‘Simple people' vs the simple-minded
In March 2015, an episode of HBO’s “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” perfectly captured the comedic essence of the Insular Cases...
From the publisher's desk
By Mar-Vic Cagurangan
By Mar-Vic Cagurangan
- May 23
Blast from the past: Memories of the old newsroom
I worked with Arnold Moss at Today (one of the Philippines' major broadsheets before it was acquired by another company), where I was a...
Stopping Micronexit
It took them three months to apologize, but for the “Fiji faction” of the cleaved Pacific Islands Forum, it’s probably better late than...
The colonial legacy: Political corruption dates back to the Spanish period
In 2019, the University of Guam’s Regional Center for Public Policy released the results of a survey indicating that two-thirds of...
The backbone of economy
Running a small business isn’t a walk in the park. Small scale entrepreneurs have to confront high rents, taxes, other collateral...
OK, Kamala Harris is a woman. And?
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris’ election to the nation’s second highest office “is a testament to how far we have come,” said Felicia...
The baffling contradictions of the Covid-era economy
The Covid-stricken economy is full of dizzying paradoxes and ironies. More than 400 Guam businesses have blinked out of existence. Yet,...
By Mar-Vic Cagurangan
- Dec 6, 2020
The Matrix 2020
A sinister hacker released a malevolent virus that caused the world to stop and thrust everyone into a treadmill. We are going nowhere,...
By Mar-Vic Cagurangan
- Nov 1, 2020
A picture that paints a thousand words
"As a reliable compass for orienting yourself in this life, nothing is more useful than to accustom yourself to regarding this world as a...
By Mar-Vic Cagurangan
- Oct 11, 2020
Stranger than fiction
The truth, according to author Mitch Albom, is at the bottom of the pile, the first victim of the Covid-19 pandemic. Indeed. The truth...
By Mar-Vic Cagurangan
- Sep 1, 2020
The social contract: What people expect in exchange for surrendering their freedom
“Man is born free, and he is everywhere in chains.” The famous opening line to Rousseau’s “Social Contract” sums up our inescapable...
By Mar-Vic Cagurangan
- Aug 13, 2020
The lone ranger
Guam Delegate Michael San Nicolas made a mark for defeating the once unbeatable Madeleine Bordallo, who everyone thought was glued...
By Mar-Vc Cagurangan
- Jul 10, 2020
Think again
Palau and the Federated States of Micronesia are among the last countries standing, sharing the hall of fame with just a few other...
By Mar-Vic Cagurangan
- Jun 10, 2020
The risks of emergency powers
Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero invoked her public health emergency directive when she faced public scrutiny over her administration’s business...
By Mar-Vic Cagurangan
- May 4, 2020
The irony of it all: Lessons from small Pacific islands
From Wuhan, Covid-19 has embarked on its atrocious journey around the world, reaching as far as it could get, swirling like a tornado and...
By Mar-Vic Cagurangan
- Apr 30, 2020
News blackout
The people of Guam tune in to the governor’s daily press conference not only to catch daily updates on the status of Covid-19 pandemic,...
By Mar-Vic Cagurangan
- Apr 3, 2020
Testing negative and retrieving squandered time
My heart raced when the Joint Information Office released the latest Covid-19 tally last week. It listed the numbers of confirmed...
By Mar-Vic Cagurangan
- Mar 8, 2020
Buzzword: Indo-Pacific
“Rebalancing to the Pacific” was tossed around a lot after President Obama announced in 2011 that the United States would turn its...
By Mar-Vic Cagurangan
- Feb 12, 2020
Shrinking bureaucracy and other fleeting plans
In five years, the government stands to lose a large part of its workforce due to retirement, according to Sen. Sabina Perez, who is...
By Mar-Vic Cagurangan
- Jan 3, 2020
The year ahead
2020 will be a year of optimism and anxiety. If nothing impedes the Department of Defense’s schedule, the Marines from Okinawa would...
By Mar-Vic Cagurangan
- Jan 2, 2020
Cheers and jeers
2019 has been a busy year for Guam tourism. The Guam Visitors Bureau announced in October that the final two months of Fiscal Year 2019...
By Mar-Vic Cagurangan
- Nov 10, 2019
Debunking the wage hike bogeyman
None of the scenarios painted by those opposing the minimum wage increase transpired when wage earners received additional $1 per hour in...
By Diana G. Mendoza
- Sep 30, 2019
An ode to the coffee shop
Manila— Ernest Hemingway was said to have spent time in coffee shops writing. I read up somewhere his story about how he went to a...
By Mar-Vic Cagurangan
- Sep 6, 2019
Colonies
On Dec. 4, 1960, the United Nations issued a declaration setting a 2010 deadline for “Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and...
By Mar-Vic Cagurangan
- Jun 30, 2019
The atrocities of politics
Executive and legislative leaders hastily called a press conference last month to announce a brilliant plan. Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero...
