Senator Grace P. Llamanzares’ speech the other day “offering” herself as our next President was unexpectedly quite impressive. Her oratory would be the final nail on Manuel Roxas II political coffin, and for Vice President Jejomar Binay a loud wake-up call. As the myth of Benigno Aquino 3rd as the prince of the Yellow Righteous…
After all the anticipation, suspense, and cliffhangers of teleseryes that mirror her personal narrative, Senator Grace Poe has finally made it official: She is running for President. This makes the Presidential Election in May 2016 a choice among the three candidates who have made their intent to run public and official: VP Jejomar Binay, Mar…
There is no more doubt that the present administration under Aquino III is the No. 1 enemy of the masses. It is a government against the Filipino people instead of being for the people. It has no concern at all in uplifting the living and working conditions of the common tao. Its oft repeated catchphrase telling…
Earlier this year, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted along party lines to reclassify Internet Service Providers (ISPs) as public utilities and to regulate the Internet under outdated Title II regulations. The negative effects of these burdensome regulations are quickly materializing. There are now clear indications that Title II harms broadband investment and innovation, which…
THIS question has to be asked in light of Mrs. Llamanzares’s completely crass effort to promote herself as a possible presidential candidate, despite the clear language of the Constitution that renders her ineligible to seek the presidency or the vice presidency or even to remain in the Senate, where she was “elected” in 2013 after…
POPE Francis received overwhelming support among Filipinos in America on the reforms he will implement in the Catholic Church to make marriage annulment faster and cheaper for Catholics. 100 percent of the viewers who voted in the online opinion poll of The Filipino Channel’s daily newscast “Balitang America” agreed that the following changes announced last…
As an overseas Filipino who loves his homeland, I am puzzled, sad, and disenchanted to see our beloved Philippines hopelessly entrenched in a quagmire and culture of graft and corruption involving government officials, including top legislators who had plundered the nation’s meager coffers and practically go unpunished. Evidently, even the Supreme Court was not immune…
“But he himself is not corrupt, right?” That is a common refrain in conversations with Filipinos concerned about rising sleaze under President Benigno Aquino 3rd. Ironically, the same thing was once said about Ferdinand Marcos, a frugal Ilocano unlike his extravagant wife Imelda. After five years of Tuwid na Daan, many are disturbed, if not…
THANKFULLY, the protest rallies of the Iglesia ni Cristo at EDSA have been called off. INC’s leaders have declared that they have reached an “agreement” with the government – without providing any details – while a Malaca ñang spokesman has insisted that “no special concessions” were given for the cessation of the rallies. That, of course,…
AFTER Pope Francis’s controversial statement allowing priests during the Year of Mercy to “absolve” sins committed by contrite women who have had abortions, the leader of the Catholic Church has now radically revised the process by which Catholics may annul their marriages to make it easier, faster and cheaper. This is especially significant for Filipinos…
POPE Francis once again shook the Catholic community and the world, last Tuesday, Sept. 1 with his announcement that priests around the world will be authorized to forgive women who received an abortion but have already repented with a contrite heart. A CNN report, however, clarified that the Pope’s policy does not change church doctrine…
THERE’S this joke about a little boy anxious to see his expectant mother give birth. She explains that it will take several months for the baby to come out. The boy then recalls how his engineer father had told his workers on a rush project to “put more men on the job,” to hasten its…
THOUGH a candidate most Democrats outside of the state of Vermont have never heard of, Senator Bernie Sanders has proven a sustained upward climb in the polls, possibly threatening the frontrunner status of former First Lady and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. A new poll among Iowa caucus goers, the first to hold the primary…
Social media was on fire on Friday, Aug. 28 with comments and criticisms from kababayans who were caught in traffic on EDSA after thousands of members of Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) members gathered in front of a shopping mall, reportedly following instructions from the INC leadership. While the rest of the commuting public had been…
SLOWLY and inexorably, the Aquino government, by its failure to help solve the problems of daily life, is driving many of us into impossible and desperate straits. Confronted by a traffic jam that wouldn’t budge, Manila Archbishop Emeritus Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales alighted from his vehicle and decided to unlock the jam and direct the traffic…
LAST Wednesday, Aug. 26, as the National Transformation Council renewed its call on President B. S. Aquino III to step down and pave the way for a nonpartisan transitory council, a group of concerned citizens, including the politician-wife of his mother’s younger brother, asked the Supreme Court to compel the Ombudsman and the Department of…
WHEN I shared through this column what undocumented Filipinos in America may expect from a Trump presidency — and that Trump should recalibrate his message against undocumented immigrants so he will not be misconstrued as condoning violence against them — I got different reactions from kababayans from different walks of life. Here are some of…
CTALK By Cito Beltran Are you angry enough about our state of affairs in the Republic of the Philippines? The thought has begun to surface as millions of Filipinos come to terms with the fact that the Self-Righteous Brotherhood occupying Malacañang are a bunch of incompetent and insensitive dolts who punctuate their failures with off…
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 Poe should be thrown out. Not being a legal expert, I can only react with disapproval over the purported ground for disqualification: her being a…
Picture this: A homeless man was sleeping near a train station, then wakes up to two men urinating on him. Not satisfied, these men beat the homeless man with a metal pole repeatedly and walked away laughing. When apprehended, these men told police they attacked the victim because he was “homeless,” “Hispanic,” and an “illegal…
FILIPINOS in America are divided between two ends of the spectrum: those who believe Donald Trump is their “Messiah” who will help “reclaim” America (but from whom?) and all her glory; and those who abhor Trump and see him as a caricature, no more than a rich real estate mogul and reality star on TV…
After two candidates have publicly signified their presidential bids for 2016, the next question people are so curious to know is who UNA’s Jejomar Binay and LP’s Mar Roxas will pick for Vice President. In the past week, talks about Binay running with Bongbong Marcos energized both the Marcos loyalists and the Binay supporters. After…
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 ka pa naman, hindi ba?” (You’re still alive, aren’t you?”) when the latter complained about fearing for his life because of looters. DILG Secretary Mar…
It is GAME ON! Following the first Republican Party debate last Thursday, August 6, many kababayans who lean Republican have been energized to see the crowded slate of candidates they can choose from to be the next President of the United States. As the polls show as of press time, real estate mogul and reality…
VICE President Binay delivered what he called to be the “True State of the Nation Address” at the Cavite State University, following the official sixth and last SONA of President Noynoy Aquino. Binay used this platform to lambast the Aquino Administration and its alleged failure to serve the people, and took a swipe at his…
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 poor man for uncivilized behavior. When the guest had left, the aide complained that he had been unjustly blamed for something he did not do….
After President Noynoy Aquino finally anointed DILG Sec. Mar Roxas to be his successor and the Liberal Party’s standard bearer in the 2016 Philippine Presidential Election — which Mar has accepted in a gathering among friends and supporters at the historic Club Filipino — it is GAME ON in Philippine politics! Even Vice President Binay…
SUCH a catchy title posted on Facebook by my dear friend from Manila, Dr. Vivian Sarabia, a staunch supporter of President Noynoy Aquino and now of the Liberal Party’s official nominee, DILG Secretary Mar Roxas. Aquino’s anointment of Roxas could not have happened at a better place, as Club Filipino in the Greenhills area in…
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. After all, an aging presidential candidate picking a young (and good-looking) nominee who had made some waves as a state governor, suggested a fresh and…
President Benigno Aquino III delivered his sixth and last State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Monday, July 27, touting the accomplishments of his administration. Though he admitted he is not perfect, he said he did his best in the past five years. A majority (64 percent) of Filipinos in America who voted in the…
