To lead a modest life
Article XI of the 1987 Constitution on the Accountability of Public Officers provides: “Section 1. Public office is a public trust… Public officers must at all times be accountable to the people and serve them with utmost responsibility, integrity, loyalty, and efficiency, … AND LEAD MODEST LIVES.” (emphasis provided)
DU30’s case against Sereno
The Supreme Court ruled that the Piatco contract was void ab initio. And that’s when the fun began, because Piatco and Fraport brought their case to Washington (ICSID) and Singapore (ICC). This is where Sereno comes into the picture.
Liberating the lake
At last. A promise made by President Rodrigo Duterte, the accomplishment period of which he hasn’t pushed back. Some things are beginning to look up for 2017. I refer to the “reclamation” of the Laguna de Bai.
‘Skeletons of their kleptocracy’
Why does one solicitor general call Marcos a kleptocrat, stealing from the Filipino people, and another solicitor general call him a hero?
Furies-in-waiting
Remember the “Three Furies” of the Aquino administration? They were tasked to seek out the corrupt in the administration, and they went about it like, well, like the three furies of Greek mythology.
Why Marcos shouldn’t be buried in the ‘Libingan’
As a campaign issue—I mean, when the issues are inclusive growth, corruption, poverty, drugs, criminality, “endo” labor practices, wages, how can the Marcos burial possibly be of the same level of importance?
Large-scale smuggling of agricultural products is anti-poor
The level of smuggling in the Philippines has reached horrendous heights. Large-scale smuggling of agricultural products retards farm output production, limits manufacturing, and increases income inequality.
Binay according to Mercado
Jojo Binay had every chance to face his accusers and give the public a chance to determine for itself whether he was a corrupt city executive or not. He turned down those chances in favor of press conferences where he entertained no questions.
The Philippines’ ‘buwaya’ problem
All our candidates in one form or another are of course promising faster growth and improved development outcomes. What has been the Philippine track record on growth?
Culture of impunity and world-class corruption
In the light of attempts by some quarters at historical revisionism—trying to sell Ferdinand Marcos and his more than two decades in power as some sort of “golden age” in Philippine history, supposedly with very little crime—it is time to take a hard look at the facts.
Where have the SC justices been?
The condonation doctrine says that if you are a public official and have committed misdeeds, your reelection wipes the slate clean because the electorate had full knowledge of your misdeeds when they cast their votes, and they still voted you back. No administrative charges can be brought against you.
The best lion-tamer we have
Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales seems to be on a rampage these days, doing an excellent job of leading the country in its fight against corruption, and giving it a well-deserved shot in the arm in the process. The decisions she has made lately would make your head spin.
