Finally, Marcos victims to receive compensation

Philippine Daily Inquirer/NEWS/by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo Filed Under: Justice & Rights, Litigation & Regulations, Graft & Corruption, Crime and Law and Justice MANILA, Philippines—Twenty-five years after the dictator Ferdinand Marcos was ousted in the 1986 People Power revolution, victims of his oppressive regime will at long last receive some compensation for their suffering. The settlement will be paid out starting March 1, the US-based Kohn Swift and Graf law office informed the class action claimants in a letter dated Feb. 7. “It is...

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1986 bishops' power: like the wrath of God

Philippine Daily Inquirer/OPINION/by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo (This is a much shortened, revised version of my long article that came out in the Mr. and Ms. Special edition, Feb. 21-27, 1986. This is about how the Catholic bishops weighed in to help effect a tipping point. ) FINALLY SOMETHING was beginning to unravel. Out of the silent halls of the Catholic Church, the voices of the hierarchy crackled. The 1986 post-election statement of the Catholic Bishops’...

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My car was SWP (stolen while parked)!

Sunday Inquirer Magazine/FEATURES/by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo Filed Under: Transport, Road Transport, Crime, Robbery and theft THE FEELING is indescribable, surreal. There’s an ice-cold ball in the pit of your stomach. Your mouth is dry. You wish you were just in the middle of a bad dream. Everyone around you has a ghastly look on their faces. This is how it is during the first moments when you realize that your car has been stolen. All you can mutter...

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PH as state party in International Criminal Court

Philippine Daily Inquirer/OPINION/by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo Filed Under: Crime and Law and Justice, Judiciary (system of justice), Foreign affairs & international relations A FEW more pushes and a significant feature will be added to the Philippines’ history as a democratic nation. A few more steps and the Philippines will stand side by side with great democratic nations that have ratified the Rome Statute and joined the International Criminal Court...

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Study finds smelling flowers hazardous

Philippine Daily Inquirer/NEWS/by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo    Philippine Daily Inquirer/NEWS/by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo (unshortened version) MANILA, Philippines—Don’t eat the flowers. But is it safe to smell them? On the eve of Valentine’s Day, which triggers a huge demand for flowers, an international food organization issued a warning on the toll pesticides used in the flower growing takes on flower workers. FIAN, an international human rights...

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Love is On the Air

Sunday Inquirer Magazine/FEATURE/by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo A RADIO listener calls to air her worst fear. In her husband’s pockets, she says, she’s been finding table napkins with the cellphone numbers of women who, she discovered, work in entertainment joints. What is she to do? A night watchman sobs unabashedly on the phone, talking about his unrequited love for a woman who has rejected his affections. Alone in the dark, lovelorn and forlorn, the young...

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Blame game in Reyes' suicide

Philippine Daily Inquirer/OPINION/by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo A nun I know very well keeps a photo of her grade school class to which she and former Armed Forces Chief of Staff Angelo T. Reyes belonged. Reyes, she told me, was a big, bright kid, one of the good boys who would walk her home after class hours. They became tinikling partners in Grace 5. Unbearable pain of betrayal. Unbearable pain of exposure. Failure. Humiliation. Rejection. Defeat. Shame....

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Hail, Heidi

Philippine Daily Inquirer/OPINION/by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo I WRITE this piece to add to the many voices and written pieces hailing the good, the true and the wonderful that have risen out of the deadly scum that threatens to drown this nation. This hurried piece may not sound like a piece of erudition but I write this to humbly and personally say, “Thank you, Heidi Mendoza.” Thank you for braving the way in the wilderness, for shaking the fortress, for...

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