Mindfulness at Christmas

Philippine Daily Inquirer/OPINION/by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo  I like the word “mindfulness.” I tried very hard to be mindful of it and to practice it as Christmas Day drew near, especially when everything out there seemed so chaotic and the “T” word (traffic) was on everyone’s lips. (I commanded myself to screech to a full stop on Dec. 18.) A composite definition of mindfulness: It is a state of active, open attention to the present; it...

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Fil-Swiss' card builds 25 boats

Philippine Daily Inquirer/FEATURES/by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo Prompted by her desire to help fellow Filipinos badly hit by Supertyphoon “Yolanda” (international name: Haiyan), Madonna Limcaco Uhland, a resident of Switzerland, buckled down to work to do her bit by making a Christmas card. She had not taken up brush and palette for a long time. Uhland joined the Samahang Filipino in St. Gallen (Switzerland) that organized a benefit gathering to raise...

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DepEd to boost IP education

Philippine Daily Inquirer/OPINION/by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo “Ako’y Pilipino! Pilipinas ang bayan ko! Taga Tarukan ako! Lahing katutubo! Tribung Aeta ang kinabibilangan ko!” (I am a Filipino! The Philippines is my country! Tarukan is my home! From an indigenous community of Aetas I come! To the community of Aetas I belong!) I remember so well the loud, heart-pounding declaration of Aeta children in their first month of classes in the first school...

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No '30' for Sunday Inquirer Magazine

Philippine Daily Inquirer/OPINION/by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo For the magazine that is leaving the Sunday scene, staff writer Eric Caruncho wrote a eulogy that sounded happy (for the memories, not for its closing) rather than elegiac. “As the Sunday Inquirer Magazine (SIM) ends its current incarnation as a glossy monthly (one year and two months) shy of its 30th year, it could only mean that we’ll never write ‘30’! The absence of a sense of finality...

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Coconut fresco versus copra

Philippine Daily Inquirer/OPINION/by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo For too long, the wonder tree that is the coconut tree has been seen mainly as the source of copra from which crude coconut oil (CNO) is extracted, the source of a commodity that has not significantly improved the lives of coconut farmers. CNO is used for soaps, detergents, chemicals, etc. The coconut tree has been seen secondarily as the source of lumber, fiber, and alcoholic and health...

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3 labor leaders, nun Bantayog honorees

Philippine Daily Inquirer/OPINION/by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo MANILA, Philippines–Three fearless labor leaders, four massacre victims, one Augustinian nun and four other activists were among those honored at Bantayog ng mga Bayani (Monument of Heroes) in Quezon City this week. Their names brought to 235 the names etched on the black granite Wall of Remembrance, centerpiece of the Bantayog complex that honors those who fought, died or were martyred...

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Uncovering Asia through investigative journalism

Philippine Daily Inquirer/OPINION/by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo Internet detective work and digging out hidden information online. Fighting back with legal tools. Uncovering hidden assets across borders. Investigating in conflict zones. Teaching investigative journalism. Coping with trauma and threat. Despots, crooks and their wealth. Breathless in Manila. These were among the workshop topics tackled at “Uncovering Asia: The First Asian Investigative...

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The genius of the Filipino poor

Philippine Daily Inquirer/OPINION/by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo Sometimes it takes a non-Filipino to discover something great about us that we often ignore, do not notice, or take for granted. Sometimes we need foreign eyes to make us believe that there is more to what we already see. British journalist Thomas Graham came to the Philippines and visited Gawad Kalinga (GK) founder Antonio Meloto in 2012 to pick his brain about issues such as poverty in...

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Are we a nation of malcontents?

Philippine Daily Inquirer/OPINION/by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo Here is a story that is so unlike the rest, so different from the endless tales of misery that have been served us in the past days leading up to the first anniversary of a world-class disaster. I am sharing a Facebook post of my good friend and colleague, Rochit Tañedo, who traveled to Samar after the wrath of Supertyphoon “Yolanda” leveled much of Eastern Visayas last year: “The women...

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Flavier, a barrio parable

Philippine Daily Inquirer/OPINION/by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo Former health secretary and senator Juan M. Flavier’s departure for the next life on Oct. 30 was timely. Timely—that is minus the prefix “un-” that denotes our human unwillingness to part with a loved one—because he departed from this world when government personages are embroiled in huge controversies and revelations that boggle the mind. Timely because his passing at age 79 made us pause...

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Il viaggio continua

Philippine Daily Inquirer/OPINION/by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo I gazed at the colored photo of the smiling Italian men—16 in all—in rugged clothes, and then I searched for the faces that became familiar because they landed on the front pages of newspapers and on TV screens after cruel men made victims of them. The photo’s caption says: “PIME Fathers in 1984: 3 future martyrs and 2 kidnap victims.” The photo is among the many included in a book that should...

