In November 24 to December 3, 2011, I went on a trip to Japan upon the official invitation of the Japanese Embassy in Manila and the Japan Foundation in Tokyo. This article is published here in my column as the output report of this educational exchange program. I hope that other Moro academics and researchers will find this article worthwhile and encourage them to be interested in learning much from the Japanese society in as much as they are also keen on reaching out to the Muslims in Southeast Asia.

TARAKAN CITY, East Kalimantan, Indonesia (MindaNews/20 March) – A friend and Tausug blogger, Calliter (http://lupahsug.wordpress.com/), recently wrote a beautiful and delightfully graphic story of taghuri (kites) of Sulu and he pointed quite dramatically to the similitude of tradition of kite flying to the spiritual and mystical nature of the Tau Sug or People of the [...]

HONOLULU  (MindaNews/06 January) —  I wish I could say 2011 was a good year for us. But it was not. My memories of 2011 will always be colored by the pain and shock Angela and I felt when we woke up that early morning of  January 22 to find out that Donna, my partner for [...]

SYDNEY, Australia (MindaNews/06 January) — At the end of each year, we all tend to reflect about the year that was. So much has happened this year, disasters and deaths, a royal wedding, the withdrawal of US military mission in Iraq and a new agreement to tackle global warming signed by the international community. 2011 [...]

Mindanao is no stranger to violence. Crime, insurgency and family feuds that spiral into clan wars or ‘rido,’ sapped for decades what could have been the Philippines’ ‘food basket.’  But the murder of at least 50 civilians two years ago, including women and journalists, plumbed the region into new depths of depravity. On 24 November [...]

PENANG, Malaysia (MindaNews/26 Sept) – It has not always been easy to realise and accept that we come from a society that is angry, and to a certain extent, have turned physically violent towards others. In the young minds of Moros who have perennially experienced discrimination and hardships, the expression of anger becomes the probable [...]

DOHA, Qatar (MindaNews/22 September) — Monitoring closely the debates in the United Nations whether to grant Palestine full membership status, I can’t help but think of some comic relief as tension can be felt more strongly in this part of the world. Palestine’s bid for full recognition as a nation-state in the UN has gone [...]

NEVADA (MindaNews/13 March) –  They say that it all started with Tunisia, then Egypt, then followed the other Middle Eastern countries such as Libya and Iran. The pulse, judging from all the news channels here, including CNN, is that because of Egypt’s success, this kind of chain reaction was inevitable. Whatever they feel or think, [...]

HERE in America, news of the Egyptian fallout has reigned supreme over most other issues. The fall from power of Hosni Mubarak, after 30 years, must also make us all go back to the time when the People Power movement gave us back some dignity. And, just like our own dictator, Mubarak’s stash of what [...]

February is already here. Time flies with the speed of a restless eagle. No matter how involved we were in 2010, it now seems so unreal. Here in my corner of America, I continue to try to store parts of my life in Davao, in places in my head. There, I hope to retrieve them [...]

NEVADA (MindaNews/17 January) — More than anything, the time spent with family has been the most beautiful experience. It opens the New Year with the best, most wonderful kind of high. It almost makes one feel like the year to come will be as good, if not better, than the last. While the future is [...]

NEVADA (MindaNews/02 January) — When the New Year comes in, time seems to stop for a millisecond. And, like what many say is an experience before that last breath gives in to death, a brief flash of our most significant memories whirl through what’s left of last year’s consciousness just as it flickers out into [...]

We Filipinos don’t really celebrate Thanksgiving. We have adopted most American holidays, including Halloween it seems, but not Thanksgiving. In America, the holiday is a major event. It takes on the same kind of wild and desperate traveling that can only be matched with our All Souls/ All Saints break. Well, maybe not as wild, [...]

Last chapter was somewhat sad and touched so much on belonging that I’d like to dispel the thought, to the few wonderful people who bother to read my inanities, that being here in America has not been a blessing. Especially so since so many dream of being in the same place as I am. I [...]

PENANG, Malaysia (MindaNews/18 Nov) — It was the first conference organized by theSoutheast Asian Human Rights Studies Network (SEAHRSN). Last October 14-15, at least 300 HR students, scholars, activists and workers came together to present their work and ideas and learn from each other. It was also my first human rights conference. The conference discussed [...]

On arriving at the esteemed royal city of Yogyakarta (Daera Istemawa di Yogyakarta) in Indonesia, my first impression was that of “coming home” to barely remembered past hovering among the ghostly cobwebs of childhood memory. Yogya’s Jalan Kaiurang (Jakal), a modern highway transecting the city from north to south, runs straight along three almost perfectly [...]

NEVADA (MindaNews/10 November) — Following the last chapter written about how general perceptions on reading a book seems to be influenced by location; and, after feeling settled in on life here in America again, the sense of my foreign-ness in this country of my children’s future, has slightly diminished my longing for my birthplace, Davao [...]

