Film Review: Rosario Love's many faces By Danton Remoto (The Philippine Star) Updated December 29, 2010 12:00 AM Comments (1) MANILA, Philippines - I remember those days when one went to the Metro Manila Film Festival to see the likes of Lino Brocka, Ishmael Bernal, Marilou Diaz Abaya, Celso Ad. Castillo, and Mike de Leon compete for the December prizes with their amazing films. It’s in this spirit that I went to watch the film fest on its first day, and I chose Rosario, the first film offering of CineMabuhay and Studio 5. I was not disappointed. Duty and love are the twin poles that Rosario (Jennylyn Mercado) had to contend with in 1920s Philippines. Back from studies in New York and stuck in a tobacco hacienda in Isabela, she meets her match in the bright but poor Vicente (Yul Servo), the administrator of their vast estate. Duty and love are also the twin poles confronting Vicente, who was sent to school by Rosario’s parents. Bright thought he may be, he will always be at the b...

December 22, 2010 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact Person: Clara Rita “Claire” A. Padilla, JD Executive Director EnGendeRights, Inc. Telefax: (+632) 3762578 Mobile Landline: (+632) 6645696 Mobile: (+63)918-2182682 Email: engenderights@pldtdsl.net; padillaclara@yahoo.com Website: www.engenderights.org Blog: http://clararitapadilla.blogspot.com Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals and Transgenders Won Vote in the UN General Assembly Resolution Protecting Against Extrajudicial Executions Based on Sexual Orientation Manila , December 21, 2010 – Yesterday, Tuesday, December 22, lesbians, gays, bisexuals and trangenders (LGBTs) won the inclusion of a provision in a resolution on extrajudicial executions protecting them from extrajudicial executions based on sexual orientation at the United Nations General Assembly. “This a very important resolution for LGBTs especially since there are countless extrajudicial executions made on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. It is the only U...

Dr. Isagani Cruz of the Manila Critics Circle is one of my good friends. Congratulations, Gani, for winning the TOFIL. I am reprinting his wise words on how writers shaped -- and gave a habitatin and a name -- to our country. Then and now, our writers are public intellectuals who never shirked from their roles as voices and commentators in our quotidian lives. *** Response to TOFIL MINI CRITIQUE By Isagani Cruz (The Philippine Star) Updated December 23, 2010 12:00 Here are excerpts from the response I prepared for the awarding ceremonies last Dec. 9 of The Outstanding Filipino (TOFIL), which had the theme “Of Hopes and Heroes” (I have translated the Filipino portions into English): Thank you very much for the great honor you gifted me with this Christmas season. I cannot possibly repay your kindness. Please allow me to use my three minutes of fame to appeal for outstanding writing and outstanding reading. You gave the TOFIL to Dionisio Salazar in 1994 for “Drama and Literature” and ...

For Immediate Release 23 November 2010 Media Contact: David J. Nolan +1 202 986 6093 Pope's Clarification Reveals Significance of Condom Statement Jon O'Brien, president of Catholics for Choice, issued the following statement on the most recent news from the Vatican on condom use. "The Vatican's acknowledgement that Pope Benedict's acceptance of condom use to prevent the spread of sexually transmitted infections relates to everybody shows how significant the pope's comments are. "This morning, the Vatican's spokesperson, Rev. Federico Lombardi, said: I personally asked the pope if there was a serious, important problem in the choice of the masculine over the feminine. He told me no. The problem is this ... It's the first step of taking responsibility, of taking into consideration the risk of the life of another with whom you have a relationship. This is if you're a woman, a man, or a transsexual. We're at the same point. "Conservatives...

