Articles, essays, and talks of Rey Lugtu

(Published in BusinessWorld, under The View From Taft column, Nov 10, 2005) When seven cabinet secretaries and three bureau chiefs of President Arroyo resigned on the Friday of July 8, immediately followed by resignation calls from the Liberal Party, the Makati Business Club, former President Cory Aquino, and civil society groups, many believed it was the start of the end for President Arroyo. Well, we know what happened. All succeeding events and elements during those times failed to bring about a “tipping point”. A critical mass of people did not congregate in Makati or at Edsa Shrine to set the stage for another revolution against the presidency. Conversely, both Edsa 1 and Edsa 2 revolutions were effected by tipping points or, in the words of Malcolm Gladwell, author of The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference, by “one dramatic moment in an epidemic when everything can change all at once”. What makes events such as Edsa 1 and 2 reach critical mass proportions?...