Centrist Democracy Political Institute

LML Polettiques (438)

The taipans — Chinese Filipino oligarchs

Wednesday, 16 September 2020 09:54 Written by LITO MONICO C. LORENZANA

First of 3 parts MY columns last month centered on the Philippine oligarchy and political dynasties. This week opens with the “Taipans,” a complimentary term referring to the powerful billionaire-founders of Chinese Filipino business empires. Originally, the appellation referred to…

Published in LML Polettiques

Comments:DISQUS_COMMENTS

Intimations of mortality — an immortal legacy

Wednesday, 09 September 2020 04:58 Written by Lito Monico C. Lorenzana

IN my past two columns, I described President Rodrigo “Deegong” Duterte as a reformer and a revolutionary president. The trilogy closes with him as a mortal president. It is a long-held belief that for emperors, kings, monarchs, autocrats and powerful…

Published in LML Polettiques

Comments:DISQUS_COMMENTS

Duterte the revolutionary: Not RevGov but RevPres

Wednesday, 02 September 2020 08:08 Written by LITO MONICO C. LORENZANA

IN the front pages of newspapers this week, the call for a revolutionary government (RevGov) threatened to dislodge Covid-19 from the headlines. In social media, President Rodrigo Roa Duterte’s shock troops, the Duterte Diehard Supporters or DDS, echoed this challenge.…

Published in LML Polettiques

Comments:DISQUS_COMMENTS

Duterte the reformer — why he must not fail

Wednesday, 26 August 2020 09:15 Written by LITO MONICO C. LORENZANA

LONG before the mid-March lockdowns, this column warned against a looming pandemic. The first sentence of my January column reads: “We are facing one of the biggest threats in the world today: the possibility of the annihilation of our species,…

Published in LML Polettiques

Comments:DISQUS_COMMENTS

Call for change: PH constitutional revisions

Wednesday, 19 August 2020 11:26 Written by LITO MONICO C. LORENZANA

Last of 5 parts THIS five-part series started with President Rodrigo Roa Duterte’s fight with the oligarchy by closing down the Lopez-owned ABS-CBN Corp.; then a brief review of the Philippine oligarchy; political dynasty as its vital appendage; and establishing…

Published in LML Polettiques

Comments:DISQUS_COMMENTS

Can the oligarchy and political dynasty be obliterated?

Wednesday, 12 August 2020 10:27 Written by LITO MONICO C. LORENZANA

Fourth of 5 parts THE oligarchy is a multifaceted class, and the term is by no means neutral. Political science practitioners and political economists oftentimes differ in their definition and clarity of interpretation. I have adopted the contemporary definition as…

Published in LML Polettiques

Comments:DISQUS_COMMENTS

Political dynasty handmaiden to oligarchy

Wednesday, 05 August 2020 08:43 Written by LITO MONICO C. LORENZANA

Third of 5 parts PRIOR to the arrival of Spain, the islands of the Philippines were composed of settlements and villages called barangay with no central government. The barangay, the autonomous component for basic governance, was headed by a datu…

Published in LML Polettiques

Comments:DISQUS_COMMENTS

The Philippine oligarchy

Wednesday, 29 July 2020 04:47 Written by LITO MONICO C. LORENZANA

Second of 3 parts President Rodrigo “Deegong” Duterte’s claim that he had “…dismantled the oligarchy that controlled the economy and the Filipino people” was more hyperbolic than factual. But we may grant the Deegong this expansive boast as his performance…

Published in LML Polettiques

Comments:DISQUS_COMMENTS