PRESS STATEMENT GENEVA, 20 November 2010—UNAIDS welcomes the reported statement of Pope Benedict XVI calling for “a humane way of living sexuality” and that the use of condoms are justified “in the intention of reducing the risk of HIV infection”. “This is a significant and positive step forward taken by the Vatican today,” said UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé. “This move recognizes that responsible sexual behaviour and the use of condoms have important roles in HIV prevention.” UNAIDS has worked closely with the Vatican. In 2009, Mr Sidibé held far-reaching discussions with Archbishop Zygmunt Zimowski on HIV prevention issues, including the prevention of mother-to-child transmission, protecting young people and reducing sexual violence against women and girls. “This will help accelerate the HIV prevention revolution, in promoting evidence-informed and human rights-based approaches to achieve universal access goals towards HIV prevention, treatment, care and support,” said Mr S...

By Danton Remoto Remote Control www.abs-cbnnews.com 29 October 2010 After May 10,2010, when Ang Ladlad Party List ran on sheer adrenalin and campaigned for only three weeks –when the other party lists campaigned for three months – and lost, I quietly returned to part-time teaching. But let me tell you the odyssey of finding a part-time teaching job. In all humility, I took the grammar and writing test in a State University so I could teach part-time in its Department of English and Comparative Literature. But after a month and no word came from its esteemed chairperson, I called her up and asked about my chances. “Well, you passed the grammar and writing test!” she enthused, for which I thanked her. “But we don’t have a slot for you as a teacher.” “I’m only applying for a part-time teaching position,” I said. “Yes, we have no slots for full-time teachers.” I repeated my answer and she repeated hers. Now, I do not know why some state universities have English Department chairpersons wit...

Danton Remoto Remote Control Ang Ladlad says ‘no’ to separate restrooms I am back after a short absence, since I have retired from teaching and now working for an international development organization. I would like to publicize Ang Ladlad’s stand on separate toilets, an ordinance filed by a Provincial Board Member in Cebu. Cebu Provincial Board Member, Arleigh Sitoy, recently filed an ordinance requiring business establishments in the province to designate a separate restroom exclusively for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBTs). The ordinance's explanatory note says, "Separate restroom is the solution to end the confusion of what public restroom should a member of the LGBT avail for them to feel safe, comfortable and convenient wherein there are only male and female comfort rooms." While Ang Ladlad lauds and appreciates the intent of Mr. Sitoy to address the needs and concerns of LGBTs, its members, especially from the Cebu chapter, have expressed strong rese...

Editorial Malaya 26 July 2010 PRESIDENT Aquino’s State of the Nation Address is expected to focus on the problems inherited from the previous administration, especially the anomalies pulled off in the last months of Gloria Arroyo’s nine years of misrule. That kind of stock-taking is an absolute necessity so Aquino can lay down the baseline from which to build on in the next six years. Aquino’s team, however, has been on the job less than two months. The time might be enough to uncover the more egregious last-minute fast breaks, but it would take much longer to determine the depth and breadth of corruption that attended the unlamented Arroyo administration. And we are not talking yet of the failed programs and policies which must be discarded if Aquino is to redeem his promise of a brighter future for the nation. But first things first. The people should not entertain overly high expectations from the new administration. An administration does not assume office with a blank sheet. The c...

Rivers run through it - REMOTE CONTROL | DANTON REMOTO REMOTE CONTROL | DANTON REMOTO Posted at 07/23/2010 7:17 PM | Updated as of 07/23/2010 7:18 PM www.abs-cbnnews.com Ilustrado means the enlightened ones, the indios during the dying days of the Spanish regime who could afford a European education. And in the true tradition of all colonials, they soaked up the education, filtered it, and then used it as a weapon against their colonial masters. They were the seeds that later bore fruit in the Philippine revolution of 1896. The modern ilustrado is the subject matter, point of departure, and even the writer of this whirligig of a novel. Winner of the Palanca Grand Prize for the Novel and the estimable Man Asian Literary Prize for the Asian Novel of the Year, this much-awaited book generally lives up to the raft of accolades and reviews it has received. Full disclosure: the author, Miguel Syjuco, was my former student at the Ateneo de Manila University. I still remember well his hair dye...

