EFREN L. DANAO “WHERE’S your column?” A relative asked me this decades ago when I excitedly told her that I had just been hired as a news reporter. She was unimpressed when I answered that I had none. Many people, like my relative, cannot distinguish between a reporter and a…
Efren Danao PICKING the best performers among lawmakers was one of the most trying and most satisfying activities I had undertaken in my 30 years of covering the legislature. Extreme care and vetting must be exercised for a questionable choice could damage not only my professional integrity but also the…
EFREN L. DANAO THE looming constituent assembly should throw to the garbage bin the existing limits on the terms of senators, congressmen and local government officials. Some may criticize this proposal as self-serving for the senators and congressmen who will sit in the constituent assembly to be convened to propose…
Efren Danao PROPONENTS of an iron-fisted approach against illegal drugs cite atrocious crimes committed by drug users, pushers and traders. But what if a person suspected by the police is a peace-loving citizen who has never been charged with even a petty crime? Shouldn’t this give pause to an “intelligence…
EFREN L. DANAO FORMER Senator Edgardo J. Angara, one of the country’s foremost constitutionalists, is one authority to consul on the ongoing efforts by Congress and the Duterte administration to amend the Constitution. We had a long talk recently at his office at the ACCRALAW Tower, Bonifacio Global City, and…
Efren Danao ERSTWHILE Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay has to vacate his post after the Commission on Appointments unanimously rejected his ad interim appointment. The bicameral body found him less than perfect for the job for not being forthright on his acquisition of United States citizenship and passport. To my knowledge,…
EFREN L. DANAO FORMER President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, now congresswoman of Pampanga, is expected to vote against the reimposition of the death penalty. Will Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez move to oust her as deputy speaker for going against the administration-backed bill? On Tuesday, last week, Alvarez aired the threat to unseat any…
EFREN L. DANAO PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte cracks a joke about himself now and then, but can he take a joke about him from others, especially members of the media? We can only know big time if the National Press Club revives the Gridiron Night where the President and members of…
EFREN L. DANAO “WHO’S left in the Liberal Party? I don’t know. And I don’t care to know.” These words by a former poster boy of LP loyalty, former Bataan congressman Tong Payumo, graphically illustrates the fall of the once influential party to one arousing indifference, even from a man…
EFREN L. DANAO NO tears should fall, no sad songs should be sung for the arrest of Senator Leila de Lima for allegedly receiving drug money from convicts while she was the Secretary of Justice. She’s full of fight and I’m sure detention won’t make her waver in opposing how…