Waiting for the Great Leap Forward
In 1982, Edgar Jopson was gunned down by the military in a safe house in Davao. Educated at the Ateneo, the former moderate went underground after the declaration of martial law. His life and death are the subject of Benjamin Pimentel Jr.’s UG: An Underground Tale—The Journey of Edgar Jopson and the First Quarter Storm. Robert Francis Garcia reviews the story of Edjop as well as the continuing battle for the meaning of his legacy.
Tropic of Kangkong
Ever since the Philippine Commonwealth, the debate about the national language has been standard academic fodder. But when President Aquino issued E.O. 335—ordering government agencies to use the largely Tagalog-based “Filipino” language in official transactions, communications, and correspondence, it caused an uproar among non-Tagalog speakers. Tad Ermitaño ponders the issue while trying to take into account the proliferation of call centers, fusion cuisine, and Kris Aquino.
The Unmaking of a Coup
In the years following the first EDSA, Ferdinand Marcos’s successors—from Cory Aquino to Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo—have had to deal with uprisings from the military as well as the usual suspects from the Left. Since the overthrow of Joseph Estrada, the current president has had to contend with numerous attempts to unseat her government by forces composed of the unlikeliest of allies. Veteran journalist Patrick Paez investigates the recent failed coups and its shadowy game of generals.
The Ballad of the Ballot
If noise is a prerequisite for every Filipino celebration or fiesta, as one cultural observer posited, then anthropology gives us a basis for the barrage of campaign-related jingles during election season. As candidates entice and woo the electorate with promises of prosperity, it’s clear that politics is—and has always been—mass entertainment. Tracing its lineage from “Mambo Magsaysay” to “Boom Tarat Tarat,” Bert Sulat Jr. puts a coin in the pop culture jukebox and reminisces about them oldies but not necessarily goodies.
