How to Survive this Lockdown               It’s been weeks since the lockdown began, and how are you faring? I left the Philippines on the day the lockdown began, March 15, and arrived in Malaysia, where I work, a day before their own lock down began. I had no Wifi and until now use my mobile-phone hotspot to communicate with the world.               I had asked my yaya to press my shirts and pants in Manila, and so they went to my luggage, as well as my comfort food for this lockdown: tuyo in bottles, corned beef made in the Philippines, powdered preparations for afritada, caldereta, menudo, palabok, and tocino.               In a famous essay called “Where’s the Patis?”, award-winning writer Carmen Guerrero Nakpil said that you can bring the Filipino to lands faraway and genteel, but y...

In the Graveyard Danton Remoto The walls round the graveyard Are ancient and cracked. The moss is too thick they look dark. The paint on my grandfather’s tomb Has the color of bone. Two yellow candles we lighted, Then we uttered our prayers. On my left, somebody’s skull Stares back at me: a black Nothingness in the eyes. The graveyard smells of dust Finer than the pore of one’s skin— Dust mixed with milk gone sour. We are about to depart When a black cat darts Across our path, quickly, With a rat still quivering In its mouth. * Immigration Border Crossing (From Sadao, Thailand to Bukit Changloon, Malaysia) Danton Remoto On their faces that betray No emotion You can read the unspoken Questions: Are you really A Filipino? Why is your skin Not the color of padi ? Your eyes, Why are they slanted Like the ones Who eat babi ? And your palms, Why are there no callouses Layered like th...

That hometown feeling 14 SHARES LODESTAR - Danton Remoto (The Philippine Star) - May 5, 2018 - 12:00am Oas is a strange town. It is famous for the number of priests it produces while on the next town sits Polangui, one of Albay’s sources of the best bailarinas (dance hall girls) in the country. But aside from this, Oas also sports food that can do any small town proud. It has white bagoong which, when mixed with calamansi juice, tastes like no other in the country. They also have binasuso (rice cakes) and balls of cocoa made from madre de cacao that grew in profusion in the land. There was laing, of course, dried taro leaves simmered in coconut milk, pork or shrimp, ginger and bagoong. I was there one Holy Week many years ago. When we arrived, my grandfather was already there, still tall but thinner than I remember him. He stood by the gate and we waved at him. My parents, aunt and uncle walked over to him and kissed his hand. They were beginning to make small noises about the trip...

Ladlad joining House, Senate races; seeks end to hate-slays of LGBTs 18-May-12, 4:03 PM | Marlene Alcaide, TV5 and Pots de Leon, InterAksyon.com InterAksyon.com The online news portal of TV5 MANILA, Philippines - (UPDATE: 4:31 PM] With music, some dancing, pink attire and a short program, Ladlad party list, once dubbed by CNN as the only gay political party in the world, signaled its intention to join the 2013 elections for Congress. And, besides throwing its hat into the party-list race, Ladlad is also eyeing a seat in the upper chamber, with no less than its founder and chairman, Prof. Danton Remoto, declaring a plan to run for senator. Ladlad leaders and supporters on Friday filed with the Commission on Elections a formal participation to join the race as a party list. Party members will be seeking again the songressional seats represented by Bemz Benedicto, Atty. Germaine Trittle Leonin and Raymond Alikpala. "Kami ang avengers ng Philippine politics; nagbabalik kami, para...

March 3, 2012 By Julie M. Aurelio Philippine Daily Inquirer Marking a new milestone, students of the premier University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City, elected their first openly transgender chairperson of the university student council (USC). In elections concluded Thursday night, Heart Diño bested three other candidates, including independent candidate Martin Loon of the UP College of Law and Amancio Melad III of the militant Stand UP coalition. Born Gabriel Paolo Diño, 22-year-old Heart recently completed a bachelor of science degree in mathematics, magna cum laude, and is currently an MS Applied Mathematics major. She led the Alyansa ticket (Alyansa ng mga Mag-aaral para sa Panlipunang Katwiran at Kaunlaran) and campaigned on a platform of antigender discrimination, transparency and zero fraternity-related violence. Before winning the top post in the state university council, she was a popular councilor who headed the USC committee on gender and a leader of the UP Babay...

