I grew up on an island whose tale begins with love and ends with death. Scientists would scoff and tell a completely different story. How could they believe an island would rise above the tides as a memorial to the forbidden love of a princess and a commoner, who sailed together across unforgiving seas and...
Category: News
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A gathering of the brave on the Day of Valor
April 9, 2024. A new moon has just entered the sign of Aries, coinciding with a total solar eclipse. In astrology, the Aries-born courageously faces the most difficult challenges, and strives to emerge on top. It was also the eve of Eid’l Fitr, when the Muslim world ends the monthlong fast of Ramadan. A fresh...
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Digital martial law library launched, ‘to ensure that all Filipinos will remember’
With the click of a button, you’ll find a copy of Proclamation 1081; read excerpts of hard-to-find memoirs, including Benigno Aquino Jr.’s “Testament from A Prison Cell”; or view videos of Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. in the heyday of martial law. The possibilities are endless when you visit the Ateneo Martial Law Library and Museum...
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In search of beloved ‘desaparecidos’
How does a family mark the birthday of a loved one missing for 16 years, abducted by unidentified men believed to be military or police agents? By strengthening solidarity with other families in the same sorrowful straits. On April 2, some of these families gathered at the Bantayog ng mga Bayani grounds in Quezon City...
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2028 election too far off for anyone to claim to be the future prez – Pulse Asia
Vice President Sara Duterte and Sen. Raffy Tulfo were statistically tied in a recent survey showing Filipinos’ preference for a presidential candidate, but neither can claim to be the candidate to beat in the 2028 presidential election. “I don’t think anyone here can safely say he or she is going to be the president because...
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Edcel Lagman sees smooth sailing of divorce bill in 19th Congress
The prime mover of the divorce bill in Congress is making a bold prediction: The predominantly Catholic Philippines will soon and finally join the rest of the world in making divorce possible for troubled married couples. “I’m confident that as the sun rises tomorrow this bill will be enacted into law,” said Albay Rep. Edcel...
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Only Supreme Court can resolve ‘Achilles’ heel’ of Charter change resolutions, legal luminaries say
Only the Supreme Court can resolve the issue of whether Congress should meet jointly and vote separately in the current contentious effort to amend the Constitution, legal luminaries said at a forum held at the University of the Philippines on March 14. “We can save much time and effort if this is resolved once and...
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Case of filmmaker, friends shows need for public awareness of warrantless arrest
The practice of warrantless arrest and the necessity of public awareness of its workings was highlighted in the recent release of filmmaker Jade Castro and his three friends from a jail facility in Catanauan, Quezon. Castro, sales manager Ernesto Orcine, and civil engineers Noel Mariano and Dominic Ramos were freed at 7.30 p.m. on March...
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Project Gunita et al.: ‘The truth will outshine the lies’
The academic organization Project Gunita and dozens of groups and individuals, including victims of rights violations during martial law, are taking President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to task for distorting facts about the dictatorial rule of his father and namesake in a March 4 interview with ABC News Australia. “President Marcos has yet again tried to...
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1987 Charter ‘imperfect’ but carries safeguards vs instability, framer says
When politicians tried to have their way in the crafting of the 1973 Constitution, they were met with street protests in the tumultuous early years of Ferdinand Marcos Sr.’s regime. The writing on the wall was very clear. Filipinos “didn’t want politicians to be involved in the drafting of the Constitution,” human rights activist Edmundo...
