HOTSPOT Former president Duterte’s appearance this week before the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee could be the beginning of the end for this sad chapter in our history. Many were furious that Sen. Koko Pimentel, the hearing’s chairman, allowed the former president to speak freely, even...
HOTSPOT As I write this, a tropical storm continues to inundate huge parts of Luzon, with water volume and floods never before experienced in many areas. The impacted area is so huge, the impact so profound, and millions affected that it is quite certain that Kristine (international name: Trami)...
HOTSPOT If anyone told us soon after the May 2022 elections that by October 2024, there would be marathon hearings in the House and Senate holding the Duterte administration accountable, nobody would have believed it. Neither would we believe any prediction then that Congress would take on Sara...
HOTSPOT There are days when I wake up and forget. I would think that I would have lunch with Mama or imagine visiting our house to see her. It would take a moment to gather my thoughts and reconcile with the fact that she’s gone. In a fortnight, it would be two years since the October shock of...
HOTSPOT As I write this, the filing of Certificates of Candidacy and Certificates of Nomination and Acceptance by aspirants is in full swing at venues designated by the Commission on Elections. Many, or most of the declared candidates have been met with groans and moans. While the filing period is...
HOTSPOT Filipinos have a special level of disdain for traditional politicians who, after winning the elections, pamper their bailiwicks while punishing barangays or neighborhoods that did not vote for them. The same goes for the sore losers who blame voters for not seeing the “wisdom” of...
HOTSPOT The House and Senate hearings into Vice President Sara Duterte’s confidential funds, the Duterte administration’s bloody drug war, and POGOs, including those involving characters like Alice Guo, are an absolutely welcome development. Cynics say the hearings can only be political...
HOTSPOT If there are what we could consider among the most essential government programs, two would be quite familiar to many Filipinos, and I suppose nobody would question the decision of the House appropriations committee to raise the budget for them by a whopping ₱1.29 billion. Committee...
HOTSPOT They may not be talking or they may not totally like one another at all, but what’s important right now is that they are doing what needs to be done in Congress. I’m referring of course to the oppositionist forces of Makabayan congresspersons led by France Castro and Akbayan Senator...
HOTSPOT Most people have surely forgotten the President’s state of the nation address of July 22, 2013. But for alumni of the UP National Institute of Geological Sciences, countless activists, and perhaps members of the media, they surely remember the sight of an activist hugging a crying cop....
HOTSPOT Satur Ocampo and France Castro are in a unique position among political figures of the Philippine Left, as they fight a conviction for child abuse. Together with friends, we campaigned with and for Ka Satur over two decades ago when he led Bayan Muna to the top of the 2001 partylist race,...
HOTSPOT Debates and discussions about the family saga of multiple Olympic gold medalist Carlos Yulo continue to rage online. Every day, a new angle comes out, making many feel that there’s no end to it in sight. At the same time, a journalism professor and a veteran journalist have separately...
