Conversation with Sen. Leila, detainee (1)

Philippine Daily Inquirer/OPINION/by Ma. Ceres P. DoyoNo need for an introduction here because Sen. Leila de Lima’s answers to my questions give the whys and wherefores of her being in detention for four years. Hear ye!   Q. As the 4th anniversary of your detention draws near what thoughts and feelings are uppermost in your mind and heart? What was it like on the first days, what is it like now?   A.  Feb. 24, 2021 will mark my 4th year as a person deprived of liberty—1,462 days of injustice. How I long for my family and the...

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QR-ed, ID-ed, bar coded, tracked, tagged

  Philipine Daily Inquirer/OPINION/by Ma. Ceres P. DoyoWired magazine published the article “Digital IDs are more dangerous than you think” by Brett Solomon, founder of a global conference that addresses human rights in the digital age. It says that digital identification systems are meant to aid the marginalized but actually, they are ripe for abuse. More later. Why am I thinking of the military’s sloppy intelligence gathering and red-tagging of critics of the present dispensation? There is no escaping the fact that the current coronavirus...

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Vax day dry runs and other vexations

Philippine Daily Inquirer/OPINION/Ma. Ceres P. Doyo I always have this nasty feeling that some agencies tasked to put order and safety in our lives end up messing up if not making life difficult for us Filipinos. My frequent refrain: Ang galing ninyo magpahirap ng tao. (You are such experts in making life difficult for people.) That said, let me ruminate. Here in Metro Manila earthquake drills had been held regularly in the past in anticipation of the Big One that has yet to shake and rattle our lives but which experts say is a matter of not...

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First vaccinees as test bunnies

Philippine Daily Inquirer/OPINION/by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo I do not like to use the words guinea pigs because they are off putting, so how about test bunnies? These words are used in the context of lab experiments. I am using test bunnies to refer to t Ihe first Filipino vaccinees. Not that they are being primed to be test bunnies. But by being first, they will show one and all the immediate and short-term side effects, if there be some at all, of the anti-COVID-19 vaccines.  The long-term effect that we expect would be immunity from the...

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Book review: ‘Promise Me, Dad’ by Joe Biden

Philippine Daily Inquirer/OPINION/by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo I read in one sitting “Promise Me, Dad: A Year of Hope, Hardship and Purpose” (2017) by then U.S. Vice President Joe Biden who, any moment now, would be sworn in as President of the world’s most powerful nation. “Promise me, Dad, that you’re going to be all right” were words of Beau, Biden’s eldest son, to his father. Beau died of glioblastoma or cancer of the brain in 2015 at the age of 45....

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FOTY runners-up Essential workers: The many faces of pandemic heroism

 FOTY RUNNERS-UPEssential workers: The many faces of pandemic heroismPhilippine Daily Inquirer / 05:40 AM January 17, 2021MANILA, Philippines — While health care frontliners focused mainly on COVID-19 patients seeking or receiving treatment in medical facilities, people from other sectors and fields also labored and risked their own well-being to keep the rest of the population alive, healthy and informed.Without them, families, groups...

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2020 Filipinos of the Year: Health care frontliners

 2020 Filipinos of the Year: Health care frontlinersPhilippine Daily Inquirer / 05:42 AM January 17, 2021(Editor’s Note: Every year since 1991, the Philippine Daily Inquirer has sought to recognize the Filipino individual or group who, in the judgment of the newspaper’s editors, made the most positive impact on the life of the nation.) ILLUSTRATION BY RENE ELEVERAMasked and hooded, or covered from head to foot with protective suits,...

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