Will the Prince of Peace come to the Philippines this Christmas? My fear is that He may pass by, but only for a moment, as the nasty fighting over the reproductive health bill—or the aftermath of a divisive vote in the House—embitters the nation. The debate has deteriorated into a…
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Yes, I am still an American citizen, waiting these many years for permanent-resident status as a step toward Philippine citizenship. I follow American political developments, although not as closely as those of my adopted country. Yes, I have a ballot for the upcoming US presidential election, and I shall send…
Leave a CommentSeptember 23, 1972, was a Saturday. But at St. Theresa’s College Quezon City (STCQC), we were at school to make up for unplanned holidays owed to typhoons and mass protests. The lesson we got was unplanned, too. Scrawled on the blackboards were the words “Martial law has been declared.” Proclamation…
Leave a CommentNew York City, Sept. 11, 2001, 8:51 a.m. The usually urbane voice of WNYC’s news anchor rang with rare urgency. A plane had flown into the North Tower of the World Trade Center. The roof of our Brooklyn apartment building looked out at Lower Manhattan, just across the East River.…
Leave a CommentThe Catholic debate over fertility regulation is now so muddled that even the bishops seem to have become confused. The day after President Aquino declared in his State of the Nation Address that his administration would promote responsible parenthood, Archbishop Ramon Arguelles of Lipa was reported to have said: “We…
Leave a CommentToday’s complex and competitive markets offer many opportunities for innovation. Two Sundays ago, the Inquirer’s Talk of the Town featured ways to produce consumer products from three coconut byproducts—candies and desserts with coco sugar, buko juice and sports drink from coconut water, and various food preparations using coconut oil. Such…
Leave a CommentAfter Tropical Storm “Ondoy” wreaked havoc in Metro Manila in 2009, the poor living along its rivers and waterways have to endure anxiety over government’s repeated calls for the relocation of all informal settlements on these so-called danger zones. Authorities say the settlements are “blocking” the natural flow of water…
Leave a CommentOne warm evening in Lent, at Mass at Our Lady of X in my favorite blue sundress, I was roused from devout drowsiness when the priest—my favorite canon lawyer—uttered the words “dress code.” The dress code for Catholic Masses may have been on his mind because the Inquirer recently reported…
Leave a Comment“So there are also squatters in Korea?” an urban poor mother and leader sitting beside me quipped in Filipino while looking at photos of so-called “vinyl houses” being flashed on the screen. (Some 4,900 families evicted from various places in Seoul occupy vacant spaces without permission and build shelters made…
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Walking the thin line
Has Cardinal Luis Tagle been reading Inquirer columnist Randy David? Seems so, from an interview with Juan Pablo Salud published in Philippine Graphic (Jan. 27). In the interview, the cardinal speaks of President Aquino as possibly the first “modern president” of the Philippines. He goes on to describe “modernity” in…