BY Danton Remoto Remote Control www.abs-cbnnews.com (Excerpts from a novel) The Magic Box I was four years old, sleeping soundly on my parents’ big bed. One morning, my mother woke me up, brought me to the bathroom where she washed my face, and made me rinse my mouth. When we returned to their room, she said. “This is the day I told you about. The man with the magic black box will arrive.” And so she proceeded to dress me up. She pulled my new white, short-sleeved polo shirt from its plastic bag, and shook it in the morning air. Against my skin the shirt was crisp and clean. Mama made me wear my new khaki shorts. She buttoned up my shirt, and then knotted a green tie under my stiff collar. “Now, you look so formal already,” she said. “When the man stands before his magic black box and disappears under the strip of black cloth, you should give him your widest smile.” Still groggy from sleep, I just nodded lazily. Whiteness, there was whiteness everywhere! The walls and ceilings of our h...

This comprehensive article by a crack team of reporters from GMA 7 captures well the people around and behind the rise of Noynoy Aquino to the presidency. And it correctly includes ANG LADLAD Party List as one of the groups that supported Noynoy. Let it be said that in its first political endorsement, ANG LADLAD correctly read the temper of the times, and endorsed Benigno Aquino III for President and Jejomar Binay for Vice-President. Both guys, as we know now, won. Watch us make our moves in the 2013 elections. *** Who's who in Noynoy's rise to the presidency 06/23/2010 | 06:24 PM www.gmanews.tv A ragtag army of volunteers - many veterans from the glorious fights against Marcos, Erap and Arroyo, but perhaps millions more electrified by the emotional days of Cory Aquino's wake and funeral - delivered the presidency to Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III with their tireless campaigning. Now with Noynoy at the cusp of assuming power, the action around the president-elect has...

BY Danton Remoto | Remote Control Posted at 06/25/2010 10:50 PM | Updated as of 06/25/2010 10:50 PM www.abs-cbnnews.com This is the title of Fr. Joseph V. Landy’s small and sensible book for those who want to teach. The Jesuit teacher lives up to the subtitle of this book — The Art of Being Interesting — by giving us a book filled with pearls to be cast in the classroom. The nine chapters are concise and written in a tone almost conversational, as if a wise, old man is giving a pep talk to a young person during College Placement Day. It is also freighted with honesty. “Why teach? Many answers are possible, but one spells death to a career in the classroom. If your overriding motive is money, go elsewhere.” How true, how true. When we hold our college reunions, my college classmates at Ateneo would tell me how youthful I still looked, with a full head of black hair and hardly discernible lines on my face. I would cackle with laughter and tell them that, indeed, God is fair. “I may look ...

BY Danton Remoto | Remote Control Posted at 06/25/2010 10:50 PM | Updated as of 06/25/2010 10:50 PM www.abs-cbnnews.com This is the title of Fr. Joseph V. Landy’s small and sensible book for those who want to teach. The Jesuit teacher lives up to the subtitle of this book — The Art of Being Interesting — by giving us a book filled with pearls to be cast in the classroom. The nine chapters are concise and written in a tone almost conversational, as if a wise, old man is giving a pep talk to a young person during College Placement Day. It is also freighted with honesty. “Why teach? Many answers are possible, but one spells death to a career in the classroom. If your overriding motive is money, go elsewhere.” How true, how true. When we hold our college reunions, my college classmates at Ateneo would tell me how youthful I still looked, with a full head of black hair and hardly discernible lines on my face. I would cackle with laughter and tell them that, indeed, God is fair. “I may look ...

