Japanese RM awardee dreams of peace fest in Hiroshima

Philippine Daily Inquirer/FEATURE/by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo MANILA, Philippines—Why not a global festival of peace in a Japanese city demolished by the atomic bomb? This is one of the dreams of Hiroshima Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba, one of the seven 2010 Ramon Magsaysay awardees to be honored Tuesday, the birth anniversary of the late Philippine president after whom the award is named.Akiba, 67, was two years old when the United States dropped atomic bombs...

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Bangladesh's RM awardee: Disabled also have dreams

Philippine Daily Inquirer/FEATURE/by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo MANILA, Philippines—Inclusive, barrier-free and mainstreaming. These are key words that A.H.M. Noman Khan has turned into reality for countless disabled persons of Bangladesh and beyond.Khan is one of the seven 2010 Ramon Magsaysay awardees who will be honored on Tuesday, birth anniversary of the late President after whom the award is named.Khan, 59, is being recognized for “his pioneering leadership...

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2 RM awardees cancel trip

Philippine Daily Inquirer/NEWS/by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo and Christian Esguerra THE ANNUAL Ramon Magsaysay Awards rites have become another unfortunate casualty of the botched hostage-rescue fiasco.Two of the three Chinese recipients of the Ramon Magsaysay Awards for 2010, both government bureaucrats, will not be coming to receive the honors on Aug. 31.But the third Chinese awardee, photojournalist Huo Daishan, is already in the country and is participating in the series of lectures and meetings that have been arranged by the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation. The...

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Chinese photographer wins RM for helping save a river

Philippine Daily Inquirer/FEATURE/by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo ONE DAY, Chinese photojournalist Huo Daishan was shocked to see that the Huai no longer looked like the river of his childhood. It was highly polluted, emitted toxic fumes, yielded dead fish, and killed people. It had become a river of death.“I lived there,” Huo, 56, told the Inquirer. “I played there when I was a child. The water was clear and we could see fish. We could even drink the water.” Huo...

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PTS at 100: Continuing the fight against TB

Philippine Daily Inquirer/OPINION/by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo EVEN BEFORE Magellan set foot on these islands in 1521 and long before scientists pinned down the bacillus that caused tuberculosis (TB), Filipinos already had various names for the disease. The Kapampangans called it malalangi while the Ilocanos called it sarot. The Tagalogs called it sigan while the Visayans called it anos. The tubercular patient in the Visayas was called anoson. In present-day 21st century Philippines everybody just says TB.There seems to be no record of the natives’ attempts...

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Oca on community organizing and ballroom dancing

Philippine Daily Inquirer/OPINION/by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo A GREAT pillar in community organizing (CO) and the Church’s programs of social action, justice and peace has passed on.Oscar Francisco, “Oca” to the countless many, passed away on Aug. 15 at the age of 64. He was many things to many people. He was an activist, organizer, builder, trainor, legislator, writer, dancer. He was also a great raconteur and romantic. He left behind his wife Edna (also a seasoned NGO worker), their three children and countless communities and groups that he had touched.It...

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Sr. Menggay of the Aetas

Philippine Daily Inquirer/OPINION/by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo “MAY YOUR spirit fly to the bosom of Apo Namalyari,” a sobbing Aeta leader wearing only a G-string said at the funeral Mass for Sr. Carmen “Menggay” Balazo last week, on Aug. 5. We were gathered at the convent chapel of the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary (FMM) in Carmona, Cavite. Present were Sr. Menggay’s fellow FMM nuns, her immediate family, friends and representatives of the Aeta community who came all the way from Zambales. After the Mass we all proceeded to the FMM convent in Tagaytay...

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Bitter drinks and a sweet harvest

Philippine Daily Inquirer/FEATURES/by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo IF people clean and unclog their kitchen and bathroom plumbing every so often, why can’t they do the same for their own digestive system? I did just that a couple of weekends ago upon the invitation of wellness advocate Jean Margaret Lim-Goulbourn of Global Vital Source (GVS), a group spreading the gospel of healthy lifestyle and good nutrition. Goulbourn, a former fashion model, is known in...

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Death to car thieves

Philippine Daily Inquirer/OPINION/by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo A WICKED SMILE forms on my lips and a nasty glint appears in my eyes whenever there’s news of car thieves and carjackers, and their ilk— lowlifes from hell—getting mowed down in a bloody gun battle with law enforcers. I feel like shouting, “And here’s a few more for your skulls, for the car you stole from me.” And I think of a photo taken years ago that shows me wearing ear muffs while aiming a .45 and firing at a target. I did quite well but that was the first and last time I was ever in...

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Coffee for a cause

 Sunday Inquirer Magazine/FEATURE/by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo “BLENDING indigenous coffee with passion for service.” That’s what the AdvoCafé signage so unabashedly says. As in, who says coffee and advocacy can’t mix?Peasants and princes, intellectuals and poseurs, artists and con artists, peaceniks and anarchists, techies and technocrats, sinners and saints, the bourgeois and the great unwashed – they have coffee stories and a need to have a caffeine...

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