By Anabelle Ragsag and Cy Rago CAIRO (MindaNews/30 October) — Homesickness is perhaps not as bad as it used to be, given the benefits provided by the internet to get in touch with loved ones and friends.   For the Pinoy diaspora activists among us, there is also the net to whip up involvement on issues [...]

NEVADA (MindaNews/23 October) — When I went home to Davao, I brought with me the book “Eat, Pray, Love.” I thought I should read it since a movie was being made based on the book. The fact that it was also featured in two episodes of the Oprah Winfrey Show, made me curious about it [...]

The flight back to Vegas was a bit crowded and relatively uneventful. The flight attendants were more than exceptional. Strike or no strike, PAL remains my airline of choice. Good things have to end though, because having to endure the hostility and rude manner of the lady immigration officer who processed me was less than [...]

OITA-KEN, BEPPU-SHI, JUMONJIBARU, Japan — Ku-gatsu (September), as the Japanese would say it, is the month when I first came here in Japan. August and September are also celebrated in many societies as ‘harvest months’ – attributed to the goddesses of harvest and fertility in Greek (Demeter) and Roman (Ceres) mythology. Behind these frustrated ‘mythological [...]

CAIRO (MindaNews/13 September) — From a whole afternoon of coordinating an organizational evaluation exercise, I was ready to call it a day.  The first cab I flagged down stopped in front of me. But a lady cut me off. “Ow-kay, go ahead”, I thought, “In no time, another will come along. I give five minutes, [...]

(MindaNews/05 September) — I am more than half a world away. Yup, I am in my comfort zone. Coming home has been wonderful, even if I had to wade through some of my tribe’s snags and unmapped quicksands. The end of summer is imminent in America. My son has started his second year in college. [...]

SINGAPORE: The hostage crisis in Manila took place in Quirino grandstand.  The grandstand commemorates the Philippine democratic struggle, where elected Head of State take their vow of office, and across the street is Rizal Park where the statue of the national hero stands.  As the country struggles for recognition in the global scene, with President [...]

KYOTO, Japan (MindaNews/21 August) — I am, first of all, grateful to Mohagher Iqbal for taking time out of his busy schedule to respond to what I wrote. It indicates a number of things that I actually find admiring of the MILF, despite my disagreements with some of its fundamental tenets. First the armed movement [...]

PENANG, Malaysia — It was unfortunate that in my childhood, I grew up having very little knowledge about Islam that it naturally caused me to be more afraid of it than feel safe and at peace. Such is the challenge of children who have parents of different religions, and in my case, with my parents [...]

KYOTO. Japan (MindaNews/15 August) — The latest event in Maguindanao does not bode well for the MILF. Four of its own members were killed and seven others injured in the clash between forces loyal to Commanders Adzmie and Abunawas of the movement’s 106th and 104th Base Commands, respectively. The clash displaced 3,500 families and forced [...]

There was a time in my teens when I really went crazy for Nora Aunor. Her appeal was something even I could not fathom. Like I was slipped a ruffie and couldn’t recall what had happened. Waking up from another universe, thinking how I may have been abducted by aliens while on a road-trip through [...]

By Anabelle B. Ragsag CAIRO, Egypt (MindaNews/09 August) – It was not until my 8th month of living in Cairo did I truly feel that I have started living here. It is as if I got a new pair of lenses, from that of a tourist, to that of a local (even if I know [...]

PENANG, Malaysia (MindaNews/20 July) — The mainstreaming of gender issues, specifically women’s issues, has not captivated me until recently, in the process of my work. I admit, I am one of those few who perceived that the discussions on the role of women in the context of the peace process is often given a token [...]

The idea of the homemaker seriously bent over a cooking pot, holding a wooden ladle, furrowed brows in utter concentration, making sure the “bacon” the Mr. brings home is perfectly done to the family’s satisfaction, was surely my father’s way of trying to make me become the good wife he thought every girl should aspire [...]

Finally! I found the right mixture, perfect for the taste I’ve been longing to savor again. That hot (but not too hot) and sour mix of perfection that opens up my purely Pinoy palate. Heaven at last! In that moment of pure expectation, that I thought I was going to be disappointed again, the delightful [...]

Chapter 5: Election Selection I promised myself a long time ago that I’d keep my thoughts to myself on topics that had anything to do with politics. This is not only because there is no amount of savvy-ness that I could possess on the subject, but also (mostly) because it’s something that seems to be [...]

(Review of Marites D. Vitug, Shadow of Doubt: Probing the Supreme Court (Quezon City: Newsbreak, 2010),  267+ pp. KYOTO, Japan  (MindaNews/27 April) — While writing the first lines of this review, I received word that one of the Supreme Court justices that Marites Vitug wrote about in this engrossing book had filed 13 counts of [...]