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Sun-Star Cebu  "Redefining holiness" UP until now fasting and abstinence have been the faithful’s favored penitential practices on Holy Week. An esoteric few continue to engage in self-flagellation and  nailing oneself to a cross. The idea is to suffer with Christ by reining in a person’s over-the-top attachment to worldly pleasures with acts of painful self-denial  and mortification.  Sin, in this view, is conceived as synonymous with giving in to the natural propensities of the flesh, man’s profane part where the soul or spirit is the sacred  part. Hence, we punish the flesh to keep it from seriously tempting our spirit with sinful pleasures. We mortify the body to strengthen our spirit against  temptations of the flesh. This betrays an introverted and self-centered concept of holiness.  [full text] Manila Bulletin  "Our agony and shame" As Maundy Thursday and Good Friday come, I realize that the greatest story of more than 2,000 years ago...

Philippine Star  "Unleashing potential" Cebu continues to boom, but like Metro Manila, it is seeing its growth momentum slowed down by one particular inadequacy: infrastructure.  Arriving here on Saturday for the second of three presidential debates, it took me about an hour to reach the hotel adjacent to the University of the Philippines- Cebu from Mactan International Airport. It was before 4 p.m., not yet rush hour, but traffic was already crawling – a normal pace these days, according to the van  driver.  Several top Cebu-based businessmen have told me that they need more roads, more flyovers connecting the airport to various points, and better mass transportation  including light rail and commuter trains to ease the worsening traffic. Maybe Ceboom can do this quicker than Metro Manila, without the usual accompanying corruption  scandal or flip-flopping from one department secretary to the next.  Cebu is in fact suffering from Metro Manila’s weak...

L. Lastimosa in the Freeman Samtang may sukaranan ang mga pagsaway nga napamatud-an na sang pagtulon-an sa atong katiguwangan nga manguros lang ta kon kilatan, kay karon pa magkara-kara pagpangita og mga alternatibo sa trapiko nga gisugdan nang pag-ayo sa unang taytayan sa Mandaue ug Mactan, mahimong magamit ning kahigayonan di lang sa pagpahapsay sa trapiko kon di sa pagpalambo sab sa turismo. [...]  Hinaot nga ang nagkahuot nga trapiko, nagkadaghan nga basura ug nagkagrabe nga mga baha sa Metro Cebu makapakumbinser na gyod sa mga mayor sa pagpadaplin na sa ilang mga garbo ug mopaluyo na sa dinaliang panginahanglan pagtukod sa Metro Cebu Development Authority nga moduma sa kumon nilang mga interes sa trapiko, basura ug drainage.   [kinatibuk-ang lindog] Sun.Star Cebu's Carvajal "Sinulog and Politics" was a study done by USC’s (University of San Carlos) Center for Governance, Leadership and Development.  As reported (Sun.Star Cebu, Feb. 8), one major conclusion wa...

Inquirer   on  Asia-Pacific economic growth After a successful summit in Manila, leaders of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) headed home with the region facing prospects of slowing economic growth.[...] Alan Bollard, executive director of the Apec Secretariat, observed that economies across the Asia-Pacific continued to grow but now found themselves in a “holding pattern of lower growth in the absence of high trade volumes.” [...] The blame goes to the declining contribution of trade to the region’s economic growth—quite ironic because the Apec was formed with the vision to make a free-trade area of the Asia-Pacific. [full page] Sun.Star Cebu   about gambling One of the spins used by the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) to soften the opposition by some sectors to the introduction of the three-number combination lottery “Swertres” years ago was that it would kill the illegal numbers game called by Cebuanos as masiao. Years after Swertres ...

Inquirer on three images during Apec Three images from the past week may come to define the 2015 edition of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Leaders’ Meeting, in global public opinion.[…] The first of the defining images...involved Obama, taking part in only his fifth Apec powwow, breaking protocol (and stolid Apec tradition). He gamely served as moderator of what turned out to be the liveliest panel during the Apec CEO Summit[…] The second of the defining images came right after Obama’s session, when Xi addressed the same audience […] But the distance between hope and reality was captured, perhaps unwittingly, in the third of the defining images: Xi’s awkward walk down the red carpet of the Philippine International Convention Center, all but ignored by Mr. Aquino and Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, who were engrossed in an animated conversation. [full page] Sun.Star Cebu on public transportation and private interest When SM Holdings made a pitch for the operatio...

Inquirer about Apec’s inclusive growth focus Early this week when residents south of Manila found themselves obliged, under a blazing sun, to walk to get to their workplaces, to do important errands, even to undergo hospital checkups and dialysis sessions because major roads were blocked and no alternative means of transport could be had, they angrily wondered why they were being treated so badly. It is not an unfair question; it actually strikes at the core of an exclusionary strategy employed by authorities. Fidel V. Ramos, during whose presidency the Philippines successfully served as Apec host in Subic in 1996, was not gloating when he said that “sadly, the people are not enjoying the event because of so many obstructions, disruptions, restrictions, cancelled flights, and traffic inhibitions.” […] The Apec discussions have been designed to focus on inclusive growth, or how to bring the benefits of open markets to ordinary citizens—presumably including a grimy family of four ...

Inquirer on Paris attack’s consequence For the same reason that Hollywood disaster movies almost always show asteroids or aliens destroying New York City or Tokyo or London or, yes, Paris, the IS terrorists knew that attacking a city filled with iconic landmarks instantly recognizable to billions of people was good tactics. What they did not know is that it was also, in the long run, a losing strategy. Their savagery may attract a few recruits, but it also mobilized millions of Parisians, around the world. [full page] Sun.Star Cebu about terrorism and Internet Social media played a crucial role immediately after the terrorist attacks in Paris last weekend. […] Yet access to it has not necessarily made us more tolerant, more vigilant or even (dare we say it) consistently more informed. Would you say that our constant exposure to social media has dismantled some of our deep-seated prejudices? Has it made us less vulnerable to similar assaults? Sixteen months ago, what Faceb...