Author Archives: admin

Reflections after a prison visit

By admin | December 31, 2025

Published by Bulatlat No one enters and leaves a jail facility in the Philippines without being outraged by the conditions of inmates, the slow pace of the justice system, and the arrogant indifference of those who could do something to address these problems. It is a trip into the underbelly of the system that identifies […]

Posted in places | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Guns, goons, and gold? Now it’s dynasty, disinformation, and substitution

By admin | December 21, 2025

Published by the Philippine Daily Inquirer Despite the clamor for reforms, our electoral system is still plagued by violence and corruption which we often refer to as the use of “guns, goons, and gold” by traditional politicians or “trapos.” Since 2016, we saw the emergence of a new disturbing trend that features the following: brazen […]

Posted in election, nation | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Philippine Exit from Money-laundering ‘Grey List’ Marred by Allegations of Abuse  

By admin | December 8, 2025

Written for The Diplomat Philippine authorities celebrated the country’s removal last week from the money-laundering “grey list” of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), but some civil society groups described it as a “Pyrrhic victory” because of the filing of trumped-up terrorism financing cases against activists and community-based organizations. It remains to be seen whether […]

Posted in nation, reds | Tagged | Leave a comment

Criticism and climate care are under attack in Cambodia

By admin | November 9, 2025

Published by IFEX IFEX’s Asia-Pacific editor Mong Palatino features the work of the Cambodian Center for Human Rights and civil society groups in promoting the empowerment of environmental activists and land rights defenders in Cambodia. The rise in land disputes across Cambodia in recent years coincided with the dismantling of opposition parties and the forced […]

Posted in east asia, greens | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Has the Impeachment of Vice President Sara Duterte Been Defeated?

By admin | October 19, 2025

Written for the Diplomat As politicians secretly negotiate the terms of the impeachment, various groups are demanding transparency, vowing to hold public vigils and pressure the Senate to proceed with the impeachment trial. The impeachment may be in limbo and held hostage by transactional politics, but the campaign for truth and accountability is very much […]

Posted in nation | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Rodrigo Duterte as VP is anti-democracy variant we should resist

By admin | October 10, 2025

Published by Philippine Daily Inquirer (June 7, 2021) The PDP-Laban’s internal squabble is its problem, but the group’s resolution urging President Duterte to run as vice president should be condemned outright. It has to be named for what it is: a shameless maneuver to extend Mr. Duterte’s term beyond 2022. The PDP-Laban is no ordinary […]

Posted in nation | Tagged | Leave a comment

Congress Hearings Reveal Sordid Details of Duterte’s Drug War

By admin | September 9, 2025

Written for The Diplomat While the International Criminal Court (ICC) is investigating the role of former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte in the bloody enforcement of the “war on drugs,” the House of Representatives has decided to also look into the matter and establish linkages between the drug-related killings and the use of illicit money for […]

Posted in nation | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

The Marcos-Duterte Rift is Getting Nastier and More Personal

By admin | August 26, 2025

Written for The Diplomat The political rivalry of the Marcos and Duterte families has become fiercer, nastier, and more personal. The two powerful dynasties formed a coalition and clinched a landslide victory in the 2022 elections, but this so-called “uniteam” imploded in the last quarter of 2023 until the rift intensified and led to an […]

Posted in nation | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Start your day with coffee and a Global Voices story

By admin | August 3, 2025

I joined Global Voices in July 2006. After almost two decades, I am still part of the GV newsroom as an author and editor for Southeast Asia. I was having a video call with my daughter in December 2024 during the GV summit in Kathmandu when I realized she was only a year old when […]

Posted in media | Tagged | 1 Comment

No peaceful retirement for Sinas, a notorious human rights violator

By admin | July 29, 2025

Published by Bayan Metro Manila General Debold Sinas should be held accountable for his bloody human rights legacy instead of being appointed to a civilian position in the bureaucracy. His ‘mañanita scandal’ should at least make him ineligible from getting a new post in the government. He has bigger sins that should warrant an immediate […]

Posted in Bayan, nation | Tagged , | Leave a comment