Professor-political analyst joins Inquirer as columnist

Segundo Eclar Romero

Professor Segundo Eclar Romero joins the Opinion section as a columnist starting on Jan. 7.

His column, “On the Move,” will appear every Monday.

Romero is a visiting professor at the Development Studies Program of Ateneo de Manila University.

He has written several papers on politics and the economy, as well as country reports for Transparency International in 2009 and 2011.

Romero earned his master’s degree in political science from Northwestern University in Illinois in 1976, and his Ph.D. in political science from the University of the Philippines in 1992.

As a political analyst, he has often been quoted in media, including in this paper.

“With the election of Donald Trump, Americans will better understand the rise of Duterte in the Philippines,” he said in 2016, on what the Philippines and the Filipinos could expect from the election of Donald Trump as American president.

“Much of the polarization experienced in the Philippines will be mirrored in the United States … Duterte will continue to rail against America because that is in his OS (operating system) and he needs a devil to curse and blame for unsolvable historic Filipino problems,” he added.

Romero once served as vice president both for the Institute for Strategic and Development Studies and the Development Academy of the Philippines.

He currently serves as consultant/resource person for the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, the Department of Science and Technology-Science Education Institute, the Department of the Interior and Local Government and the Commission on Audit.

He also lectures at Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila-President Ramon Magsaysay School of Public Governance and at the National Defense College of the Philippines.

Romero used to write a column for the Inquirer Motoring section in the 1990s.