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Politics of Exclusivity
Orly Mercado
A disappointed brother
After the February 1986 People Power Revolution, Congress, which was padlocked by President Marcos when he declared martial law, was reopened. An election for a bicameral Philippine Congress was held in 1987. I ran and was one of 24 senators elected. I did pretty well in that election. I topped the vote in Metro Manila and its environs, and placed third, nationally.
Subsequently, an election for local government officials was called. As national leaders, we were tapped to campaign for our party’s bets. As I prepared the schedule of my sorties to the provinces, my elder brother, Willie, informed me of his decision to run for councilor in Bacoor, my mother’s hometown in neighboring Cavite province. I was disappointed, to say the least. At that time I was pushing legislation that would implement the anti-dynasty provisions of the new constitution. In the heady days after the “yellow revolution,” former activists like me believed we could change the feudal political landscape.
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Posted
2/26/2007 10:02:55 AM |
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A tiny battle for democracy
Orly Mercado
Small old boys clubs
We assume that most managers today know how vital transparency and accountability are in managing any business today. Companies like Enron in the United States or LiveDoor here in Japan, provide us lessons of what can happen when a few exercise absolute powers to govern without checks and balances. In managing a small private school, one would assume a customer-led ethos would prevail. Everything begins with the customer. The children and their parents come first. So you could imagine how taken aback I was when the Chair of the School Council declared in a PTA meeting I was presiding over that the Council was not accountable to the parents. This was after he continually refused our suggestion that the parent representatives to the Council be elected by the parents themselves.
The international school here in Kobe where my son is enrolled, has had many problems in the recent past. There has been an unhealthy turnover of three school masters in four years. The last school head resigned after squabbling with the council. He complained about micromanagement by the council.
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Posted
2/15/2007 12:20:31 PM |
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Mondo Magic Cebu
Michael Alan Hamlin
A Filipino voice in global entertainment
No, the popular reality show isn’t coming to Cebu - at least not yet. But the Hollywood producer responsible for field and post-production of the show that has made street magicians Chris Korn and J.B. Benn star brands has been spending up to three months a year in Cebu as a mentor at the International Academy of Film and Television (IAFT) in Mactan.
Roy Eisenstein told me during a break in an acting class he was teaching there recently that he chooses to spend significant periods of time in Cebu for at least three reasons. The first, he says, is personal. When he first began teaching aspiring actors and found that they began getting callbacks following auditions, Eisenstein experienced a level of personal satisfaction that he values and wants to sustain.
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Posted
2/8/2007 2:16:24 PM |
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An environmentalist plods on
Orly Mercado
Is Al Gore Nobel or Oscar material?
TV commentator Jack Cafferty posed the question on CNN. Is Al Gore Nobel prize or Oscar material? This after news reports about a possible nomination for the peace prize, and a chance to win an Oscar for his compelling film, “An Inconvenient Truth.”
Recent media reports have confirmed Gore’s allegations that American Petroleum Institute lobbyist Phillip Cooney was the chief operative of the Bush-Cheney White House global warming disinformation campaign. Cooney, a lawyer without any scientific training, was “empowered by the president to edit and censor the official documents on global warming,” as Gore avers in his film.
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Posted
2/2/2007 4:09:10 PM |
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