Editorial on lawyers right on the head
Tumpak po ang March 23 editorial (“Lawyer-dominated society”) ninyo. Sapul po kaming mga lawyers.
Tumpak po ang March 23 editorial (“Lawyer-dominated society”) ninyo. Sapul po kaming mga lawyers.
Someone’s death is always a cause for sorrow and grieving—especially when it is unexpected and unjust. Such is the instant impact of University of the Philippines student Kristel Tejada’s death on all of us who have links with UP. Lament is our first response. We shake our heads in utter disbelief, and, even as we try to pin the blame for this tragedy on particular individuals, we silently seek expiation for our own guilt. We cannot be blameless when one of our promising students is forced to drop out because she cannot pay her student loan. That is how I see the flurry of efforts to repair and compensate for a system whose built-in wickedness has victimized this young student.
The Muslim Koran mentions her 54 times and devotes the 19th chapter or “sura” to her. Christians call her “our tainted nature’s solitary boast.” Who is this lady they’re talking about? Miriam of Nazareth—and of the Jewish faith.
I marched in the graduation ceremonies of Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan, last May 4. Pending a successful defense of my dissertation, I will receive a doctoral degree in criminal justice. From a maligned ex-inmate in one of the most crowded jails in the Philippines, I will become “Dr. Narag,” with specialization in prison administration.
Recently, the human-rights activist, former Dutch politician, and Somali exile Ayaan Hirsi Ali wrote about a global war on Christians in Muslim countries. She discussed at length the appalling phenomenon of violent intolerance toward Christian communities, and cast blame on the international community and prominent NGOs for failing to address this problem.
It’s the most startling feature of the biblical account of Christianity’s defining event. It wasn’t the High Priest Caiaphas nor Pontius Pilate, nor any powerful man or elite who condemned Jesus of Nazareth to crucifixion.
4.5 million Filipino families experience hunger and the rest who can help prevent this watch as they go hungry. It is a cursed life that the hungry live, and it is a curse that many who can help, but do not, will have to bear in their lives.
There are now about 2.18 billion Christians, about a third of the total global population. The figure comes from an American organization, the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion and Public Life, in a report, “Global Christianity: A Report on the Size and Distribution of the World’s Christian Population.” (Go to pewforum.org for materials.)
Gary, a boarder sleeping in his room alone, awoke and felt someone roll on top of him, trying to sodomize him. He struggled and threw the being off. He sat up and saw a shadowy figure crouched on the floor. The figure vanished slowly from his sight. The incident alarmed the household. For days afterward, [...]
Of course, God reigns supreme – for those who believe there is a God. I do. And the God I believe in is the God my parents introduced me to, my school taught me about, and life convinced me to love and obey. While the Old Testament did tell stories of a God to be [...]
There were a couple of interesting letters in this paper over the weekend. One was from Benjamin Mallorca Jr. who said he felt moved by my column on the 9-year-old Japanese kid who gave to others though he himself had lost everything. The kid had lost all his family to the tsunami, but after being [...]
I WAS really deeply touched by and cried over the story Conrado de Quiros narrated in his column “Deliverance.” (Inquirer, 4/21/11) It was about a Vietnamese who worked as a cop in Japan, and a 9-year-old Japanese boy who gave despite having lost everything, including his parents and siblings during the Fukushima tsunami disaster that [...]
