Spruced-up graves November 1, 2014 “We give back to You who first gave them to us: our faithful dead, whose beauty and truth are even now in our hearts.” That line from Rufus Ellis resonated as the wife and I, like thousands of other families, spruced up the graves of our kin for All Saints’ […]
Editorial
Beyond the stutters
Beyond the stutters VOL. XVIII NO. 3 (October 25-31, 2014) Listen beyond Vice President Jejomar Binay’s flustered stutters whenever a sensitive question is lobbed. The queries range from the P15.6-million Redwood-type, three-bedroom unit of The Woodlands at Tagaytay Highlands to overpriced beds at the Ospital ng Makati to the whereabouts of top aides, like Gerry […]
‘Pingpong children’
‘Pingpong children’ VOL. XVIII NO. 2 (October 18 – 24, 2014) They best symbolize the concern of the ongoing synod that ends on Sunday: The “pingpong children” shuttle between separated parents, are trapped in wars, or swept in often chaotic immigration waves. Set up by Pope Paul VI in 1965, the synod convenes to give a […]
High-risk duty
High-risk duty Volume XVIII NO. 1 (October 11-17, 2014) If we let this pass, no significant witness will testify… because of fear,” Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago fumed. She seeks 24-hour police protection for Audit Commissioner Heidi Mendoza who documented Makati hospital scams before the Senate blue ribbon committee. Medical equipment for Ospital ng Makati—from sterilizers […]
Macabre joke
Macabre joke Volume XVII NO. 50 October 4, 2014 Inter the embalmed body of former president Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani, Sen. Francis Escudero suggested on, of all days, the 42nd anniversary of the imposition of martial law. Sure. The 3,257 extrajudicial killings under the New Society exceeded even Chile’s 2,115 summary […]
Manuel Luis Quezon and Sukiyaki
Manuel Luis Quezon and Sukiyaki September 27, 2014 A different prism on martial law came, over the weekend, from a Filipino who grew up in Argentina. To mark the 42nd anniversary of Marcos’ saving “democracy by bayonets,” Bino A. Realuyo wrote about “my belated awakening (that) came mostly from a Buenos Aires education.” A poet […]
Standing Room Only?
Standing Room Only? September 20, 2014 What do you do when all seats are taken? The Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan and Malaysia control real islands in the South China Sea. “China came very late to this party and missed out on all the good real estate,” wrote British Broadcasting Corporation’s Rupert Wingfield-Hayes in “China’s Island Factory.” […]
Transition curve?
Transition curve? Volume XVII NO. 46 (September 6-12, 2014) Brazil today loses less than 6,000 square kilometers of forests yearly—down from 20,000 a decade back, The Economist reports. It spearheads the Amazon Region Protected Areas, which is 20 times Belgium’s size. This is the “transition curve, a turning point in seemingly irreversible deforestation.” The Philippines […]