“One year and a half, hundreds of broken promises and fourteen thousand drug-related deaths since Duterte took oath, the biggest surprise is that we’re no longer surprised with what’s going on.”
Year: 2018
Yearender 2017 | Political patronage, risking people’s health
“Instead of seeking monetary award for damages, given the possible long-term effects of the vaccine, petitioner-children and their mothers pray for the rendition of free and long-term medical services and treatment from the government.”
The books I read in 2017
1. Too Much Happiness, Alice Munro. Impossible not to empathize with her strong female characters, their pursuit of fulfillment and freedom, their overcoming of various tragedies and other challenges in life. 2. How to Travel with a Salmon and Other Essays, Umberto Eco. The best parts are the funny observations of the scholar-traveler about American…
Belabored
This construction worker, seen here carrying three sacks of cement weighing 40 kilos each, works for more than nine hours a day, six days a week with no overtime pay. His daily wage, however, is only P250 ($5), a measly sum not enough to meet the needs of a family of five. (Photo by Mark…
Bad new times
The year 2017 isn’t exactly auld lang syne, or good old times, and 2018 is not only likely to be a repeat of it. It could even be worse. As 2016 ended a year ago, the new year of 2017 was welcomed with optimism by most Filipinos, in the probable belief that thinking so will…
Empathy at Christmas, concerns in the new year
Three Facebook postings I read on Christmas eve tugged at my heart and triggered in my mind parallel and kindred recollections and sympathetic responses. First was that of Sonora, my elder daughter (Nona to her friends, Ningning to our family) who has lived in Sweden with her daughter Ariana since 1992. Addressing her friends “who…