Dear EDSA veterans: 10 tough questions
tonyo 30 years have passed since the people’s uprising that surprised and inspired the world. But look at you now: Begging for attention and blaming everyone else for the flagging EDSA…
Vote on veto override: Too much to ask?
Speaker Feliciano Belmonte did not vote against the SSS pension increase bill. Actually, not a single congressman voted against it. It was approved unanimously without objections last year. And so…
EDSA Dos: 15 years later
This week, the state and our “national leaders” conveniently and cynically forgot. And so let’s remember and never forget EDSA Dos (Jan. 16-20, 2001). My elder sister and younger brother…
‘Bukaneg’ Villanueva is 2015 Titus Brandsma awardee
The prestigious Titus Brandsma Award Philippines on Nov. 27 honored multimedia journalist Raymund B. Villanueva for “emergent leadership in journalism”, an affirmation both for the awardee’s brand of journalism and…
System fail: ‘Marcos pa rin’ in 2016
30 years have passed since the People Power uprising, but the post-Marcos regimes from Corazon Aquino up to BS Aquino III have all failed to prosecute and punish the Marcoses…
Colmenares: Platform for an industrial and progressive Philippines
Neri Colmenares, three-term Bayan Muna Representative and House Senior Deputy Minority Leader, is running for senator under the Makabayan Coalition. He has also been endorsed by Senators Grace Poe and…
Best-possible 2016 outcome: Senator Colmenares, 17 Makabayan partylist reps
This could be the best outcome in the 2016 senatorial and congressional races: Neri Colmenares wins a Senate seat, and Makabayan Coalition’s eight partylists get a maximum 17 House seats.…
‘Matapobre syndrome’
The “matapobre syndrome” has afflicted politics for a long time, and many continue to spread it. According to them, the “masa” are indolent, incapable of doing great things, uneducated, ignorant,…
Mensahe sa mga Apo nina Heneral Luna at Mabini
Prepared remarks delivered at the Kabataan Partylist national convention, on 28 Sept. 2015 at the Amoranto Theater, Quezon City: Thank you, President Marjo Tucay, for inviting me to speak at…
Free posters: Take a stand to #StopLumadKillings
Thanks to crowdsourced suggestions, here are 40 posters to show your stand in support of Lumads and to #StopLumadKillings. Curious about the Lumad issue? Check out the Lumad Reader: What…
#StopLumadKillings: What you need to know
Our Lumad kababayans need help — and understanding. Here is a Lumad 2015 Reader, which aims to gather as much relevant and verifiable information on what’s happening in Lumads in…
Customs: Imported books are unconditionally duty-free, tax free
Whether you bought them or getting them as gifts, imported books are exempted from Customs duties and taxes — period. Who said so? First, the global Florence Agreement signed by…
INC rally aftermath: Back to normal?
Metro Manila is back to normal, according to Mar Roxas after the controversial Iglesia ni Cristo demonstrations of Aug. 27-30. Malacañang has congratulated itself over an “agreement” with the INC…
Dear Ka Eduardo: An open letter to INC’s executive minister
Aug. 29, 2015 Ka Eduardo V. Manalo Executive Minister Iglesia ni Cristo Dear Ka Eduardo: I am respectfully addressing this letter to you as a fellow Filipino citizen and because…
Zero Remittance Day: Tamang panahon, tamang paraan
Sa totoo lang, tuloy pa rin ang inspection, pagnanakaw at pambabastos ng Customs sa mga balikbayan box. Bakit? Dahil di naman inatras ni PNoy ang inutos nitong P600-milyong target para…
Balikbayan box as political casket
It was somewhat unexpected that this would ever happen under the watch of the son of a great man who, not unlike OFWs, spent years living abroad in exile before…
Uber, GrabTaxi: Disruption isn’t enough
For a metropolis with run-down trains, horrible traffic, and “choosy” taxi drivers, the app-based Uber and GrabTaxi services give Metro Manila folk a new choice. With a few taps, one…
Dear Senators: Here are 6 reasons why SIM card registration is a scam
Aug. 14, 2015 Dear Senators: On behalf of TXTPower.org Inc., the Computer Professionals Union (CPU), the Advocates of Science and Technology for the People (AGHAM) and our communities, we are…
#PUSO2019: Broken hearts and infrastructure
The news broke the nation’s heart: FIBA turned down the Philippines’ bid to host the FIBA World Cup in 2019. It was not so much that FIBA thumbed down the…
Makabayang KontraSONA
Here’s the full text of the Makabayang KontraSONA delivered by House Senior Deputy Minority Leader Neri Colmenares of Bayan Muna on August 10, 2015 at the House of Representatives: Kay…
UNFAIR MATRIX: Facts and figures about MRT and LRT
No, the MRT is not owned by the government. It is owned by MRT Corp. in a Public-Private Partnership project deal in 1995 or 20 years ago this year. Under…
The circus comes to town
After more than hundreds of millions of pesos worth of total ad spending that swamped us with countless hours of perfectly-legal political advertising and months of horse-trading and backroom deals…