inside Philippine politics and beyond
Exclusive By Raïssa Robles Even before the Taiwan government had received the official letter containing the Philippine apology for the death of the Taiwanese fisherman, Taipei already knew its contents, highly knowledgeable sources said. In fact, the Taiwan government already knew the contents of three previous drafts of the letter. This was because top officials of the Manila Economic and [...]
Just my opinion By Raïssa Robles The Commission on Elections has just proclaimed the 12 winning senators in a most unusual way – without ranking them and without giving the number of votes each won. It’s a first in Senate electoral history. And one intended, it seems, to stop the cheating. Retired Supreme Court Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban branded Comelec’s [...]
One of the perks of being married to a humorist is I get to read the funny pieces first. Alan never ceases to amaze me with his wit. In this piece, he suggests how to use a widespread emotion to power up our homes: Inventor wants to tap disgust as an energy source Hot Manila – by Alan Robles Posted [...]
By Raïssa Robles I would like to share with you guys my articles on the Taiwan-Philippine dispute published by South China Morning Post. This one appeared today: Former envoy Lauro Baja tells Taiwan to ‘remember who its friends are’ Raissa Robles in Manila Friday, 17 May 2013 A former top Philippines diplomat has urged Taiwan to “remember who its friends [...]
By Raïssa Robles “Raissa” KAREN DAVILA said, “were you surprised, nagulat ka ba sa resulta (ng eleksyon)?” That’s how my 15 minutes as an election analyst started. After thousands of hours conducting interviews in all sorts of places – including the garage of one politician who didn’t want me stepping inside his house – it was my turn to be [...]
By Raïssa Robles Understanding the Elections – Part 2: This is a very difficult piece for me to write. Perhaps it’s the reason why I’ve been putting off writing it for so long. Disclosing my personal choices of candidates for political office goes against my professional upbringing as a journalist. I won’t give a specific list of choices, except in [...]
Raissa Robles in Manila Manila is determined to pursue arbitration through the United Nations in the dispute over maritime territory in the South China Sea because it is “the last resort”, the Philippine foreign minister said yesterday. China formally rejected the UN arbitration on February 19. A Chinese diplomat had told the South China Morning Post that Manila was making [...]
Exclusive By Raïssa Robles Three weeks ago, Senator Loren Legarda quietly rented out her New York condo, turning her into a landlady on posh Park Avenue, according to the New York real estate website Blocksy.com. The monthly earning from the rental lease is much more than the monthly basic pay of a Philippine senator. There is nothing wrong with investing [...]
Exclusive By Raïssa Robles Unlike Senators Loren Legarda and Manny Villar, senatorial candidate JV (Joseph Victor) Ejercito has consistently disclosed his California property, but always at a lower price than what he paid for it. On April 14, 2000, JV Ejercito bought a single-storey, two-bedroom house in Redwood City, San Mateo County, California for US$609,500. He was not a politician then [...]