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Double entendre

Philippine Daily Inquirer/OPINION/by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo   Justice Secretary Leila de Lima’s statement that she would stop investigating the corruption charges against Vice President Jejomar Binay only if the President or the Ombudsman would order her to stop was a loaded one. The charges that are also being tackled in the hearings of the Senate blue ribbon subcommittee have put on the defensive the Binay family members who have alternately...

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Thoughts on a toilet-bowl murder

Philippine Daily Inquirer/OPINION/by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo The Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) between the Philippines and the United States will again be put to the test with the killing of Jeffrey/Jennifer Laude, a transgender, as media reports describe him/her. (Laude would have surely preferred that a feminine pronoun be used to refer to him, but because there is no proof that he had legally changed his gender status, I will use the masculine...

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US lawyer says PCGG merely grandstanding

Philippine Daily Inquirer/SPECIAL REPORTS/by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo (Last of two parts) MANILA, Philippines–The claim of the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) was not to the paintings of Imelda Marcos, “which were never government property,” but to the money that was allegedly stolen, according to Robert Swift, the lead counsel of the 9,539 rights abuse victims during the martial law regime of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos. “The...

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Philippine Daily Inquirer/SPECIAL REPORT/by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo  This file photo taken on June 7, 2007 shows former first lady Imelda Marcos is seen in her apartment in Manila with a gallery of paintings including a Picasso, seen at upper right. Philippine authorities moved on September 30, 2014 to seize paintings by Picasso, Gauguin, Miro, Michelangelo and other masters held by Imelda Marcos after getting a court order against the former...

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PCGG, Marcos victims in race to claim Imelda's art collection

Philippine Daily Inquirer/SPECIAL REPORT/by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo First of two parts   The sudden move by the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) to order a search of the San Juan residence, offices and other homes of the Marcos family for precious artworks that the PCGG claims should belong to the government caught many by surprise. A GAUGUIN IN SAN JUAN Paul Gauguin’s “Still Life with Idol,” is just one of the masterpieces allegedly...

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ICanServe@15

Philippine Daily Inquirer/OPINION/by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo The sisterhood had a blast! The sisterhood like no other, we love to say and tell everyone. ICanServe celebrated its 15th anniversary last Oct. 6 at the Raffles Hotel in Makati with a rousing celebration and a gathering of breast cancer survivors and warriors who are, most of all, advocates of early detection. It was a gathering that toasted its founders, members and supporters, as well...

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Fr. Pierre Tritz@100, ERDA@40

Philippine Daily Inquirer/OPINION/by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo Few people in this world get to be a century old. One of them is French-born Jesuit Fr. Pierre Tritz, who turned 100 last Sept. 19. The Mass and simple celebration on the 19th was cancelled because of Tropical Storm “Mario” that brought flooding in Metro Manila. The gathering is being set for another date. Thousands of poor Filipinos who were once students as well as their families know...

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Journalism under siege: The years of writing dangerously

Philippine Daily Inquirer/FEATURES/by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo (Editor’s Note: Starting Sept. 21, the 42nd anniversary of the proclamation of martial law by President Ferdinand Marcos, we have been running a series of articles to remember one of the darkest chapters in Philippine history. The articles are necessarily commemorations and more so a celebration of and a thanksgiving for the courage of the men and women who endured unspeakable pain and loss...

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Interrogated by the military

Philippine Daily Inquirer/OPINION/by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo Since Sept. 21 (the 42nd anniversary of the imposition of Marcos’ deadly martial rule) the Inquirer has been running stories about that terrifying era (1972-1986) that saw the death of democracy and the killing, disappearance, detention and suffering of tens of thousands of Filipinos. Unrestrained evil, I call it, and today’s young Filipinos ought to know about it. I wrote damning stories...

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Noli: Love in the grip of tyranny

Philippine Daily Inquirer/OPINION/by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo Like a thunderbolt in a dark and forbidding landscape, the character Sisa burst onto the stage and launched into an unforgettable, heartrending, four-hankie vocal and acting performance that might not be seen again in a long time. O Inang Bayan na sadlak sa dusa (O Motherland mired in sorrow) raced through my thoughts as I beheld the grief-stricken mother in search of her lost sons, her...

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Mabuhay, FOI champions in Congress

Philippine Daily Inquirer/OPINION/by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo Are political parties taking a collective stand on the freedom of information (FOI) bill that was killed at the last hour in the 15th Congress? The hopeful news is that last Tuesday, the technical working group (TWG) of the House of Representatives committee on public information approved without objection a consolidated version of more than a dozen FOI bills. FOI advocates are hoping that...

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