In true show-biz style, Dr. Vicky Belo has replaced long-time legal counsel Archie Fortun for a younger, more handsome lawyer, opposition spokesman Adel Tamano. Atty. Tamano is a Harvard alum and president of the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila. Read the rest of this entry »

Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord. In this darkness, Lord be there!
(Psalm 130:1-2)

I have no fear of death or its images, of wakes and funerals and scenes of violence and mayhem. At least this is what I tell myself. If anything, I have gone through a phrase of inordinate fascination with death, looking into the face of it in an attempt to unlock its unfathomable mystery.

Except when the death involves a child and then I am overwhelmed by feelings of anxiety and anguish. And anger. Old wounds I have struggled to heal from are reopened and I find myself flailing helplessly against a tide of sorrow.

A young boy was killed the week just past, and seeing his father trying to find words to express his family’s inexpressible grief broke my heart. He did a much better job than I could ever have done. When I was in his unenviable position years ago, I was struck dumb. It was my wife who stood up and spoke for us.

Looking at his stricken face during the last rites for the boy, I of course saw myself. The messages he wanted to impart were the very same ones I would have wanted to say, had my voice and heart not failed me. Read the rest of this entry »

Tragedies will always abound, but I wanted my first post for 2009 to be about feel-good stories which give a positive spin to our otherwise dreary existence.

And what could be a more joyful occasion than that of the birth of a baby ? That’s what the whole Christmas thing is supposed to be all about, at least on a superficial level.

And Manny Pacquiao is a blessed man in this regard. Wife Jinky gave birth to a 7.9-pound baby girl at the Los Angeles Metropolitan Hospital just as the year was ending, with him present and even cutting his baby girl’s umbilical cord. Her name is Queen Elizabeth and is the Pacquiao couple’s fourth child.

Manny is no Anglophile, as far as I know, but the name is somehow apt. There’s no parent that wouldn’t want their daughter to be an empress, even if only in name, and her arrival can be said to be the crowing event of a felicitous year for Pacquiao. And the upbeat symbolism of a baby at the start of a new year can hardly be missed. She will be seen as a harbinger of better things to come. Our best new year’s wishes to the new queen of the Pacquiao household. Read the rest of this entry »

Looking over my prognostications for the last half of 2008, I’m happy to note that I got no better than a 71% accuracy rate. Which is fine, as the things I missed out on were the dire ones, like oil hitting US $ 200 a barrel and OFW remittances dropping (it has held firm year on year and has even risen slightly).

However… Read the rest of this entry »

Rubens’ Massacre of the Holy Innocents from NationMaster.com

Death takes no holidays. We all know this but it would be too painful to acknowledge it during this season of supposed joy. Sometimes we are reminded of this undeniable truth on a grand scope, as happened during the Asian tsunami of 2004, which claimed an estimated 230,000 lives, and displaced millions. Its 4th anniversary was recollected on December 26 in homes and beaches from Indonesia to India. It is believed to be the deadliest tsunami in recorded history.

More often death arrives on a more modest scale, although the tragedy is not in any way diminished by the numbers involved. Whether it be 1 or 100,000, the pain and anguish can be overwhelming for those forced to confront it. This is even more heart-rending in the case of children dying. Read the rest of this entry »