Category: Events Mode

May 20

Readings for LSPCON 2018 Attendees

Tweet Here are ten readings and five books for you. You might recall that I mentioned some of these during our time together. Readings:  1. Freedom of the editor, by Teodoro M. Locsin, Philippines Free Press, April 10, 1965: What is freedom—of the editor or of anyone? It is freedom to be intelligent and informed. Freedom …

Continue reading

May 07

False Messiahs enfeebling institutions

Tweet Yesterday, the President made a call for the Reform Constituency to engage in unity talks. Mar Roxas issued a statement calling on Grace Poe to talk. Her response came swiftly: not only in the negative as far as talks are concerned, but hostile to the constituency supporting Roxas, and dismissive of the concern that …

Continue reading

May 01

What’s at stake: A Modernizing Nation, or a Never-Never Land?

Tweet Many of you are familiar with Jack Welch’s description of Americans as thinking in days, the Japanese thinking in terms of decades, and the Chinese thinking in centuries, a comparison also used for the oldest surviving institution on earth, the Catholic Church. More modestly, the Peace Advocate Paulynn Paredes Sicam once said it takes …

Continue reading

Nov 17

Remarks at DATA.GOV.PH Hackathon: #KabantayNgBayan

Tweet Remarks at DATA.GOV.PH Hackathon: #KabantayNgBayan  12/F SaDoce, Smart Tower 1, 6799 Ayala Ave., Makati by Manuel L. Quezon III   This has been a very busy and heartbreaking time for everyone. All of us here have seen whether through video or picture, or have heard from the news or a personal acquaintance, the extent of …

Continue reading

Aug 21

Understanding flooding and flood mitigation

Tweet In 2003, George Bankoff provided a map showing the parts of Metro Manila susceptible to flooding due to the geology and topography of the region. When Ondoy and Pepeng took place, the widespread flooding pretty much matched the map:   In the aftermath of the massive flooding caused by Ondoy and Pepeng, many interesting …

Continue reading

Aug 20

How best to help at this time

Tweet How best to help at this time Stay informed. Stay up-to-date. Stay vigilant and positive.  For government updates, announcements, advisories, information do visit The Official Gazette online. For more Government, weather, transport information: For the weather, follow @PAGASA-DOST Read up on What PAGASA’s color-coded rainfall advisories mean. There is also a Google Crisis Map on Tropical Storm Maring. …

Continue reading

Mar 01

North Borneo (Sabah): An annotated timeline 1640s-present

Tweet Introduction I am sharing a timeline I have compiled of key events and accompanying literature on the North Borneo (Sabah) issue. This timeline is being shared for academic and media research purposes. It is not being published as an official statement of policy in any shape or form, nor does this timeline purport to …

Continue reading

Mar 13

Tie silk blossoms to the dead tree

Tweet (Francisco Goya, The Inquisition Tribunal, circa 1812-1819) Judiciary performs a divine function where ordinary humans decide the fate of others. When this divine function of deciding the fate of others is bestowed in a Judge, we expect him to perform it with the highest standards of scholarship and utmost impartiality. He must be detached …

Continue reading

Mar 03

Feign Madness But Keep Your Balance: More Heat than Light

Tweet ‘I know what you’re thinking about,’ said Tweedledum; ‘but it isn’t so, nohow.’ ‘Contrariwise,’ continued Tweedledee, ‘if it was so, it might be; and if it were so, it would be; but as it isn’t, it ain’t. That’s logic.’ ‘I was thinking,’ Alice said politely, ‘which is the best way out of this wood: …

Continue reading

Feb 27

Borrow a Corpse to Raise the Spirit: Overlawyering the Proceedings

Tweet (Siege of Minas Tirith, by Stephen Hickman) The 14th of the Thirty-Six Strategies, is the second Stratagem for Attack: Borrow a Corpse to Raise the Spirit. By confusing common sense with legal technicalities (the institution of law), the Defense seems to have found a new avenue of attack. The trial has increasingly become about …

Continue reading

Feb 22

The Seventh Charge: The Story of the Great Escape

Tweet (image by Isaro69) Starting with today’s Senate impeachment hearing, we have come to the most shocking case of how Renato C. Corona held loyalty to Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo above all other considerations. The case of how he aided, and abetted, Mrs. Arroyo’s attempt to make her Great Escape. And how, in the process, the Chief …

Continue reading

Feb 22

Under Pressure

Tweet “Sometime’s you’ve got to back up, to go forward.” One senses mounting fear on the part of the Defense with Justice Secretary Leila de Lima scheduled to testify today. Of the Thirty-Six Stratagems, the first of the Stratagems for Gaining Ground is Replace The Beams With Rotten Timbers. I don’t know if the Defense …

Continue reading