PEACE-MAKER Looking back on years spent in public office and the campaigns that shaped them is a mixture of nostalgia, lessons learned the hard way, a clearer understanding of the complexities of public service, and the joy of having contributed to nation-building. Political campaigns are...
PEACE-MAKER As our modest contribution in strengthening partnership and linkages between Asia and Europe, we in the 350-member International Conference of Asian Political Parties (ICAPP) together with the European People’s Party (EPP), European Conservatives and Reformists Group (ECR), and...
PEACE-MAKER Since the bloody conflict between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces began in Khartoum in the middle of April this year, nearly three million people have been displaced, including some 650,000 who have fled to neighboring countries. About 3,000 people have been...
PEACE-MAKER The lingering conflicts and potential flashpoints in Asia, with possible wide-ranging catastrophic consequences, obstruct our region’s progress and peaceful development. While there exists a number of mechanisms to promote peace and resolve conflicts, we believe there is a need to...
PEACE-MAKER The recent happenings in the Lakas-CMD (Christian-Muslim Democrats) brought back memories of the beginnings of the party as well as the many challenges and struggles we and our partymates faced together. When we, together with then former Defense Secretary Fidel V. Ramos and former...
PEACE-MAKER In April 2016, the organizations of political parties of Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Africa convened for the first time in Jakarta to explore ways and means of economic and political cooperation among our three continents. The historic (in a sense) meeting was held among...
PEACE-MAKER Since early 2020, we have been spending most of our time in our Dagupan City home, which is a short walking distance from the Lingayen Gulf, where General Douglas MacArthur and, earlier, General Masaharu Homma landed on Jan. 9, 1945 and Dec. 22, 1941, respectively. To this day, we...
PEACE-MAKER Jose de Venecia Jr. Former Speaker of the House After some 17 months of negotiations, which at times were on the brink of collapse, the United States and Iran are reportedly close to striking a deal to revive the 2015 nuclear accord. We share the hopes of many in the global community...
PEACE-MAKER Jose de Venecia Jr. Former Speaker of the House In our column dated March, 20, 2022, we paid tribute to former President Fidel V. Ramos who celebrated his 94th birthday on March 18. Last Sunday, July 31, FVR, as he was popularly known, who served as the 12th President of the...
PEACE-MAKER Jose de Venecia Jr. Former Speaker of the House Sixteen years ago, on January 2006, as then speaker of the house, we organized a Global Interfaith Dialogue here in Manila, where leaders of government, parliament, academe, civil society, religion, and faith-based organizations from the...
PEACE-MAKER Jose de Venecia Jr. Former Speaker of the House Chaos, fear, and uncertainty overwhelmed the Afghan people, following the withdrawal of the US forces from Afghanistan, terminating its mission in the country which lasted 20 years. In just a few weeks since the pullout of American troops,...
PEACE-MAKER Jose de Venecia Jr. Former Speaker of the House Some international observers expressed fears that the election of Ebrahim Raisi, an ultraconservative judiciary chief, as president of Iran would usher in a period of uneasy relations between Iran and the United States. Raisi, who...
