‘Perfect storm’?

Juan Mercado 03/11/2014

Filipinos share one common item in our everyday existence: rice,”  National Scientist Gelia Castillo wrote in her book on a cereal that makes or breaks presidents. “Rice In Our Life” reviewed  three decades of studies into  rice …

New balance

Juan Mercado 03/08/2014

Marking the first year as pope is an “arbitrary measure for a 2,000-year old institution that thinks in terms of centuries,” notes the Guardian newspaper. That provides context for Pope Francis, who’ll complete  his first year as …

Skip the party

Juan Mercado 02/25/2014

A traditionalist cardinal with a sense of his own splendor is a magnificent beast, like a mammoth draped in embroidery,” noted the Guardian. But under Pope Francis, “they may become an endangered species.” Francis is just two…

Clones?

Juan Mercado 02/18/2014

Don’t Cry for Me Argentina” is a  song from a  1978 Broadway musical. Evita Peron sang from the Casa Rosada balcony, expressing regrets and defiance. No llores por mi Argentina. “The truth is I never left you…

Valentine memoirs

Juan Mercado 02/15/2014

A deluge of comments  flooded in  from Inquirer readers to the column : “Eraser Senator?” (Viewpoint / Feb 11). That  swirled around a  suggestion that Senator Juan Ponce Enrile  — who turned 90 Valentine’s Day –  rewrite…

Eraser senator?

Juan Mercado 02/11/2014

What gnaws at the guts of Senator Juan Ponce Enrile?” a colleague asked during journalists’ lunch Saturday. JPE turns 90 on Valentine’s Day—and twists in the wind over pork barrel plunder raps. “Intimations of mortality?” we replied.…

Riding the whirlwind

Juan Mercado 02/08/2014

Who remembers that Thailand, was once marketed as the “Land of a Thousand Smiles”? Instead of uniting the country, Sunday’s election — where voters cast ballots in 333 of the country’s 375 constituencies. — failed to defuse…

New voices

Juan Mercado 02/01/2014

The world, my brother, isn’t like that.” That retort to critics who’d stonewall reforms sweeping the Catholic church came from the cardinal that Pope Francis handpicked to lead mint-new counselors: Oscar Maradiaga of Honduras. How will such…

Quezon, glaciers and corruption

Juan Mercado 01/28/2014

Inquirer columns elicit comments worldwide. Here are samples from professors abroad to Ilocos Sur students. On the Internet, the opinion pieces spur heated debates. Excerpts: “Prof. Paul Stephen Lim, sent me Viewpoint’s ‘Payback,’” e-mailed University of Kansas…

Whistle-blowers’ vindication?

Juan Mercado 01/25/2014

You shall know the truth. And the truth shall make you mad.” That  one-liner by scientist Aldous Huxley  sums  up the reaction of most people to the Inquirer’s selection of  seven whistleblowers as  “Filipinos of the Year”.…

Tomorrow arrived yesterday

Juan Mercado 01/14/2014

The “cartographic”—what? “Cartographic aggression” is shorthand for redrawing maps to gobble up territory, writes Australian Sinologist Geremie Barmé. And last week’s region-wide protests over Beijing’s clamping of new fishing access rules, in disputed portions of the South…

Austere laurels-or pork?

Juan Mercado 09/11/2013

To forget one’s ancestors is to be a tree without a root.” This Asian axiom is apt for the 135th birthday of Sergio Osmeña on Sept. 9. As fourth Philippine president, he led a war-ruined country into…

No tags found for this post.
Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again.
Your subscription has been successful.

Subscribe to our newsletter!

By providing an email address. I agree to the Terms of Use and acknowledge that I have read the Privacy Policy.

This is an information message

We use cookies to enhance your experience. By continuing, you agree to our use of cookies. Learn more here.