The passing of former President Boris Yeltsin reminded me of my Russian friends, the continuing saga about the people's struggle for better government and the need for a responsible press. On 1993, I was a young student taking up a short course in Switzerland. My initial conversations with classmates, program facilitators and acquaintances never failed to include questions (some were delivered in a manner that struck me as rude) about what was happening to my country. They told me that they kept on hearing bad things about it. The polite ones simply asked; “How is the Philippines?” And there’s this gentleman who softly said; “Tell us more about your country. We seem to only hear about it, whenever there’s a catastrophe.” Such a fine gentleman, I thought. So full of good manners . Anyway, though seemingly impolite, I must admit that the apparently offensive statements were mostly valid observations. On 1993, the Philippines had just gone through more than 10 years of great misfor...
What's happening in this world.