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For Noynoy: A very simple question on Napoles

IRAIA thoughts
IRAIA thoughts

I would have directed these questions to Secretary of Justice Leila de Lima, since it was the NBI under her office that is supposed to be investigating and building up a case against the perpetrators of the pork barrel scam, including the role of Janet Napoles.

But now that Napoles has surrendered to Noynoy Aquino, and since he is supposed to be on top of everything, I will have to throw my questions to him — and I enjoin everyone to raise their own questions and throw these to him. So here goes: Continue reading “For Noynoy: A very simple question on Napoles”

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Baka kako nakalimutan mo, kaya ipapaalala ko lang.

Dear nakaputing magpipiknik bukas sa Luneta pero ayaw ng gulo:

Nitong ilang nakaraang araw, nagtimpi ang marami sa Kaliwa (kasama na ako doon) sa hayagang pambubuska at insulto ng iilang maingay sa masmidya at social media. Ayaw daw nilang isali sa Million March ang Kaliwa dahil magulo daw kami. O kung kasali man, ayaw nilang sumigaw kami ng militanteng islogan at magwagayway ng bandilang pula. Yung ilan, garapalan na kung manghamon at mang-intriga: bawal daw sa Luneta ang mga Komunista. Continue reading “Baka kako nakalimutan mo, kaya ipapaalala ko lang.”

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The Manero mindset is all around us

Fr Tullio Favali
FR. TULLIO FAVALI WOULD JUST BE THE FIRST AMONG MANY. I regret to say that until now, the Manero mindset is as prevalent as ever among us.

Tullio Favali was an Italian missionary who was a parish priest in a town in Cotabato where the New People’s Army operated and who therefore was a suspected NPA sympathizer because he worked among farmers and protested martial law abuses. He was confronting a government militia force led by the Manero brothers when they shot him in cold blood, his head blown off by a militia gun fired pointblank into his face. (Fr. Favali’s story is told more fully on the Bantayog website.)

That was in 1985. But that did not stop foreigners—priests, nuns, lay volunteers, researchers, activists—from joining progressive organizations and protest rallies not just in Metro Manila but in other cities and town centers as part of their advocacy. We welcomed all forms of support that they extended to unions, urban poor groups, peasant associations, indigenous communities, and Filipino activist groups that worked among the poor.  Continue reading “The Manero mindset is all around us”