Former senator FRANCISCO TATAD served in the Philippine Cabinet for ten years, in the Legislature for fifteen years, and in journalism and humanitarian work for more than half of his close to sixty years in public life. As presidential spokesman and information secretary, he accompanied President Marcos on his state visit to China in 1975; as Senate majority leader, he co-sponsored the Senate resolution of concurrence in the ratification of the Visiting Forces Agreement between the Philippines and the US in 1999.
How close are we to midnight?
We remain locked down in our homes while the Executive and Congress run berserk to railroad all sorts of laws that deprive us of our basic rights and liberties, and our basic dignity as human beings. This goes against the natural order of things.
Is the next upheaval just a breath away?
The President should never tempt the military with visions of extra-constitutional power. For even if they should reject it, if the people lose their patience before God does, they could coalesce with the military as happened in February 1986.
Can we abide a terrorist state?
Locked down in our homes and isolated from one another since March, we have been praying for the global coronavirus pandemic to end, so we could start living our post-Covid lives. We pray that when we are finally able to sit down together again, we would find greater humanity in ourselves, to heal the wounds and ease the suffering of our post-pandemic world.
How long will the center hold?
China is far from blameless on any number of issues, but it is a mistake to accuse her of any wrongdoing that is not based on fact.
‘Heartless, inhuman, and insensitive’
The act is heartless, insensitive and inhuman — not so much in relation to the network’s management, or its 11,000 or so workers who will all lose their jobs, as in relation to the vast millions of Filipinos who will be deprived of the network’s basic services.