TURNING POINT: Overcoming Stroke
NAAWAN, Misamis Oriental (MindaNews/16 September) – 80-85% of stroke victims can be cured and spared from life-changing disabilities if attended to and treated immediately.
Stroke...
COMMENTARY: On the SOGIE bill: We need guarantees that our right to a dignified...
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 15 September) -- If the adage rolling stones gathers no moss is true, the Sexual Orientation Gender Identity and Expression...
MOORISH AND MOORING IN TAWI-TAWI REEFS: Hold on to the Sambuwan in Flooded Sambuwangan
ZAMBOANGA CITY (MindaNews / 15 September) -- Zamboanga is inundated by the overflowing tears of river Nawan because it has broken its covenant and...
BOOKS. Peripatetic: walking the talk
I wrote Kakistocracy: Rule of the Unprincipled, Unethical and Unqualified because of my interest in leadership integrity issues. I was then very much involved...
TURNING POINT: Of Truth and Silence
NAAWAN, Misamis Oriental (MindaNews/13 September) – There are thoughts to suppress, feelings to remain unexpressed, and words to keep unsaid, if you value something,...
A SOJOURNER’S VIEW: Peacebuilding and Extractives, Part II
SOUTH BEND, South Bend, Philadelphia, USA (MindaNews / 11 Sept) – The conference—PEACEBUILDING AND EXTRACTIVES: INTEGRAL PEACE, DEVELOPMENT AND ECOLOGY—held at the University of...
PEACETALK: A Christian Prayer on the Day of Decommissioning of Combatants
(Fr. Joel E. Tabora, SJ, President of the Ateneo de Davao University and President of the Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines delivered this...
GLASSHOUSES: If one makes it in MSU, one can make it anywhere
NEW YORK (MindaNews / 08 Sept) -- MSUeVillage International Northeastern USA gathered at the Flushing Meadows Park Unisphere in New York City to join MSUans...
PEACETALK: I am glad that OPAPP and TESDA have joined hands for our brothers...
(Closing message of Secretary Isidro S. Lapeña on TESDA-OPAPP MOA signing on the implementation of the TESDA socio-economic programs for Normalization, held in...
PEACETALK Making the smooth transition to peaceful and productive civilian life
(Opening remarks of Presidential Peace Adviser Carlito G. Galvez Jr. on the signing of the Memorandum of Agreement between OPAPP and TESDA for the...
REMEMBERING: Papa
Have Faith in Divine Providence,
Twas his Philosophy, Statement of Faith,
His Mantra with his Beloved God the Father,
Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.
And so...
PEACETALK: To give what is due to the Bangsamoro people, and to transform BARMM...
(Opening statement of Presidential Peace Adviser Carlito G. Galvez Jr. at the press briefing and forum on the second phase of the decommissioning process,...
EULOGY: Papa, thank you for all the life lessons you taught us
(Eulogy delivered by Maria Lourdes Diaz Johanson on 6 September 2019 at the Luksang Parangal for Patricio P. Diaz, at the Presidential Chapel of...
SOJOURNER’S VIEW: Catholic peacebuilding and extractives
SOUTH BEND, Indiana, USA (MindaNews/06 September) – Watching CNN’s coverage of the massive devastation resulting from Hurricane Dorian’s impact on the Bahamas – for...
TURNING POINT: Preparing for a Second Chance
NAAWAN, Misamis Oriental (MindaNews/06 September) – The spirit and basic intention of RA 10592 or the Good Conduct Time Allowance law is to give...
COMMENTARY: Uphold Terwasurnajwa’s Right to Wear Hijab!
MANILA (MindaNews / 26 August) -- Her youthful voice sounded tearful as she narrated her hijab case when she called me up today. Fifteen-year...
HOMILY: Rejoice and be glad
I consider it one of the privileges of my life to have conferred the honorary doctorate of the Ateneo de Naga University on the...
WELCOME MESSAGE: The love for Truth
(Welcome Message delivered at the ‘Civil Society Conversations on Democracy and Disinformation’ at the Ateneo de Davao University’s Finster Auditorium on 23 August 2019...
CELEBRATION: What is True Love?
COTABATO CITY (MindaNews / 24 August) -- I woke up today filled with joy and gratitude for the gift of Priesthood. I celebrate with...
GLASSHOUSES: Shining Stars
NEW YORK (MindaNews / 24 June) -- Their stars shone so brightly... they lit up the universe.
I am still in shock and in denial....
TURNING POINT: Second Chance: A Heartbeat Away
NAAWAN, Misamis Oriental (MindaNews / 22 Aug) – Rapist-murderer convict former Calauan mayor Antonio Sanchez is reported to be among the thousands of convicted...
CELEBRATION: Journey to 50
Fifty years ago on July 16, 1969, a powerful Saturn V rocket launched three men from Earth to the Moon where, for the first...
A SOJOURNER’S VIEW: Thirty Six Years Ago
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 18 August) -- A twenty-year period is considered one generation. Thus if one were to bring in the number 36, that...
PERSONAL ACCOUNT: A mere mention or photo of my work in one of the...
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 17 August) -- So thrilled that I finally get to share this secret with you: Etsy published a feature on...
BOOKS: The story of the m.a. sisters: an incredible and beautiful journey
(Bert Cacayan’s foreword to the book, "Seeking New Meanings and New Expressions", the Missionaries of the Assumption Story, launched on 15 August 2019 at...
