Editorial: Love and the mundane

THE report was the definition of tragic, that is, if the police finding on the incident is correct: a not-so-illicit love affair gone sour, the jilted lover killing the woman who broke off with him then throwing her in the woods and, realizing he couldn’t get away with the crime, shooting himself in the chest inside a car.

Incidents like these have happened many times before. The variations in the story are minimal: the names of the protagonists may be different but the circumstances remain the same, or almost the same. And the lessons have been told and retold.

Libre: Lord’s protection

YOU could have died,” the tire supplier told my wife, Debbie, as she went back to his shop on 20 May 2013 to report about the flat tire that we had in the South Motorway of Auckland.

Wenceslao: The Camotes polls

THE Barug Alang sa Kauswagan ug Demokrasya (Bakud) of Ramon “Nito” Durano III has, as expected, swept the elections in the Camotes group of islands. This is not surprising because Bakud has monopolized politics in the towns of Poro, San Francisco, Tudela and Pilar for decades now. Besides, the opposition put up by One Cebu in this year’s polls was weak.

Nalzaro: Gwen’s return

THE six months suspension of Gov. Gwen Garcia imposed by the Office of the President through the Department of Interior and Local Governments (DILG) will end on June 19.

Barrita: Back to school

Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago urged neophyte senators to go back to school instead of entering the Senate with guns-a-blazing.

Once the dust of victory has cleared, Santiago said the Filipinos who voted for the new senators would be scrutinizing them to see whether they made the right choice.

Carvajal: Barricaded

QUESTION number two is: was there a Catholic vote in elections 2013? Lipa Archbishop Ramon Arguelles and Bacolod Bishop Vicente Navarra, who both went to extremes in getting Catholics to vote as one, have admitted disappointment that bloc voting by Catholics was simply non-existent.

Cariño: Folkhouse

THE “folkhouse.”  Any book written about the Baguio I grew up in would be remiss without a piece about this bastion of 70s Baguio culture, which – quite frankly – is not even a proper word, i.e., found in a decent dictionary of the English language.

The folkhouse was what in normal parlance is called a bar.  This Baguio once-mainstay was a bar featuring what we called “folk music.”  By folk music, we actually meant what is now identified as “folk-rock” or even country music, the imported kind, straight from the U.S. of A. 

Cayading: Are You Kids of 1950’s, 60’s, 70’s and early 80’s?

THIS article wants to share with you how life during those years as compared life of children born out from those specified years. Well, you know what you are talking about and really agree with this column if you are one of these kids..... WHAT A BIG DIFFERENCE! I knew for I myself belong to that era.

Dacawi: Feel-good story

EIGHTEEN years is a life-time, yet there are stories that live on for a life-time, forever etched in memory. The need is always there, for these stories to be told and retold so they can be passed on like prized heirloom. One such story was recalled and re-lived last Tuesday, after Conrad Marzan, the expat Baguio-Cordillera folksinger with a heart, came home this summer from Northern California where he is based for seven years now.

Del Rosario: 4 Cs

I HAD the privilege to speak before close to a hundred kindergarten public school teachers of Baguio-Car Region on May 24, during the culmination of their Continuing Education program.

Earlier when invited, Ma’am Susan, my coordinator in MDC Life Seminars, asked their coordinator what they would want me to speak about, and she was simply told, “inspire them”. That is a tall order for any speaker. Most of the time, being given a topic makes the preparation easier. Why? It limits the topic to research on and ponder upon.

Padilla: FJFNL, JANL and NCCB to lead 4th Fil-Japanese friendship day rites

FOUR years ago, the Baguio Elderly Assembly under my leadership initiated the first ever Baguio Filipino-Japanese Friendship Day celebration on October 16, 2009.

The international even was jointly sponsored by the Filipino-Japanese Foundation of Northern Luzon, Inc. led by its executive director Engr. Leopoldo Escaño; the Baguio Japanese Residents Society headed by businessman Masahiro Okuda, in partnership with the National Correspondents Club of Baguio.

Bautista: The sound of music

AS A young boy I would recall my mum taking us to Session Theatre for us to watch Julie Andrews.

In this movie she plays the role as yaya to the Von Trapp kids - seven children to a military officer.

Editorial: To be treated as professionals

TO GRAB another person’s property is the mark of the unschooled. For a government official to order such is the mark of the uncouth. But that is what was manifested by the chief of the Department of Psychiatry of the Southern Philippines Medical Center (SPMC) when at the height of the fire that gobbled up the old building along J.P. Laurel Avenue, he ordered his men to accost Sun.Star Davao photographer King Rodriguez, grab his camera, and delete photos there. From the journalists’ accounts, this mental hospital chief also threatened some other cameramen.

Valle: Vicious cycle

FOR how long can one sustain sanity in an abusive relationship? There's no telling.

Some would say it depends on one's tolerance to pain or one's threshold for pain. If and when it gets to be too painful to bear, then the breaking point is then reached, and that's when the unthinkable usually happen.

Tacio: The hunger games

“THERE is a lot that happens around the world we cannot control,” American Congressman Jan Schakowsky once said. “We cannot stop earthquakes, we cannot prevent droughts, and we cannot prevent all conflict, but when we know where the hungry, the homeless and the sick exist, then we can help.”

Roperos: Troubled economy

A BASIC and common economic concern among the nations is how to market their products to each other. They call it “export marketing.” This notion struck me recently when I read a report in this newspaper about the threat faced by the Seaweed Industry of the Philippines (SIAP), which produces and exports carageenan as food additive.

