Dropping 3 impeachment articles akin to Fischer’s first 2 games loss in chess match

“Belatedly I was having second thoughts. I had no reason to be taking this risk. I could be halfway out already. I said I wouldn’t do this anymore. Overconfidence and these half-baked plans will be the death of me.”

―Audranasa

 

By Alex P. Vidal

 

WAS it a case of hubris on the part of the prosecution panel? Or overconfidence? 

Or both?

Whatever was the reason behind their decision to drop the three of the four impeachment articles against Vice President Sara Duterte-Carpio, they may have already smelled victory, or a conviction based on the damning pieces of evidence unveiled in the testimonies of forensic financial analyst Alexander Cabrera in Article II, which accuses Mrs. Duterte-Carpio of amassing unexplained wealth and failing to disclose assets or divest from prohibited business interests.

We don’t need a bazooka, a revolver, and a bayonet because we have sharpened the Samurai?

Two early to celebrate? Not so fast, folks.

Charlie Parker once warned that the desire for victory is a common trait that connects all life on planet Earth.

A tree will grow in the direction that provides the most sunlight for its leaves to maximize its probability of survival.

Lionesses will mate with the strongest male lion to maximize the probability of their offspring’s viability and success.

But no matter how hard we try, we can never guarantee victory and success.

 

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If there were a person who could guarantee victory every time, that person would become the richest person in human history, Parker emphasized.

Imagine a quarterback who could never lose, or a scientist who always came up with the perfect formula.

Cocksure of becoming the first American-born world chess champion, Robert James “Bobby” Fischer supposedly “threw away intentionally” the first two games of his world chess championship match against defending champion Boris Spassky of Soviet Union in Reykjavik, Iceland in 1972.

But unlike the late American genius who would become the sixth non-Russian world chess champion even after the 0-2 deficit, there is no clear sign yet that the prosecution panel’s shocking decision to drop the three articles of impeachment will result in the conviction of the beleaguered Philippine vice president.

As of this writing, the prosecution panel continued to receive flaks even from supporters who didn’t agree with their decision.

After yielding the first two important games in the 21-game championship series played at the height of the Cold War, Fischer, then 29, faced heavy criticism for self-destruction, lack of emotional control, and erratic behavior.

Despite the disastrous start, Fischer wrested the world chess title by a commanding 12.5-8.5 points victory over the then 35-year-old Soviet champion on September 1, 1972.

 

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Fischer’s Game 2 loss drew widespread condemnation for throwing a temper tantrum, protesting the noise and TV cameras in the hall, and failing to show up to the board. This self-inflicted default put him in a 2–0 hole against Spassky.

Soviet and Western analysts alike suggested that Fischer allowed his nerves and temper to crack under the massive pressure of the match, letting Spassky lure him into an emotional collapse.

There were concerns and fears from chess officials, the media, and even United States representatives that Fischer’s constant saber rattling, paranoia, demands, and refusal to show up would sabotage the match or lead to a complete embarrassment.

There were pundits who claimed, however, that Fischer did not actually sacrifice two games against the reigning Soviet world champion; rather, he lost the first game by over-the-board play (after miscalculating a bishop move) and forfeited the second game by failing to show up.

In Game 1, Fischer really lost, the pundits claimed, when he played a controversial bishop sacrifice (29...Bxh2), which trapped his piece. Some conspiracy theories or speculative opinions suggested he might have miscalculated or played bizarrely on purpose, but many chess historians viewed it as a real miscalculation or risky struggle rather than a deliberate game sacrifice.

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor-in-chief of two leading daily newspapers in Iloilo, Philippines.—Ed)

 

 

Talarico, the Vico Sotto of the United States, ‘leads’ in Texas

“Lead me, follow me, or get out of my way.”

—General George Patton

 

By Alex P. Vidal

 

IF the Philippines has Vico Sotto, the United States, many pundits say, has James Talarico.

Like Sotto, the incumbent mayor of Pasig City in Metro Manila, Talarico, member of the Texas House of Representatives, has surged in popularity as the Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate in Texas by combining a unique faith-based public identity with an economic populist message.

Both the Filipino and American politicians are thirty-seven years old and seen by their admirers and political backers as future presidential candidates.

Talarico frequently draws on his classroom experience to advocate for public education and working-class families as a former middle school teacher in San Antonio through Teach For America.

As a Presbyterian seminary student and former state representative, Talarico explicitly roots his politics in Christian scripture and morality, frequently criticizing Christian nationalism and arguing for policies like healthcare, education funding, and economic equity from a faith-based framework.

Instead of framing politics strictly through a left-versus-right lens,

Talarico positions his message around working people and families versus powerful elites, corporate money, and billionaire mega-donors.

 

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According to the recent YouGov poll, younger voters choose Talarico over Republican Ken Paxton.

Around two-thirds of voters ages 18–29 (69 percent) and ages 30–44 (62 percent) said they were voting for Talarico. Only 27 percent and 34 percent, respectively, said they were supporting Paxton.

Voters between the ages of 45 and 64 were more split on the race, with 46 percent siding with Talarico and 48 percent for Paxton.

