After a long hiatus, the podcast has a conversation with a journalist from the Czech Republic, Pavel Vondra, who is an old friend. He is editor at Zaminutusest podcast, and has been a journalist since 1994. Having spent nearly two decades in public service media, he is now with SeznamZpravy. He is currently in the Philippines for the 2022 elections and has written the first book in the Czech language about the Philippines. The 2022 election will be the fourth Philippine election he's observed at close-hand. We discussed how he ended up interested in, and repeatedly visiting, the Philippines, and some surprising parallels between the Czech and Philippine democratic experiences, ranging from the time it took to tire of being a newly-restored democracy (about seven years), to the political effect of populism and the decline of mass media.
An Audio Long Read Omnibus: three reflections on the EDSA Revolution:
1. A FaceBook entry I wrote on February 25, 2016, the thirtieth anniversary of the People Power Revolution.
2. To Be Born Free: My Long View column on February 23, 2004.
3. Understanding the Way My Father Rejected the Marcos Dictatorship: My Arab News column for September 13, 2006.
A personal take, from three angles, on one of he defining events of my generation.
For the 80th Anniversary of WW2 in the PH, a homage to the "Hear It Now" audio documentaries of Edward R. Murrow. Audio extracts are from Philippines on the Potomac/Library of Congress and History on the Net, Hoover Institiution, Past Daily, and audio from newsreels (for ex.):
1. 1/1/1940, March of Time
2. 9/20/41 Paramount
3. 7/7/41(?) Paramount
4. 7/7/41(?) Paramount
5. 5/4/41(?) Paramount
6. Parada ng Japanese Imperial Army sa Maynila
7. The Japanese Army parades in victory through Manila
8. 4/1/42 Paramount
9. 5/1/42 Paramount
10. Soldier catches two thieves in Manila
11. March of Time
12. 6/13/42 Paramount
13. 6/14/42 Paramount
14. 5/11/43 NHK
15. 9/29/43 NHK
16. 10/19/43 NHK
17. 9/21/44 NHK
18. 9/21/44 NHK
19. 10/5/44 NHK
20. 8/11/45 Paramount
This is an audio long read of my Spot.ph article, "Bonifacio Is Your Cubicle Seatmate," originally published on November 30, 2017.
This is an audio long read adaption of my Spot.ph article, "Why Isn’t Independence Day in August?" published on August 31, 2017. It's slightly diffierent because it only refers to the visual aids used in the original article.
This is an audio long read of a Long View column of mine, "The end of social mobility," published on February 26, 2009 in the Philippine Daily Inquirer. For the sake of context, I've included the first four paragraphs from a previous column, "Permanently poor," published on February 22, 2009. I ventured a thesis I have returned to time and again, since then: the implications of the rise of a "new" middle class, and the inability of our political system to reform itself. So it was in this piece, from 2009, that I suggested the restoration of the Marcoses was not just a possibility, but an increasing probability.
This is an audio long read of "Manna from Marcos." It originally came out in my The Explainer column in ABs-CBN Online on September 26, 2017. In it, I discuss Cargo Cults and how the Marcoses benefit from a kind of Cargo Cult.
My interest in Cargo Cults was first sparked a decade earlier, when I was co-writing a blog, "Inquirer Current," on Inquirer.net with John Nery. My entry from 2008, entitled, "A lack of ambition, a Cargo Cult culture, and gaming the system," is also a Podcast Episode.
In my pieces in anticipation of the 2022 elections, I've returned to the theme of the Cargo Cult, which provides an important insight, I believe, into an important subset of the Marcos constituency.
This is an audio long read of two of my The Long View columns published in the Philippine Daily Inquirer. "September 23, not 21" was originally published on September 19, 2018, while "Time bandit" was published on September 23, 2020. These are the second and third, respectively, of my three pieces on the proper date for commemorating martial law.
This audio long read is a recording of my The Explainer on ANC piece, "The big lie," published on September 18, 2017. This is the first of three explorations of the wrongness of commemorating martial law on September 21 that I've published.
