CHICAGO, Illinois (JGLi) – Philippine Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson’s reason for escaping from the claws of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo maybe on target. He does not like to give her “the pleasure of seeing my life miserable and in danger.”
That is, if he can outlast her everlasting grip on power even if she is desperately grasping [...]

CHICAGO, Illinois (JGLi) – With elections in the Philippines just around the corner, I have a moot question to ask that may not elicit a response: Should Philippine newspaper editorials endorse candidates?
Any newspaper, which tries to answer this question, will be damn if it does or damn if it doesn’t.
When Spain introduced newspapers in the [...]

CHICAGO, Illinois  (JGLi) – I first run across the name Cerge Remonde when I read his bylines as correspondent of Manila Bulletin in the early eighties. Like, Mr. Remonde, I was also with the Bulletin, then, as a police reporter.
I never imagined that I would meet him for the first time in 2005 or about [...]

CHICAGO, Illinois (JGLi) –  Perhaps, one of the more visible faces of the Filipino culture at this time of the year that could eclipse Manny Pacquiao, CNN Hero of the Year Efren Penaflorida, the disastrous images of Typhoon Ondoy or the carnage of journalists or the high-level corruptions in the Arroyo government is no other [...]

                                    “To those much is given, much is expected.”
                                                                                       – Luke 12:48
 CHICAGO, Illinois (JGLi) – The last story written by Alejandro “Bong” Reblando published in the Manila Bulletin was over the triumphant homecoming in General Santos of boxing’s living legend Manny Pacquiao.
It will not, therefore, be a bad idea, for Mr. Pacquiao to return the [...]

JGL Eye
By JOSEPH G. LARIOSA
 
CHICAGO, Illinois (JGLi) –&n=sp; Basketball is a big sport among the vertically challenged Philippine native=. But Manny Pacquiao single-handedly relegated the team sport to the sideline= with his individual sport, using the blinding speed of his hands and his =gile footworks.
And Pacquiao, by winning the improbable seventh title=in as many divisions, [...]

CHICAGO, Illinois (JGLi) – Unfortunately, Filipinos look up to politics as their final destination — the Holy Grail – before they ride into the sunset.
They don’t realize that the career, where they excelled at, is already their last frontier, the be-all and end-all. I don’t see Michael Jordan, Pele or Muhammad Ali running for office.
But [...]

 
CHICAGO, Illinois (JGLi) — Staring over the photos and video clips on the Internet emerging from the Philippines during the past few days was not only disheartening but was also depressing.
But I can only hope and pray that everybody is safe and out of harm’s way.
Metro Manila and its environs used to be spared from [...]

CHICAGO, Illinois (JGLi) – Voting is one of most visible faces of democracy.
But this is also one of the civil rights that is most overlooked and most people take for granted.
In a democracy, it is a given that if you vote, you can be voted upon.
But in reality, a voter cannot just run for any [...]

CHICAGO, Illinois (JGLi) – When I was of pre-school age, I used to see the capital letters engraved on the buckle of the belt of my Dad – CLAC.
I thought it was the English spelling of “clock,” a time piece.
But when I stepped into my grammar school, I, little by little, realized that my Dad [...]