WILL lightning strike twice for the Pimentels in the Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET)? The Supreme Court's 7-7 resolution in Aquilino Pimentel III vs. Commission on Elections, where Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III sought, but failed, to suspend the...

DAYS before the 14th Congress opened, Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya Jr. had humored the neophyte members of the House of Representatives about the enviable perks enjoyed by lawmakers. The former representative of Camarines Sur who once chaired the...

THE story of the Bugkalot, the last of the Philippine headhunting tribes, is a chronicle of loss. Like many indigenous peoples in many parts of the world, they have been dispossessed of their land, their culture destroyed, and the forests from which they...

HIS name may not ring a bell to most Filipinos, but to the Mangyan Renato Zosimo Evangelista is a great man -- and one they are proud of. Only 34, Evangelista is the first Mangyan to become a lawyer, and he says he will use his knowledge to help his...

This October, the landmark Indigenous Peoples' Rights Act (IPRA) will turn a decade old. Yet this fact did not merit any mention in President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's latest State of the Nation Address, and it's not that hard to see why it was left out....

ASIDE from a few sentences on election reform, poll fraud was not tackled during President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's state of the nation address. Yet Halalang Marangal is adamantly keeping the issue alive. Halal's fourth audit report concludes that...

LIKE in the past, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's seventh state of the nation address (SONA) was met with applause at almost every pause. Again, she came armed with a Powerpoint presentation complete with "props" -- people she presented and praised...