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COMMISSION ON Elections (Comelec) head Sixto S. Brillantes Jr. almost quit in frustration after the Supreme Court recently issued a temporary restraining order against the…

HOT, HOT, HOT. Without airconditioning, employees of the Bacolod City Comelec office have to buy mini-electric fans to cool themselves especially during the searing afternoon…

Second of Three Parts FOR A PROVINCE that is turning only 40 years old this year, Maguindanao has managed to emerge as “the most governed,” if only by the number of governance…

First of Three Parts DATU HOFFER, Maguindanao — This municipality is just a kilometer or so from the capitol, but it barely looks like a town. Bereft of any paved roads, it has a…

SENATOR MANUEL ‘Manny’ B. Villar Jr. and Congressman Joseph Victor ‘JV’ G. Ejercito belong to rival political coalitions jostling against each other in the run-up to the May 2013…

MARIA IMELDA Marcos Manotoc, the Princeton-educated eldest child of the late Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos and now a senior political figure in her own right, is beneficiary…

Dozens of journalists sifted through millions of leaked records and thousands of names to produce ICIJ’s investigation into offshore secrecy

IT’S election campaign season again and candidates have started to harangue voters with a barrage of promises of reforms. When he came to power in June 2010, President Benigno…

PARANG humihila ng bayawak sa lungga. (It’s like pulling a monitor lizard out of a pit.) This, according to former Senator Rene A.V. Saguisag, is how the Supreme Court has behaved…

EXACTLY A year ago today, on Dec. 12, 2011, President Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III marshaled votes from his Liberal Party and coalition allies in the House of Representatives to…

MANY PUBLIC officials like to say that accepting a government post is like taking a vow of poverty, given the supposedly paltry pay in government service. What officials neglect to…

WHEN Congress impeached then Chief Justice Renato C. Corona on December 12, 2011 because he had allegedly filed an intentionally flawed Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net…

IF ANDAL AMPATUAN SR. and his sons ruled Maguindanao as if they owned the province, perhaps it was because they really owned a sizeable chunk of it — and parts of Cotabato, Sultan…

ON JUNE 6, 2011, a year and a half after the Maguindanao Massacre claimed the lives of 58 people, including 32 journalists, the Court of Appeals ordered the freezing of all the…

FREEDOM of expression (FOE) and freedom of information (FOI) are closely intertwined, fundamental rights of the people, not just in the Philippines but also in all democracies of…

At least 11 bills related to cybercrime prevention were filed before the House of Representatives in the 15th Congress. These were authored by Tarlac Rep. Susan A. Yap, Ilocos Sur…

In the 13th Congress (2004-2007), at least four measures were filed to regulate and penalize cybercrime: House Bills No. 1246, 2093, 2528 and 3777, which were authored by…

THREE MONTHS after Renato C. Corona was impeached as chief justice for his failure to declare and disclose the full and true details of his wealth, the justices of the Supreme…

THE FIRST WOMAN chief justice of the Supreme Court, Maria Lourdes P.A. Sereno, will have 18 years to roll our reforms in the judiciary, or nearly as long as the regime in power of…

In 1986 at EDSA, the first people power revolt ended 21 years of a government so dark and so opaque, and ushered in one of light and transparency. The strongman Ferdinand E. Marcos…

FELICIANO MENDOZA was enjoying semi-retirement in his hometown of San Rafael, Bulacan last September when he received a letter that jolted him from his life of relative calm.