IT MUST have been on the minds of many even before TV news anchor Jessica Soho said it on her new program, “State of the Nation,” because when she did say it, and the story about it circulated, the news came to many harassed consumers with the shock of familiarity. In the Philippines, she said, [...]
AMONG THE useful World War II relics that have been adapted for peacetime use is the jeep and the Ro-Ro sea vessel. The wartime jeep has been transformed by Filipino craftsmen into the jeepney that has become the primary means of transportation in many areas of the archipelago. “Ro-Ro” is short for the “Roll On-Roll [...]
WE FILIPINOS feel Pope John Paul II’s special kind of love. His beatification is a source of joy for us. My personal experience with John Paul touched me forever. During his last visit, he gave an audience at the Convention Center. I was seated at the side entrance when suddenly the door swung open and [...]
NO MATTER how silly you may think all the hoopla surrounding the “Royal Wedding” is, chances are you will be seated before your TV set today, following the events leading up to the union of Prince William of Wales and “Miss” Kate Middleton, a commoner. For many of my generation, the wedding coverage will doubtless [...]
THAT CABLE TV and the Internet have made the world a smaller place will be demonstrated again this weekend when the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton as well as the beatification of John Paul II will be broadcast live from London today, April 29, and from the Vatican on May 1, respectively. Based [...]
WASHINGTON, DC—Dropping bombs as a solution to the world’s trouble spots may be falling out of fashion (with the notable exception of Libya), but finger-wagging is definitely back in. Hardly a day goes by without a major newspaper somewhere in the West offering sage and specific, but often not-so-friendly, advice to distant struggling democracies on [...]
I WAS just in Cebu to give the commencement speech at our UP campus there. I thought that readers—whether Bisaya or not—might be interested in some parts of the speech where I talked about the history and languages of the region. For today’s column, I want to focus on the language aspect. There is a [...]
JUSTICE CONCHITA Carpio-Morales said it’s the biggest joke of the century. Former Executive Secretary-now-Sen. Joker Arroyo thinks it’s an insult to President Cory Aquino. The Inquirer’s April 14 editorial “Tree of injustice” said it all. It was a sad day when the Supreme Court ruled that the 20 percent block of San Miguel shares belongs [...]
OVER THE past several weeks, I’ve heard these arguments against the RH bill. None of them finds its mark. The first is that the RH bill won’t solve poverty. Of course it won’t. Not by itself anyway. What bill or measure will solve poverty? Not land reform, not environmental protection, not government subsidy for food [...]
“BIGGEST JOKE of the century,” according to a recent banner headline in this newspaper for an article on the Supreme Court’s decision that Marcos’ ally Eduardo Cojuangco’s purchase of 20 percent of San Miguel Corp. shares in 1983 was legal and therefore wasn’t ill-gotten wealth. The phrase was really an uncalled-for hyperbole made by senior [...]
THE PLUNDER and other charges that lawyer Francisco Chavez filed on Tuesday against former president Gloria Arroyo and three of her former officials are serious, not so much because they are new but because they are old. In 2004, Chavez, then a senatorial candidate, was one of the critics who accused Arroyo, then the president [...]
THE COMING royal wedding in Engla nd and the beatification of Pope John Paul II in Rome will afford the world a chance to see how two ancient institutions—the monarchy and the papacy—reinforce their claim to perpetuity and continuing relevance by a show of pomp and pageantry. Supposed to be historical rivals, especially considering their [...]
