The Standpoint

Woke up today to the news that the Philippines is finally pulling out of the ICC. The mainstream media, as expected, started looking into the legitimacy of the act while taking the opportunity to once again throw the EJK trash in the equation, still hoping that the shit would stick somewhere, somehow.  It's already been 19 months that they have been trying the same approach, with some help from their friends - the political minority, the human rights groups, the UN HR, and lately, the ICC.

Life is a torrent of challenges, mini-battles that constantly put our “fight” or “flight” response to the test at every turn.   With every battle we choose to fight, in the end, we always get confronted with this one simple question – At what point does one accept that the fight is over and it is time for moving on? I believe this is the biggest question that dwells in the mind of Chief Justice Sereno right now.   The circus at the Congress that’s bound for a much grander stage – the Senate, sitting as the impeachment court, is at full swing.   It is one entertaining spectacle where people of all background weigh in with their own critical views.   It has somehow turned every one of us into lawyers, well-versed with the provisions of the constitution, even when the majority of us have not even gazed a single law book in our life.   I have only very basic understanding of the law, enough for me to live a relatively compliant ( translation: boring ) life...

Please Juan, wake up from deep slumber! I am a Filipino, and a darn proud one. Yet, I just could not get my head around what we, as a people, do. We seem to be a flock of headless chickens roaming endlessly around a barren and hopeless land. We fight against each other without a clear understanding of what we fight for. People in EDSA now are saying, “We are fighting for democracy!” To which I say, “Of course we are!” We all get it. We fought hard for it and got it 32 years ago, did we not? Where exactly did it take us today? I am a firm believer of the idea that the greatest gift our forefathers left us is democracy. There are still societies to this day whose people who do not even know that people can now choose their leaders. We are given something many people can still only dream of. Yet there are those who say democracy failed us. Others just perennially blame the failure to the government. I think it is more a case of us failing democracy and a corrupt go...

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/mar/16/rodrigo-duterte-impeachment-papers-filed-in-philippine-congress The impeachment complaint filed by the opposition lawmaker Gary Alejano in the House of Representatives today, May 16, 2016, is the glue that pieced together what seemed in the past as dispersed efforts to destabilize the current administration. The opposition would vehemently deny that this is an act of destabilization.  Most of them would say that their mere intention is enlighten the public and to ensure that the truth is known to all Filipinos.  To put things into perspective, let me define what “destabilization” really means.  Oxford defines destabilization as, “The process of upsetting the stability of a region or system, especially of government.” With this internationally accepted definition, I can only conclude that impeachment, although considered as part of the democratic process and embedded within the laws of our land, is nothing more...

There is something fundamentally wrong with the state of affairs in our country right now that makes it awfully hard for anyone to be neutral.  I personally have tried for so long to remain objective in interpreting the news.  I have always believed that no matter how flawed our justice system may be, we should always put our trust in our government and in our institutions to somehow work for us, the people.  After all, if we just simply say the institutions are corrupt and we no longer honor them, we condemn our society to eternal chaos.  A flawed system is better than no system at all.  And so for lack of clear strategy to address fundamental system flaws, every administration for years has maintained the status quo in order not to rock the boat. The rise of Duterte to power has rocked the boat and has disrupted the status quo.  Flaws within the systems are exposed.  Social classes are challenged.  Power and influence struggles ensued. ...