It’s such a luxury to be able to get up at 9.00 a.m., have a leisurely cup of coffee or two before it’s time to make breakfast. It’s Saturday and after a gruelling week and a late Friday night at the movies, we just wanted to relax. Unrushed, I was able to prepare a full ... (more)
Overhauling Congress
Posted on July 14, 2005 ·
Gloria Arroyo is calling for a two-party system, 17 out of 20 political parties favor Cha-cha and “parliamentary system of government” is the latest buzz phrase. Take all three together and we’re already looking at the structure of the new Parliament. A little more efficient than our current Congress perhaps (if the parliamentarians will really ... (more)
Fixated on democracy (revised)
Posted on July 12, 2005 ·
If traditional opinion makers are correct, it appears that we are looking at a change in the form of government from a presidential to a parliamentary system. Whether the resulting parliamentary system is going to be an exact copy of an already existing one or a hybrid from a variety of existing ones, we can ... (more)
Fixated on democracy
Posted on July 12, 2005 ·
We call our form of government a democracy. A democracy has two components: form and substance. Form refers to the structure of the government; substance is the definition of the rights and responsibilities of the people (governed), on the one hand, and the elected officials, on the other. We Filipinos have done a lot of ... (more)
Pork, asparagus and mushrooms stirfry
Posted on July 9, 2005 · Leave a Comment
This dish is made with pre-boiled liempo (pork belly), canned asparagus, sliced caps of shiitake mushrooms and sweet peas. While most Chinese-style stirfries use thinly sliced tenderloin or some other tender cut of meat for fast cooking, I found out that I can use other cuts of meat, and cut them in bigger pieces too, ... (more)
Non-competitive quality of education
Posted on July 7, 2005 ·
When I first read about DepEd Secretary Florencio Abad’s proposal to extend the 10-year elementary and high school programs to twelve years, I shook my head in disbelief. My first thought was What an utterly insane idea! I’ve had time to reconsider since and I must say that insane is not the appropriate adjective. The ... (more)
Spicy baked plapla
Posted on July 6, 2005 · Leave a Comment
Plapla is what we call the big-sized tilapia. That’s a 1.25 kg. fish in the photo. When you buy fish that you intend to cook whole by steaming, tell the fishmonger to pull out the intestines through the ‘neck’. No incision through the stomach. It is always a good idea to stuff the cavity with ... (more)
12 year elementary and high school program?
Posted on July 6, 2005 · Leave a Comment
Bad idea. My column in The Manila Standard. UPDATE on July 12, 2005 at 1.36 p.m. Here’s the full text of the column. When I first read about DepEd Secretary Florencio Abad’s proposal to extend the 10-year elementary and high school programs to twelve years, I shook my head in disbelief. My first thought was ... (more)
Hot chicken salad
Posted on July 5, 2005 · 17 Comments
After the last exam on the last day of the bar exams (ooh that’s alliteration) many years ago, a lawyer friend treated me to dinner. He said I could bring along my friends. It was his way of saying thank you because I helped him collect a bad loan. He brought us to the East ... (more)
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