HOTSPOT Tonyo Cruz Whether our friends agree or not, at the core of the arguments against more widespread use and study of Filipino and Philippine languages is overweening colonial mentality. They won’t admit it, but they have embraced the lie that our languages are inferior, incapable of...
HOTSPOT Tonyo Cruz Alongside news of the Abra earthquake, rising prices, mass transport woes and other national issues, our journalists have reported about newcomer Senator Robin Padilla complaining about the tough time he’s having in the Senate plenary debates. It is easy to poke fun at Padilla...
HOTSPOT Tonyo Cruz On May 13, Vice President Leni Robredo declared a “fight against disinformation,” and called on supporters to help make Angat Buhay the biggest volunteer network in history. Conscious that supporters are stricken with grief or anger, Robredo said: “Ang paghilom ay hindi...
HOTSPOT Tonyo Cruz Before leaving office, the Duterte administration took a final swipe at independent and critical media outlets and cause-oriented organizations. On June 8, the National Telecommunications Commission ordered the blocking of their websites, on the basis of a letter from the...
HOTSPOT Tonyo Cruz In his inaugural speech, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. politely praised and thanked his predecessor Rodrigo Duterte. Surely, Marcos owes a lot to Duterte for paving the way for his family’s triumphant return to Malacanang Palace, starting with the 2016 burial of the remains of the...
HOTSPOT Tonyo Cruz Had the cynics prevailed, there would be no Pride events this year. This year’s Pride events in the Philippines come at a most challenging time: A new Marcos is set to become president while the outgoing leader presides over a period of escalating prices of petroleum and basic...
HOTSPOT Tonyo Cruz Big business, foreign chambers of commerce and foreign creditors cannot hide their glee over President-elect Ferdinand Marcos, Jr.’s choices for his economic team. They are so happy to see the names of Benjamin Diokno, Arsenio Balisacan, and Felipe Medalla. One thing should...
HOTSPOT Tonyo Cruz In an ideal world, the partylist system would attract outstanding leaders from mass movements, civil society, non-government organizations, cause-oriented groups and parties of the poor and the marginalized. But we don’t live in an ideal world. The traditional politicians,...
HOTSPOT Tonyo Cruz As we enter the final week of the campaign, it is important to look back at history’s valuable Marcos-related lesson: The Marcoses could be defeated. They’re not unbeatable. We have done it twice in history. In 1986, after the dictator Marcos tried to tamper with the results...
HOTSPOT Tonyo Cruz The past few years have been a challenge to Filipino farmers. We’ve seen and heard reports of produce being discarded, and farmers going bankrupt due to rice tariffication and illegal imports. In many parts of the country, death squads have orphaned farming families or split...
HOTSPOT Tonyo Cruz A good number of people are reacting negatively to what happened at a show where kids were unable to answer basic social studies and history questions. The disappointment is understandable. But the problem is that many assume that Philippine history is a major subject in the...
HOTSPOT Tonyo Cruz The unrelenting “red scare” has not worked. Vice President Leni Robredo has gained ground while the dictator’s son went down in the latest public-opinion survey despite the rabid anti-communist rhetoric and red-tagging accusations hurled against her. Robredo’s association...
