“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.” —One of the eight Beatitudes in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount.
FROM TIBET, THE UNITED ARAB EMIRATES and here at home came e-mailed reactions from Filipinos who were outraged and shocked at the disclosures of Secretary Annabelle Abaya, outgoing head of the Office [...]

“Ah, it was an exciting novel. It was action-packed from Day 1.”
Thus started Secretary Annabelle Abaya, head of the Office of the Presidential Assistant on the Peace Process (OPAPP), when she recounted to the Inquirer the unraveling of the web of corruption in the peace office. Abaya headed the agency for less than a year, [...]

In this decade of disasters, both natural and man-made, it behooves us to remember the 1984 Bhopal tragedy in India which killed more than 20,000 people and whose aftereffects continue to destroy the health of thousands. In terms of human lives lost, it is considered the world’s deadliest industrial catastrophe, and it could have been [...]

Friday is D-Day for the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Will it be passed in the House of Representatives on the last session day? Just one more nudge, isang pindot na lang, and if it gets passed (as it had been in the Senate) we will become more enabled and empowered citizens of this nation. [...]

While the election frenzy was at its peak, National Heritage Month was being celebrated. The charged atmosphere of the campaign and the elections themselves had all but eclipsed the various heritage-related activities in the month of May, but it was good to take time out for some cultural treasures that were offered for us to [...]

FILIPINOS ARE KNOWN TO ALWAYS FIND AND create humor even during the bleakest of times, poke fun at the serious, ridicule the sublime and the ridiculous, make jokes and puns out of serious situations and at the expense of persons. Once again the recent elections and the moist-eyed candidates (and their campaign ads) became fair [...]

First, let me say that one of the two presidential candidates that I rooted for will soon be President of the Republic of the Philippines. As they say, it’s all over but the proclamation.
Last month, Greenpeace and EcoWaste Coalition released the six presidential candidates’ answers to the 2010 Green Electoral Initiative (GEI) questionnaire and gave [...]

MOST OF US SHOULD NOW BE feeling suffocated, assaulted and violated by all the election campaign ads imposed on us. They appear non-stop on TV, radio, the Internet, cell phones, e-mail. They have congested the airwaves and Cyberspace. The streets are covered with campaign posters, banners and billboards. Wall space, posts, trees, railings, street dividers, [...]

OFF THE PRESS IS DR. JESUS P. ESTANISLAO’S book “Guideposts for Governance” which moist-eyed candidates hoping to win in the May 10 elections should read and take to heart.
Estanislao is founding chair of the Institute for Solidarity in Asia (ISA) and was finance secretary during the Aquino administration. Early this month, I wrote about the [...]

A WONDROUS EARTH DAY!
Greenpeace and EcoWaste Coalition released yesterday, as promised, the 2010 Green Electoral Initiative (GEI) survey final results which were based on the presidential candidates’ position on environmental issues.
Of all the many urgent advocacies worthy of presidential attention, it was the environmental advocacy that was able to compel the presidential bets to come [...]