An analysis of contemporary history would show that it is the norm for Philippine politics to move at an unhurried pace. The Aquino-led government installed by the first People Power Revolution, for example, had to wait for nearly a year after its assumption of authority before it could ratify its 1987 Constitution. In the 2010 presidential elections, it took Congress almost a month to declare an official winner, even with the help of a computerized and automated polling system.
It has been more than a decade since the last bid to impeach the highest-ranking official of one branch of the Philippine government. Whereas the executive branch melted in the spotlight in 2000 for former President Joseph Estrada’s alleged shenanigans, the judiciary now faces the blinding lights of media, as Chief Justice Renato Corona takes [...]
The entire Arroyo issue is as frenzied and complicated as it looked the night of November 15. Former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her husband attempted to leave the country after a Supreme Court decision permitted her to travel, only to be stopped at immigration. That night, the general sentiment was split between two opposing camps: justice served, and justice denied.
From the discovery of the critical state of Greece’s public finances and the rapid contagion to most of the European sovereign debt market in 2010, the European Union (EU) now finds itself in a precarious situation: a Greek default has been narrowly avoided, but the reforms necessary to comprehensively address the European Debt Crisis still need to be put in place.
On September 6, the results of the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings for 2011 were released. For the second year running, no Philippine university made it to the Top 300. With the University of the Philippines and Ateneo de Manila University placing 332nd and 360th respectively, the cream of our country’s intellectual crop have plummeted down a steep decline—as far as QS is concerned, that is.
Conspicuously absent from the list of priority bills presented by President Noynoy Aquino to Congress during the last Legislative Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) meeting was the Freedom of Information (FOI) bill. The Palace explained that more time would be needed to study the bill and address the concerns regarding its specific provisions.
What were your reactions on the news of Ateneo changing its security agency? Although I heard about this, I am not really fully aware of the reason of the management’s move. I have gotten close with the guards, and so replacing them would make me sad. They have been very kind, considerate and helpful. However, [...]
The Ateneo Commission on Elections (Comelec) is starting to sound like a broken record. At the start of every election season, candidates are often at a loss as to what to do. Unclear instructions coupled with strict deadlines do not make for a good combination. Add to that the possibility of initially being disqualified despite passing all necessary documents, no thanks to Comelec’s faulty record-keeping.
“Ang budget po ang pinakamalinaw na pagsasabuhay ng ating tuwid na landas.” This was one of President Noynoy Aquino’s most sweeping statements in his recent State of the Nation Address (SONA), and it says quite a lot about the direction Aquino intends to lead us in for the next five years.
If there is one thing the world can thank a contemporary American politician for, it is probably the mainstreaming of the world’s environmental concerns. Indeed, following the immense success of his documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, only climate change denialists would still attempt to argue with Al Gore’s decision to dabble in filmmaking.