Out of my mind

What follows is a comment left in my post last Monday. It was written by someone who claims to be a relative of Marvin Reglos, the victim of the Lambda Rho Sigma fraternity hazing. I hope we can all empathize with marvin's family and do what we can to ensure that he gets justice. "you are the first person i have seen wrote a blog regarding the death of my nephew. i am abit skeptic on the way Sec. De Lima acted in the presence of what she so called "brods" allegedly accused of the murdering Marvin. if she really is for the "truth" and "justice", she could have used her power to bring forward all of the accused(20 or so i guessed) students who participated in the said hazing incident. How can an ordinary family like us fight the likes of people behind the Greek Lettered brotherhood? how can we follow up on the situation when in fact most of our family is in the province and the investigation is being conducted in Manila? i hope and pray that the j...

This is my column today at the op-ed section of the Manila Standard Today . THERE are legions of Filipinos who swear by the miraculous powers of the infant Jesus, locally known as the Santo Niño. In Cebu, for example, faith in the Santo Niño is so absolute that every thing that happens in the province—even the success of the recent Asean summit—is attributed to the benevolence of the little child in princely robes. The last two weekends of January are frenzied months for Santo Niño devotees as the major festivities that pay homage to the Santo Niño are held one after the other—from the fiesta at Tondo, the Sinulog in Cebu, the Ati-atihan in Kalibo and of course to the annual exhibit and procession of Santo Niño images spearheaded by the group of fashion designers who go by the rather archaic name Congregacion del Santisimo Nombre del Niño Jesus. All these events attract droves of devotees. The Santo Niño figures heavily in local history as in the case of the Santo Niño de Cebu (a gift ...