A gift of story

Philippine Daily Inquirer/Opinion/by Ma. Ceres P. DoyoDURING A QUIET MOMENT this Christmas week, I pulled out from the shelf and read again the tiny book “The Gift of Story: A wise tale about what is enough” by Clarissa Pinkola Estes. It looked so small beside the big, thick “Women Who Run with the Wolves,” a groundbreaking book also by Estes. On the same shelf level was my first children’s book—“Toby Runs Away”—that my mother read to me when I was...

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Can heaven and nature sing?

Philippind Daily Inquirer/Opinion/by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo HAVE A QUIET and truly meaningful celebration of Christmas. And please pause and remember those who cannot celebrate because they are in deep pain and sorrow.Yesterday, two days before Christmas Day, journalists led a nationwide candle vigil for justice to mark the first month of the unspeakable crime that gave the Philippines the infamous reputation as the most dangerous place on earth for journalists. That now sounds cliché. But unspeakable grief is never cliché. Here in Metro Manila vigils...

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Global editorial on climate change

Philippine Daily Inquirer/Opinion/by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo LAST WEEK, one day before the Copenhagen summit (Dec. 7-18) on climate change opened, 56 major newspapers in 45 countries spoke with one voice. They came out with a common global editorial written in 20 languages on climate change. I was hoping that Philippine newspapers would join major newspapers all over the world and carry the global editorial that London’s The Guardian had initiated. But last week the Philippine media were just too caught up in the brutality without compare that visited...

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Journalists rage: Stop the killing

Philippine Daily Inquirer/News/by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo ENRAGED JOURNALISTS clad in black, both local and foreign, took to the streets of Manila Wednesday, becoming newsmakers themselves by denouncing the massacre of at least 30 media workers and 27 others on Nov. 23 in Ampatuan, Maguindanao.At the same time in Maguindanao, journalists briefly took a break from covering military operations and trekked to the massacre site in Sitio Masalay, Barangay Salman to light candles in honor of their colleagues killed in the country’s worst case of election-related...

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How they love one another

Philippine Daily Inquirer/Opinion/by Ma. Ceres P. DoyoWISHING YOU ALL a meaningful Human Rights Day. It’s been 62 years since the International Declaration of Human Rights was signed and adopted by nations the world over. And where are we?Last week’s Time magazine cover story was about “The Decade from Hell”. Indeed, in the past 10 years, terrorist attacks, wars, financial melt-downs, natural and man-made disasters, viruses, diseases, hunger and all kinds of violence have visited this planet and sent humanity running for cover. Humanity continues...

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Journalists and women as safety shield

Philippine Daily Inquirer/Opinion/by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo IF I COULD GET HOLD of even only one of the perpetrators of the Nov. 23 broad daylight mass murder/massacre of 57 human beings, 30 of them from the media, I would ask only one question. (And I shudder to think that I know the answer to my own question.) My question would be: What or who made you think or believe that you could commit this evil deed and get away with it? I cry out, de profundis: President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, how have we come to this? For the 21st century or for just...

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