Editorial Malaya June 21, 2010 ‘Our officials should keep their piety private. In exchange, the people would let their hypocrisy pass unnoticed.’ THE Catholic hierarchs earlier said they would not accept the invitation of the education department to review the sex education subjects that will be pilot-tested this year. Now, the word is some representatives of the Church would be meeting with educators after all, but this would only be to reiterate its position that sex education is not the business of the schools and should be left exclusively to parents. If that’s the Church’s stand, the education department might as well declare that its officials are prepared to humor the Church representatives but are determined to implement the order come what may. Gloria Arroyo herself issued the order for education officials to dialog with Church representatives. She is exiting on June 30, to be succeeded by Noynoy Aquino who has a more enlightened appreciation of the need to address reprodu...

BY Danton Remoto Lodestar Art and Culture section The Philippine STAR June 14, 2010 Raymond “Bong” Alikpala seemed like the perfect guy any girl would love to bring home to mother. He is a blue-blooded Atenean from grade school to law school, an honor student and student council leader. He is also a practicing Catholic; cheerful, bright, and personable. But for many years he hid a secret in the innermost chamber of himself — his homosexuality. After almost four decades in the closet, he has finally come out and written what may be a most controversial book, God Loves Bakla: My Life in the Closet. Published by the author himself in Cambodia where he now works as a lawyer, the book’s Philippine edition was launched by Ang Ladlad Party List a fortnight ago. In reportorial mode, Alikpala begins his narrative this way. “I am a gay man, a homosexual. I engage in sexual relations with the same sex. I have paid other men to have sex with me. I have never had sex with a woman. I have a husband....

If you think 2016 is still too far away, then think again. My pink crystal ball sees the following combinations for President and Vice-President in 2016. And I'm telling you these guys are beginning to lay the ground work. As I told the emissary of a presidentiable who talked to me in July 2009 and who invited me to join their senatorial slate, you don't prepare for a presidential election a year before the election. You prepare for it a day AFTER the previous election. Thus, the campaign for the next Presidential and VP elections started on May 11, 2010. Combinations are as follows, in random order: 1. Jinggoy Estrada - Bongbong Marcos (Partido ng Masang Pilipino and Kilusang Bagong Lipunan) Both families have been friends for ages; the alliance is sealed tighter than any glue could seal it. Jinggoy has his father's 20 percent following, and Bongbong has his billions... 2. Mar Roxas II - Kiko Pangilinan (Liberal Party) A decent and charming team, but will the masses -- who...

Mr. Aquino will expand and reform CCT programs The Manila Times Thursday, 10 June 2010 00:00 YESTERDAY’s press conference immediately after the proclamation of President-elect Noynoy Aquino was a demonstration of his mastery of the national condition. All his answers—in perfect English and sometimes Tagalog—were impressively those of a person who knows how our country fares in the key departments of life. One of the questions touched on poverty. Responding, he spoke of the Arroyo administration’s successful CCT (conditional cash transfers) program. Cash is given to the very poor—by the Social Welfare department. But DSWD does not touch the money. Recipients go to the Land Bank. These are dole outs to the “targeted absolutely poor”—families who need cash so they can have food on their table and some of their basic necessities for survival. There are conditions to being included in the program. The family must fulfill the basic duties of going to a health clinic for treatment. Toddlers a...

Tickled pink By Büm D. Tenorio, Jr. (The Philippine Star) Updated June 10, 2010 12:00 AM MANILA, Philippines - They all came garbed in different colors but the mood of the night was definitely pink. After all, for the first time, the US Embassy hosted the Gay Pride Month celebration in Manila to show respect for the lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders (LGBT) community in the Philippines and to recognize their contributions to their culture and society. No less than US Ambassador Harry Thomas Jr. topbilled the celebration. Thomas, who said he was disheartened to hear tales of woe and injustice committed against the LGBT community, was candid and warm as he delivered his speech that momentous night. “Discrimination is a waste of talent,” he told more than a hundred of LGBT members gathered at the cozy Makati residence of Richard Nelson, the counselor for public affairs of the US Embassy. Nelson, who was very comfortable hosting the party, said US President Barack Obama proclaimed ...