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Author: Gerald M. Nicolas

Urban poor commission needs a champion

Hopes rose among the urban poor when President Duterte declared, during his first month in office, that his administration would not treat them like dogs by allowing the demolition of their houses. If relocation cannot be avoided, he said, he would be “very generous” and ensure the presence of job-creating…

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Off-city resettlement and climate change policy

Eight years ago, almost 80 percent of Metro Manila went under water after Tropical Storm “Ondoy” unloaded a month’s volume of rain in just six hours. Almost two million people were affected by the widespread flooding that killed hundreds, rendered thousands of families homeless, and caused a leptospirosis outbreak. Believing…

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Democracy ‘vs,’ nay, ‘means’ discipline

Dichotomies are rather popular lately. Filipino Catholics were recently dared to abandon a “hypocritical institution” because a “new religion” has emerged to bring about change, and the bandwagon leaves those who disagree; in short, continuity versus change. Wolf-whistling and catcalling are forms of compliment, a popular lawyer tells us, so…

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Whose attitude is the problem?

I cannot help but cringe whenever people reduce an extremely complex social issue, such as a large number of poor families living in hazardous informal settlements, to a simplistic, unidimensional cause: an attitude problem. My response would be one of exasperation, especially when this reasoning comes from our so-called “public…

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Need for ‘solidarity’ more than ‘charity’

In a coauthored book “On Heaven and Earth,” the future pope, then Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, hit the nail on the head by offering an alternative understanding of the oft-abused and misused term “charity.” From a Catholic perspective, he says, “Christian charity is the love of God and neighbor. It…

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