HOTSPOT Tonyo Cruz The most pernicious use of gaslighting against Filipinos happens during the election season, and we could hear and read it again at this time. I’m talking about the slogan “vote wisely,” as well as the other gaslighting terms “bobotante” and “enabler.” I argue that...
HOTSPOT Tonyo Cruz One of my favorite activists is in the hospital. We can only hope that he recovers, because we want to see him again online and offline. My admiration of him started years ahead of his being a regular reader and fan of this column. His name is Ramon Ramirez: proud son of Albay,...
HOTSPOT Tonyo Cruz There seems to be no end in sight for our collective anxiety over the coronavirus pandemic. Because although we cooperate with authorities in the pandemic response, the policies don’t add up, don’t contribute at all to improving the situation, or could just be an occasion for...
HOTSPOT Remember Severino Ramos, Arsenio Ymas, Wilson Ramilla, Ramon Paloma, Ruben Baylon and the septuagenarian Elmer Cordero? Known as the Piston 6, they were the jeepney drivers arrested, detained and charged in June, 2020 for protesting the lack of adequate aid for their fellow “tsuper” and...
HOTSPOT As I write this, boxer Carlo Paalam is already assured of a silver medal; his fight today will determine if the Philippines could win a phenomenal second Olympic gold medal. This high hope and high expectation stem in no small part from weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz’s historic Olympic gold...
HOTSPOT People have a lot of questions about the government’s Friday announcement that Metro Manila would again be placed under Enhanced Community Quarantine from August 6 to 20. ECQ is the toughest and most painful type of quarantine since 2020, and thus not easy to forget. We don’t want a...
HOTSPOT Tonyo Cruz Many migrant Filipino workers and Filipino immigrants are familiar with pandemic-related aid. I’m not talking about paltry sums of Social Amelioration Program (SAP). I’m talking about adequate aid. The US government sent $2,000 checks to Americans. That’s on top of social...
Vice President Leni Robredo on Sunday, July 18, said that the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccines should be given to hotspot areas where the highly transmissible Delta variant has been detected. Vice President Leni Robredo (Jansen Romero/Manila Bulletin) The United States through the global...
HOTSPOT Tonyo Cruz His daughter’s Facebook post quickly spread like wildfire. Neil Doloricon passed away in the wee hours of July 16. It was just hours after we got news that he was fighting for life in the ICU. We all thought Sir Neil would survive the night and this entire tragic pandemic he...
HOTSPOT Tonyo Cruz Thanks to fellow city residents, health workers, and the local government for making this possible: On Friday, July 9, I got my second dose of a COVID-19 vaccine at a Quezon City public school where I also received the first dose 28 days earlier. Mayor Joy Belmonte deserves...
HOTSPOT Tonyo Cruz Fandoms of traditional politicians are at it again: Perpetuating the myth that their political idols should get credit for the inception or completion of public works projects. Yes, there have been a couple of fact checks about their competing claims. But the biggest fact has so...
HOTSPOT Tonyo Cruz Former President Benigno ‘Noynoy’ Aquino III’s sudden passing on June 24 shocked a nation reeling from the pandemic and his successor’s response to it. Statements of condolences from across the political spectrum immediately flooded mainstream media and social media, in a...