Pinoy Parazzi January 25, 2012 A REVERED name both in the academe and in politics, isa na ring ganap na radio commentator si Danton Remoto via his evening program aptly titled Remoto Control on Radyo Singko 92.3 News FM. Spicing up the 9:30 p.m. block from Mondays to Fridays, the former English and Literature professor at the Ateneo de Manila University (where he taught for 22 years) promises na ang naturang programa “ay para sa mga misis na nag-aabang sa asawang pauwi ng bahay, o sa mga sekyong nakatalaga sa building, o sa mga yaya na nagpaplantsa ng damit ng kanilang mga amo, o sa mga karaniwang Pinoy na uhaw sa mga napapanahong impormasyon sa ating kapaligiran.” Within Danton’s program are segments like Sulyap sa Nakaraan, Kalabit sa Balita (a fearless, no-holds-barred editorial), Super Sounds, a portion dedicated to the Pinoys who have excelled in their fields of endeavour and a compilation of ages-old Filipino legends and myths. Currently the News5 Research head and host of Tayuan...

from Tempo newspaper January 29, 2012 May radio program na si Danton Remoto, isa sa mga nirerespetong pangalan sa akademiya at pulitika. Si Danton ang head ng NEWS5 Research at host ng talk show na “Tayuan Mo At Panindigan” sa all-news channel na “Aksyon TV” ng TV5. Mapapakinggan si Remoto sa “ Remoto Control" sa Radyo Singko, 92.3 News FM, 9:30 to 10:15 pm pagkatapos ng “Sakto kay Paolo at Cherie” nina Paolo Bediones at Cherie Mercado. Hitik sa impormasyon ang radio program ni Danton para sa mga misis,yaya, security guards, sa mga gustong mag- OFW’s at mga taong gustong matuto sa pamamagitan ng non-formal education. May usapan din tungkol sa kasaysayan ng Pilipinas, alamat, myth at iba pang urban legend ng mga Pinoy, komentaryo sa maiinit na isyu sa bansa, atbpa. Nagturo rin si Danton ng English at Literature for 22 years sa Ateneo University. Siya ang nagtatag ng Ladlad Party List na tumataguyod sa mga karapatan ng lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT).

PH gets barely passing score in media assessment 13-Dec-11, 3:54 PM | Nonoy Espina, InterAksyon.com The Philippine assessment, presented to journalists and journalism schools on Tuesday, is the fourth undertaken under the Asian Media Barometer, a project by Friedrich Eibert Stiftung and partners in participating countries that involves a series of “self-assessment exercise(s) based on criteria derived from international standards of media freedom.” The first three countries to undertake the assessment are India and Pakistan -- both in 2009 -- and Thailand last year. The 104-page Philippine report is the result of a two-day panel discussion in early October in Tagaytay to which 10 experts -- five each from media and civil society -- were invited to assess the media situation in the country based on 45 predetermined indicators, in turn clustered into four sectors, that they were asked to grade anonymously on a scale of 1 to 5, with five being the best possible score. Overall, the Phili...

Fr. Bernas: Contraceptive devices are not 'anti-life' CANDICE MONTENEGRO, GMA News 09/26/2011 | 01:50 PM Influential Jesuit priest and constitutional lawyer Fr. Joaquin Bernas, SJ said that family planning as proposed in the controversial Reproductive Health (RH) bill is not necessarily "anti-life", putting him at odds with conservative Catholics who oppose the bill. In a column published in the Philippine Daily Inquirer on Monday, Bernas sought to clarify what being "anti-life" precisely means, for the term has been used "in the most pejorative way" in current RH bill debates. "It is used in the sense of being against existing life. Murder, in other words," he said. However, he said that in the currently toxic debate on contraceptives, "anti-life" could be construed to include people who do not want to add more human life to an already crowded population. He cited for example a married couple who decide to abstain from acts th...

DIRECT LINE By Boy Abunda (The Philippine Star) Updated September 02, 2011 12:00 AM A certain Mr. Pedroche wrote a letter to another broadsheet some months ago rebuking me on two major points. That I should not be talking on behalf, but to the LGBT Community that if one works hard he can be successful. And that my active participation in Ladlad is just in preparation for abundant politics suggesting that I am preparing for a political career using the fledgling partylist. Here is my answer to Mr. Pedroche en toto. Dear Mr. Pedroche, To say that where I am working (ABS-CBN) and where I went to school (Ateneo) are the very proofs that I was not discriminated is an uninformed statement. And to conclude that since I was accepted by the two institutions disqualifies me from talking on behalf of the LGBT Community is a lousy assessment. Please indulge me on the following. • I can do both — talk to and on behalf of Ladlad and the LGBT community because I have a voice and a life story that mos...

