Author Archives: admin

The Left as Alternative

By admin | February 17, 2012

First part: Philippine Politics 1969-2009 If power grab is the yardstick of political victory, then it must be concluded that the Philippine Left had failed in the past century. But it wasn’t a complete failure since it was able to achieve varying degrees of hegemony in the country especially in the peripheries of the archipelago. […]

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Southeast Asia: The January Spring

By admin | January 29, 2012

It seems that the winds of change have arrived early this year in Southeast Asia, which saw the unprecedented release of more than 600 political prisoners in Burma, the acquittal of Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim over sodomy charges, the start of the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona of the Philippines, and the […]

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Southeast Asia’s Elder Statesmen

By admin | January 18, 2012

Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore, Mahathir Mohamad of Malaysia, King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand, Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei and Juan Ponce Enrile of the Philippines – all have something in commons: they belong to Southeast Asia’s prominent club of senior citizen statesmen. Politicians may be getting younger, but it doesn’t mean the old guard […]

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Youth, Good Governance, Human Development

By admin | January 15, 2012

Speech during the National Congress on Good Governance, UP NCPAG, January 15, 2012. The keywords of my presentation are youth, good governance, and sustainable human development. The thesis is easy to formulate: The youth have a significant role to perform in promoting good governance in the country to achieve sustainable human development. But how do […]

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Political Morality

By admin | January 12, 2012

What’s the proper reaction if confronted with the odious task of manipulating public resources for personal gain? The honorable thing is to immediately reject it and bravely face the consequences. But others condone corruption while some even try to justify it. Then there are bureaucrats like Romulo Neri who simply prefer to ‘moderate the greed’ […]

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Southeast Asia 2011: A Year of Protest

By admin | January 11, 2012

The Arab Spring and Occupy Wall Street are localized protests that still made a tremendous impact in the world this year. They were organized in response to place-specific issues, but their appeal and influence were immediately global. Through their marching calls of democratic reforms and economic equality, the protests inspired multitudes of activists in many […]

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‘Angry Birds’ of the Philippines

By admin | December 26, 2011

This is the year of tweeting birds, homeless migratory birds, and angry birds. Are there angry birds in the Philippines? Ibong Adarna is the original ‘angry bird’ of the Philippines. It’s a classic in Philippine literature although its author is unknown. It’s a required reading material in schools so students are familiar with the story […]

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Aquino’s Human Rights Problem

By admin | December 23, 2011

Please visit the special page I created about Philippine Airport Terminals. I also edited my profile page The Philippines is often recognized by global institutions for its strong commitment to human rights. Indeed, compared with other countries in the region, where government critics are given insanely long prison sentences and media reports are heavily censored […]

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Timor-Leste’s Debt Plan

By admin | December 14, 2011

With 37 votes in favor, 19 against and 3 abstentions, Timor-Leste’s parliament initially approved on November 11 the general terms of the government’s proposed budget of $1.763 billion for the year 2012. 2012 promises to be an exciting and significant year for this tiny nation. It will celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Restoration of […]

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Geopolitical Mathematics of Cash Transfers

By admin | December 5, 2011

Part 1: My critique of President Noynoy Aquino’s Pantawid Pamilya Program The Department of Social Welfare and Development has been bombarding us with statistical reports on the Conditional Cash Transfer program. It’s either they are obsessively transparent or they are merely trying to convince skeptics that the program’s mega funding is justified. The Liberal diehards […]

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