'Sanayan lang'

Philippine Daily Inquirer/OPINION/by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo Photo by Kristine Angeli Sabillo In English, “sanayan lang” roughly translates as “one gets used to it.” Or, to borrow a line from the musical “My Fair Lady,” one grows accustomed to a face, to someone, to something, but in a “loverly” way. There are things to which one should not simply get accustomed, so that one becomes numb and disabled from reacting. Among these are suffering, cruelty...

Read More

The Wise Women

Philippine Daily Inquirer/OPINION/by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo You have heard the “would have” story about the Three Wise Women at the birth of Jesus. Its origin is unknown. Some humorless know-it-alls question its biblical, theological, geographical and even astronomical (something about the guiding star) possibility. But here it is, anyway. “What would have happened if it had been Three Wise Women instead of Three Wise Men? They would have asked for...

Read More

Forgiveness does not erase the crime

Philippine Daily Inquirer/OPINION/by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo For the traditional pre-Christmas simbang gabi (dawn masses, actually), the first of which is scheduled at dawn tomorrow, there will be an anticipated Mass at 9 p.m. tonight (Thursday) in front of the People Power monument on Edsa. It is dubbed “Sambayanan, simbang gabi ng siklab bayan.” (Samba means worship, and sambayanan means people or society.) A people in worshipful, prayerful gathering....

Read More

Martial law killed them in their youth

Philippine Daily Inquirer/OPINION/by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo Down, down, down into the darkness of the grave Gently they go, the beautiful, the tender, the kind; Quietly they go, the intelligent, the witty, the brave. I know. But I do not approve. And I am not resigned. —from “Dirge Without Music” by Edna St. Vincent Millay For lack of space, I could not write about each of the 19 new heroes/martyrs honored on Nov. 30 at the...

Read More

Forgiveness for the unrepentant

Philippine Daily Inquirer/OPINION/by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo Art work by Edicio dela Torre It is one thing to have forgiveness in one’s heart for tormentors and abusers, even for the most hardened and unrepentant, and, in silence, lift one’s pain to the heavens—something victims can do for themselves to exorcise the pain. But it is quite another to bestow honors on the hardened and unrepentant, allow them to reopen wounds and mock the victims of...

Read More

19 heroes to be honored at Bantayog

Philippine Daily Inquirer/FEATURES/by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo The names of 19 people who fought the Marcos dictatorship have been engraved on the Wall of Remembrance at Bantayog ng mga Bayani in Quezon City. They will be honored in solemn ceremonies tomorrow, Bonifacio Day. The names include those of the late Inquirer editor in chief Letty Jimenez-Magsanoc and former Sen. Jovito Salonga. —NIÑO JESUS ORBETA Three journalists led by the late Inquirer...

Read More

Caught sleeping

Philippine Daily Inquirer/OPINION/by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo Whether or not it was a toenail of the late dictator Ferdinand E. Marcos, or a clump of his hair, or an arm bone, or his wax likeness that was hastily buried with military honors in the Libingan ng mga Bayani (LMNB)—translated as cemetery for heroes—on Nov. 18, that whole exercise was one of deception, cunning and stealth on the part not only of the Marcoses but also of some feckless government...

Read More

The outrage at the memory

  Philippine Daily Inquirer/OPINION/by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo   When nine justices of the Supreme Court voted two days ago in favor of the burial in the Libingan ng mga Bayani of the 27-year-old remains of the fallen dictator Ferdinand Marcos which were brought back from abroad in 1993, they insulted the memory of those who died fighting tyranny. They spat on the wounds of the tortured, they mocked the mothers whose sons and daughters...

Read More

From conflict to commmunion

Philippine Daily Inquirer/OPINION/by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo   Oct. 31 was a special day for Lutherans and Roman Catholics. Pope Francis went to Lund, Sweden, for the joint Lutheran-Catholic ecumenical commemoration of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation led by Martin Luther in 1517 that marked a bitter schism.   What a bloody split that was, after Luther, German priest, monk and theologian of high intellect, pinned his...

Read More