HOTSPOT Tonyo Cruz A lot has been going on, especially as we went into full election campaign mode. I forgot to remember and to mark the eighth anniversary of this column here on the Manila Bulletin. I started this on Jan. 5, 2014, initially coming out twice weekly. Yes, folks, it has been eight...
HOTSPOT Tonyo Cruz Supporters of the dictator’s son cannot hide their glee over the recent polls showing their candidate with a commanding lead as the 2022 election campaign starts. But that’s where the problem begins — not for other candidates but for the frontrunner. He has 80 days to...
HOTSPOT Tonyo Cruz Philippine elections are not as simple as some would like us to think, and there’s no better (or worse) example than this 2022 edition. The conventional wisdom in certain circles is that this is merely a battle between the smart and the stupid, or the educated and the...
HOTSPOT Tonyo Cruz For a few minutes last Jan. 7, I was able to speak with a good friend on her sickbed. Although very ill, she was lucid and quick to remember me. But gone were the days that conversations were hard to end. Before, there would be endless topics to talk about. This time, I felt she...
HOTSPOT Tonyo Cruz The most beautiful legacy of the First Quarter Storm of 1970 is the idea that young people have roles to play in the country beyond and above what is considered normal or acceptable. It expanded the democratic horizon for us. Remembering this event and its effects on Philippine...
HOTSPOT Tonyo Cruz The new year is a new beginning. We would divide the house on May 9 and on June 30 witness the inauguration of a new president and administration. We were told that elections are the most solemn democratic exercise. We convinced millions to register to vote, and gave them the...
HOTSPOT Tonyo Cruz We originally just wanted to end the year with a party. But the idea quickly changed into something more potent: Gather and send help to fellow Filipinos mercilessly battered by typhoon Odette. And so on Thursday, Dec. 23, about a hundred Sari Sari club members and friends...
HOTSPOT Tonyo Cruz Leni Robredo is in a unique position among all presidential candidates. She is not just a candidate. She is the incumbent vice president. The Constitution provides that if the president dies, resigns or is removed from office, the vice president takes over the presidency and its...
HOTSPOT Tonyo Cruz For Elmer Labog, chairperson of the labor center Kilusang Mayo Uno and one of the two Makabayan senatorial candidates, human rights should be a top issue in the 2022 presidential race. Labog knows human rights. He was one of the many young Filipinos of the late 1960s and 1970s...
HOTSPOT Tonyo Cruz The title of this commentary could perhaps be one of the opposition’s most stinging and truth-seeking conversation-starters as we march towards the election. It is a question that waits to be answered by workers who despite repeated claims of economic growth or recovery have...
HOTSPOT Tonyo Cruz As protests mark the anniversary of the hero’s burial for Ferdinand Marcos, allow me to offer my space to honor the real heroes who fought for freedom and democracy, even to point of offering their lives. These names, all vetted by the Bantayog ng mga...
HOTSPOT Tonyo Cruz A couple of years back, Cebu City experimented with opening its city library throughout the night. The results were a pleasant surprise to the mayor and the city librarian. Every night, hundreds would go to the city library along Fuente Osmena each night to read and study. All...
