Within weeks of his 2013 election, Pope Francis shocked many by washing the feet of two girls—one of them a Muslim—during the Maundy Thursday liturgy at a juvenile detention center in Rome. This break from liturgical tradition signaled a papacy that would emphasize reform, pastoral openness, and, to some, a controversial departure from established norms....
Category: People
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Reading the mystery of Nora Aunor, Superstar
The words posted by Ricky Lee, National Artist for Film and Broadcast, honoring his friend and fellow National Artist, speak volumes: “Kung wala na ang lahat, kung kalansay na lang ako, ang matitira na lang ay ang sinasabi mong sining” (When everything is gone, when I am but bones, the only thing that will be...
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Love and a million thanks to you, Pilita
Pilita Corrales, Asia’s Queen of Song and an enduring icon in the Philippines’ Tin Pan Alley, has bid us adieu at the age of 85. The “heavy heart” with which Pilita’s granddaughter Janine Gutierrez announced her passing on April 12 is ours, too. The mourning is deep for the Filipino Spanish María del Pilar Garrido...
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Retired ICC judge Raul Pangalangan: The Court has ‘jurisdiction over jurisdiction’
The arrest and dispatch to The Hague of former president Rodrigo Duterte on March 11 stunned many Filipinos, not least his family members and their ardent supporters. For some relatives of the victims of his “war on drugs” watching the historic daylong event on television in real time was like an Edsa 1986 moment: They...
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Looking back on a life serving and empowering rural communities in Negros Oriental
“One constant is the presence of Christ in our work,” Dr. Fe Sycip-Wale said in describing her 50-year career in public health spent serving rural communities in Negros Oriental. Sycip-Wale was born in Cebu in 1935 to a Chinese mother, Tim Wa Lee, a doctor, and a Filipino Chinese father, Daniel Sycip, a businessman. She wanted...
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In praise of Edcel Lagman, ‘Bicol’s great son’
Tributes continue to be aired for Albay (first district) Rep. Edcel Lagman, who died on Jan. 30 after a long and illustrious career in lawmaking and defending human rights beginning in the Marcos Sr. dictatorship. In a Facebook post “mourning” the loss of Lagman, Leni Robredo said that when she was vice president, she constantly...
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Sen. Risa Hontiveros: ‘Teen pregnancy is an ongoing national and social emergency’
It is a trying time for Sen. Risa Hontiveros, the principal author of Senate Bill No. 1979 which aims “to educate, support and protect our children and students against early pregnancy” through such means as comprehensive sexuality education. Hontiveros has introduced last-minute changes to the measure in an effort to bring more clarity to it...
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Gloria Romero, showbiz royalty
The Philippine movie industry is neither Mount Olympus nor a monarchy but it has gods and goddesses and kings and queens, albeit with feet of clay. One of them was Gloria Romero, who died last Jan. 25 (the Feast of St. Paul, as reminded by showbiz fixture and Nora Aunor fan Marie Cusi) at the...
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I remember Ka Dodong Nemenzo
I encountered Francisco Nemenzo—Ka Dodong to his colleagues and comrades—well before I met him in person. That is, I read one of his papers—isn’t that how we get to know great scholars and thinkers, through the works they have penned? They may be halfway around the world, or they might have passed away long ago,...
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The uncommon life and struggles of Francisco ‘Dodong’ Nemenzo
Once in an era an uncommon person comes along whose life bears the stamp of profound influence on the actions of others and on society. Such was the life of Francisco “Dodong” Alfafara Nemenzo who passed away at the age of 89 last Dec. 19. An unorthodox Marxist scholar of politics, an inspiring socialist leader-activist of...