IT is strange, although expected, that the media would vehemently object to any bill that would give individuals who suffer from unbridled media attacks the right to respond. During my second term as a congressman, I was the first to file a bill seeking the right to be given space and airtime to reply to […]

I AGREE with Mayor Alfredo Lim of the City of Manila requiring mandatory military training under the Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) for all students in the two city-run colleges as part of their degree requirements.
Actually, it appears to me that it is only in the Philippines where they do not train reservists to defend […]

AS we have predicted in our previous column, almost the whole world is jittery as a result of the meltdown of US financial institutions, when the giants in US banking and finance accumulated heavy losses in their operations.
Some of the biggest banking and investment houses went down the drain and others were scrambling for bailouts. […]

EVER wary of the slightest report which may offer critics a heyday to spread their usual pack of lies and misleading information about her, President Arroyo ordered the cancellation of the planned purchase of two helicopters for her official use.
To me, there is nothing wrong or illegal with the planned purchase of these two helicopters […]

THE saying that “when the US sneezes, the whole world gets a cold,” is again coming true with the latest hard fall of the Lehman
Brothers investment bank and Merryl Lynch.
Sadly, there is news that AIG, which is the mother company of Philamlife, is reported to be floundering, except that the US federal government has rescued […]

THE headline of one of the major dailies which has a penchant for finding faults in the government screamed about a supposed rice scam.
According to this newspaper, the irregularities were discovered in last year’s P218.7-million rice-related expenditures incurred by the Department of Agriculture (DA) on hybrid rice, certified seeds, farm inputs and fertilizers for farmers […]

THE Supreme Court deserves the gratitude of the nation for the fast action it has taken in connection with the Court of Appeals (CA) scandal. We should congratulate the three-man panel of retired justices, headed by Justice Carolina Griño Aquino, which conducted the marathon hearings and made the recommendations to the Supreme Court.
By and large, […]

DESPITE gloomy predictions from the Cassandras of darkness in this country, a silver lining appears from the report of Fitch Ratings, one of the more notable international financial monitoring groups which said the flow of foreign direct investments (FDI) to the Philippines “has remained largely stable, but the regional situation appears to be changing, with […]

I AGREE that the Intramuros Authority Administration should be charged for the massive cutting down of trees in Plaza Roma right in front of the Manila Cathedral.
I don’t think Intramuros Administrator Anna Maria “Bambi” Harper can claim ignorance that the cutting of these trees was against the law. But even assuming that she is ignorant […]

DR. LYDIA Depra Ramos, Department of Health (DOH) regional director for Region 6, has been repeatedly announced as “outgoing director” of the region. But she is still lording it over, notwithstanding the fact that other officials and employees of Region 6 are already nauseated at the very sight of this notorious person. She must really […]