Without a Mother’s Love Fr. Shay Cullen 15 May 2020 In many places, people are enjoying the freedom of release from lock-down and so they should in safety and with great care so that they do not infect anyone else if they are asymptomatic. Our lives are changed and our lifestyle has to adapt, adjust,…
We All Want to Live Fr. Shay Cullen What do we recall these holy days but the life-giving love and compassion of one person who changed the world by teaching mankind that justice is more powerful than revenge, that compassion is greater than condemnation, that believing in goodness and truth to overcome evil is a…
A Commentary on the PH National Government’s Response to COVID-19 Yolanda R. Esguerra National Coordinator, Philippine Misereor Partnership Inc. Many of us are distraught at the government’s state of response to the continuing challenges of managing the virus spread in our country. We are worried about how slow the measures are being put in place…
3 April 2020 What a challenging world we live in. Half the people on the planet are cowering inside their homes and shelters. Many are in fear of Coronavirus, too nervous to go out. The poor are hungry, millions are unemployed, the economy is in free fall and people are worried and asking when it…
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…
