As we celebrate the coming of Jesus Christ in the midst of trials and challenges, let’s take the examples shown by these children of supporting each other when they only have themselves to turn to:
Making life worth living.
Month: December 2013
The accident compelled the peripatetic JDV to forgo attendance in the meeting of the standing committee of the International Conference of Asian Political Parties in Ankara, Turkey last Nov. 21 and 22.
JDV co-founded ICAPP, a forum of political parties of various ideologies among countries in Asia-Oceania to promote exchanges and cooperation; enhance understanding, and create an environment for sustained peace and shared prosperity in the region.
When the Jetstar plane I took from Singapore touched down at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport about 10 in the morning yesterday, I realized I haven’t filled up the Immigration and Customs Declaration forms that are usually distributed on the plane. I asked fellow passengers if the flight stewardess had distributed the forms while many of us were asleep and they replied, “None.”
When we got to the area before the Immigration Counter, we were told the forms were on the stands on both side of the room occupied by passengers dutifully filling up the form.
Kawawa naman itong si Manny Pacquiao.
Kapag hindi niya malusutaan itong problema niya sa buwis, hindi lamang sa Pilipinas kung di sa America rin, magre-retire pa lang siyang libing sa utang.
Sa dami ng bugbug na natamo niya, utang lang ang bagsak niya. Kawawa naman.
As ugly as the Juan Ponce-Enrile-Miriam Defensor-Santiago battle.
At the hearing of the congressional oversight committee on the Philippine Risk Reduction and Management Act of 2010 last Monday, a tearful Romualdez related how, he claimed, Interior Secretary Mar Roxas tried to marginalize him in the relief and recovery efforts for the Yolanda-devastated city.
He said Roxas asked him for an ordinance allowing the national government to undertake relief and rescue operations in Tacloban to “legalize everything” or a letter stating that he could no longer function as mayor.
Shen Dingli, speaking to reporters after his speech in a forum “What is to be done?: Resolving Maritime Disputes in Southeast Asia” organized by the Angara Centre for Law and Economics at Marriott Hotel last Thursday, said it was a mistake for China to have joined the 1982 UNCLOS, “an international treaty that provides a regulatory framework for the use of the world’s seas and oceans to ensure the conservation and equitable usage of resources and the marine environment and to ensure the protection and preservation of the living resources of the sea.”
UNCLOS also addresses such other matters as sovereignty, rights of usage in maritime zones, and navigational rights, the UN website states.
“We should not have joined UNCLOS,” Shen said.
Read and watch Maya Angelou’s poem tribute to Nelson Mandela below.
Photos from http://philippinediplomaticvisits.blogspot.com/2012/08/philippines-south-africa-1997.html
Twenty-seven years in prison, a long period of that in darkness and limited access to sunlight, affected the eyesight of world hero Nelson Mandela.One of his requests when he came to the Philippines on a state visit on March 1, 1997 was to have the lights dim in his hotel room.
His office also specified a room temperature for the almost 80-year old South African leader, whose unrelenting fight against apartheid and boundless capacity to forgive even those who had persecuted him have made him an inspiration and an icon.
I am not sure where he stayed during his Manila visit but usually at that time state visitors stayed at the Manila Hotel.
The protocol officer returned the book to me without the much-desired autograph explaining that he was told by Mandela’s aides said that the South African leader has made it a policy not to autograph books and memorabilia.
A 2010 news item in The Guardian carried a request from the Nelson Mandela Foundation that “Because of the sheer volume of requests for his autographs, he no longer signs books, memorabilia, photographs, etc. “
VETERAN journalist Eileen G. Mangubat is the 2013 Marshall McLuhan Fellow.
The Embassy of Canada, which is behind the Marshall McLuhan Fellowship, said Mangubat, publisher and acting editor-in-chief of Cebu Daily News, is being recognized for her noteworthy efforts to steer and maintain an independent and professional community press in Cebu. She is the third community journalist to receive the McLuhan Fellowship.
The fellowship, named after the world-renowned Canadian communication scholar, is the embassy’s flagship media advocacy initiative. Launched in 1997 to encourage responsible journalism in the Philippines, the fellowship underlines Canada’s belief that strong media is essential to a free and democratic society.
The program, with financial support from Sun Life of Canada, provides the winner with a study tour to Canada. The winner will also have the chance to sit as a fellow at the McLuhan Institute in Toronto.
Update: The Philippine Daily Inquirer reported that Lacson has accepted Aquino’s offer to be the Rehabilitation Czar.
The report has not yet been confirmed by Malacañang but if it’s true, that would be an indication that Aquino understands the gravity of the situation and the challenges of the rebuilding of the ruined and shattered communities, most especially in Leyte and Samar.
Let’s hope that partisan politics, particularly the 2016 presidential race, do not again get in the way of this more urgent task. Aquino fumbled bigtime in dealing with immediate impact of the Yolanda-created crisis but he can still redeem himself in the reconstruction of the destroyed communities.
If it’s not Lacson, it is hoped that he does not make the mistake of giving the job of the reconstruction czar to retired Army Gen. Eduardo del Rosario, executive director of National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, the body that was supposed to oversee efforts in coping with disasters but acted helpless at the time when they were needed most.