HOTSPOT Many are familiar with the rights and freedoms to a nationality, to travel and to unimpeded navigation, and to due process in immigration and other immigration rights. A lot are embedded in our national and international laws, and in treaties. These matters are especially timely, given the...
HOTSPOT Did you know that there were 18,087 positions at stake in the 2022 elections? Give or take a few positions whose terms of office exceed three years, this would be roughly the same number of positions to be contested in 2025. I again looked for this number after I saw a widely-shared social...
HOTSPOT It is unconventional wisdom but governments, past and present, actually owe generations of jeepney drivers and operators a lot. The fact is, these family-run micro-enterprises have been the backbone of public transportation nationwide. Without them, there’s no mobility across the...
HOTSPOT Tonyo Cruz We have been told many times that it is the Constitution’s fault that our economy is not developing. Never mind wealth and income inequality, regressive taxation, institutional corruption, regulatory capture, and the chronic joblessness as evidenced by more labor migration. The...
HOTSPOT Tonyo Cruz I have been refusing to attend big events but the Manila Bulletin’s recent 123rd anniversary celebration was an exception. I made sure I would be able to go so I could again see and of course thank our editors and our president for the space and moral support for my role as a...
HOTSPOT Tonyo Cruz If House ways and means committee chair Rep. Joey Salceda would have his way, a new tax would be slapped on luxury watches, cars priced above ₱5-million, private planes, residential property above ₱100-million per unit, liquor costing above ₱20,000 per bottle, and leather...
HOTSPOT Tonyo Cruz I first met Owen Bayog in late 1997 at a public school in New Washington, Aklan. We were there for a National Council meeting of the College Editors Guild of the Philippines. The minute I saw Owen, I thought we won’t ever get along. He was huge and had a menacing look. Sure...
HOTSPOT Tonyo Cruz As of press time, I haven’t seen or heard commemorations of the second People Power uprising’s 22nd anniversary this past week, either official state-led ceremonies or alternative events. Neither have we heard of preparations to mark the 37th anniversary of the first People...
HOTSPOT Tonyo Cruz There are a lot of reasons to be angry nowadays, this early in 2023. But I take inspiration from folks who courageously propose brilliant solutions and alternatives to problems. Special kudos to those whose ideas focus on empowering the poor and working people. We may have less...
HOTSPOT Tonyo Cruz Today, I mark my ninth year as a Manila Bulletin columnist. Since I started writing columns on Jan. 4, 2014, I may have already written about 500 columns. Exactly how many pieces I’ve written and got published, I don’t know. What I’m sure about is that I’m grateful for...
HOTSPOT Tonyo Cruz The SIM card registration law’s implementing rules and regulations have been released, and the Department of Information Communication Technology (DICT) has wasted no time pressing the public and telcos to immediately register. Perhaps the DICT head and the President should...
HOTSPOT Tonyo Cruz I’m quite sure many have seen the memes, cartoons and short essays about it. The younger set from the Gen Z are up in arms over what they sense is being considered as “retirement funds” of their parents and elders. In their thinking, that is unfair and flatly wrong. They...