By Mar-Vic Cagurangan
- Apr 19, 2019
Holding the line; in support of Joyce McClure
We regret the Council of Pilung’s demand to have Joyce McClure sent out of Yap and declared persona non grata. We regret such an attempt...
By Mar-Vic Cagurangan
- Mar 5, 2019
History repeating itself
An entirely new generation of Filipinos, without realizing it, is seeing the resurgence of tyranny that oppressed the country and muted...
By Mar-Vic Cagurangan
- Feb 3, 2019
A breath of fresh air
“Transparency,” “honesty” and “accountability” are common ingredients of the political ballyhoo often heard on the campaign trail. After...
By Mar-Vic Cagurangan
- Jan 5, 2019
What defines 2018?
In one of its last announcements for 2018, the outgoing Calvo administration hoped to end the year (and its term in office) on a happy...
By Mar-Vic Cagurangan
- Dec 7, 2018
Transcending gender
I did not pop the champagne nor gather my female friends to celebrate women’s blast to power in the 2018 local and national elections....
By Mar-Vic Cagurangan
- Oct 19, 2018
A matter of life and vote
Abortion did not figure in the early stages of this year’s election season until Frank Aguon and his running mate Alicia Limtiaco...
By Mar-Vic Cagurangan
- Sep 6, 2018
Free press and public discussion
“Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not...
By Mar-Vic Cagurangan
- Aug 11, 2018
The case for privatization
If GTA were still a government-run corporation, it would likely be among the agencies lining up at the legislature to ask for subsidy...
By Mar-Vic Cagurangan
- Jul 5, 2018
Whistleblowers
“We are only faced with the absurd when we take both our need for answers and the world's silence together.—Albert Camus First, Ted...
By Mar-Vic Cagurangan
- May 31, 2018
Revenue leaks: $111 million and more
All tax revenue, according to the American humorist P.J. O’Rourke, is the result of holding a gun to the taxpayer’s head. “Not paying...
By Mar-Vic Cagurangan
- May 6, 2018
Force-feeding the babies
The Trump administration’s fiscal 2019 budget pitched a “bold, innovative approach” to reform the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance...
By Mar-Vic Cagurangan
- Apr 3, 2018
The anthem
It was quite amusing if not woeful to watch. Gov. Eddie Calvo tried all sorts of scare contrivances to convince the skeptical senators...
By Mar-Vic Cagurangan
- Mar 4, 2018
Capricious tax hike
Adelup has been spewing out hysterical press releases, warning of payless paydays, furloughs and possible cuts in government programs and...
By Mar-Vic Cagurangan
- Feb 3, 2018
Sinophobia
China has been inching along the Pacific, one thousand yuan at a time. Since 2006, the communist state has been splashing cash around the...
By Mar-Vic Cagurangan
- Jan 6, 2018
Bitcoin and politics in 2018
This will be the year of Bitcoin explosion. Not that it hasn’t exploded yet. The first Bitcoin ATM just opened on Guam. Autospot’s radio...
By Mar-Vic Cagurangan, Pacific Island Times
- Dec 8, 2017
Cockfighting, legends and memories
Living on Guam for almost 15 years, I have finally fulfilled my long desire to visit the cockpit in Dededo, compelled to understand...
By Mar-Vic Cagurangan
- Nov 4, 2017
Failure to launch
At the 23rd anniversary celebration of Palau’s independence in October, Vice President Raynold “Arnold” Oilouch recalled the questions...
By Mar-Vic Cagurangan
- Oct 2, 2017
Print lives
To be honest, I had nagging self-doubts when I was conceptualizing this publication project, given that everyone seems to have an opinion...
By Mar-Vic Cagurangan
- Sep 1, 2017
The silver lining
North Korea “will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen” if it makes any more threats to the United States, President...
By Mar-Vic Cagurangan
- Aug 3, 2017
Hobbes’ social contract
Self-preservation is a natural instinct. In the face of danger, we follow our gut. Long before “duty to retreat” entered the legal...
By Mar-Vic Cagurangan
- Jul 7, 2017
Lessons from Puerto Rico
“We have a lot to learn from Puerto Rico,” Gov. Eddie Calvo said following the sister territory’s recent referendum, which yielded an...
Admin
- Jul 1, 2017
Why we need supporters
The Pacific Island Times, though a very young publication in the region, has a growing readership. But like many media organizations, we...
By Mar-Vic Cagurangan
- May 31, 2017
Playground
As of end of May, Guam senators have introduced 103 bills and 137 resolutions. “This single metric alone tells me the legislature has way...
By Mar-Vic Cagurangan
- May 3, 2017
Blown out of proportion?
So I heard this comment: “The Navy has been conducting this underwater detonation on Guam on a regular basis, why is this an issue all of...
By Mar-Vic Cagurangan
- Apr 5, 2017
Elegy for Guam’s conscience
There is no shortage of articles written about the late Alfred Ysrael, his self-made Cinderella life, his entrepreneurial feats, his...
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