Amigo: P-Noy's popularity ratings, new GF

THAT'S correct. His Excellency's popularity rating has gone down beyond the fifty-fifty line by four dismal points, or 46 percent to be exact. That may be good news to his critics and bad news to his KKK (Ka-klase, Kamag-anak, Kabarilan) tribe.

Wenceslao: Isolate Kato and Bravo

THE good news is that the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) had severed the ties of Commander Umbra Kato and Commander Bravo from the mainstream of the front organization.

Vugt: Satan - who is he?

SATAN is the personification of evil. The big question of all times is: who is he? And the same question goes for evil: what is evil, where does it come from?

Editorial: Heavy traffic in exchange for development

THE planned flyover projects in the city already started but the people have mixed views on this, as the ongoing construction has caused traffic jam, especially during rush hours.

Wenceslao: The Pieces Are in Place: Now Is the Time to Move Ahead

THE peace process does not stand alone. It is the key part of a complicated set of programs and actions designed to ultimately bring peace and prosperity to Mindanao.

Vugt: The abortion issue

ABORTION is a very contentious issue, especially in the Catholic Church. Abortion is killing the unborn, killing innocent life. God's commandment says: Thou shall not kill. That is the reason why abortion is taboo in the Church. But again, the question here is: what do we really mean by abortion, what are the implications of abortion? And there are many other relevant questions related to abortion.

16 years of fair, balance reportage

SIXTEEN years ago today, SunStar Tribune was born.

The birth of the paper on June 27, 1995 paved the way for a fair and balance reportage in the city.

The buddy-buddy system

ONE of the defects in our government system is the age-old practice of the buddy-buddy system, a style that actually employs automatically people who helped in the campaign. These folks are the ones who do the dirty jobs like shouting in the streets, putting up placards, deliver speeches and destroy the honor of the opponents and everything.

These positions are temporary since their employment defends on the grip of the particular politicians to hang onto his job. If he drops from his post for any reason, his supporters will also fade away. This job is not all sugar, it is risky too.

Vugt: Macho culture

WHEN I arrived in the Philippines 50 years ago, coming from Holland with a different cultural background, I was struck by the macho culture of the Filipino, how men play a domineering role not only in Philippine society but in the Church as well. I am especially referring here to the negative aspects of this culture.

Editorial: Fatherly reflections

A FATHER should give all that his children need - love, material things and support. But why are there fathers who abuse their children, physically and emotionally?

Vugt: Our lawmaker from Cagayan de Oro

RUFUS Rodriquez has made already in the past some legal blunders in Congress.

Some time ago, he proposed a law for the re-instatement of the death penalty, for foreigners only. He wanted to go after the Chinese who sentenced to death some of our Filipino drug traffickers and now, he wanted to retaliate against the Chinese by imposing the death sentence on Chinese drug traffickers.

Soriano: Can a homosexual make it to heaven?

GOING to heaven is an attainable thing -- attainable even to the poorest of the poor!

Vugt: Devotion of the Divine Mercy

MISS Lorna V. Llanos, executive coordinator of the Divine Mercy Foundation of Mindanao (Phil) Inc. wrote a reaction to my column on the Divine Mercy Shrine in El Salvador.

Soriano: Masturbation - To Sin or Not to Sin?

IN MY 43 years of propagating God’s words n the Bible, I have come across numerous people asking me what the Bible says about masturbation: Is it a sin to masturbate or not? Many religious denominations condemn masturbation in whatever manner it is done. In the present Jewish religion, a rabbi has this to say:

Emata: Too many are drug users

A LOT of people from the professional group, government and private workers, civic and religious circle, businessmen, laymen and nearly every man who walks in the street are drug users. So many of them and there is no way to count in order to reach an exact figure.

Vugt: The Laity in the Catholic Church

RIGHT now, we have two kinds of lay people in the Catholic Church in the Philippines. We have the laity under the guidance of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines and we have the ordinary lay people in our local churches, the Basic Christian or Ecclesial Communities (BCCs or BECs).

Van Vugt: Pedagogy of the Oppressed

PAULO Freire is the South American liberation theologian who wrote the famous book “Pedagogy of the Oppressed.”

Soriano: A Biblically Smart Answer to an Impertinently Stupid Question (Part 1)

I RECEIVED this question that has been posted on http://esoriano.wordpress.com/ask-bro-eli/ and asked me to browse and answer to questions posted on http://godisimaginary.com/video10.htm. I would be very pleased to answer all the questions that the video’s author posted in this clip. The first question was: Why won’t God heal amputees? Well, this is my answer to that seemingly impertinent question.

To the author of www.godisimaginary.com,

Adaza: Name calling and the RH Bill

CONGRESSMAN Pablo Garcia of Cebu, a respected trial lawyer, put up a good performance in the House of Representatives when he interpellated Edcel Lagman who is a lawyer from Bicol and the principal author of the RH Bill, which turned into name-calling between the two protagonists later on in the last stages of the interpellation.

Emata: Oour country? Oy my God

WHAT is happening to our leaders? Why our country is lagging far behind other Asian countries?

Letter to the Editor

OUR Divine Mercy Shrine in El Salvador – its real purpose, its unimaginable value: a place of prayer and worship, a place of solace, healing and conversion.

Vugt: Swedish nationals sentenced to life imprisonment

FINALLY, our justice system in Cagayan de Oro was able to catch up with the two foreign criminals in our city, according to news reports in PDI of May 12 and 14. Thanks to the consistent campaign for justice of the Tubaga Movement and the courageous and no-nonsense Judge Jeoffre Abecido of the Regional Trial Court Branch 41 of Misamis Oriental who imposed the most severe penalty for such criminals, whether foreigner or citizens of this country.

Amigo: What improvement?

I ALMOST fell out of my chair when I chanced upon a press release from the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) entitled "Aquino commends weather bureau for improved performance."

Wenceslao: Weary of talks

A NUMBER of Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) fighters have returned to the folds of the law not only because they have gone tired of fighting a futile war of secession but they have also gone weary of endless negotiations.

It is apparent that in the minds of the returnees is merely a guarantee of equal opportunities, interfaith collaboration, equitable distribution of national wealth and government services, access to education and pragmatic resolution to the contentious issue of ancestral domain.

Vugt: The Jesus Movement

I HAVE decided to write my columns under a new motto: The living Spirit.

Vugt: Our Divine Mercy Shrine in El Salvador

I HAVE written before on this topic in Sun.Star. That was at a time that I was informed by some devotees who visited the Shrine in El Salvador that they were told up there on the mountain that the world was going to end in the year 2018 and that they could be saved only through the devotion of the Divine Mercy. All others would perish. I was assured by my informants that this is a true story.

Soriano: Stop! Suicide is never a solution, period.

BRO. Eli, Is it sin to commit suicide?

Sincerely, suicide is only for fools who do not believe in the power of God. In this world, we will experience tribulations. Things that make us feel uncomfortable are all around us. You are not the only person troubled.

Soriano: Greatest religious crime

THE date May 21, 2011 will be long remembered like the fall of 1975 when the Jehovah's Witnesses, through the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, predicted the coming of the Armageddon. Predictions by self-appointed prophets are old story being repeated again and again.

Amigo: Solution vs unemployment

YES, Virginia, there is a solution to the growing number of unemployed in the country.

Van Vugt: Death penalty only for foreigners?

OUR Representative Rufus Rodriquez wants to restore the death penalty, but this time only for foreigners! This is according to a news report in Sun.Star of April 5.