REVIEW OF A NOVEL: SAN RAFAELBy Leila Noel-RispensPublished by 8Letters Bookstore & Publishing CEBU CITY (MindaNews / 11 January) — Whether it is in plays, novels or films – Romeo and Juliet, Wuthering Heights, Love in a Time of Cholera, The English
CEBU CITY (MindaNews / 31 December) – Movie theaters across the country today are still showing the film GOMBURZA – the historical biographical film co-written and directed by Pepe Diokno – that features and follows the lives of the Gomburza, three Roman Catholic native Filipino priests
CEBU CITY (MindaNews / 23 April) — In 1965, the English songwriter-singer Jonathan King recorded a song entitled Everyone’s Gone To The Moon. Part of the lyrics of the song goes this way: Streets full of people, all alone, Roads full
(Speech delivered by Redemptorist Brother Karl Gaspar, one of 44 authors of the book, Transfiguring Mindanao: A Mindanao Reader, during its launch at the Ateneo de Davao University on 22 June 2022). After I saw the poster in social media
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 07 January) – As 2021 gives way to 2022, we can only cross our fingers that the gains of the last quarter of 2021 – especially in regard to the improvement of the pandemic situation –
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/14 February) — As I write this, Alber Husin – a Tausog peace advocate, anthropologist, teacher, partner to Irene and father of two children – is on a journey from Pagadian City to Zamboanga City where he will
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/6 February) — If only for its logo – a radiant, multi-colored lotus flower with a gentle fire in its womb – the LIWANAG : WORLD FESTIVAL ON CREATIVITY AND SUSTAINABILITY was the event in Davao City in
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/12 June) — Here comes the bride, all dressed in white. This sentence – usually sung – figures prominently this month as June supposedly has been the preferred month for weddings as the woman in white wants to
MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews/29 March) – In the afternoon of Monday, 26 March 2012, I was seated at the back row inside the Cathedral of San Isidro Labrador, Malaybalay City waiting for an ordination ceremony to begin. Frank B. Vendor of
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/05 February) — Of the estimated 1,500,000 inhabitants who now reside in the various buildings, houses, shacks and streets of Davao City, I wonder what percentage of this sizable population know of Andy Warhol. Andy Warhol who? Perhaps
Rivers run through Iligan City, which is why its name is Iligan. The city’s linguistic origin is from the word ilig, which according to the Iliganons means to flow. There are many rivers that flow across the breath and length of
ILIGAN CITY (23 May) — The average Filipinos on the street – referred to by the renowned Filipino filmmaker Lamberto V. Avellana during the first golden age of Filipino movies as the “bakya crowd” – would ordinarily think that all
ILIGAN CITY (MindaNews/24 December) — I have been traveling these past weeks and I am amazed at how, across Mindanao, Christmas lights have created magical places, filling children with wonder and awe! Fortunately, it is safe to travel at night
Usa ka semana na ang niagi sukad nahuman ang Semana sa Kalinaw sa Mindanao. Sa mga pundok nga aktibo sa pagpahigayon og mga kalihokan aning maong Week of Peace, karong mga adlawa ang paghimo sab sa ilang mga ebalwasyon. Unta
TANDAG, Surigao del Sur (December 8) — Are things really madayaw (good) in Surigao del Sur these days? Across the province, one sees all kinds of tarpaulin signs that include the word MADAYAW that one is tempted to conclude that everything is fine with the people in that province which is located in the eastern coastal area of Mindanao.
“The pen is mightier than the sword!” We are all familiar with this adage which goes back to 1939 when the playwright Edward Bulwer-Lytton incorporated these words in his play, Richilieu. Today the words are a bit archaic given the changes in communications and weapons technology. Perhaps it can be updated to: “The camera is mightier than the nuclear torpedo!”
ILIGAN CITY (MindaNews/17 June) — As 30 June 2010 approaches – a red-letter day promising relief from the ravages suffered by the Filipino people under the most unpopular administration in our country’s history (and that will be your legacy dear
SEOUL, Republic of Korea (MindaNews/31 May)– Moon is the Oldest Clock. This is the title of an art exhibit ongoing at the National Museum of Art in Deoksugung, Seoul, located at the very heart of this city. Introducing the exhibit,
ILIGAN CITY (MindaNews/04 April) — The title of the piece rhymes with The Reader.
As devoted cineastes know, The Reader is the film that recently gave Kate Winslet her first Oscar as Best Actress. In this film, she plays the role of a former Nazi SS guard who was a party to the massacre of the Jews during the Hitler era in Europe. This was the infamous Holocaust, the mass slaughter of men, women and children who were herded together like cattle and sent to the gas chambers only because they were Jews.
QUEZON CITY (MindaViews/14 March) — Viewing Ditsi Carolino's latest documentary film Lupang Hinarang, one can't help thinking: will there ever be an end to the Filipino peasantry's struggle to own a land they can till?
And one can't help feeling furious at the manner the producers of our food are treated bythe powers-that-be and frustrated that the landless farmers have to go through so much suffering.
ILIGAN CITY (MindaNews/01 February) — Not a very pleasant experience if one gets hacked in cyberspace. Ask any of the victims like, yours truly.
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/05 January) — This piece should rather have the title – What Matters Most Today for People that I Know and Care About.
The recent holidays that came with Christmas and New Year afforded us, once more, with the chance to catch up with the people we know and care about. I am no exception. As with most people who reach out to their relatives, friends and associates during the Christmas season, I've been doing just that for as long as I can remember.
