Finally, a truth commission on the Philippine drug killings
Quoting the writer: "It is difficult to say what the Philippine commission will accomplish in the end. But if, in bearing witness, it restores to the nameless dead their names,…
Randy David
The mystique of impunity
The writer says, "If the Filipino people choose to return the Duterte brand to power—knowing now what it costs and having seen where it leads—impunity will not merely survive.…
America’s war, everyone’s problem
"Such conditions breed authoritarian populism—a thirst for bold, willful leadership that breaks all patterns," says the writer.
Caretaker politics
The writer observes: "Today, Mr. Marcos appears to have slipped back into caretaker mode. Facing impeachment complaints of his own and dependent on fragile congressional support,…
The perils of American exceptionalism
The writer says: "Long before Trump entered the White House, the United States had already signaled that while it helped design the rules of the postwar system, it did not…
The world we seek to understand
The writer laments that globalisation "proved to be anything but seamless," producing "a few winners and many losers, both within countries and across them."
Managing transitions: Philippines to Bangladesh
The writer argues: "Yet, like development models, protest movements are not portable. Conditions that make them plausible or even necessary in one society may be absent in…
Beyond the outrage
The writer says: "Democracies, in contrast, move slowly. But when paired with civic education, vigilance, and public participation, their institutions stand a better chance of…
Philippine politics in the grip of families—and vice versa
The writer laments: "But, unless we learn to honor these boundaries—between family and politics, faith and power, public duty and private interest—we will continue to see…
President Marcos Jr’s battle for political survival
The writer observes: "What is striking is that many who fought the Marcos dictatorship with fierce resolve—people who once swore to resist every Marcos who came to power—are…