Filipinos as foreign bullies' delight

Philippine Daily Inquirer/OPINION/by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo   “Gina-tonto,” would be how Ilonggos might describe the way Filipinos are being treated, bullied, made to look like fools in their own territory by foreigners. In Filipino, “ginagawang tanga.” “Tonto” is Spanish for fool, crazy or stupid. Incidentally, in Spanish, too, is how Ilonggos curse the insufferable “hijos” who are bullies themselves and who bring shame to the mothers and fathers who begot them.   Filipinos are a delight to bullies because Filipinos allow themselves...

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Unlikely idols for the young

Philippine Daily Inquirer/OPINION/by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo   Last Monday, the Inquirer had two separate stories in one page about two men whose lives were suddenly and tragically ended while they were at a relatively young age and while they were serving in their areas of expertise in hopes of making a gentler, better world for us all.   And last Sunday’s Inquirer featured the efforts of a young artist to make heroes, more than a century removed from the present, come alive and relevant to today’s young generation. The two present-day...

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Kaliwa dam, a debt trap?

Philippine Daily Inquirer/OPINION/by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo   A news report several days go said the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) has allayed fears on the construction of the P12.1-billion New Centennial Water Source (NCWS)-Kaliwa Dam Project, which is opposed by vocal sectors. Why the “fears”? The Kaliwa Dam to be built in Quezon province has been in the pipeline for three decades. Expected to be operational by 2023 if begun soon, it is supposed to complement the Angat Dam, which supplies 96 percent of the water needs...

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Sr. Patricia Fox:s parting words

https://www.globalsistersreport.org/news/ministry/sr-patricia-fox-speaks-her-departure-philippines-55...

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Pre-dep words from Sister Patricia Fox

Philippine Daily Inquirer/OPINION/by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo The day before Sister Patricia Fox, 71, was scheduled to leave (Nov. 3) the Philippines where she immersed herself among the poor for 27 years, I managed to ask her for some parting words. This Australian religious sister of the Notre Dame of Sion congregation, a lawyer by training and with a heart for the marginalized, has left her mark in the lives of many who pray she’d be back, if not soon,...

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'Dies iirae' for the corupt

Philippine Daily Inquirer/OPINION/by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo All Saints’ and All Souls’ will remain among the Filipinos’ favorite feast days. Only Filipinos can celebrate these feasts with so much fun and laughter. Until the West introduced the grossly macabre into our feasting, these feasts were religious and ethnic in nature, solemn but family-oriented and fun, too.   As we observe these feasts on Nov. 1 and 2, our thoughts turn to our dear departed, even as our view of the afterlife has changed somewhat over the years. The Catholic Church...

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