Editorial: Holy Week and the RH bill

CONSIDERING the Catholic Church’s worries over the passage of the controversial reproductive health (RH) bill, some of its leaders were bound to link it to the Holy Week celebration.

Roperos: Bad news for smokers

TALKING about a friend whose family has admitted before media workers that he is suffering from stage 4 lung cancer just about completes the dreary tone of Maundy Thursday. Today, we come to terms with the inevitable crucifixion of Christ.

So: Run UP High

ALMOST any fun run in Cebu is for a cause, which is always serious. And sometimes the fun is lost in the run when expectations, either the runners’ or the organizers’, are unmet.

In the Run UP High on May 1, there are no serious expectations. You simply run, walk, or run-walk and cross the finish line. It’s OK to aim for a podium finish, just don’t expect to get a cash prize.

Malilong: The journey back

BY THE time you read this, I am probably at sea for the six-hour trip to Masbate. It’s my first homecoming after 15 years and only the third since I passed the bar in 1975.

Just as it was when I left town to escape grinding poverty in the late ‘60s, I’ll be coming home alone. I had no expectations when I left, only a little on my return.

Barrita: Playing dead, staying alive

MULTI-AWARDED actress and former beauty queen Pilar Pilapil survived an “attack by the devil” by playing dead.

She sustained seven stab wounds.

Espinoza: Rama’s garbage disposal problem

WITHOUT a landfill or a materials recovery facility, the Cebu City Government will face tons of problems from its garbage. The city’s residents and establishments churn out not less than 200 tons of garbage a day.

The medium-size shredding machines that the city bought cannot cope with the tons of garbage dumped in Inayawan every day. According to a TV report, one of the machines has already conked out.

Editorial: The uses of religion

THOSE who harbor doubts about the importance most Filipinos place on religion need not look further than the Holy Week.

Roperos: ‘Gloomy’ Wednesday

WE are in the middle of the Holy Week that began on Palm Sunday. Curiously, while the other days of the week have their tag names related to their respective religious significance, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday do not have it. But there is Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Black Saturday.

Wenceslao: Vice Guv’s illness, Sugat-Kabanhawan

THE admission was bound to come.

Rumors about the illness of Cebu Vice Gov. Gregorio Sanchez Jr. were so strong, not many believed what his relatives were saying. Still everybody, including his political rivals in the Capitol, tried to be respectful in deference to Sanchez and his family.

Nalzaro: Palace should investigate Apostol

WHILE I don’t believe some of self-proclaimed whistle blower Crisologo Saavedra’s exposes, I am supporting his latest move asking Malacañang to investigate Deputy Ombudsman for the Visayas Pelagio Apostol for several alleged offenses.

Saavedra sent the complaint against Apostol for malversation, abuse of authority and neglect of duty to President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III. He asked the President to investigate Apostol and, if evidence warrants, dismiss him from service or replace him with a reputable and honest deputy Ombudsman. I fully agree with Mr. Saavedra.

Barrita: Christ has the answers, not Google

THE answers to life’s many questions are not all found in Google but in Jesus Christ.

This was Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma’s message to some 3,500 young people attending the 26th Local World Youth Day celebration at the Cebu Technological University in Argao over the weekend.

Yap: Virtual summer

SUMMER'S outdoor part is confined to driving off for siopao in a favorite Chinese restaurant or some quick midnight runs in Asiatown, and that’s it. This column isn’t going to talk about “pristine, white sands,” “breath-taking zip-lines,” “sweeping panorama of green mountains,” “spicy, delectable, mouth-watering barbecue,” “amazing and topless in the city that never sleeps” or any of those hackneyed phrases you get to read in manifold travel brochures. No, so if you’re looking for any of those, you’ll get frustrated with me.

Carvajal: Rebirth

BUTTERFLIES are gentle and beautiful creatures. They are not just harmless but they flit freely to spread beauty in nature’s garden. It is not hard to imagine how a garden scene would not be pretty at all without butterflies. A garden without butterflies most probably has no flowers to start with.

Editorial: What’s bad in Holy Week vacations

IT would be good if a survey is conducted in, for example, beach resorts to find out what percentage of those who have booked there this coming weekend are Catholics.

That would give us a better understanding of what Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma talked about in his Palm Sunday mass homily at the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral.

Roperos: An appeal to City Hall

I RECEIVED a copy of a letter from Engr. Nathaniel Pilapil Honculada of 24 Chesapeake Ave. in Toronto, Canada to Engr. Kenneth Carmelita M. Enriquez, head of Cebu City’s Department of Engineering and Public Works (DEPW).

Honculada is complaining about the drainage connection problem in 1037-Siloy Street, Basak Heights. Here’s a portion of his letter:

Cabaero: Safety standards

HOW did Robinson’s Place fare in the recent annual inspection of business establishments on their compliance with safety standards?

If it passed the inspection, how come no fire alarms or water sprinklers were observed at the height of the fire that hit the mall Sunday afternoon?