HABAGATNONG HINAGAWHAW: Tikdol-Tikdol 2019 #11
Gikan sa urom
gusto ka na momata?
Mata na man ka!
Eric S.B. Libre
17 Agosto 2019
ALPSIDE DOWNED: Buldoser
«Saan ko hahanapin ang
heograpiya ng gunita
na kasabay na tinibag
ng pagbuldoser sa lupa?”
“Buldoser” by Nikki Mae Recto, a writer-accountant from Valenzuela
BERN, SWITZERLAND (MindaNews /...
PEACETALK: The “Document on Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together”: a gift of...
(Presented by Fr. Joel Tabora, SJ at the Conference on “Walking and Working Together for Healing and Reconciliation” sponsored by ADDU and OPAPP” at...
PRIVILEGE SPEECH: Marawi IDPs have sacrificed so much
(Privilege Speech on Marawi, delivered by Akbayan Senator Risa Hontiveros on August 13, 2019)
Mr. President, I rise on a point of personal and...
RIVERMAN’S VISTA: Mario Talja, Super Friend and Comrade
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (MindaNews / 12 August) – Forty days have passed since Mario Talja -- comrade in the fight for planet and...
TURNING POINT: Leasing Sovereign Territory to the Enemy
NAAWAN, Misamis Oriental (MindaNews/10 August) – Are the lease agreements with Chinese nationals over some islands in Luzon a done deal or are still...
COMMENTARY: Davao City’s request for exemption from Martial Law: A welcome development but not...
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 08 August) -- First, kudos to the Davao Sangguniang Panlungsod for confirming what many Mindanawons know but are hesitant to...
PEACETALK: Too premature for a Senate inquiry on BOL implementation
PASIG CITY (MindaNews/06 August) – On 27 July 2019, Senator Ralph G. Recto filed a Resolution directing the Senate Committee on Local Government to...
TURNING POINT: The Great Changer
NAAWAN, Misamis Oriental (MindaNews / 5 Aug) – The internet was made available to the public on 6 August 1991, or 28 years ago....
COMMENTARY: Another extension of martial law in Mindanao is an abuse of power
MARAWI CITY (MindaNews / 28 July) -- Another extension of Martial Law in Mindanao is an abuse of power on the part of the...
TURNING POINT: Fighting Dengue with Tawatawa and Papaya
NAAWAN, Misamis Oriental (MindaNews / 27 July) -- As Dengue rears its ugly head and spreads in near epidemic proportion across the nation, it’s...
TURNING POINT: SONA 4: I failed
NAAWAN, Misamis Oriental (MindaNews / 23 July) – Instead of asserting, as promised, the country’s sovereign right in West Philippine Sea, the President plunged...
SOMEONE ELSE’S WINDOWS: A note on UNHRC
MindaNews / 23 July 2019 – The approval by the UN Human Rights Council early this month of a resolution sponsored by Iceland to...
KOMENTARYO: Kagangkagang
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 22 July) – Inig hapit na mutungtong ang orasan sa alas dose sa kaadlawon, madunggan nimo ang nagkadaiyang danguynguy sa...
LATE BLOOMS: Unheeded Signs
The signs are there to see
for those who care to see
but, no, you do not see
as you want not to see,
want not to listen
to...
A SOJOURNER’S VIEW: The 2020-2021 Indigenous People’s Agenda
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 21 July) -- If the members of the Episcopal Commission on Indigenous Peoples (ECIP) will have their way, the next...
HOMILY: This Cathedral of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel is a silent but eloquent...
(Homily of Cardinal Orlando B. Quevedo, OMI, at the Fiesta of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel and Reconsecration of Jolo Cathedral on 16 July...
RIVERMAN’S VISTA: Reopen the Lumad schools!
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (MindaNews / 19 July) -- On July 13, the order mandating the temporary shutdown of 55 Lumad schools operating under...
OUR MARAWI: Pre-Sombak 2019 (State of the Marawi Bakwit)
PART 1: Marawi Bakwit By The Numbers
MARAWI CITY (MindaNews / 19 July) – Task Force Bangon Marawi (TFBM) is saying that by September this...
TURNING POINT: Funny and Panicky
NAAWAN, Misamis Oriental (MindaNews / 16 July) – In a vote 18 in favour, 14 against, and 15 abstention, the UN Human Rights Council...
SOMEONE ELSE’S WINDOWS: Patrimony and sovereignty as collateral
MindaNews / 11 July 2019 – Upon his assumption of the presidency Rodrigo Duterte did what none of his predecessors had dared to do:...
A SOJOURNER’S VIEW: Mindanao Cartographies of History, Identity and Representation
LONDON, England (MindaNews/09 July) – The 2-day conference sponsored by the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) of the University of London recently...
TURNING POINT: Exclusively Yours
NAAWAN, Misamis Oriental (MindaNews/08 July) – Now, we understand why Chinese vessels crowd and are aggressively fishing in the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ):...
ALPSIDE DOWNED: Hot
BERN, Switzerland (MindaNews / 06 July) -- What to do when my adopted place Bern is as hot in summer as my hometown Surigao?
That...
TRIBUTE: For Tatay Rene
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 06 July) -- I have ministered lots of people in my life. I can do it because it is the...