I spent almost 10 years in Philippine Congress (both chambers) as a congressional staff and I have always been a student of legislatures. I know a lot of people will raise their brows but I will go on a limb for the institution and not the persons occupying the 16th today.

IT was all heart that got Gilas Pilipinas to beat South Korea in a game that truly mattered for basketball pride and honor of the nation. We were united for a moment, shouting our lungs out to egg our team to gain back their composure with the injury of naturalized center Marcus Douthit. With Douthit riding the bench, it was an all-Filipino five that engineered the return to center stage for a team created, molded and nurtured by a man called MVP and a bench tactician named Chot. It was championship caliber play Saturday night with an 86-79 victory. More than anything, it was personal for every Filipino in the SMX Arena for we have not beaten South Korea for that long. Defeating South Korea ensured our ticket to Spain for the FIBA World Championships.

IT was all heart that got Gilas Pilipinas to beat South Korea in a game that truly mattered for basketball pride and honor of the nation. We were united for a moment, shouting our lungs out to egg our team to gain back their composure with the injury of naturalized center Marcus Douthit. With Douthit riding the bench, it was an all-Filipino five that engineered the return to center stage for a team created, molded and nurtured by a man called MVP and a bench tactician named Chot. It was championship caliber play Saturday night with an 86-79 victory. More than anything, it was personal for every Filipino in the SMX Arena for we have not beaten South Korea for that long. Defeating South Korea ensured our ticket to Spain for the FIBA World Championships.

Impairing dissent, we could end up a nation of whistleblowers and that is the way the Arroyo Administration was from crisis to crisis. When it is because of whistleblowers that we get to know the rottenness of a system, we just might end up with Wikileaks and have the Snowden effect to ensure accountability and transparency, the twin goals of Tuwid na Daan.

Last night, the gala of the play entitled Obispo took center stage at the Samsung Hall of SM Aura.  The play was on the life and times of Bishop Alfredo Verzosa.  Born 9 December 1877 in Vigan, Ilocos Sur, he was ordained on 24 December 1904.  He became Bishop of Lipa on 6 September 1916 and served over 34 years until his retirement. 

Why should there be more transparency and accountability of surveys? Because political campaigns are partisan by nature; results can be used for spin and propaganda. And when a candidate tapers off, donors abandon them and that is downhill for most.

Our sable rattling ways with China is just that, all hot air. Instead of focusing on what we can provide the biggest market in Asia and how we can integrate with the countries contiguous to China, we seem to always be at odds with her and her territories, like Hong Kong and recently, Taiwan. Against the characterization of the Philippines as “being too Western than Asian,” another development is inching its way us fast and that is the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) integration by 2015.

The first three years of the administration saw the passage of budgets in record time and at record numbers. One would say that is good and yet others mumble that the early passage without much debate has led to the emasculation of the deliberative body like Congress.

Elections are all about choices and when these choices are predetermined by coalition politics, there is no excitement in the air. When there is no excitement in the air, turnout is lower than the average at midterm. This election is for the books because turnout is atypical that of mid term trends. Such is the storyline of the national campaign for the Senate this May 2013. Without any opposition in the 2013 elections, it is easier to have a surgical cut in the ratio of 60-30-10 from Aparri to Jolo, setting aside bell weathers and bailiwicks and that to me is the sorry state of our politics.

The Philippines finally launched its marketing campaign to attract more tourists to visit the country. I applauded the efforts done when it was launched. But as days, months, and years pass by, I begin to dislike it because of two things: the state of our country's airport and consumers not being no. 1.

Fast forward. When Senator Sonny Trillanes stood on the floor in 19 September 2012 to deliver his “Kung gusto ko isasagasa ko. Kung ayaw ko, uupuan ko” privilege speech, whispers were abound about a so-called backroom operator. The youngest Senator felt alluded to by the whispers, and that is where the problem started. Trillanes and his group were the backroom operators who elbowed others. And I am still looking for the answer why.

If UNA is predominantly PDP-Laban and Partido ng Masang Pilipino (PMP), it immediately brings to the political equation their “brand of politics”: PDP-Laban as progressive and platform-oriented, while PMP as masa politics akin to Erap. If UNA is positioned as the opposition to the Aquino administration, then it has to be clear in its advocacies, since whoever appears to be opposition will be able to capture Metro Manila. If ably articulated, its oppositionist position can likewise resonate over Mega Manila.