Philippine Democracy Online

By Menelito Mansueto  In a matter of days, Darryl Yap's “Maid in Malacañang” will be officially released to the public. Prior to the official launching, the film already captured the public's attention because of a response by one of its actors, Ella Cruz, to an innocent question. First, take note that she did not say, “History is gossip". What she said was, "History is like gossip."  It implies that while history is about facts gathered and recorded, the same also involves interpretation and biases. But critics have trained their sight in the way the film might "distort" history. Mr. Yap, a Palanca awardee, has urged people to watch it first before making their judgement. He has since assured the public that there is no attempt to revise nor deny history. The film, he says, is fully backed by field research. Nevertheless, expect the same vitriol from people who see themselves as the public defenders of the truth as if the truth needs defending.  The tr...

 By Karl Exala  The world today is made anxious due to the current conflict between Russia and Ukraine. At the surface, it would seem that the conflict between these two countries appears mainly as a historical and political tension that has been building up to the point of its current gravity which is now producing highly-felt ripples in the economic dimension and continues to cycle back in building up political tensions with the rest of the world, particularly towards and against the West. But there is a deeper aspect: the moral implications and the consequences of war. It is not a strange matter to consider that the Russian president Vladimir Putin’s approach towards the Russo-Ukrainian conflict would be in terms of realpolitik, i.e., the practical approach to political policies in light of actual circumstances, resources, and factors, instead of an emphasis in moral or ideological premises. Putin points to the following justifications behind the invasion: (1) Russia oppose...

  By Christopher Ryan Maboloc, PhD  Thomas Carlyle wrote that history is a product of genius by great men. Such rests in the assumption that that talent is in born or that some individuals are destined for greatness. Think for instance of Napoleon or Alexander the Great. This sort of hero worship suggests that the abilities of a hundred brave men cannot be equal to say, the greatness of a general who commands an army in a battle. For this reason, tacticians think that he who commands his army must be protected at all costs. This attitude does not preclude what men below can do. Rather, it emphasizes the idea of heroism or superior leadership. Without a General Dwight Eisenhower, it would be hard to imagine how the war was won in favor of the Allied Forces. In the same way, without hero worship, it would be difficult to paint the oppressive regime perpetrated by the Nazis. But the theory hides something. Herbert Spencer criticized Carlyle, saying that great men are a product of...

By Menelito Mansueto  In my training as a philosophy graduate student, I always consider myself very lucky to have been given the chance to study and do research work on the highly controversial German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. Though I later abandoned my fancy on this very interesting philosopher, he remains to be an influential thinker in shaping my views on things, particularly Nietzsche’s epistemic approach which is widely known as “perspectivism.” The perspectivist method allows me to look at myself on a seemingly objective manner by recognizing that my views could be based on personal convictions. Nietzsche famously says that “Convictions are prisons.”  The spotlight now put on Ella Cruz is obviously politically motivated. The actress recently signed up to play the role as the young Irene Marcos in the film “Maid in Malacañang.” She was asked in a virtual interview about her opinion of history in which she answered without qualms that “history is like “tsismis” (g...