Wenceslao: That ‘60-30-10’ poll count ‘pattern’

AN interesting article was posted recently in the Scientific American website (www.scientificamerican.com). It was aptly titled, “Moon Landing Faked!!!—Why People Believe in Conspiracy Theories.” I say the article is interesting considering insinuations raised by some sectors recently that tend to put doubt on the result of the senatorial polls.

Malilong: Move to postpone barangay polls

THE term of office of barangay officials, which is fixed by the Local Government Code, has undergone two changes: on Feb. 14, 1998, when (according to a Rappler report) nobody was looking, Congress extended it to five years through Republic Act 8524 and on March 19, 2002, when it was restored to three years, again by another act of Congress, Republic Act 9164.

Seares: The new senators you or PCOS have picked

A person's opinion of the quality of his country's senators usually depend upon what he believes qualify them for the office.

The Constitution's requirements though are limited to citizenship (natural-born), age (35 or older), residence (two years before the election), and, for education, mere ability to read and write.

Sanchez: Death penalty as murder

WHY don’t we just call it death? Or more apt, just plain murder? Let’s stop with the cutesy legalese “death penalty,” as if the verdict came from a legitimate court.

Frankly, the verdict of guilt on the “accused” is in fact an admission of guilt on the part of the executioners and their controllers for the crime of murder and a violation of international humanitarian law.

Ombion: Hocus PCOS

IF I WERE to believe the loose reports that the Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines determined the outcome of the recently concluded mid terms elections, then I could as well conclude with a new thesis that election cheating in this country has become more organized, systematic and sophisticated, and only those in position of power could do it.

Who can argue that the entire election day also was marred with numerous PCOS problems ranging from failure to initialize, ballot rejection and unexplained shutdown, among others. In some cases, election inspectors had to be creative just to fix the technical problems encountered by the machines.

Libre: Computer glitch

Joavan Fernandez transferred to CPDRC.

Be careful, some insiders there may be envious of your claim as Public Enemy No 1.

Pacete: Negros Occidental: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

YESTERDAY: ‘Buglas’ was the ancient name of Negros that literally means ‘torn from’. Our island was torn from Cebu and Panay during a geological upheaval 50,000 years ago.

The Spaniards who came here first in 1565 called the island ‘Islas de los Negros’ because of its Negrito inhabitants. The colonizers divided the island into ‘encomiendas’ or lands granted to favored person for services to the Spanish Crown. The ‘buena familias’ from Iloilo were invited by Fr. Eusebio Locsin, parish priest of Silay, to come to Negros in 1840 to transform the forest into ‘haciendas’ or sugarcane fields. The Negros ‘haciendas’ produced the best sugar in the country.

Pangan: Back to Work

IT'S normal work for most of us while those newly elected individuals are gearing for their respective elective positions come June 30 this year.

Everything is in tentative mode yet, but school habitues are now preparing materials, instructional aids, and other paraphernalia in time for school opening for 2013-2014. The K-12 program is being implemented in earnest, with the passage of its enabling law.

Peña: Isang Pasasalamat

MGA minamahal kong Mabalaqueños,

Sa ngalan ng aking pamilya, ako po ay taos-pusong nagpapasalamat sa paghalal ninyong muli sa akin bilang konsehal ng ating minamahal na siyudad ng Mabalacat. Mahirap po ang ating naging laban ngunit ating napagtagumpayan dahil sa inyong suporta. Ang mga salita ay hindi po sapat upang maipadama ko ang aking pasasalamat.

Alamon: Of patrons and martyrs (part 2)

THE previous column was an attempt to make sense of our current political culture in the face of the apparent widespread disillusionment over the latest national elections. Never has there been a roster of senators-elect that reveals the few families that make up our political elite. And if there are exceptions, they win because they offer symbolic alternatives to elite rule.

Why is it then that the people choose either political patrons or heroic martyrs?

Montalvan: Exorcising CdO from Emano

EVERY Monday morning after flag ceremony, Vicente Emano gathers all his councilors for sumptuous breakfast.

What takes place in those meetings? A former councilor told me that when he was new with Emano, he would offer suggestions during the meetings. “I would be met with a cold shoulder instead. Then I realized he loathed suggestions. All the agenda had to be his alone.”

Vugt: OFW phenomenon – an anomaly

THE fatal shooting of a Taiwanese fisherman by Filipino Coast Guards has led to harassment and attacks on Filipino workers in Taiwan. According to news reports, the Coast Guards acted in ‘self-defense.’ The Taiwanese fishing boat had tried to ram their vessel in Philippine waters and then fled. They made a chase, firing at the boat’s engine to try to stop it. A Chinese resident was hit and killed. Clearly, the report shows that the Taiwanese had violated international law on maritime waters. The victims here are the Filipino workers in Taiwan, OFWs. They are innocent and should have been spared from retaliation in this political conflict.

Uyboco: The failure of grades (2nd of two parts)

I TOOK the Masters program in Educational Leadership and Management at De La Salle University around eight years ago. One of my most memorable experiences then was visiting a school that had successfully done away with grades. I expected this school to be one of those new and innovative small schools.

I was surprised to learn that this school had already been existing since 1972, is Paascu-accredited, has over 7,000 students, and whose graduates go into mainstream colleges without any unusual problems. This was Angelicum College, founded by the Dominican visionary Fr. Rogelio Alarcon, OP.

Millan: Star trek into darkness

THE campaign is over, and so are the days of the poster boys, or the poster girls for that matter, and everybody else who have in one way or the other were hired not only to install posters but also to distribute leaflets or otherwise became guardian angels on campaign sorties, events and activities.

Obviously, there will be no more, or not much, need for warm bodies at this time. Hopefully, though, there will be a need for bright minds.