The recent 28th Manila International Book Fair held at the grandiosely-named World Trade Center (no similarity to the late, lamented New York WTC) was a resounding success, judging by the crowds. Now I have even more books that I never find the time to read.

I have to vent, though, about something that has been bugging me for years but which I somehow never found the opportunity to rant about until I started a blog. I am talking about the price stickers on the books we buy.

Powerbooks and National Bookstore – this concerns you. So pay attention. Read the rest of this entry »

Gus Vibal is a man on a mission. He is also, for someone literally born of the world of traditional publishing, a maverick. Mr. Vibal is the founder of WikiPilipinas, an online encyclopedia of Philippine-related content. It is patterned after the online, free-content encyclopedia, Wikipedia, wherein any registered user can write, edit, copy, use, and distribute content within the prescribed format.

Mr. Vibal is heir to the well-known publishing house owned by his family. After college in U.P., he went to work for major U.S. publishers and was at the cutting edge of the internet publishing industry and the dot.com boom (later bust). After making his mark and his bundle in the U.S., he choose to return home. Time for social payback. Read the rest of this entry »

Recent news reports on the impending publication of the private journals and letters of the late Mother Teresa of Calcutta caused a stir when excerpts showed that she may have doubted the existence of God. Orthodox Catholics speculate that this fact could block her path to sainthood. Now known as Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta, she is one step away from being declared a saint. The Pope has the final say on this.

In 1946 Sister Teresa, already teaching for many years in Calcutta, India, experienced her “call within a call,” which she considered divine inspiration to devote herself to caring for the sick and poor. She then moved into the slums of Culcutta and founded the order of the Missionaries of Charity. The order built hospices where the terminally ill could die with dignity as well as centers serving the blind, the aged, and the disabled. In 1979 she received the Nobel Peace Prize for her humanitarian work.

At the time of Mother Teresa’s death, the Missionaries of Charity had a presence in more than 90 countries with some 4,000 nuns and hundreds of thousands of lay workers. The order continues to grow. Her legendary works of charity earned her near-universal acclaim as a “living saint” during her lifetime. That she doubted God’s existence comes as a surprise to
many believers.

The book entitled “Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light “ reveals a very human side of Mother Teresa, which might not jive with Catholics’ idea of saints as being perfect in their faith, untroubled by doubts or fears. She wrote in 1959:

“In my soul I feel just that terrible pain of loss,of God not wanting me — of God not being God — of God not existing.”

Read the rest of this entry »

Last Friday, I attended a seminar in which one of the speakers was U.P. Diliman Chancellor Dr. Sergio Cao. As Chancellor, Dr. Cao is the chief administrator for the flagship campus of the U.P. system in Quezon City. He spoke about the U.P. experience on student discipline and other related issues. The impression I got was that things were pretty much under control as far as U.P. fraternities were concerned. I guess I was wrong.

A little after midnight of Monday, August 27, three cars drove up to the emergency room of the Veterans Memorial Medical Center and unloaded the badly beaten body of Cris Anthony Mendez, a graduating student of the National College of Public Administration and Governance. He was pronounced dead minutes later. He had had contusions on his extremities, particularly the arms and back of his legs, the tell-tale signs of his having undergone fraternity initiation rites. The Philippine Daily Inquirer reported:

“A police investigator told the INQUIRER that they have already identified a student who is suspected of having recruited Mendez into the U.P. Sigma Rho fraternity.”

This is not the first time a U.P. student has died while undergoing frat initiations and, I fear, it won’t be the last. Read the rest of this entry »