Read Alston’s report:And a much earlier one by Amnesty International:Listen to Dr. Martin Bautista or read the transcript: parts 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5.

My column for today is Amok with Children.  More in my entry last night in the Inquirer Current.  See also the entries of John Nery here and here.Most interesting response to my mind is that of caffeine sparks.

Command and Control Manuel L. Quezon III   THE DEBATE here and now, is whether besides fighting in the field, the Philippine armed forces should be fighting civilians, too. No one represents the debate on what the armed forces should do, and to what extent it should be held responsible in its duty to fight [...]

A call came in from Channel News Asia which wanted my take on the hostage taking in Manila.  I referred them to a colleague in Inquirer.net instead.  The folks at CNA serve as a kind of guide, to me, as to what Philippine news really matters overseas, and this is the first time they’ve called in a very long time (to my recollection, the last time I heard from them was during the arraignment of the Oakwood mutineers some months ago).

The Asian Development Bank says growth has some ways to go before making a serious dent on unemployment.The Greeks like it (the film, 300).  The Pope wants it back (Hell) on the agenda.Teddy Casiño wrangles with fellow Leftists.Carlos Celdran wrangles with the Left.In the punditocracy,In the blogosphere,The Quackroom recounts running into the nation campaign as it descends on Naga City.Bayanihan Blog Network points to You had me at hello!  a blog by a call center worker.Overseas, In Asia (the Asia Foundation blog) discusses the wait Cambodians have for justice in the case of Khmer Rouge killers.

THE LONG VIEW Diminished leaders    By Manuel L. Quezon III Inquirer First Posted 01:49am (Mla time) 03/26/2007   MANILA, Philippines – In his autobiography, Diosdado Macapagal wrote, “The greatness of a ruler lies in his ability to exercise restraint in the use of tremendous power. The essence of a democrat consists of the patience [...]

My column for today is Diminished leaders.Some good reads: Amando Doronila on how the opposition needs to adopt human rights as a campaign issue (Bong Austero’s latest suggests to me that increasing petty and other criminality is another campaign issue).  John Nery on understanding surveys.

The President signed the national budget yesterday and breezily noted that she’d vetoed many items in it:Now any president has the power to veto legislation, including particular items in the budget.  But that power isn’t absolute.

My column for today is Generation gap, and here are some links that are related.  There’s a nice overview of our population history and current demographics in Wikipedia, and an overview of our latest census and where our population is headed in the government census website, and a commentary by Romulo Virola on how our population is actually aging.

An article in Slate today tackles how the United States tackled the Philippines and you can contrast this with an article in The Objective Standard as to why the United States is bogged down in Iraq, with no successful end game in sight….  And along the way, contradicts the very things that enabled the economic statistics in which she takes pride: had people not been smoking as much, or sending it out zillions of text messages, her raising taxes (not a reform, as she claims, but the logical question of her over-spending) would not have been able to compensated for what came before.  Her laying it on thick on Tony Lopez also belies her claim to not being obsessed with politics, when as any president does, so does her cabinet: and what are Raul Gonzales (whose job is the Justice Department) and Ricardo Saludo (whose job is to be Secretary to the Cabinet) doing but politicking?