Tag: 2016

IT IS ironic how a university that prides itself as the oldest Catholic university in Asia is also the home of students who are mostly morally selective and apathetic to Catholic teachings and values.

A voter-education survey of the Varsitarian showed that Thomasians consider morality as the most important quality of a candidate for the national elections (39 percent); followed by education (28), government platform (16), and experience (13). Popularity and “endorsements” came out the lowest with one percent each.

HOMOSEXUAL behavior seems to violate nature’s need for procreation, but recent research studies have found out that homosexual behavior in animals may be much more common than previously thought.

Several researchers have discovered that humans are not the only mammals that practice and express homosexuality and that evolution may have something to do with this behavior.

For instance, the University of Oslo’s “Against Nature?” was an exhibit last 2006 to 2007 that showed about 1,500 animal species that practice homosexual behavior, like in mammals such as bisons, bears and rats; in fish species such as salmon; reptiles like lizards; amphibians like frogs; and insects such as house flies.

THE PONTIFICAL University now has 17 National Artists with former Varsitarian literary editor Cirilo Bautista and the late architecture alumnus Jose Maria Zaragoza joining the roster after their conferment and elevation to the Order of National Artists (ONA) in Malacanang ceremonies by President Aquino III last April 14.

Also conferred as National Artists were Francisco Coching for the visual arts, Alice G. Reyes for dance, and Ramon Santos and Francisco Feliciano for music.

Manuel Conde (cinema), Federico Alcuaz (visual arts) and Lazaro Francisco (literature) likewise conferred the ONA posthumously.

Following the conferment rites was a performing-arts tribute to the new ONA honorees at the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP).

BUNSO kung maituturing sa ating mga pambansang pagdiriwang ang Buwan ng Panitikan ng Filipinas (BPF) ngayong Abril na isang malaking hakbang sa pagpapayabong ng pambansang pagpapahalaga sa ating literatura at mga manunulat.

Sa kasalukuyan, ikalawang taon pa lamang nito sa bisa ng Proklamasiyon Bilang. 968, s. 2015, na nilagdaan ni Pangulong Benigno Aquino III alinsunod sa probisiyon ng Konstitusyon na dapat payabungin ang kasaysayan, kultura at sining ng bansa.

Inilarawan ng Pambansang Alagad ng Sining sa Panitikan na si Virgilio Almario ang selebrasiyon bilang pagkakataon upang “bigyan ng espesyal na pagtingin at pagmamalasakit ang panitikan ng Filipinas pati na ang mga awtor [ng bayan].”

MAY BISA ang pagbabasa na humihigit sa nakaimprentang teksto ng mga aklat, lathalain at iba pang mga babasahin.

Bisa na nakapagpapaintindi sa mga bata ng mahahalagang alituntuning-moral sa buhay, sa pamamagitan ng mga hayop na nakikipaghalubilo at nakikipag-usap sa bawat isa. Bisa na nakapagpapalawak ng bokabularyo sa wikang Filipino man o sa Ingles. Bisa na nakapagpapalakbay sa mortal na buhay ng mambabasa tungo sa iba’t ibang dimensiyon ng mundo.

Ngunit ano na nga ba ang kahalagahan ng pagbabasa sa nagmamadaling panahon ng internet at social media lalo na ngayong buwan ng Abril na ipinagdiriwang ang Buwan ng Panitikang ng Filipinas?

VICE PRESIDENTIAL candidate Alan Peter Cayetano last Feb. 5 said a Duterte administration won’t violate human rights under a campaign pledge to wipe out criminality.

“If you see how Mayor Duterte talks, yes, he talks about [it being] bloody, about killing. But he’s never said he’d kill anyone in cold blood,” Cayetano said in a forum at the Seminary Gym, in answer to a question about his running mate, presidential bet Rodrigo Duterte, being involved in summary killings of criminals and drug peddlers in Davao City.

Duterte, who has been mayor of Davao City for seven terms, was unable to attend the UST forum due to a prior commitment in Pampanga, where he was seen kissing some women attending his event.

CHANGE starts with the youth.

The country has taken the first step against political dynasties in the form of the Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) Reform Act or Republic Act 10742, a law that bans second-degree relatives of government officials from running for posts in the barangay youth council.

Section 10 of the SK Reform Act, which lists down the qualifications of an SK official, states that an SK official “either elective or appointee […] must not be related within the second civil degree of consanguinity or affinity” to any incumbent national or local government official which includes parents, grandparents, siblings and relations by law or marriage such as spouses and in-laws.