Five ways to lend a hand to Yolanda victims By Johanne Margarette R. Macob   THERE’S at least one way to lend a hand. We don’t need to be politicians, business magnates, or official members of humanitarian organizations. We don’t need any prefixes or any other tags attached to our…

A French Riviera in Brgy. Pantal By Jun Velasco   “Courage consists not in hazarding without fear, but being resolutely minded in a just cause,” Plutarch   LOOKS like there’s yet no end to our tumultuous days. The Senate’s first day of “inquisition” of Janet Lim-Napoles turned out to be…

SP’s probe of fish pen a good start By Gonzalo Duque   IT will make Dagupenos happy to know that the local  “Daang Matuwid” government of Mayor Belen Fernandez has chalked up an initial increase in tax collections. Where before, it was zero or almost zero, now it hit a…

You get the government you deserve By Bebot Villar   FEW weeks more at ang mga new set of elected barangay officials will already assume their posts. Rest muna kayo habang may time pero sa December 1, dapat mag-focus na sa work. Dapat priority ang sinumpaang trabaho, huwag ninyong gawing…

Pitiful Filipinos By +Oscar V. Cruz, JCD   “WE, the sovereign Filipino people…” Thus begins the proclamation of the noble ideals and aspirations of the People of the Philippines in nothing less than the “Preamble” of their present Constitution. Among their other sublime yearnings and noble resolves, the following are…

Philippine PEN 2013 Conference Nen Santiago Villafania   NAGAWA so tulagan na Philippine PEN ed saya’y arapen a Desiembri 3-4 (Tuesday-Wednesday) dia ed Marilen Gaerlan Conservatory-North Wing, De La Salle University, Manila. Say tima ono pakdaar “Literature of Concord and Solidarity: The Writer as Peacemaker.” Keynote speaker si Jaime An…

Listen to your conscience By Johanne Margarette R. Macob    AN open letter to Mrs. Janet Lim-Napoles:   I don’t have the slightest idea when this yarn starring yourself, would end, with all your “I invoke my right against self incrimination” blah blahs. I don’t know how many books I…

Poetics na Galing Nen Santiago Villafania   NAIMBITAAN ak nen imbeneg a simba ya mansalita nipaakar ed pakdaar a “Pluma ng Agimat at Kawit: Ang Panitikang Kabitenyo sa Kontemporaryong Panahon” dia ed Aguinaldo Shrine, Kawit, Cavite. Binasak so papil kon Poetics ng Agimat no iner imparungtal ko no anto koniksion…

Making the system survive By Jun Velasco “Democracy is the government of the people, by the people and for the people,” Abraham Lincoln WE should be able to learn a few and probably obvious lessons from the recent barangay elections. No doubt, the exercise was full of holes. Some critics…

P-noy’s descending popularity By Gonzalo Duque   HAPPY Holidays! No, not exactly, we mean, happy reunion with our loved ones who have already departed to their saintly lives. You know, on All Saints Day, this columnist has always had the personal experience of feeling the blessings of our departed parents….