Tag: July 15, 2006

AMID calls for President Macapagal-Arroyo’s resignation, the University has proposed the establishment of a “Truth Commission.” The country’s bishops seem to agree as they cited the proposal as a means of resolving the national crisis.

THIS artist may be a wood sculptor, but his art does not grow on trees.

Building a large, three-story house entirely of wood without cutting down a single tree has never been a problem for Benji Reyes, an internationally-acclaimed furniture designer and sculptor. Using recycled wood as material for his exquisitely made furniture and even for his own house, this Thomasian displays not only a passion for woodcrafting, but also a love for nature.

FILIPINOS and Japanese are trying to heal the wounds of war by photography. This year, the Philippine-Japan Friendship Year marks the golden anniversary of the two countries’ peace treaty. To celebrate the event, the Japan Foundation Manila (JFM) and the National Center for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) launched a photo exhibit featuring the two countries United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Sites, on May 22 to June 30 at the NCCA Lobby, in Intramuros, Manila.

RECREATING paradise here on earth is the high vision of the newest National Artist for Architecture, Ildefonso P. Santos Jr. The pioneer of landscape architecture in the Philippines, Santos has come a long way from copying pictures of plants and animals when he was a child. Now, he designs majestic parks and urban spaces.

UST must actively support a number of “pro-life, pro-family” bills introduced in Congress as part of an offensive to defeat a spate of “anti-life, anti-family” bills seeking to institutionalize population control, introduce abortion and “safe sex” education, and legislate divorce, academic officials said.

The offensive will help build a “culture of life” and should be part of the agenda of the next rector, officials added.

IN HER meeting with Pope Benedict XVI last June 26, President Macapagal-Arroyo vowed that no bills promoting divorce and abortion would see passage as long as she is president.

But the President may have to eat her words as many pro-choice and pro-divorce bills are being pushed in Congress. Critics of the bills said the proposed laws masquerade as health and women’s welfare bills and are being railroaded by pro-choice lawmakers.

THE RELEASE of sex education modules by the Department of Education (DepEd) has drawn a number of critics, including a UST Faculty of Medicine and Surgery professor who blew the whistle on the modules’ “disturbing” contents.

Cardiologist and Bioethics professor Dr. Angelita Aguirre said that the modules, Lesson Guides on Adolescent Reproductive Health: A Population Education Concept, condone sex activity among the youth.

SEVERAL bills filed in Congress seek to strengthen the family by mandating marriage counseling, banning homosexual unions, providing more options for separation short of divorce, and boosting family togetherness.

Would-be couples will have to take mandatory marriage seminar and counseling once House Bill (HB) 216, or the Mandatory Marriage Counseling Act, by Rep. Rozzano Rufino Biazon (Muntinlupa), is passed.

SEN. Miriam Defensor-Santiago wants more teeth to penal laws against abortion peddlers in her Senate Bill (SB) 1255, the proposed Act to Amend Article 259 of the Revised Penal Code, which seeks an additional penalty of perpetual loss of professional license, aside from the 12 to 20 years of imprisonment imposed on medical practitioners involved in abortion.

“Since health-care workers are proven to be involved in the recent abortion incidents, maximum penalties must be imposed to discourage them from engaging in such crimes,” Santiago said.

THE BIG shot that was Jaime Cardinal Sin is remembered for leading two people power revolutions, his witty intellect, pastoral charm, his rolly-polly look, and of course, his ironic surname. But the best image—or images—we have of the “Asian Richelieu,” as one political commentator described the influential prelate, were those immortalized through the camera of Noli Yamsuan, Cardinal Sin’s official photographer.