Category: Features
Covering the week’s most noteworthy feature stories impacting the Filipino-American and Global Filipino community.
Celebrating and challenging the Filipina
I HAD the privilege of meeting so many high achieving kababayan and kabaro in the Filipina Women’s Network Gala honoring the 100 Most Influential Filipinas in the World. It was…
Litography
SOME mischievous social media folks have been using a rather funny-sarcastic term when talking about President Noynoy Aquino: Litography. No, they’re not referring to a printing process. They mean someone…
Controversial Fil-Am mom asks: ‘What’s your excuse?’
ANOTHER Fil-Am mom created a firestorm online and on television because of her Facebook page picture, which showed her with her three very young sons, wearing a skimpy two-piece workout…
Higher stakes
THE stakes in uncovering the truth behind the controversial pork barrel scam just got higher. On November 7, the stage is set at a Senate public hearing, for a face…
The changing persona of the Filipina ‘lola’
IN the past, the epitome of the Filipina lola has been painted as an old woman in a rocking chair, gray hair in a bun (pusod), wearing eye glasses, a…
The cat and the hot stove
MARK Twain is said to have quipped, “A cat who sits on a hot stove will never sit on a hot stove again. But he won’t sit on a cold…
Destruction
THE magnitude-7.2 earthquake that struck central Philippines last Tuesday, October 15, has claimed 161 lives according to authorities. About 400 people were reported injured and some are still missing as…
Never too old to rock: Queen Lola continues to inspire
WHEN is a woman too old to rock? When a Filipina becomes a lola, should she stop taking care of her self as she used to in her younger years…
Honorary Filipino
ASKED what he would miss most about his home for more than three years, outgoing US Ambassador to the Philippines Harry K. Thomas recently told Inquirer.net that it would be…
Is the PH ready to grant equal rights to heterosexual and same-sex couples?
BEGINNING October 21, same-sex couples in New Jersey will be able to wed. This, after a New Jersey judge rejected the state’s appeal to halt same-sex marriages. Superior Court Judge…
Not Since Ramon Magsaysay
Jinggoy Estrada has apparently succeeded in diverting the attention of both mainstream and social media, from the P10-billion pork scandal to alleged anomalies involving Noynoy Aquino’s Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP)…
Wait and see
RECENTLY, the Filipino community was abuzz as news spread about a 63-year old woman who was allegedly detained and harassed by US immigration officers for six hours at the Seattle-Tacoma…
Filing a complaint against abusive immigration officers
FOR many kababayans visiting the United States, the most dreaded part of the trip is going through the immigration inspection. The recent news about a 63-year old Filipina being harassed…
PNoy, good second class
Innuendos concerning his association with alleged Queen of Pork Barrel Scams, Janet Lim-Napoles, his insistence on retaining his humongous presidential pork barrel-in-disguise, and recent allegations of bribery to ensure the…
Legal opinion: What to do when harassed at the US Immigration Port of Entry
YOU’VE got your US visa, excited to visit and tour around the United States, only to be subjected to harassing interrogation and threat of airport-to-airport deportation at the US immigration…
PNoy, Good Second Class
Innuendos concerning his association with alleged Queen of Pork Barrel Scams, Janet Lim-Napoles, his insistence on retaining his humongous presidential pork barrel-in-disguise, and recent allegations of bribery to ensure the…
Loving from a distance: The OFW story
IT WAS a three-day visit to the Philippines I wish I never had to take. I had to come back to my homeland for a reason most Filipinos living abroad…
Strong ties
TIME may not yet be ripe for another US president to set foot on Philippine soil. Philippine Ambassador Jose Cuisia Jr. said that the consulate in Washington, DC has not…
Goodbye, my dear brother David
PLEASE allow me to deviate from my usual commentaries and discussions about current issues. I want to use this opportunity to pay homage to my younger brother, David Santos. He…
Kababayans debate: Should Napoles testify in the Senate?
WHAT is supposed to be a common aspiration– to end corruption in the Philippines and seek justice in the pork barrel scam — has now divided Filipinos all over the…
The gift of tolerance
ONCE described as a medieval institution, the Catholic Church (under the leadership of Pope Francis I) is no longer sitting on its laurels. The high prelate is encouraging the Church,…
Invoking the power of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee
WHAT is the role of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee in the quest for truth and justice in the ongoing investigations for the pork barrel scam? What mandate does it…
Of Pity, Pork and Pagpag
Aside from our inability, as a people, to sustain our anger, and our poor collective memory, we have one more trait that keeps us from exacting full retribution from public…
Fil-Ams take action: Pork barrel system is institutionalized plunder
THE first batch of plunder charges may have been filed against lawmakers and other officials allegedly involved in the P10-Billion Pork Barrel Scam in the Philippines, but Filipinos around the…
Never again
It was an era in history that older generations of Filipinos would rather forget. But lessons from this tumultuous period has taught us to commemorate the past — if only…