I never thought I could be grateful to the Marcoses for anything. But their insistence on burying the dictator Ferdinand E. Marcos’ remains in the Libingan ng mga Bayani has given me a precious gift: hope in the next generation. Until the day the Supreme Court ruled to allow the…
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A statement that appeared in an article in The Economist concerning the government’s decision to allow the burial of former president Ferdinand Marcos’ remains in the Libingan ng mga Bayani says it well: “… [A]s one strongman buries another, the Philippines appears to be moving backward, not forward.” It won’t…
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I fought hard to recover from the sickening news of the Supreme Court’s decision on the Marcos burial. After two previous decisions that allowed the release from detention of former president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and former senator Juan Ponce Enrile, both charged with the crime of plunder, this decision is…
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I am no fan of President Duterte. I did not vote for him. Before the election, I was already turned off by his cussing during rallies and sorties, careless and foul remarks on women, and lack of concrete programs to address the economic and social issues of Philippine society, save…
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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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Prolife advocates have been awfully quiet lately. Quieter, anyway, than in the 2013 elections. In 2013, Christian prolife groups nationwide declared war on candidates who supported the Reproductive Health (RH) Law. Their focus on the law as a litmus test for a Christian vote might have left little room for…
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Over the past decade, the Catholic bishops have made three calls to voters: to form circles of discernment, to engage in principled partisan politics, and to exercise their right and duty to vote for candidates who work for the common good. Forming circles of discernment, in basic ecclesial communities or…
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This may sound heretical to some of my feminist and Catholic friends, but I suspect the Catholic Church in the Philippines is a closet feminist. If one is to remain both Catholic and feminist, one must learn to see, in the closet door, the cracks that let in the light.…
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I was born exactly 30 days before Cory Aquino was sworn in as the president who would start the restoration of democracy after decades of tyranny. My mother told me she had wanted to go to Edsa, but she couldn’t for obvious reasons. I suspect, though, that faint-hearted that she…
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Not to fail our children
A decade after the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act (JJWA) was enacted, it now faces its biggest challenge. Among the priority bills of President Duterte and his allies in Congress is the lowering of the minimum age of criminal responsibility (MACR) from 15 to 9 years old. The MACR is…