September 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…
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New 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 CommentPresident Aquino may be chuckling behind his hand at the way in which his remark about “responsible parenthood” put a cat in the chicken coop. Amid the excited cackling that followed the President’s remark, it took Prof. Bernardo Villegas of Opus Dei to remind listeners on Radio Veritas that responsible…
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 CommentSadness and satisfaction. Two feelings struggle within me as our institute turns over the feeding program at Nazareno Chapel in Payatas to the local parish. Sadness because it means closing the book on our earliest social program there, one that has occupied my time and attention for some 25 years.…
Leave a CommentThe community of Loyola House of Studies was gathering for a special outdoor supper when we were shocked into silence by the booming of a great bell in the tower over our heads, tolling slowly the nine rings of “De Profundis,” the Church’s prayer for the dead. Fr. Francisco Montecastro…
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 CommentMy friend John Gibson graduated from high school in 1942, as the United States was throwing itself into World War II. He thought of entering the Jesuits, but his parents objected—fearing that he might be sent as a missionary to the far-off Philippines. John was not sure either about his…
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Why I shall spoil my ballot
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…