Memories of Repression and Resistance: 2

This afternoon, I got a text message from a staff of Bandila, the nightly news program of ABS-CBN: “Today po air yun Sa Wari Ko segment namin.” A few days ago, a TV crew came to our rented place to shoot my contribution to “Sa Wari Ko.” I was asked to  give a three-minute reflection on [...]

Memories of Repression and Resistance: 1

It’s an hour before midnight of September 21, 2009.
I think back to this morning and the  memorial service at the Bantayog ng mga Bayani to honor the martyrs and heroes of the resistance to martial law. The recurring slogans for September 21 are “We will remember!” and “Never Again!” But this year, we decided to [...]

9/11 and a Phone Call: part 3

Even the best will have to struggle to survive
The policies of EPIRA are not quite like the jumbo jets targeting the electric cooperatives. In fact EPIRA’s main target are the generation and transmission part of the electric power industry. Former secretary Viray even admitted in a public speech that in crafting EPIRA, they did not [...]

Senior Citizen Moments

This afternoon, after a hurried lunch, I rushed to the Department of Foreign Affairs to renew my passport, and experienced some pleasant “senior moments.”
I had gone to Makati to apply for a visa to South Africa to attend the board meeting of GCE, the Global Campaign for Education. But the consular staff asked me to [...]

Return of Murderous Thoughts

How many times have you murdered people in your mind before falling asleep?
I must have done this more than a dozen times when I was very young.
My murderous thoughts were triggered by petty reasons – some personal slight, some unresolved quarrel. But I wouldn’t sleep unless I replayed the offense and the sense of being aggrieved, [...]

Pinoy Love Songs

This morning, I attended a quick meeting at the office of ARC to discuss updates and possible next moves on agrarian reform. Bel Formanes of PARRDS told us that Bishop Pabillo and other church leaders told farmer leaders and AR advocates: “Rest a bit, and recover your energies after the hunger strike. We move again [...]

Convers(at)ions

For three days at the SEAMEO Innotech, November 25 to 27, an international conference is pursuing a series of conversations on “Transitions for Youth Success: Creating Pathways for Work and Life.”
For tomorrow’s closing session, I have been asked to summarize the conversations. But of course there is no way to do justice to the rich [...]

Filipino Snapshots of Bangladesh

It was Rey Ileto’s professor who told him: “To understand your country better, you have to get to know another country.” This has been my experience into my third day in Bangladesh.
On the four-hour train ride from Dhaka to Comilla district, I read various reports sent by Protiggya Parishad  (PP) to Denmark, but also an [...]

Departures and Reunions

The sad news came first through a text message from Lando, former staff of of IPD, “The father of Cha Cala has died.”
That was followed by a note on Facebook from Roy, former staff of ELF, who lives and works in Calgary, Canada: “Cha and Chuchi are arriving in the Philippines on October 16. Other [...]

Losing my Celfone. Again!

Have just re-read my March posting on losing my celfone, here at an internet cafe in my hometown of Naujan, Oriental Mindoro. Am posting this to tell friends who may have been calling or texting me since yesterday that they cannot reach me on my celfone.
Yesterday, September 10, is our town fiesta, in honor of [...]