MANILA Under pressure from an angry public, the government here has charged three senators, several former congressmen, members of their staffs, and the alleged mastermind of serial theft of the people’s money with plunder, a non-bailable offense. The big fish among the accused include Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile, a controversial political figure whose long career dates back to… Read More »
MANILA The current scandal here involving the serial theft of the people’s money allocated as pork barrel of members of the Congress confirms once and for all how deep corruption is in the Philippines. It’s been exposed in media that P10 billion in congressional pork barrel has been stolen through ghost projects and beneficiaries over a span of… Read More »
MANILA That’s the verdict of an international investment expert, that the Philippines “looks poised to resume a period of strong growth.” In a recently published book, “Breakout Nations,” Ruchir Sharma of Morgan Stanley Investment Management, writes that the Philippines “is no longer a joke.” “[T]he new president, Benigno ‘Noynoy’ Aquino III, probably has just enough support, and looks… Read More »
MANILA The hottest news here is the expose of a spider’s web of scams allocating congressmen’s pork barrel funds for “ghost” projects, with the actual money going into the private pockets of fraudsters. As the name implies, ghost projects are non-existent, they only appear on paper but not on the ground. The problem is that the public don’t… Read More »
MANILA Leave it to us Filipinos to trivialize a serious occasion. Last July 22 President Benigno Aquino III went to Congress to report on his work and his audience turned the event into an over-the-top fashion show. The President’s State of the Nation Address (SONA) is an annual summing up of the executive department’s accomplishments and plans. And… Read More »
Whenever a senior Filipino professional leaves to work abroad, alarms bells ring out and panic reigns here in the Philippines. There goes the talent, woe unto us! people cry out. The debate here about a brain drain has been around for decades. OMG, what are we going to do, Dr. Somebody has abandoned us! goes the cry. In… Read More »
When the wave of Filipino professionals landing on North American soil started in the 1960s and 70s, a small number of them included journalists who had already made their mark in Manila. Finding the urge to write and publish irresistible, these scribes itched to start their own publications. On the west coast, the likes of Alex Esclamado and… Read More »
MANILA Are the cheating, stealing, crimes of all sorts and widespread corruption in our country the “new normal”? Let’s take the recent elections (last May 13) as an example. Violence against one another, cheating, unfairness, deception, deviousness, and a general tendency to break the law. These are among the bad things we do just to get what we… Read More »
MANILA …The Philippine economy grew by 7.8 percent in the first quarter of 2013, besting all other Asian nations, including sizzling-hot China. It’s also the highest growth rate so far in President Benigno Aquino III’s tenure. Manufacturing and the construction sector led the way in the unprecedented growth. Government and consumer spending also helped. Behind the Philippines were… Read More »
MANILA I would like to tell you about a man from whom I learned a lot about writing and news reporting. He passed away at age 78 last May 15, the day our last issue came off the press. His name was Raul S. Gonzalez. He was truly an outstanding man of letters. He was a writer, editor,… Read More »