LuisTeodoro.com

Assassinated by the Marcos regime 20 years ago, Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr. had seemed, in the first 40 years of his life, a most unlikely hero. Known before the martial law period as a glib, fast-talking senator likely to be president at 40, nothing had suggested that he would be other than just one more addition to the parade of traditional politicians that had lorded it over the country since independence.
»

By a vote of 8-4-2 (eight in favor, four against, and two abstentions; one of the justices, Renato Corona, was on leave), the Supreme Court re-affirmed the other day, October 7, its April 1, 2003 resolution re-opening for trial the 11 “Kuratong Baleleng” murder charges against Senator Panfilo Lacson.
»

Something is terribly wrong in the Philippine media. Something has been terribly wrong in the media despite the “restoration of democracy” in 1986. But 2003 is turning into their worst year in the nearly two decades since.
»

The Australian media may be outraged, but they do not seem surprised. Anyone can sense that between the lines of their editorials and other expressions of opinion over the escape of the Jemaah Islamiyah’s Fathur Rohman al-Ghozi and two alleged members of the Abu Sayyaf last Monday.
»

What does the United States dislike—or fear—about the International Criminal Court (ICC) that drives it to sign bilateral agreements with other countries exempting its troops from prosecution in the ICC?
»

After she announced in December 2002 that she would not run in 2004, understanding President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s policies as well as subsequent moves became increasingly difficult, because while she did emphasize that supposed decision, within weeks of 2003 she was speaking and acting like a candidate.

In early February, or four months ago, and only two months after she had announced her non-candidacy, for example, she suddenly took bag and baggage for Kuwait supposedly to reassure Overseas Filipino Workers there of their safety should the US attack Iraq–but right at the point when the final version of the Absentee Voting Bill was about to pass Congress. »

The Arroyo state visit to the United States is a public relations triumph for both guest and host, as both had most likely hoped and anticipated. The public relations bonanza it is reaping for Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and George W. Bush indeed suggests that as state visits go, this one was not so much meant to firm up relations between their two countries but to serve each other’s domestic agendas.
»