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By Rigoberto Tiglao
This paper’s recent banner story described 2012 “as one of the best years ever for the Philippines.” Déjà vu: Businessmen were euphoric over the “surprising” economic growth right after martial law was imposed—nearly 10 percent in 1973, still an unbeaten record. The stock market boomed in 1973, with volumes growing five times, and indices by 115 percent (compared to 50 percent last year). The economy boomed, posting a 6-percent annual average GDP growth from 1972 to 1980.
Posted: January 9th, 2013 in Columnists,Columns,Editor's Pick,Inquirer Opinion | Read More »
By Rigoberto Tiglao
The Anti-Money Laundering Law (AMLC), amended in 2003, was enacted mainly to prevent organized crime and global terrorists from using the banking system. President Aquino however has debased it, turning it into his deadly weapon against his enemies.
Posted: January 3rd, 2013 in Columnists,Columns,Editor's Pick,Featured Columns,Featured Headline,Inquirer Opinion | Read More »
By Rigoberto Tiglao
IN THE ’70s, Cebu was heroically defiant of Marcos’ dictatorship. By some quirk of fate, it is again proving to be the nemesis of a more modern type of one-man rule, this time mainly based on the power of media and with a Machiavellian expertise in manipulating laws for its vile aims. For nearly [...]
Posted: December 26th, 2012 in Columnists,Columns,Editor's Pick,Inquirer Opinion | Read More »
By Rigoberto Tiglao
Despite former National Food Authority Administrator Angelito Banayo’s claims of a tuwid na daan policy during his watch, International Monetary Fund trade figures show that rice smuggling in the Aquino administration’s first two years—abetted by the NFA head himself, witnesses recently alleged in the Senate—has exploded to unprecedented levels, estimated at over P16.6 billion worth during this period.
Posted: December 19th, 2012 in Columnists,Columns,Inquirer Opinion | Read More »
By Rigoberto Tiglao
Barely six months after President Aquino removed Renato Corona as chief justice, his replacement—the grossly inexperienced Lourdes Sereno who had boasted of “18 years of judicial stability”—created a crisis in the Supreme Court that has dented its integrity as the bastion of the rule of law.
Posted: December 13th, 2012 in Columnists,Columns,Editor's Pick,Inquirer Opinion | Read More »
By Rigoberto Tiglao
Being an ex-smoker, I certainly commiserate with President Benigno Aquino’s failure to free himself from nicotine. But he is the President of the Republic, whose sworn duty is to implement the Constitution, and every law and rule that flow out from that basic law. And illegal cigarette stubs shouldn’t after all be littering the straight [...]
Posted: December 5th, 2012 in Columnists,Columns,Editor's Pick,Inquirer Opinion | Read More »
By Rigoberto Tiglao
Foreign direct investments into the Philippines during President Aquino’s first two years in office have steeply fallen, putting the country only a notch above Cambodia as the least-favored site in East Asia for offshore investors.
Posted: November 29th, 2012 in Columnists,Columns,Inquirer Opinion | Read More »
By Rigoberto Tiglao
When President Aquino needs to hit his enemies, and make it appear as if the “masses” are doing it, he calls on his fake party-list Akbayan. Aping its boss, when Akbayan needs to badmouth its critics, it calls on its letter-to-the-editor-writing trolls, and in my case recently, on a bogus OFW leader in Greece, one Jose Valencia.
Posted: November 21st, 2012 in Columnists,Columns,Inquirer Opinion | Read More »
By Rigoberto Tiglao
Smuggling in the Philippines is at its worst under President Aquino’s administration, with the smuggled value averaging $19.6 billion annually, an explosion from the comparable figures of $3.1 billion and $3.8 billion yearly during the terms of Presidents Joseph Estrada and Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, respectively.
Posted: November 14th, 2012 in Columnists,Columns,Inquirer Opinion | Read More »
By Rigoberto Tiglao
THE DISQUALIFICATION of Akbayan as a party-list group is a litmus test for the Commission on Elections’ integrity and independence from President Aquino. Its reasons for disqualifying Ako Bicol, which garnered the biggest number of votes in 2010, and 12 others apply more to this rent-a-demonstrator outfit. It can’t have one standard for Mr. Aquino’s party-list group and another for others.
Posted: November 8th, 2012 in Columnists,Columns,Inquirer Opinion | Read More »
By Rigoberto Tiglao
THE REPORT on financial contributors to Akbayan’s 2010 election kitty is an exposé: President Aquino’s family, supporters, and big businessmen allied to him gave this miniscule group the electoral war chest to win two seats in Congress. Out of the 115 donors who gave Akbayan’s P110-million campaign funds, only 24 families, groups, or tycoons [...]
Posted: October 31st, 2012 in Columnists,Columns,Editor's Pick,Inquirer Opinion | Read More »
By Rigoberto Tiglao
Rather than a legacy of peace, President Aquino’s pact with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front contained in the “Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro” will be his curse on the nation. The consequences of the pact, renewed violence in Mindanao and even terrorist attacks in urban centers, will outlive his term, and will be one of the biggest headaches of the next president.
Posted: October 25th, 2012 in Columnists,Columns,Inquirer Opinion | Read More »
