A Verdict Shaped by Politics

The impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte is one of the most closely watched political events in recent Philippine history. Beyond the legal arguments lies a harder question: how much is this costing taxpayers, and what is it buying them?

Numbers Game: Where Allegiance Weighs More Than Evidence

On the Exclusion of the Filipino Muslims from the National Narrative

Today is Philippine Independence Day. National holidays are not merely commemorations — they are statements of identity. The celebration of June 12 is often accepted without question as a patriotic symbol of liberation from colonial rule. Yet beneath the flags and festivities lies a more complicated historical reality.

A Critical Review of June 12, Philippine Independence Day

Her Rising Numbers Tell the Real Story

"The impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte increasingly appears, to her supporters and many observers, less like a constitutional exercise and more like a campaign aimed at weakening her political standing ahead of 2028. The charges — betrayal of public trust, culpable violation of the Constitution, graft, and bribery — are undeniably serious.

Yet the prosecution's presentation has invited criticism that it has been more theatrical than evidence-based. Recent surveys suggest that a large part of the public shares that view."

Politics Wearing Legal Robes: The Impeachment Trial of VP Sara Duterte

A Record in Focus

In Sulu's tightly woven political landscape, few figures carry a dual identity as telling as Samier Abubakar Tan—a man still widely called "Cong-Mayor," a title that reflects both memory and measure. It clings to this man the way earned titles do — not as a relic of the past, but as a mark of continuity. It traces a career that began in local governance as mayor of Maimbung and moved into national legislation in the halls of the House of Representatives. But beyond titles and tenure, the more consequential question asked, at every turn, remains: what defines his actual record?

From Maimbung to Congress: Samier Tan's Steady Leadership of Sulu

The Quiet, Enduring Governance of Mujiv Hataman

Public leadership in fragile political environments is rarely defined by spectacle. More often, it is measured by the quiet, deliberate restoration of public trust.

A Reformer I Witnessed

The Philippine political landscape has never been more disorienting — forces that once opposed each other now occupy the same side, and yesterday's opposition is today's majority. The political spectrum provides exactly what is needed: a map that shows not just where political leaders or parties stand, but whether they still stand for anything at all.

A Structural Shift: The Rightward Realignment of the Philippine Political Spectrum

When Cardinal Jaime Sin took to the microphone on Radio Veritas on February 22, 1986, and called on Filipinos to gather at EDSA, four institutions answered: the Church, the universities, the press, and civil society. Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile and General Fidel Ramos then broke with the Marcos government, giving the uprising its military backbone. Without their defection, the civilians who filled EDSA would have had no military camps to protect. Together, they helped bring down the Marcos dictatorship. For many Filipinos, it became the nation's finest hour.

The Great Betrayal of EDSA I:  When Its Heroes Chose Marcos Jr.

And A Scenario that Looms: Extra-Constitutional Emergency?

Strip everything down to its core, and one truth remains standing: this entire crisis — the warrant, the lockdown, the gunfire, the Senate in turmoil — exists because one overriding political objective is being pursued with every instrument available, and that objective is the impeachment of Vice President Sara Duterte. Everything else is a supporting move in that campaign.

The Senate Siege, the Impeachment, and the 2028 They Fear

The history of the Bangsamoro peace process reveals a persistent structural flaw: the assumption that Muslim Mindanao constitutes a single political community governable under one autonomous framework. In reality, the Moro struggle has always reflected profound geographic, ethnic, and political distinctions that no single institutional arrangement has adequately resolved.

Two Autonomous Regions: Correcting the Structural Fault in the Bangsamoro Peace Process

A written submission has reached the United Nations Human Rights Council, and it deserves more attention than it has received. It argues plainly that the continued detention of former President Rodrigo Duterte at the International Criminal Court is not justice but arbitrary detention, and that the process behind it should trouble every Filipino who believes in due process and national sovereignty.

Sovereignty on Trial: The Case Against Duterte's ICC Detention

Echoes of the South by Dr. Darwin T. Rasul III

Echoes of the South

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