We are hearing the ordinary daily wage earners and their difficulty in meeting the basic need for food on the table. And endlessly, we pray for sobriety, because there is no guarantee that people will still listen to controlling agencies if the government persist of playing deaf and dumb. I don’t have the answer, but God knows. And people know their limits, too.
The situation we are in is unmatched by anything in living memory. There is a lot of uncertainty and fear. And as the physical spaces we move around in become more limited, many of us have turned to cyberspace to ask questions, to seek solace, and to let out frustration and anger.
In this country, even before the COVID-19 pandemic, education has always been a class problem. We have seen how our educational system further intensifies the gap between the poor and the well-offs by making schools physically inaccessible and economically expensive. Online classes as a response to the pandemic underscores this economic divide.
Though the use of the double entendre “2020 vision” has been a dime a dozen in the first quarter of the year, please allow a reiteration of how blurry and bleak the future is at this point; hence this attempt at a “re-vision” (perhaps an exhausted turn of the phrase, but who isn’t exhausted these days?).
In about 60 pages, Jose Ma. Espino’s Into the White Hole (1986; WH) tells the story of twelve-year-old Joey, who discovered a fissure in time-space from his bed after an actual quake (not a metaphorical earth-shaking march of people that ousted a dictator which was an actual event in Philippine history that year). Spoilers ahead.
I was asked to talk about love. I will not talk about the love of one person to another. You are the experts on that. Allow me to talk about ‘altruistic love.’
It was not about the VFA being a lopsided and onerous agreement. President Duterte’s abrogated the VFA to avenge Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa against the US government that decided to cancel his tourist visa.
This the title of a song by Pink Floyd. As an anesthesiologist, my practice allows me to see patients undergoing surgery for a pathology. My anesthesia makes my patients comfortably numb.
Taking materials from other sectors, rebranding or repackaging stories, and different means of appropriation remain controversial ethical dilemmas—brought about by exported raw materials, imported products, objectified narratives, and foreign productions. Issues about the Oscars sweep of Parasite (2019) might likewise be raised (cf Strike II in Cruz 2020): Are garnered awards an indictment of the filthy rich, or merely a celebration of brilliance and novelty of the cultural product?
The past week was devastating as African Swine Fever (ASF) claimed the lives of pigs and livelihood of Davaoeño hog-raisers noting at least 3,000 hogs were culled to prevent further spread. Farmers along Calinan district and nearby communities were worried as backyard hog-raising is one of their sources of income.
