In Sunday’s lection, the disciples find themselves in the middle of a raging storm. Jesus is with them, but he is asleep. The Gospel of Mark shares the detail that he was sleeping on a pillow. Scholars say that pillow was actually a sack of sand for ballast.
Progressive groups gathered in front of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court today, June 19, to express their support to Bagong Alyansang Makabayan Chairperson Emeritus Carol Araullo as the case she filed against Jeffrey Celiz and Lorraine Badoy Partosa over their persistent red-tagging continues.
The delegation also discovered that red-tagging significantly contributes to attacks on legal professionals. In the majority of the cases they examined, the victims had been subjected to red-tagging before being killed or attacked.
"Marcos Jr. is turning the Philippines into a forward operating base for US and allied forces. This blatant subservience to US interests not only undermines our sovereignty but also places our nation at the frontlines of a potential catastrophic conflict."
Now operating from Basa Air Base in Floridablanca, Pampanga are MQ-9A Reaper drones from the United States military. Employed primarily by the US Marine Corps for collecting military intelligence, the unmanned aircraft are used secondarily (but even more troublingly) to strike against “dynamic execution targets.”
Today’s Sunday reading is about the threat of evil in our world. May we be reminded and inform our conscience that evil is the result of sin, and if we do not want evil to overwhelm us, we must fight against the act of sin. The first reading in the book of Genesis tells us the origin of sin. It originates both from the serpent and man by accepting temptation and by encouraging fellow humans to commit sin.
Dubbed as People's March and Prayer Against Charter Change, protesters stressed that Ferdinand Marcos Jr. should instead prioritize urgent issues faced by the Filipino people.
It has been 36 years since president Corazon Aquino created the Presidential Human Rights Committee, in a much-hailed move that signaled to the Filipino people that her administration was firmly committed to the protection and promotion of human rights.
During the protest, Filipino activists decried that the Philippines is next only to India in terms of purchases of armaments from Israel amounting to billions. Last year alone, a $114 million contract between the Philippines and the Israeli government was forged for refurbishing two planes for intelligence gathering. Such contracts, the group said, help fund Israel’s genocidal wars against the Palestinian people.
For almost six years, red-tagging has been a major component of the bloody counterinsurgency campaign – initiated and implemented by the Duterte regime and sustained by the Marcos Jr. administration – through the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC).
As I write this, I am now on the seventh sojourn of my life as a solitary pilgrim. I began this life after retirement when homelessness was imminent and that’s when I decided to embrace uncertainty. Embrace what is yet to come. Embrace what you don’t know. Embrace life as it comes. And that’s when I thought of volunteering for food and a place to lay my head. And it has been a most meaningful life of retirement one could ever live. A life in solidarity with the poor and marginalized is a life that is so much worth living for. A life of freedom and a life that gives the best lessons on humility. (As you age, you need more help from people, right?)
On May 3, Tarra’s parents were again approached by people claiming to be from NTF-ELCAC, including a so-called“supervisor. They showed photos of Tarra participating in various activities and insisted on personally speaking to Tarra out of fear that he might “go to the mountains.” They said that on their next visit, they would like to speak to his parents again with forms and documents for them to sign.
This month, on May 17-18, the International Peoples’ Tribunal, a quasi-judicial forum periodically convened in Europe, will focus on the Philippines for the sixth time since 1980.
Today’s Gospel reading is taken from an extended narrative, a farewell discourse by Jesus before His arrest (John 13-17). And thanks to the Gospel writer (s) for including this poignant and comprehensive account of the last hours of our Lord before leaving the then-frightened disciples of His.
Jao Clumia of the AHW said, the prolonged delay in receiving these benefits affects the morale and service of healthcare workers. They feel disheartened, leading to the exodus of frontline workers.
I have been away from everything familiar to me for the last seven weeks living in Antigua, Guatemala. I am learning Spanish at a language school and living with a Guatemalan family. Like a child, I am trying to learn the basics of this language. It is humbling to be told so many times that I am not getting it right and that I have to exert more effort. Walking the streets of this old Guatemalan city was a joy in the beginning but after some time reality sinks in that I am far from home. Familiar it may be after so many weeks, there is that lonely thought that I am alone and away from home.
The Marcos Jr. administration appears to be “slowly but surely allowing the country to be dragged into the massive US-led military build-up against China, threatening to engulf the whole region in war.”
This news comes as a shock, as both individuals were unaware that complaints had been filed against them until a preliminary investigation resolution was released on April 8, recommending criminal charges."
Since disasters always include human components, there is nothing natural about it. Therefore, there is no such thing as a “natural” disaster; there was a human failure somewhere in how social, economic, and political systems were set up.
“Most members in my group are seniors,” he said, “My father is 72 years old, yet he drives every day because he doesn't want to rely on his children. He needs money for medication, electricity and water to survive. Where will they find a livelihood? I’m sure no company would want to hire them anymore, right?”
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