistics showed Pacquiao landing 182 punches vs. Horn’s 92, with 123 power punches…
Getting caught flatfooted
IT looks like we will not yet see the end of the speculation and argument over whether the Resorts World incident was a terrorist attack or one perpetrated by a…
Now is the time for all good men
TAGALOGS have a term for approaching or solving a problem:santong dasalan or the soft, diplomatic way (dasal meaning prayer) and santong paspasan or the direct, tough way. We now know what approach President Rodrigo…
Friendly dialogue between Duterte and Xi
President Rodrigo Duterte’s recent “friendly exchange” with Chinese President Xi Jinping over rights to exploit the natural resources of certain areas of the South China Sea (AKA West Philippine Sea)…
The ‘war on drugs’: Saying too much is saying nothing
Social media have been abuzz over a tweet attributed to Dr. Agnes Callamard, Special Rapporteur from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, who was recently…
The Duterte and Marcos US trips, a case of déjà vu
President Rodrigo Duterte has been invited by President Donald Trump to the United States. I seem to have seen this scene before. A case of déjà vu. In September 1982,…
Infrastructure boom… or bust?
The usual skeptics have dismissed as pie-in-the-sky the recent announcement concerning the “infrastructure boom” that the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte plans to undertake. According to them, it is wishful…
Defusing the threat of nuclear war
THE current deadly “game of chicken” being undertaken by the U.S., under President Donald Trump, and by North Korea, under its Supreme Leader, Kim Jong-un, isn’t the first time that…
If Duterte can’t be expected to change, perhaps media should
PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte has accused media, specifically the Philippine Daily Inquirer and ABS-CBN, of being bastos and unfair and, in the process, he sounded just as foul as the objects…
Cigarettes: The macho killers
SOME years ago, I was asked to create an ad campaign to debunk the argument that a non-smoking section in restaurants and other public places could spare non-smokers from the…
Is China using a condom on Duterte?
MY late boss, Tony de Joya, chairman of Adverting & Marketing Associates, had a classic description of a condom: “It gives you a feeling of security while you are being…