By Dava Maguinda

I never thought I’d ever fall in love with a place like Butuan.
In my good old student days, it looked to me like a person with a shabby character that I had to avoid at all cost as I used to disembark from a boat from Cebu, jostling my way to the crazy [...]

Wallstreetfighter.com: 11 Interesting Pictures That Look Photo Shopped But Aren’t View the pictures here.

By Rahib Kudto

National President
United Youth for Peace and Development, Inc. (UNYPAD)
Did the Philippine Government ever dream of resolving the Bangsamoro problem? Is it the Bangsamoro people the problem? Is the government really true in its efforts in doing some development activities in the Bangsamoro Homeland?
These questions have to be answered in the [...]

by Morton Abramowitz
I believe regional and global economic integration and increasing openness, mobility, and democratization are most shaping East Asian developments – not nationalisms or Sino-Japanese tensions, or the uncertainties of China’s rise, or growing conventional armaments, however important. We are at the brink of a positive decade in [...]

By Ninotchka Rosca

Making leche flan was a skill I picked up over two decades ago in Honolulu, Hawaii, where the potluck was common practice. My sister gave me a round aluminum pan (cost $0.70 in Chinatown), some instructions and let me loose. Years later, having done with the chores of another marriage, I threw the [...]

By Fr. Shay Cullen
It may sound a macabre and a strange New Years present for children and their defenders everywhere. It is the good news that The International Criminal Court (ICC) in De Hague has put several high level political and military suspects on trial for the abuse and exploitation and torture of children. This [...]

BY Herbert Docena
Focus on the Global South
MANILA — US troops’ order to shut down the
Panamao District Hospital at night – and their threat to shoot anyone
who disobeys their order – in Sulu starting last November 30 revives
a host of unanswered questions over the true nature of their mission
in the Philippines. If US troops are only [...]

By RENATO REDENTOR CONSTANTINO
First of two parts
In the next few weeks we shall witness a torrent of sorrow and regret,
as any such horrific loss of life should provoke. But clearly the story
is unfinished, despite the seeming finality of Benazir Bhutto’s murder.
In two suicide attacks inside Pakistan since October, at least 160 have
been slaughtered, including the [...]

By Prof. JOSE MARIA SISON
Founding Chairman,Communist Party of the Philippines
Chief Political Consultant, National Democratic Front of the Philippines
The Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) can best explain why the Arroyo regime cannot destroy but unwittingly causes the armed revolution to advance. But as the CPP founding chairman, NDFP chief political consultant [...]

Lifehack: Of all the things people cite as the reason they don’t start or finish something—write that book, lose the weight, build the business, or invent the widget—time lands squarely at the top of the list every time. What clients say time and again (sorry) is that becoming conscious about how they use every hour [...]

Cracked.com: So you’re an inventor, and you’ve just created a product that actually sucks quite a bit more than the ones people are already using. How do you sell it? Why, by creating a cornball TV ad that portrays everyday tasks as being next to impossible without your product. As we’ll see, the results range [...]

By Roland G. Simbulan
THIRTY-NINE YEARS AGO, a revitalized Philippine Left began to challenge the long-entrenched oligarchy in a nation long considered the United States’ political and military stronghold in the Asia-Pacific. The seeds of people’s empowerment were deeply planted, and rooted. The Philippines was never to be the same again. The Left’s [...]

By Luis V. Teodoro

As if to announce to the country and the world that being attacked for doing their jobs is still a fact of journalists’ lives in the Philippines, an assassin riding pillion on a motorcycle shot dead a radio broadcaster in Davao City last Christmas eve.
Francisco Lintuan was killed in his car when [...]

By Fr. Shay CUllen
The Christmas story of my childhood was one of sweetness and light. It was a story of the birth of baby Jesus. We learned of a helpless child in the manger surrounded by caring and loving parents and animals. The choir of angels was singing Hallelujah. I liked the three kings bringing [...]

By Prof. JOSE MARIA SISON
Chief Political Consultant
National Democratic Frontof the Philippines
It is understandable why there is no ceasefire between the armed forces of the Government of the Republicof the Philippines (GRP) and those of the National Democratic Frontof the Philippines (NDFP) during the Christmas and New Year holidays.
Gregorio “Ka Roger” Rosal,spokesperson of the Communist Party [...]

RedBook: There comes a time in every man’s life when he discovers the value of hiding the grosser parts of his nature. He starts reciting the sweet nothings you long to hear: “No, honey, I play golf for the exercise.” “No, honey, I think you’re a great driver.” “No, honey, I wasn’t looking at that [...]

By Fr. Shay Cullen
Christmas and all it represents and stands for has to be redeemed. With the turning away of the western world from Christ and all he lived and died for, the spiritual meaning and value of Christmas has been lost to commercialism. Now children value more what they find in holiday socks than [...]

By Dr. Walden Bello
President of the Freedom from Debt Coalition
The gap between the urgent threat of global warming and the collective will to do something about it has never been greater. The recently concluded Conference on Climate Change in Bali was a grand opportunity to act. Instead, it was another missed opportunity. Unfortunately, [...]