I agree with Ateneo’s Dean Tony la Viña, a legal luminary, that the disqualification case filed with the Senate Electoral Tribunal by losing senatorial candidate Rizalito David against Sen. Grace…

In the wake of super typhoon Yolanda, President Benigno S. Aquino III could have been talking to the Otic family of Tacloban when he bluntly told a local businessman, “Buhay…

URBAN legend has it that President Manuel Quezon, while entertaining a foreign dignitary in Malacañang, inadvertently let out gas. Without missing a beat, Quezon turned to his aide-de-camp and up braided  the…

WHEN John McCain picked Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his vice-presidential running mate in the 2008 US elections, the effect on the American public was one of curiosity and enthusiasm….

PRESIDENT Noynoy Aquino is reportedly very pleased with a report in TIME Asia concerning the high level of optimism among Filipinos with respect to their job prospects. According to a…

The folks at my favorite watering hole in Daly City have all perked up at the recent announcement by Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV that he is “100% sure” to run…

NOW that Senator Grace Poe has overtaken in the public opinion polls all the aspirants for the presidency, she and her supporters should brace themselves for a minute scrutiny of…

WOULD America have survived the Great Depression if Franklin Delano Roosevelt had not been elected president?  Would the British have won the Battle of Britain, marked by the massive Luftwaffe…

WHO “saved” Mary Jane Veloso’s life? The harsh truth is that no one has. All she got was a reprieve. A postponement. The prospect of facing a firing squad still…

IF your age is past three-fourths of a century it’s probably time to consider your retirement options. My wife and I have decided to spend most of what remains of…

THE recent Social Weather Station (SWS) and Pulse Asia reports on the performance and trust ratings of President Noynoy Aquino have been grist for those who want to see him…

ALL the noises being made about President Aquinoâs role in the Mamasapano tragedy may be likened to Macbethâs frustrated commentary on life: âFull of sound and fury, signifying nothing.â While…

THE current focus of Malacañ ang and Congress is the crafting of the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) which has been denounced by detractors as a means of carving out a…

IT is unfortunate that 44 young lives were the price that had to be paid to prod our country’s leaders and the rest of the citizenry to reconsider the proposed…

MANY people I have spoken to about the missteps that have bedeviled Noynoy Aquino and his government have offered various ways by which he could have avoided or prevented them…

REMEMBER the three monkeys who could see no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil? Well, DILG Secretary Mar Roxas, Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin and AFP Chief of Staff…

WHILE passions are still smoldering, it will not be easy to sort out the various issues that led to and resulted from the slaughter of forty four PNP Special Action…

IF we thought we would not see any president heaped with more spite than Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Ferdinand Marcos, think again.  At the rate insults are being hurled at Benigno…

ALONG with the outpouring of affection for Pope Francis came a flood of self-righteousness and hypocrisy. When the Pope called for a rejection of corruption in government and society, pretenders…

BY the grace of God, Pope Francis is back safe in the Vatican. But could 25,000 policemen and soldiers posted at various public venues have ensured the safety of His…

WITH less than two years left on the term of Noynoy Aquino, I think he can use some help in straightening out the liko-liko and smoothing out the baku-bako on…

THE past few months have seen news headlines in the Philippines, rerun in FilAm media across the US, screaming about the corruption and unexplained wealth of Vice-President Jejomar Binay. Binay,…

I FIRST heard the expression from David Tanner, country manager of Beecham Products at the time that our ad agency was helping the British corporate giant establish a foothold in…

“SINGKO lang po, singko lang po, (Just five centavos, just five centavos) Singko lang po ang ibigay niyo. (Just give us five centavos). Ayos na ang buto-buto.” (Everything will be…

I HAVE learned two new terms from reading the postings of self-anointed social media vigilantes and reformists: bobo-tante and tanga-suporta. These are a play on words, meaning stupid voter (bobo…

THE Ninoy Aquino International Airport, Terminal One is not simply a gateway to the Philippines. It is hallowed ground. Like Fort Santiago. And Bagumbayan. This is the where Ninoy Aquino…

WHEN Alan Peter Cayetano spins a tale of a threat to his life and Antonio Trillanes begins to predict his incarceration or liquidation if Jojo Binay ever becomes president, you…

WHEN Noynoy Aquino blunted a Tacloban businessman’s complaint that he had been threatened by looters at the height of the Yolanda disaster, by declaring, “You are still alive, aren’t you?”…

The other day, I came upon a shocking news headline on FaceBook, “George W. Bush Arrested for Cocaine Possession.” It was datelined Dallas, Texas, July 24, 2014. Intrigued, I read…

THE trouble with hiring “creative” advertising and PR geniuses for one’s political campaign is that they can get carried away by their creativity. Take the Liberal Party’s demolition strategy against…