The LaSallianby CJ CHANCO I left TLS with dreams of becoming a journalist. Rarely do things pan out the way we expect them to. After about a year of working at a non-profit, I find myself again with the equally non-profitable and lowly job description of “university researcher”. Both have involved doing what I love best,…
We see the battlefield for what it is only when the smoke clears. The past two weeks have seen the best of us drift into easy narratives of honour, national pride or blind patriotism. Thousands, mostly in Luzon, soon joined the chorus calling for “all out war” on the MILF. Many more have declared all…
The Association of General and Flag Officers Inc. (AGFO), an organization of active and retired generals and flag officers, seeks to bring back the mandatory military training or the Reserved Officers Training Corps (ROTC) Program to all colleges and universities in the country. ROTC is good for our country for it provides students service-orientation and…
In a pre-dawn crash early this year, the American minesweeper USS Guardian smashed into 1,000 square metres of Tubbataha reef, ravaging one of the last remaining marine biodiversity hotspots in the world on Philippine sovereign territory. Recent estimates of the damage pull up the figure to up to four times that (a). The reef is…
In the revolving doors between Big Politics and Big Business, families rule. ‘Didn’t win this year’s elections, my darling? No matter, there’s always next year, and if you lose then, we’ll have room for you at the board of directors at daddy’s company!’ You see them everywhere. In candidates – of identical surnames – running for…
“Ibalik, ibalik! 12,923 ektaryang APECO, ibalik, ibalik!” cried 125 native Casiguran fisherfolk and farmers, who marched from Aurora to Manila, demanding back their ancestral lands and indigenous rights. Overcoming heat and exhaustion, marchers against the Aurora Pacific Economic Zone and Freeport Authority (APECO) took a 20-day, 370-kilometer journey flagged as “Lakad Katarungan, Lakad Matuwid na…
Last month, President Aquino found himself on the line in an interview for Radio New Zealand, in which a reporter questioned his administration’s spotty human rights record. Aquino promptly dismissed such allegations as having come from the ‘’leftist community’’ who are ‘’good at propaganda’’ and then went on – with subsequent help from his…
Heaven’s gates are on hiatus. With the tempest turned loose, the rain keeps pouring. The water keeps rising. Thunder keeps booming. By ten in the morning, Liza Hilario is ready to leave. All around her, more keen ears keep constant vigil of radio reports that warn of a high tide – but she and her…
Along a stretch of road between a marketplace and the dumpsite is a two-storey concrete building. An unassuming red gate with a sign is all that spells the difference between a run-down apartment block and a house church straight out of the New Testament. Mang Erning pauses before entering. Its huge impact on the lives…
It’s present at every major life event imaginable, from baptisms to funerals to school graduations to your regular Sunday mass. It’s a national symbol. It’s the cradle-to-grave Filipino flower. It’s also the stuff garlands are made of, strung together to create something of a cross between a pearl necklace, a rosary and the Hawaiian lei,…
