PEACE-MAKER Jose de Venecia Jr. Former Speaker of the House News reports noted the confluence of Christianity’s Easter Sunday, Judaism’s Passover, and Islam’s Ramadan last weekend, a rare event which purportedly happens only every 33 years. An article by reporter Jake Thomas in Newsweek...
OF TREES AND FOREST Former Senate President Manny Villar One important lesson I have learned is that life always offers us a second chance. Even when we experience failures and setbacks, life always gives us a do-over so we can try again and succeed. This, I believe, is the real message of Easter....
PEACE-MAKER Jose de Venecia Jr. Former Speaker of the House In the course of our modest ventures into political party and parliamentary diplomacy in Asia and the international community, we consistently spoke about the need to develop a system of ideas and ideals that will make globalization work...
OF TREES AND FOREST Former Senate President Manny Villar Buried in the plethora of election-related news items this past week was the telephone summit between President Rodrigo Duterte and Chinese President Xi Jinping. According to the statement released by the Presidential Communications Office,...
PEACE-MAKER Jose de Venecia Jr. Former Speaker of the House Indeed, the ongoing electoral campaign is one of the most divisive and vicious in our nation’s political history. More important than the raging political battle, however, is the governance of our country for the next six years, which...
OF TREES AND FOREST Former Senate President Manny Villar What is at stake in the May 2022 elections? Why is it so important to vote according to our conscience and, more importantly, with the interest of the nation in mind? Who among the candidates will provide our country with the leadership...
PEACE-MAKER Jose de Venecia Jr. Former Speaker of the House In 2012, we proposed the convening of a global summit against narcotics. We thought then of the need to unify and coordinate often conflicting national strategies, policies, and programs to counter the worldwide spread of narcotic drugs....
OF TREES AND FOREST Former Senate President Manny Villar The term of President Rodrigo Duterte will end at noon on June 30, 2022. By then he would have completed his six-year term which he won handily during the May 2016 national elections. The 16th President of the Republic will soon graduate to...
PEACE-MAKER Jose de Venecia Jr. Former Speaker of the House In Timor-Leste, an old friend of the Filipino people, former president and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Jose Ramos-Horta is leading the presidential race against current president Francisco “Lu Olo” Guterres and 14 other candidates. He...
OF TREES AND FOREST Former Senate President Manny Villar I am glad that most of the candidates for president have expressed their willingness to continue, in one form or another, “Build, Build, Build,” which is the flagship program of President Rodrigo Duterte. There was some worry that because...
PEACE-MAKER Jose de Venecia Jr. Former Speaker of the House Former President Fidel V. Ramos celebrated his 94th birthday last Thursday, March 18, which was marked by the launching of the Fidel V. Ramos Presidential Library, the first online presidential library in the country. A hero of the Edsa...
OF TREES AND FOREST Former Senate President Manny Villar There is one aspect of the Filipino that I am not a fan of: the penchant of some of us for self-flagellation. We sometimes put ourselves down and express shame instead of pride in our people, in our country. Phrases like “only in the...