More than half of voters age 65 and above (55 percent) said they were voting for Paxton, while 38 percent said they supported Talarico.

Overall, according to Fox 7 Austin, Talarico led the poll by six points over Paxton, 50 percent to 44 percent, with 2 percent saying they would vote for someone else, 3 percent undecided and 1 percent of those polled saying they would not vote.

The poll also asked voters who made a choice if they would consider another candidate.

Among voters who said they were voting for Talarico, Fox 7 Austin reported that 3 percent said there was a chance they could change their minds and vote for Paxton.

Paxton voters were also mostly locked in on their candidate, with 4 percent saying they would consider voting for Talarico.

Vico Sotto, nephew of former Senate President and incumbent Philippines Senator Vicente “Tito” Sotto III, represents a new generation of ethical leadership in the Philippines and is so popular nationwide.

 

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Penciled to be the next president of the Philippines, Sotto’s age prohibits him from running in the 2028 presidential elections. The son of popular comedian Marvic Valentin “Vic” Sotto gained widespread national and international recognition by choosing public service over his family's entertainment spotlight and breaking a decades-long political dynasty.

Vico Sotto implemented deep institutional reforms focused on transparency, a move that earned him national fame

He championed Metro Manila's first local Freedom of Information (FOI) ordinance, launched 24/7 public complaint hotlines, and live streamed government bidding processes.

Vico Sotto’s administration is known to have significantly lowered city project costs by eradicating supplier kickbacks and corruption.

Meanwhile, according to Northeastern Global News analyst Tanner Stening, the Democratic Party is positioned to make gains in the 2026 midterm elections, which are now less than a month away “if history is any judge.”

 

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Quoting associate professor of political science at Northeastern University Nick Beauchamp, Stening observed that on average, the party in power loses about 25 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives during the off-year elections, which take place midway through a president’s four-year term and typically serve as a referendum on the incumbent party.

He wrote that Beauchamp viewed power shift usually as a result of several baseline factors — presidential approval and the state of the economy, which tend to account for a lot of what’s driving public sentiment.

The midterms determine control of the House and Senate and include races for seats in thousands of state and local offices. The Republicans hold a slim majority in the House, with 218 members to the Democrats’ 214. They also command the Senate.

“Election observers note that while the progressive wing of the Democratic Party has enjoyed electoral success in the primaries, that impact has mostly shone through in smaller, less consequential races,” observed Stening.

“The Nov. 3 contest, they contend, will involve larger structural forces that trump ideology. They include the anti-incumbency mood that has swept elections around the globe, a deepening dissatisfaction with President Donald Trump as shown in several national polls, the economy and rising inflation tied to the U.S. war with Iran.”

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor-in-chief of two leading daily newspapers in Iloilo, Philippines.—Ed)

 

Farewell ex-WBF champ William Magahin

“You endure what is unbearable, and you bear it. That is all.”

―Cassandra Clare, Clockwork Princess

 

By Alex P. Vidal

 

FORMER World Boxing Federation (WBF) welterweight champion William Magahin has died in Iloilo City in the Philippines. He was 56.

The news was confirmed by another former boxing champion Revero “Gentle Giant” Santillan, who received the information from Magahin’s former wife Agnes.

“Rest well William Magahin,” Agnes wrote in a Facebook post September 25.

Santillan, 47, formerly based in Japan as boxing trainer, said Magahin visited him in his boxing training camp in Barangay Tacas, Jaro, Iloilo City five days before he passed away.

“He promised to visit me again. He left saying he needed to have more sleep because he was driving a taxi,” said Santillan, who won the Oriental Pacific Boxing Federation (OPBF) 147 lb crown four times in a checkered fistic career in 2001, 2004, 2005, 2007.

Magahin, an Amerasian, grew up in Olongapo City and was adopted by Negros-born businessman Roland, who ran and lost for Iloilo City mayor in 2025.

Under the tutelage of the Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines (ABAP), Magahin represented the Philippines in the 4th World Junior Championships from June 26 to July 5, 1987, in Havana, Cuba.

He turned professional by knocking out Eric Togana in a six-round aperitif in Manila on July 11, 1989. After one month, he defeated Geronimo Magallanes via 8-round unanimous decision at the Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City on August 19, 1989.

Magahin suffered his first loss as a professional in his third fight, a 10-round non-title duel against journeyman Jessie Solis at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum in Manila in October 1989.

After racking up three successive wins against Bernabe Aliping (January 1990), Armando Andales (May 1990), Boy Ligas (July 1990 for the Philippine lightweight championship), Magahin suffered his second defeat in a rematch against Solis at the Pasay City Sports Complex on December 30, 1990, and yielded his Philippine lightweight belt.

 

REVENGE

 

In their third meeting, Magahin decisioned Solis in 12 rounds to win back his RP diadem at the University of San Agustin gym in Iloilo City on May 25, 1991.

The 5 feet and 9 inches tall black fighter who spoke fluent Hiligaynon rose to fame when he brutally knocked out the fading former WBC junior lightweight champion Rolando Navarette (56-15-3, 33 KOs) in the sixth canto at the Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City on July 31, 1991. Navarette retired after the cruel defeat.

