“If it flies, it dies”

Tuesday, January 15th, 2008

Viewpoint: ˜If it flies, it dies" By Juan Mercado Cebu Daily News First Posted 15:25:00 01/15/2008 http://globalnation.inquirer.net/cebudailynews/opinion/view/20080115-112529/If-it-flies-it-dies That's the macho slogan of a hunters' website. Some members of the Philippine National Shooting Team scrambled to shutter this web's photo section. Why? As in Bacolod's Air Rifle Hunting website, photos show members flaunting near-extinct Philippine ducks and mallards ...

Few closures by Juan Mercado

Thursday, January 3rd, 2008

Viewpoint : Few closures By Juan Mercado Philippine Daily Inquirer Posted date: January 02, 2008 From http://opinion.inquirer.net/inquireropinion/columns/view_article.php?article_id=109990 “We have two kinds of politicians. One is the incapable. And the other is capable of anything.” That’s graffiti smeared on a Paraguayan slum wall. But it pretty well describes this country as 2008 wobbles to a ...

A nation of highway men

Tuesday, December 11th, 2007

by Juan Mercado The Philippine Daily Inquirer December 10, 2007 From http://www.inquirer.net/specialfeatures/theestradawatch/view.php?db=1&article=20071210-106042 MANILA, Philippines - “We cannot afford a government of thieves unless we can tolerate a nation of highwaymen.” The late publisher Joaquin “Chino” Roces issued that caution, after receiving the Legion of Honor award from President Corazon Aquino. It’s been 19 years now since ...

Killer haven

Sunday, September 2nd, 2007

By Juan Mercado Cebu Daily News/Philippine Daily Inquirer 08/07/2007 "No place indeed should sanctuarize murder," Hamlet muttered on the ramparts of his dank damp castle. Is sanctuarized murder emerging in the 12-year-old unsolved killing of Philippine Navy's Phillip Andrew Pestano, in which witnesses are now vanishing, one after another? Ensign Pestano was a Cebuano ...

Of heels and bridges

Sunday, September 2nd, 2007

by Juan L. Mercado Cebu Daily News/Philippine Daily Inquirer August 14, 2007 Does a culture of impunity flog the Ombudsman for Military Affairs to refrigerate, for over 653 days now, the reinvestigation of the murder of a 23-year-old ensign who blew the whistle on naval vessels smuggling drugs and illegal logs? "In February and ...