Malilong: Woefully under-equipped firefighters

CEBU City Mayor Michael Rama is right: our fire department is woefully under-equipped. That Robinson’s Place fire last Sunday was a grim, if timely, reminder on the need to upgrade our firefighting capability in order to keep up with the rapid changes in our skyline.

Seares: Pilar Pilapil and the devil

AFTER Cebuana beauty queen and movie star Pilar Pilapil was stabbed, beaten to a pulp, and given up for dead by two assailants in Marikina City Thursday, she told her best friend she was "really attacked by the devil."

Indeed, she was attacked: multiple stab wounds and contusions on her body confirm that. So the word "really" must describe "devil," not the attack.

Niñal: Our God is (not) an online God

THIS column is different from the other ones I’ve written because this is Holy Week, and for once let us be serious about ourselves and our purpose here on earth. Therefore, before you read further, I would like to invite you people to pause for a moment, bow your heads in reflection and put yourselves in the presence of... in the presence of the inventor of iConfess.

Unearthing history

SIGNIFICANT but understated was the discovery of artifacts recently dug up by an archaeological team.

In an interview with Sun.Star Cebu’s Bernadette A. Parco, which was published last April 6, professor Jojo R. Bersales of the University of San Carlos (USC) said that earthenware pottery unearthed near the San Remegio Parish by his team bore designs associated with the Philippine Metal Age, between 900 AD and 500 BC.

Wenceslao: Poro, Tudela and Bukilat Cavern

THAT photograph that appeared recently on page A2 of Sun.Star Cebu showing Suroy-Suroy Sugbo participants frolicking in the waters of the Bukilat Cavern in Tudela brought back memories of my summer vacations in Poro Island where the towns of Poro and Tudela are located. That was in the late ‘70s, when then president Ferdinand Marcos was already years into his attempt to build a docile community called the New Society, using us, the youths of that time, as his program’s guinea pigs.

Nalzaro: Re-imposition of Ancar permit

I USED to bring my car whenever I went on vacation to my hometown in Dipolog City. That way it was easier for me to move around. Sometimes, I would go south of Cebu, via Samboan and Dumaguete City, or direct to Palawan Port in Dapitan City on board Cokaliong Shipping Lines. After the previous administration eliminated the anti-carnapping (Ancar) permit, bringing a vehicle to another island was no longer a hassle because the owner only paid the bill of lading and the required permit from the Philippine Ports Authority.

Seares: How P-Noy observes his Lent

INSTEAD of the usual trek his predecessor made to Baguio every Lent, President Noynoy Aquino has chosen to stay in the Palace and run the government himself.

One can understand why.

Mongaya: Garbage as coal alternative?

ALTHOUGH dogged by controversy for hosting coal-fired power plants, the City of Naga has shown us a practical pro-environment way to reduce coal consumption. No, it is not into harnessing wind energy. The idea of using solar-powered lamps at the city plaza is still being tossed around in Mayor Val Chiong’s inner circle. But it is into something more practical and immediately relevant to garbage-choked Metro Cebu.

Sun.star essay: Summer watch

BETWEEN sad news of disasters and dirty politics, there are happy thoughts of summer trips to beautiful places in our country now that it’s April.

Summer is the chance for one to appreciate a country’s wealth in nature.

Mercado: ‘Bendita sa lukay’

THAT'S how we Cebuanos call today’s rites. In Tagalog-speaking areas, the blessed palms are called palaspas. They’re carried in processions from Brazilian favellas, Mexican barrios, Russian pogosts to Nepalese panchayats.

The rites recall the triumphant entry of Jesus, possibly through ancient Golden Gate, into Jerusalem.

Cabaero: Lenten break in time of expensive fuel

HOW to spend the four-day break this week?

The holy days this week of Thursday, Friday and Saturday and the celebration of Easter Sunday are occasions for most Filipino families to return to their hometowns or take long road trips or hit the beach. In these times of rising fuel prices and costs of basic commodities, the question on how to spend this week is in the minds of many.

Malilong: Hail Willie, full of grace

POOR Willie. The hypocrites and modern day Pharisees cannot get over their envy and want to crucify him.

What crime has he committed? He only made a six-year-old boy dance in his show. So the dance was erotic, but so what? Everybody does that, some even without their clothes on. That’s how they earn their living. The boy will most probably end up a macho dancer anyway so why not prepare him early and before a nationwide audience yet?

Lim: H.A.S.H. 2

(Continued from last Sunday)

Well, the good news is that I didn’t collapse at any time last weekend. I was both excited and anxious at the prospect of going through detox. I was conjuring up images of Fear Factor-inspired detox drinks. God, just don’t let me puke them out, I prayed. This is my last shot at coming close to being a shadow of my former form.

Tabada: E-mails from Japan

“I’M still alive,” Fr. Jack Serate, a Franciscan missionary serving in Japan, e-mailed on March 22.

This was 11 days after March 11, a day whose claim to history lies in approximately two minutes: a magnitude-8.9 quake, a seven meter-high tsunami, and nuclear contamination.