First of two partsLAST week, Filipinos missed the legislative hearings and saw nothing from the opaque ICI; instead, they were regaled with hypocritical displays from Senators Joel Villanueva and Bong Go. The latter’s corruption narrative follows CLTG Builders’ rise during…

MY column last week was on Jesus Crispin Remulla declaring war on the Dutertes. It was not a figurative skirmish, but a categorical public pronouncement aimed squarely at Deegong’s administration. In no uncertain terms, Remulla announced that his immediate priority…

SINCE the 1986 restoration of democracy, upon the adoption of the 1987 Constitution, the Office of the Ombudsman was created to be the Philippines’ chief institution against graft and abuse of power. From Conrado Vasquez (appointed by Cory, 1988-1995), the…

THUCYDIDES warned that the rise of a new power unsettles an old order and makes conflict more likely. Our Harvard professor Graham Allison’s modernized that lesson as the “Thucydides Trap” — a reminder that the rivalry between a rising China…