The win earned Magahin a trip to Tokyo, Japan where he was bludgeoned by then undefeated and future WBC lightweight champion Miguel Angel “Tokyo Santa” Gonzalez (51-5-1, 40 KOs), in a scary fourth round disposal at the Kurakuen Hall on August 19, 1991.

Magahin (18-7-1, 12 KOs) won the WBF 147 lb championship by 12-round unanimous decision against Australian Jeff Malcolm (100-27-11, 36 KOs) at the Iloilo Sports Complex in Iloilo City on March 25, 1995.

In his first defense, Magahin, known as “The Black Mamba”, defended the title against Erwin Villaver (14-8-1, 12 KOs), a Fil-Am from Hawaii, in another 12-round unanimous decision at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium in Manila on May 27, 1995.

He successfully kept the WBF diadem then headed by Tennessee-based Ron Scalf by whipping by TKO another Australian Brad Mogeridge in Bacolod City on August 5, 1995.

In his third defense, Magahin traveled to Medan, North Sumatra in Indonesia and yielded his crown to local favorite Suwito Lagola on points on October 21, 1995.

The Iloilo buzzsaw, a southpaw, tried to regain the crown but was TKO’d by Texas knockout artist Jaime Lerma (25-8, 18 KOs) in the 10th stanza at the Ninoy Aquino Staium in Manila on January 20, 1996.

He retired after the debacle.

 

 

 

Avoiding UN

“Maybe I made a mistake yesterday, but yesterday’s me is still me. I am who I am today, with all my faults. Tomorrow I might be a tiny bit wiser, and that’s me, too. These faults and mistakes are what I am, making up the brightest stars in the constellation of my life. I have come to love myself for who I was, who I am, and who I hope to become.”

―Kim Namjoong

 

By Alex P. Vidal

 

I NORMALLY walked toward the United Nations (UN) headquarters on 405 East 42nd Street from the First Avenue at 51st Street in Midtown Manhattan even without the General Assembly scheduled every third week of September.

I worked nearby from 2021 until 2023.

No longer this year. In fact, I avoided it on September 24, 2026, the second day of the high-level General Debate of the 81st session of the U.N. General Assembly (UNGA81), which officially started on September 8, 2026.

Manhattan—Midtown and Lower—has been my regular and most favorite place to rendezvous when I am off duty. It will not change.

At the corner of First Avenue and East 39the Street, the New York Police Department (NYPD) arrested and detained over 30 to 100 demonstrators protesting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu just after 12 p.m. September 24.

Organized by Jewish Voice for Peace, hundreds of demonstrators wearing matching white T-shirts (“Fund people not bombs”) blocked traffic in a planned act of civil disobedience during Bibi’s U.N. General Assembly address.

 

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Among those arrested and detained were high-profile personalities including Emmy-winning actor Hannah Einbinder, actor Susan Sarandon, and New York political figures.

The protest outside the UN, one of several this week against the embattled Israeli prime minister, drew hundreds of Jewish, Palestinian, Iranian and Lebanese New Yorkers, among others, as well as several elected officials and candidates in the November election, and a number of celebrities.

Protesters chanted slogans like “Let Gaza live” and “the whole world is watching.”

Official vehicles heading to the U.N. were diverted as protesters sat down in the middle of the street for more than an hour, unfurling banners that called to “end the genocide” and flying a kite reading “Free Palestine” – a reference to Israel’s threat earlier this year that it would target Palestinian children flying kites, organizers said.

According to The Guardian, Netanyahu delivered an inflammatory address to the United Nations, decrying what he said was a global anti-Jewish conspiracy and swatting aside criticism of Israel’s war in Gaza, as he faces down international isolation and a fight for political survival in upcoming elections in Israel.

“As planned protests erupted on the streets of New York City, Netanyahu took aim at critics of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, the international media, regional leaders such as Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the leftwing commentator Hasan Piker and the New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani in an address that doubled as a stump speech to ignite his rightwing base for the elections,” The Guardian reported.

 

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Invoking his late brother Yonatan Netanyahu, a commando killed in a 1976 raid to free Israeli hostages from a hijacked airliner in Entebbe, Uganda, Bibi repeated the lines: “We are going to win. We have no other choice.”

Inspired by a Palestinian call, dozens of delegated walked out of the General Assembly Hall of the U.N. headquarters as Netanyahu took the stage, leading a speaker to pound his gavel and announce: “I’m calling for order in the hall.”

Palestinian representatives organizing diplomatic missions to bring staff for a planned walkout of Netanyahu’s speech said they wanted to “send a clear message to Netanyahu and his government that no one is willing to aid, abet, or be complicit in its genocide and war crimes and illegal occupation, which all peace-loving states and peoples demand must come to an end”.

“If there are any other moral cowards in the audience, I urge them to walk out,” Netanyahu said before launching into his prepared remarks.

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor-in-chief of two leading daily newspapers in Iloilo, Philippines.—Ed)