We are facing an immense challenge around the world. Everyone has to realize the danger and stay at home and practice strict hygiene. Thousands are dying- friends, relatives and many die alone. We are people with rational intelligence. Everyone is important and equal in dignity and rights and we have to respect all and give…
The Great Recession could have killed globalization, but China emerged as the champion of a new global “connectivity.” With the coronavirus, that phase is finished. The Covid 19 pandemic is the second major crisis of globalization in a decade. The first was the global financial crisis of 2008-2009, from which the global economy took years…
The good side-effects we can see during this medical crisis brought about by the coronavirus is the love, concern, and care shown by the dedicated caregivers, nurses and medical workers. It is phenomenal. The goodness and love of millions of humans have come shining through. There are neighborhood help movements growing online. In Canada, an…
Think about it. It is amazing that one tiny, invisible smart virus, a product of evolutionary processes, still mutating and changing its profile, can avoid detection and spread itself far and wide with impunity. It is able to bring the human species to its knees, to overpower nations, halt economies, crash the stock market, stop…
The coronavirus threatens the health of millions of people around the world if it spreads uncontrollably. Every precaution must be taken to prevent its spread and that means practicing greater personal and public hygiene and avoiding contact with people traveling from an infected area. We must show concern and never discriminate against anyone. Besides strict…
I have read a draft bill asking for emergency powers for the President. My initial analysis of the draft bill is that it contains provisions patently repugnant to the Constitution (I) for delegating Congress’ power of the purse to the President and (II) for delegating to the President legislative powers to declare acts as criminal.…
The unfolding output of the one-day special session in the House of Representatives is the grant of more emergency powers to President Rodrigo Duterte to combat COVID-19 as he requested in the Malacañang-crafted H.B. No. 6616, even as the validity of the virtual session and electronic voting of the House of Representatives is in legal…
The Philippine government placed the entire Metro Manila under “Enhanced Community Quarantine.” The Philippine Supreme Court issued a circular suspending all court hearings. The Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) has suspended all jail visitations nationwide. These are all pre-emptive steps to slow down the spread of the CoViD-19 virus that infected hundreds of…
An authoritarian tyrant whose name will live in infamy has crushed, oppressed, bombed, executed and gassed women and children, jailed and tortured his opponents and dissidents in Syria. Almost a million of them that remain in Idlib, North-Western Syria are under daily attack and continuous bombardment. Schools, hospitals, clinics, and markets are the favorite target…
There is extreme poverty in the world, 1% of rich people have more money and wealth than the combined wealth of 4.6 billion people who have almost nothing. Worldwide there are about 735 million people in extreme poverty. In the Philippine, there are an estimated 6 million people in extreme poverty. Why is there so…
As I write this, monster typhoon Kammuri is ravaging the Bicol region in central Philippines. It is packing winds at 209 kilometers per hour (130 mph) and it is more ferocious than the previous typhoons to hit that part of this nation’s archipelago. Tidal surges are wrecking houses and the wind is ripping away and…
It’s a case of child abuse and human trafficking that has caught much media attention. It is being held in the court of Honorable Judge Maria Angelica T. Paras-Quiambao, Regional Trial Court Branch 59, Angeles City, a judge of known integrity. It concerns a US national, John R. He is accused of sexually abusing two…
This is what every mother fears. Sadly, under this tyrannical Duterte regime and its failed War on Drugs, this is a tragic reality that thousands of mothers have gone through; a harrowing ordeal that they live with every day. Global Health NOW’s article, “Elderly Mothers Bear the Emotional Burden of the Drug War” (6 June…
Children are Treated as Criminals Fr. Shay Cullen 25 January 2019 The lower chamber of the Philippine Congress is going to approve the lowering of the minimum age of criminal liability of a child from the present 15 years-of-age to 12-years-of-age. They really want to reduce it to 9 but public outcry forced the politicians…
The Challenge to Protect Children in 2019 by Fr. Shay Cullen The world in 2019 has to wake up to the prevalence of child sexual abuse and everyone has to act more decisively about it. Parents, politicians and citizens must be aware that this is a horrendous crime and all must do much more to…
Convictions Bring Justice for Abused Children Fr. Shay Cullen Hundreds of children are sexually abused daily in the Philippines and millions are abused around the world. Strict justice is needed and an unrelenting crackdown on child abusers is what is needed to protect children from sexual abuse. More Filipino child abusers are being convicted than…
The Man Who Said, “You Shall not Kill” Fr. Shay Cullen He was born the son of poor farm workers and he grew up hungry and deprived and he was like the millions of poor who don’t know the root causes of their rural poverty. The poor struggle to overcome those sufferings and hardships as…
The Migrants that seek a welcome by Fr. Shay Cullen Let us look at ourselves as human beings with dignity, values, and inalienable human rights. We are persons not like the animals that see enemies and rivals all around them in the wild and they fight and kill for food and survival. Most humans have…
Those Fighting and Dying for Filipino Freedoms by Fr. Shay Cullen What is independence but the freedom from the domination and control of others? Freedom is firstly an inner, non-material spiritual value. The desire for it is a natural right and when achieved, it is a joyful experience. The freedom to practice our religious beliefs…
The Bright and the Dark Internet by Fr. Shay Cullen We all love being connected to the internet and it is a wonderful technology for communicating, providing information and entertainment and keeping people connected. Commerce and business is totally dependent on it what with e-mail, conferencing, communication, document transmission in which it is essential and…
