It is a common misapprehension that the essence of democracy is sufficiently defined as the popular will expressed through elections or plebiscites and as implemented by the rule of the majority. Vox populi vox Dei, the saying goes, and on this basis elected representatives believe they have carte blanche to change rules big and small, ⇒

By Rappler Early in the campaign, President Rodrigo Duterte proudly admitted, “Yes, I cannot lie, I killed 3 people.” Many people said, “That is a brutally honest man,” and believed him. They reasoned, if he can admit to a crime, he must be incapable of lying. We say we’re tired of the lies, but the ⇒

By David Fuller Contributor, Troy Media PRINCE GEORGE, B.C./Troy Media–When Henry Novak and his brothers arrived in Canada in 1967 to escape a lack of opportunity in their native Slovenia, they had no option but to work hard. They came without money or English. They hoped to get a job with their brother Tony, who ⇒

By Robert McGarvey Columnist, Troy Media With all due respect to federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau, if you’re going to declare war on tax cheats, do it right. The truth is there’s a deep structural flaw in Canada’s (and every other country’s) income tax system. It’s rooted in the unequal tax treatment of one class ⇒

By Robert McGarvey Columnist, Troy Media It all seemed perfectly reasonable: tax the low hanging fruit of “fat cat” professional corporations to fund programs for the poor. Who could object to that? Turns out plenty of people object. A Hurricane Harvey of resentment has landed in Canada and its torrent of political backlash is growing ⇒

When I first considered working in Filipino American Studies (as a Canadian at that, though that’s a story for another time), I dreaded the prospect of having to recover my Tagalog. My family arrived in Scarborough when I was five years old. Upon arrival, a thoroughly bilingual childhood education of Tagalog and English (and, of ⇒

By Dr. Robert Diaz Assistant Professor University of Toronto I moved to Canada six years ago and, for the most part, I’ve lived a life that seems unimaginable for an immigrant with roots in the Philippines. I work as a faculty member at the University of Toronto. I teach, mentor, and collaborate with Filipinos whose ⇒

Painting, not houses but art works, which I was quite fortunate to exhibit in art shows and galleries here in Toronto, has been my sole preoccupation after deciding to stop writing opinion blogs in 2014. My subsequent retirement from law practice and disengagement from volunteer work among refugees and new immigrants also afforded me plenty ⇒

The 2017 State of the Nation Address was dismissive of the Philippines’ serious socioeconomic problems especially joblessness, poverty and inequities, research group IBON said. The President even tended to oversimplify the economic situation to justify authoritarianism, said the group. President Duterte delivered Monday his second State of the Nation Address to the country’s senators and ⇒

The Philippines remains backward and underdeveloped with severe inequality 31 years after the so-called EDSA revolution, research group IBON said. The Duterte administration’s new Philippine Development Plan 2017-2022 will not change this, said the group, in continuing the failed neoliberal policies of the Marcos regime and all subsequent administrations. EDSA 1986 was a repudiation of ⇒