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A debate about debates
The University of Guam’s Great Debate is the Super Bowl of Guam politics— a primetime pre-election event that typically sees hundreds of...
From the publisher's desk
By Mar-Vic Cagurangan
Admin
- Oct 4
Pampered with attention
Picked apart by China and heavily courted by the United States, the Pacific island region has become the superpowers' battleground for...
Admin
- Sep 1
Guam’s political idiosyncrasy
Incumbent governors rarely lose party renomination. They have built-in political machinery that includes people who are currently holding...
Admin
- Aug 11
There is no such thing as 'pro-abortion'
People who are “pro-life” are “anti-abortion.” But “pro-choice” advocates are not necessarily “pro-abortion” or “anti-life.” Several...
Admin
- Jul 14
The Fifth Branch: Where citizens are in charge
Gone are the days when the traditional media was the gatekeeper of information and the exclusive distributor of news. Social media tore...
Admin
- Jun 11
Gun laws and Guam's Castle Doctrine
It happened again. Shots rang out. Children ran for their lives. Bodies fell. The horrific school shooting that killed 19 children and...
Admin
- May 3
Every chance to ‘milk’ the feds
Life is pretty much back to normal. With Covid-19 infections consistently dwindling and yielding statistics that bring a certain level of...
Admin
- Apr 7
A ghost of the dark years
I remember that day— Feb. 25, 1986. I was then a teenager. My family stood outside the iron gates of Malacañang Palace among a massive...
By Mar-Vic Cagurangan
- Mar 6
The politics of public health in the time of Covid
Public health has often been the staple of politics and our government— regardless of the political party and no matter who is running...
Admin
- Feb 5
Some are more equal than others
America loves to talk about “equality,” a subject that is ironically difficult to talk about in America. Last month, Reps. Carolyn...
By Mar-Vic Cagurangan
- Jan 1
From the beat: Gerry writes 30
Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light. I have...
By Mar-Vic Cagurangan
- Dec 9, 2021
The worst year? 2021 around the Pacific
We thought 2020 was the worst year ever. We heard it from friends and commentators. We read it on social media. We even said it...
By Mar-Vic Cagurangan
- Nov 7, 2021
When abnormal becomes the new normal
Dr. Anthony Fauci said we are likely to return to normalcy by May 2022. We are not holding our breath. When we’ve lost confidence even in...
By Mar-Vic Cagurangan
- Oct 4, 2021
In memory of Abed Younis
The late Abed Younis, my former boss and founder of Marianas Variety, never caved in to intimidation. In his typically deadpan tone, Mr....
Admin
- Sep 9, 2021
Convincing the inconvincible: Carrot and stick or a Rousseauian solution
No one trooped into the streets when the government dangled $10,000 in cash and brand-new cars to lure the vax stragglers to come out,...
By Mar-Vic Cagurangan
- Aug 13, 2021
Information crisis amid Information Age
The world of ideas and beliefs is like a flea market, where hawkers and barkers try to out-scream one another, each trying to pull the...
By Mar-Vic Cagurangan
- Jul 5, 2021
It was the worst of times, it was the best of times
Headed to recovery, Guam is submerged in an unexpected tsunami of resources it has never seen in history The Covid era is a perplexing...
By Mar-Vic Cagurangan
- Jun 30, 2021
Murder of the mind
(Following is an old column originally published May 22, 2014 in Marianas Variety News and Views. ) WARNING: This column can be offensive...
By Mar-Vic Cagurangan
- Jun 7, 2021
‘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...
By Mar-Vic Cagurangan
- May 23, 2021
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...
By Mar-Vic Cagurangan
- May 7, 2021
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...
By Mar-Vic Cagurangan
- Apr 8, 2021
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...
By Mar-Vic Cagurangan
- Mar 7, 2021
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...
By Mar-Vic Cagurangan
- Feb 2, 2021
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...
By Mar-Vic Cagurangan
- Jan 6, 2021
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...