This audio long read is a recording of my Rogue Magazine September 2014 article, "Showdown with the Supremes," on Ferdinand Marcos, martial law, and how the Supreme Court surrendered to him.
This is the audio long read version of my article, published in Spot.PH on February 14, 2020. I have been following the Marcos restoration effort for over a decade and a half; and it seemed to me that in reviewing a documentary on Imelda, an earlier one had to be brought into the picture, because both documentaries book-end that restoration effort.
Originally published in Spot.PH on September 11, 2017, the centenary of Marcos' birth. The blurb for it stated, "We are far from being able to take stock of his life." Which is true. F. Sionil Jose sent me a note to compliment me on this piece, which I appreciated very much, since he was old enough to have known Marcos personally. This article was the product of three stories told me by contemporaries of Marcos.
This audio long read is a recording of my two-part series, "Marcos in retrospect," which came out in my Philippine Daily Inquirer column on September 17 and 20, 2007. September 11, the birth anniversary of Ferdinand Marcos, kicks in an annual opportunity to reflect on his life and time, followed, as it is, by the (real) anniversary of Martial Law, September 23, and his death anniversary on September 28.
The era when presidential candidates slugged it out for their party's endorsement in a national convention are almost beyond living memory. In 1992, when Fidel V. Ramos pledged to participate in his party's convention, only to bolt his party when he lost, he killed the chances for political party conventions to matter in picking presidential candidates. One of his advisers, Antonio Carpio, is now a Convenor of 1Sambayanan which is trying to unify the opposition on a different model from party conventions: the Convenors Group of 1984-85. This two-episode series looks at both models and why both have ended up failures. This is Part 2, focusing on convenors' groups --and political impresarios.
The era when presidential candidates slugged it out for their party's endorsement in a national convention are almost beyond living memory. In 1992, when Fidel V. Ramos pledged to participate in his party's convention, only to bolt his party when he lost, he killed the chances for political party conventions to matter in picking presidential candidates. One of his advisers, Antonio Carpio, is now a Convenor of 1Sambayanan which is trying to unify the opposition on a different model from party conventions: the Convenors Group of 1984-85. This two-episode series looks at both models and why both have ended up failures. This is Part 1, focusing on political party conventions.
This audio long read is a recording of my The Explainer commentary broadcast on ANC on August 22, 2017. August 21 is an annual opportunity to reflect on the assassination of Ninoy Aquino; in 2017, it also invited a reflection the killing of a until-then anonymous youngster named Kian delos Santos.
This is Audio Long Read No. 4. Originally published in Spot.PH on October 21, 2016 as "Enter the Dragon." Written on the occasion of President Rodrigo Duterte's state visit to the People's Republic of China, the generosity and friendliness of his reception was in marked contrast to the modest, stiff, and cold reception President Benigno S. Aquino received in 2011. I was part of his official delegation at the time.
This is the third and last of three Audio Long Reads to mark the 40th day since the passing of former President Benigno S. Aquino III.
This is Audio Long Read No. 3. Originally published in Spot.PH on June 26, 2021 as "The Impossible Dreamer." It serves as my obituary on the passing of former President Benigno S. Aquino III, whom I worked for, from 2010 to 2016.
This is the second of three Audio Long Reads to mark the 40th day since the passing of former President Benigno S. Aquino III.
This is Audio Long Read No. 2. Originally published in Rogue Magazine in March, 2015, as "The Mourning After." This was soon after the Mamasapano clash, and a historic backlash against then-President Benigno S. Aquino III for not attending the arrival honors for the bodies of the slain SAF commandos. In this piece, I inquired into his reasons for not going, and what they said about him, his era and upbringing, and a nation that underwent a kind of traumatic divorce from the President and his family.
This is the first of three Audio Long Reads to mark the 40th day since the passing of former President Benigno S. Aquino III.
Audio Long Read #1: On July 6, 2021, the Philippine Daily Inquirer came out with a special focus section on the coming elections which includes this overview, by me, on the trends and realities of our national elections that we tend to overlook or not pay enough attention to. This is the first Audio Long Read of one of my articles. It was recorded during a stormy afternoon, as you'll hear from time to time in the background.