Singapore. I am in this finely-manicured garden city to participate in a conference that aims to figure out what modernity has meant for people living outside the Western world. The West has always been the referent for the Modern, because it is where it all began. But Singapore is the perfect venue for something like … Read more
It is one of those enchanting events that vividly encapsulate the Filipino’s idea of what it means to live in this world. I refer to the annual procession of the Black Nazarene of Quiapo. But we may point to other equally popular religious devotions, like the fluvial procession of Our Lady of Penafrancia, that have … Read more
At the beginning of the year, I received a heart-warming e-mail from one of my former students who has kept in touch. Having heard that I would be officially retiring from teaching soon, she wanted to know if she and another classmate could attend my “last lecture.” I thanked her for her thoughtfulness, but told … Read more
Following the release from prison of people who had figured in highly publicized cases, a morning radio program recently conducted an interesting opinion survey. Listeners were invited to share their views on the question: whether the law did the right thing, or committed an error, in freeing the principal figures in four celebrated cases. The … Read more
On a day like this, the beginning of yet another year in time’s eternal stream, we may be forgiven for indulging in a bit of philosophical musing. Not everyone may be inclined to write the customary list of personal resolutions for the New Year. Others prefer to take stock of the year just past — … Read more
I don’t mean the world-famous Spanish football club; I mean the little town in Pampanga made famous by its well-preserved church and its furniture makers. Today, December 30, is when Betis celebrates its town fiesta. In the rest of the country, as we all know, this special day is set aside to mark the anniversary … Read more
This captivating phrase is from the book “Civilization and Its Discontents” by Sigmund Freud, the famous psychoanalyst and philosopher whose writings aimed, in his words, “to agitate the sleep of mankind.” It is to him that we owe ideas that are now part of the educated layman’s vocabulary — defense mechanism, wish-fulfillment, repression, narcissism, Oedipus … Read more
A few years ago, the sex therapist and clinical psychologist Dr. Margie Holmes, my colleague at the University of the Philippines, told me she was researching a book on depression. She asked if I knew anyone who had had an experience with depression and was introspective and open enough to talk about it. I’m not … Read more
National Artist and poet Virgilio Almario, a k a Rio Alma, spent all morning of Wednesday, December 15, texting friends to remind them it’s the 135thbirthday of Emilio Jacinto. The pre-law student, barely out of his teens, joined the Katipunan when its membership was but a handful, authored itsKartilya, and put together almost single-handedly the … Read more
More than at any other time perhaps, ours is a society that is desperately seeking to recover its faith in the legal system as a source of impartial judgments and stable notions of what is right and what is wrong. Politics has greatly tarnished the credibility of our courts. Our people have become cynical, seeing … Read more