That picture of a maid, possibly a Filipina, walking behind a tall Singaporean young man in military camouflage and carrying his big rucksack while he fiddles with his cell phone, has sparked a lively Internet debate. The comments it has generated are fascinating in themselves, reflecting a wide range of concerns and standpoints. Hardly anyone … Read more
The latest Social Weather Stations survey figures on hunger are truly alarming. More than 20 percent of Filipino families (or more than 4 million families) have reported experiencing involuntary hunger in the first quarter of 2011. Though the number is slightly lower compared to a year ago, the March figures nonetheless show a steady quarterly … Read more
In view of the current stalemate and worsening civil war in Libya, the quest for solutions has turned to the prospect of a political settlement that will drive Moammar Gadhafi into exile while making room for one of his sons to sit in a transition government. This possibility has focused world attention on the eccentric … Read more
This is not about the three Filipinos who were put to death in China the other day for heroin smuggling — though it may well apply to them. They were victims of drug syndicates, of a harsh justice system, and perhaps of a desire to find a quick way out of poverty. They most likely … Read more
Many reasonable people do not understand why the resources of the entire Filipino nation have been mobilized to persuade China to spare the lives of the three Filipinos who were executed yesterday for the heinous crime of drug trafficking. They ask: why are we spending precious diplomatic capital to plead for the lives of three … Read more
The corpse of Ferdinand Marcos, who died in exile inHawaii in 1989, lies unburied in a family museum in Batac, Ilocos Norte. Imelda Marcos, now a member of the House of Representatives, insists that she will allow nothing less than a hero’s burial for her husband’s waxen remains. More than two hundred of her fellow … Read more
Worried that they have not been able to contain the threat of nuclear radiation from the crippledFukushima nuclear plant, Japan’s Atomic Energy Agency recently re-classified the situation to a level 5 nuclear event. This means that the risks it poses are no longer just local; they are likely to spill beyond Japan’s borders. The wind … Read more
“There has been an extraordinary demand for more masses,” my brother Bishop Ambo told me. “Some people go to church twice on Sundays. The churches are packed, and we don’t have enough priests to minister to everyone’s spiritual needs.” I saw what he meant when I visited him the other day, a full week after … Read more
Our sensitivity to risk is not constant. It is always shaped by events happening around us. Twenty-five years ago, in November 1985, we were ready to fire the first nuclear power plant in the Philippines. A fateful last minute check demanded by international inspectors showed a few minor deficiencies in the provisions for an emergency, … Read more
Like most people now in their mid-60s, I recently joined my high school classmates in a series of reunions to mark the golden anniversary of our high school graduation. There is something extraordinary about meeting one’s classmates after fifty years. You wonder how they have changed and in what ways they have remained the same. … Read more