“Gracia” was dismayed to see the parish priest wearing pink while celebrating Sunday Mass. She said a priest should be neutral and not openly declare himself a “kakampink” (literally, pro-pink), a supporter of then presidential candidate Leni Robredo. Pink was then the campaign color of choice of Robredo and her supporters. Was the parish priest a “kakampink”?...
Author: Minerva Generalao (Minerva Generalao)
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Marking Ash Wednesday and recalling Pope Francis’ call to ‘return to God with all our heart’
The Holy See Press Office announced on Feb. 28 that Pope Francis would not preside over the traditional celebration of the Ash Wednesday liturgy on Aventine Hill, which is to take place on March 5. The Pope has been confined for more than two weeks in Rome’s Gemelli Hospital to receive treatment for bilateral pneumonia...
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The Sinulog is also a festival to recall Christianity’s birth in the Philippines
The Feast of the Santo Niño or the Holy Child Jesus falls yearly on the third Sunday of January. Though originally a simple religious feast, it has become one of the grandest and most colorful festivals now called the Sinulog. To celebrate this year’s festival, various activities were lined up by the Basilica Minore del...
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Merry Christmas! Happy Hanukkah!
It is the fourth time since 1900 that the Jewish festival Hanukkah is being celebrated during the Christmas season, which ends on the Feast of the Epiphany or the baptism of Jesus on Jan. 5. This year, Hanukkah began at sundown on Dec. 25 and will end on Jan. 2. (The date of the holiday...
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2023 confirmed as hottest year; warning up on worsening climate crisis
The global temperature in 2023 hit 1.45 ± 0.12 °C—the hottest year on record, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in its Jan. 12 news release. The years 2016 (which had a strong El Niño) and 2020 were previously classed as the warmest on record at 1.29 ±0.12°C and 1.27 ±0.12°C, respectively, above the...
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Hot new year!
While the traditional greeting is “Happy New Year,” this time it may need a significant addition in view of recent historic climate records. The greeting may well be: “Happy New Year, despite a hot or even hotter 2024.” June 2023 was the hottest June on record globally. July was also the hottest month. The following...
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What to Know: Are confidential funds secret funds not subject to audit?
The use of confidential funds (CF) by the Office of Vice President Sara Duterte, concurrently the secretary of education, continues to be in the news and in social media posts. While most of the comments dwell on the P125 million in confidential funds supposedly spent in an 11-day period in December 2022, among the other...
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Workers’ equality in the kingdom of God
Jackieh, a library assistant, had to walk fast or run to be on time for work. Tardiness would mean a salary deduction if her reason for being late is not acceptable. During the pandemic when the norm was to work from home, she set the alarm 10 minutes before 10 a.m., her time in, so...
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Despite the rains, record-breaking hot days and years may be expected
The rains are here but hot and dry days may be expected because of El Niño possibly starting between June and July and lasting up to March, according to the Philippine weather bureau Pagasa. Elsewhere in the world, forecasters at the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said temperatures are likely to soar and break records over...
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Users want GCash to disclose what really happened
On the morning of May 9, GCash issued an advisory intended to assure its millions of users: “We’re back!” The advisory was posted after GCash extended a scheduled maintenance job “to investigate and determine that no hacking had occurred” the day before, when unauthorized deductions were made on certain accounts. The downtime that prevented users...