By BENJIE OLIVEROS Bulatlat.com In analyzing the democratic revolutions of the late 18th century, a political economist once said that the rallying call of liberty, equality, and fraternity became liberty from the constraints of the monarchy and the feudal set-up – freedom for the capitalists to expand their capital, and for peasants from feudal bondage…
Category: Commentary
Satur C. Ocampo | Greeks’ woes are Pinoys’, too
By Satur C. Ocampo At Ground Level | The Philippine Star Last Wednesday militant Filipino trade unionists rallied in front of the Greek embassy in solidarity with a two-day general strike in financially-prostrate Greece. The strike aimed at blocking the Parliament from approving a package of austerity measures that the Papandreou government had pushed to…
Carol Pagaduan-Araullo | Independent foreign policy
By Carol Pagaduan-Araullo Streetwise | BusinessWorld The territorial dispute over the resource-rich and strategically-located Spratlys islands, highlighted by alleged recent incursions and other aggressive actions of China into areas also claimed by the Philippines and Vietnam, underscores the importance of an independent and non-aligned foreign policy for small and weak nations like the Philippines. This…
Luis V. Teodoro | Haunted
By LUIS V. TEODORO Vantage Point | BusinessWorld HE’S been dead for 22 years, having died in Honolulu, Hawaii on September 28, 1989 at the age of 72, but Ferdinand Marcos haunts us still. The most recent manifestation of the ghost of atrocities past came in the form of his children’s pushing a resolution in…
Benjie Oliveros | Reality bites
By BENJIE OLIVEROS Bulatlat.com How could one explain the dip in the net satisfaction rating of President Benigno Aquino III from 51 percent in November 2010 to 46 percent in June 2011? Should the Aquino administration be alarmed? Publicly, Malacañang is shrugging off the results of the most recent survey of the Social Weather Stations.…
Carol Pagaduan-Araullo | Foreign intervention: bane or boon?
By Carol Pagaduan-Araullo Streetwise | BusinessWorld One aspect of the debate over what the Philippines can do in its territorial dispute with China over the Spratlys is the wisdom of inviting, nay imploring, the US, by invoking the Mutual Defense Treaty and waxing sentimental over “historic ties”, to back up the Philippine claims militarily. Even…
Satur C. Ocampo | Kudos to Andre Agassi
By Satur C. Ocampo At Ground Level | The Philippine Star I am not a tennis buff. And I have not followed the career of any of the Grand Slam champions, whether in the French Open, the Wimbledon, or the US Open. My acquaintance with the game and its international stars — such as Andre…
Luis V. Teodoro | Asking for it
By LUIS V. TEODORO Vantage Point | BusinessWorld THE SUPREME COURT has granted a petition for live coverage of the Ampatuan Massacre trial filed by media advocacy groups, TV networks, individual journalists, and academics from the University of the Philippines. But it has imposed conditions some media organizations are already describing as difficult if not…
Benjie Oliveros | Pathetic way to assert a country’s sovereign right
By BENJIE OLIVEROS Bulatlat.com Pity the Philippines. When China issued a not-so-veiled warning that it would use force against any “incursions” in the part fo the Spratly Islands that it is claiming, Vietnam reacted by protesting strongly. The Aquino government first made known its wish that the US would supply more arms to it through…
Luis V. Teodoro | Tales twice told
By LUIS V. TEODORO Vantage Point | BusinessWorld IT was one of those statements that make no sense, but which some Catholic bishops are especially adept at making. Butuan Bishop Juan De Dios Pueblos said House Bill 1799, or the divorce bill, will lead to more immorality in Philippine society. The faithful should be trembling…
Satur C. Ocampo | Repeal the EPIRA
By Satur C. Ocampo At Ground Level | The Philippine Star June 8, 2011 marked 10 years of implementation of the controversial Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA), which then President Arroyo railroaded into approval by the 11th Congress and promptly signed. This law has systematically hastened the transfer of control over power generation and…