90 metric tons of dates

Philippine Daily Inquirer/OPINION/by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo On the lighter side of foreign aid, especially after last week’s “We don’t need you, EU” outburst of the Philippines’ quarrelsome President, here’s something from the desert to chew on. As a non-Muslim, I feel some kind of discrimination because the 80 metric tons of dates from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia were meant as food aid only for Muslim Filipinos, and not for members of other faiths....

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"Said the Spider to the Fly'

Philippine Daily Inquirer/OPINION/by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo Like the Brothers Grimm’s fairy tales of our childhood that warn of cunning and deception, the poem/fable “The Spider and the Fly” (1829) by Mary Howitt also serves notice that not every sweet-talking entity offering gifts or a good time is to be believed or trusted. I still remember the poem’s opening lines: “‘Will you walk into my parlour?’ said the Spider to the Fly.” Oh, you do remember well if you had recited it as a child. Not to demonize spiders, which are really shy creatures, and...

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Reparation is recognition

Philippine Daily Inquirer/OPINION/by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo It is true. Unspeakable horrors happened during the martial law years under the Marcos dictatorship more than 30 years ago. Let no one weave a contrary tale. The summary killings of human beings. The involuntary disappearances. The arbitrary arrests and detention. The rape, torture and mutilation. The massacres. The forcible seizure and destruction of properties. The uprooting of families....

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A world of 'hibakusha'

Philippine Daily Inquirer/OPINION/by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo It is not the movies, folks, and there certainly are nuclear scenarios of the apocalyptic kind in the realm of the possible. News report after news report describe one rogue leader’s attempt to flaunt his country’s nuclear arsenal, his way of serving notice to his perceived enemies. It has made three missile tests that, fortunately for the jittery, all went pffft shortly after lift-off. Duds,...

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