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/07 May) — As these are hot and humid summer days, the tyranny of the pila (queue) has become even more a source of great stress to ordinary folks. Ordinary, as in, having no maid, houseboy, lower-ranking employee, alalay or anyone who can be commanded to do a task where, more often than not, one has to fall in line and wait for one's turn to be served.
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/10 Feb) — Immediately, I know there is something very ironic about this column being written in English with the title of the piece. I would rather write it in my mother tongue – Cebuano-Bisaya – but for now I believe there is value in writing it in English. (I will, however, write it also in Cebuano-Bisaya for the Bisaya column PANAW-LANTAW).
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/15 Jan) — We all recently said goodbye — albeit, some of us, reluctantly — to the 2007-2008 holiday season.
For many Mindanawons, it was a season of travel as most of us went out of our way to visit family, friends and other folks dear to our hearts.
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/20 December) — The phrase “Wish Ko Lang” must be the favorite of many Pinoys during this Christmas season especially because the crisis situation makes so many of us wish for the impossible. A recent tragedy involving a young Ma-a girl drove home that point earlier.
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/09 December) –At the height of martial rule in the l970s-80s, there was a quote that made the rounds among the activists and affected them quite deeply so that the words helped to deepen their commitment to defend the people's human rights.
JOSEFINA, Zamboanga del Sur (MindaNews/02 November) –Twenty years ago, Josefina sang the blues. Located in the Zamboanga peninsula, the town of Josefina was a virtual war zone. Despite the end of Marcos' martial rule, there was no peace in this town situated at the foot of Mt. Malindang in the late 1980s.
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/28 September) — One hazards the guess that part of the fascination of watching the TV proceedings now ongoing at the Senate dealing with the intensely controversial ZTE Broadband Project is in seeing how members of our
society's elite fight with each other.
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/30 July) — July last year, I left the Philippines for a one-year sabbatical which brought me to some of the most soul-stirring spots across the world.
NEW YORK (MindaNews/26 September) — It is a good time to be in New York. Since I arrived here last week, the weather has been really nice: neither too hot nor too cold. It's like being in Baguio during sunny days this time of the year, too. The late summer flowers in the parks are still in bloom and the trees stand tall with thick foliage.
Last of five parts
QUEZON (MindaNews/03 Sept) — When I asked them how many they were in this samahan, he said that they speak in terms of balangays (clusters of families) and as of the moment, they have 71 balangays spread across the country with most of them being in Luzon. Most of those in Kinabuhian are members of their samahan; others live in various parts of the country.
4th of five parts
QUEZON (MindaNews/02 Sept) — As Mt. Banahaw is considered a place for healing, the local herbs are aplenty and are sold in the various small stores spread all over Sta. Lucia. One could see barks of trees, leaves, limestones being displayed and sold for their medicinal value. Some of these find their way to Quiapo and other outlets for herbal medicine and the like.
3rd of five parts
QUEZON (MindaNews/01 Sept) — For students of Spirituality – as an academic discipline – interested in indigenous mystical practices of our ancestors, here in the samahan one is afforded a glimpse into what could be one model or lived experience of mysticism that goes a long way back to our pre-colonial era. While listening to Nanay Isabel, I was conscious of a deep desire: that there would be serious Filipino scholars who would pursue this type of research as it would be most helpful in rediscovering our very deep sense of the divine as well as the roots of our own indigenous spirituality.
2nd of five parts
QUEZON (MindaNews/31 August) — There are also landmarks placed in strategic areas by the National Historical Commission. One informs the nationalist pilgrim that the hero Macario Sakay and his men retreated to this part of Mt. Banahaw during the height of their anti-colonial struggles. The confluence of these signs and symbols – political, cultural, religious – provides the unique character of Mt. Banahaw as it affirms the sojourner's citizenship, cultural identity and religiosity.
1st of five parts
QUEZON (MindaNews/30 Aug) — I had always wanted to go on a pilgrimage to Mt. Banahaw, perhaps the country's premiere indigenously Filipino pilgrimage site. However, the visit to the holy mountain remained elusive through the past more than five decades of my life. This desire intensified in the past decade during and after my UP studies and especially as I became more and more interested in knowing more about Filipino indigenous spirituality.
QUEZON CITY (MindaNews/20 August) — Thirty years since "a group of people," in the words of the American news reporter John Nance, "walked less than 20 miles from their home in a Philippine rain-forest and traveled through 50,000 years of cultural and technological time", the debate on whether the Tasaday were truly from the Stone Age or not continues to rage in the country's anthropological circle.
ROBBEN ISLAND, South Africa (MindaNews) — I first heard about Robben Island years ago, when I was a political prisoner in the Davao Metrodiscom stockade in downtown Davao City.
The world's most famous political prisoner, Nelson Mandela, who was to spend almost 30 years in prison before being released in the early 1990s, was incarcerated there.
SOUTH AFRICA (MindaNews) — On my fifth day in South Africa, I found myself in Phokeng, which is part of the Diocese of Rustenberg. The bishop of this diocese is a Redemptorist, Bishop Kevin Dowling. Rustenberg is about two hours ride from Pretoria, close to three hours ride from Johannesburg. I spent three days in Phokeng, living in a Redemptorist monastery which is within the compound of the bishop's residence.
STERKFONTEIN, South Africa (MindaNews) — I have told you that for my sabbatical, I want to go on a long pilgrimage, across some parts of the globe, wherever destiny would bring me as I refuse to get into a strategic planning scheme for this one-year break. Whatever happens will happen; what is not meant to take place, will not arise. (Down with rational purposive action! Long live communicative action!)