The 9/11 attacks as a literary watershed 04-Sep-11, 10:00 AM | Myriam Chaplain-Riou, Agence France-Presse PARIS - Ten years on, the dust from the twin towers hasn't finished settling on the literary world and continues to feed a growing body of fiction exploring the moral and physical loss the attacks left behind. Initially, few writers dared get too close to the horror that the entire world was able to imagine after watching the World Trade Center go down live on television. The first one to choose hyperrealism and attempt a description of the fateful moment itself -- the planes crashing, the fire, the panic, people jumping off the towers -- was Frederic Beigbeder. In "Windows on the World" (2003), the French author said he wanted to "tell what could not be told". "The only way to know what happened in that restaurant on the 107th floor of the World Trade Center's North tower on 11 September 2001 between 8:30 and 10:29 am... was to inve...

Danton Remoto: Questions for the heterosexual 20-Jul-11, 5:42 PM www.interaksyon.com Online news portal of TV5 Years ago I attended a seminar on gender issues organized by an international NGO. Some young journalists comprised the core of the participants. Well and good, I told myself, because the cliché holds true that, perhaps, hope lies among them. I still remember my legendary debates with the macho editors who used to splash photos of near-naked “prostitutes” (call them sex workers) and of raped housemaids on the front pages of the newspaper I used to work for. During one of the editorial meetings held every day, the fiercest among them, who looked like a bulldog, barked at me: “What are you complaining about? Their faces are shown on the evening news. Why can’t we show those pages on our front pages?” Since Bulldog must have forgotten his class on Ethics in Journalism, I reminded him that a newspaper is a public record. Surely, nobody tapes the evening news and runs them again ...

US military ready to repeal ban on gays www.gmanews.tv 07/22/2011 | 08:58 AM WASHINGTON - The Pentagon will announce on Friday that the U.S. military is ready to repeal the ban on gays serving openly in the armed forces, the last major hurdle to formally ending the policy, U.S. officials said on Thursday, speaking on condition of anonymity. President Barack Obama last year signed a landmark law to allow for the repeal of the nearly 18-year-old "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy that forced gays to keep their sexual orientation secret in order to serve in the military. But Pentagon leaders first needed to certify that military readiness would not suffer as a result -- something that will now be done by new U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Admiral Mike Mullen, the top U.S. military officer, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Once the Pentagon has signed off, Obama can certify the repeal -- fulfilling a 2008 campaign promise to end a policy that ...

COMMENTARY: Reflections of a gay seminarian 09-Jul-11, 2:15 PM | Danton Remoto www.interaksyon.com Online news portal of TV 5 Photo from www.priscasvoice.com The vilification of same-sex couples who had gone through commitment ceremonies a week ago led some bishops to make callous statements like “kadiri” and such. This is what we get for falling in love with whom we choose to love? This led me to dig into my email files. I found a letter sent to me by a seminarian a few years ago. He is gay and has found peace with his sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI). Let me quote excerpts from his email. "Let me commend you for being a sober voice in the discourse on gay rights in the country," he starts. [Thank you, ahem]. "However, let me chastise you also for your statement on national TV that some priests know nothing about love. Well, let me tell you that priests also know and have experienced loving and being loved. There are honest and sensible priests around, un...

By Yvonne Chua, VERA Files Television director Ricky Rivero thought he was having a nightmare. He woke up morning of June 13 and Ivan Ruiz was on top of him, stabbing him continuously. They struggled with each other, and when Rivero got the chance to grab Ruiz's wrist, he pinned him down the bed. The rage coming from Ruiz slowly subsided. Rivero got the chance to overpower Ruiz and drove himself to the hospital. He survived despite the 17 stab wounds he sustained. In an interview with TV host Boy Abunda two weeks after the incident, Rivero recalled that Ruiz, an acquaintance with whom he had casual sex relations, was full of rage and his eyes were full of anger when he was stabbing him. Asked if he considers it a "hate crime", Rivero said he can't be sure but considering what transpired, it seems it's "leaning towards... yes, it's a hate crime." Hate crimes generally refer to criminal acts that are seen to have been motivated by bias against persons...

Ladlad Party List Statement: Freedom of expression and freedom of religion are not manifestations of mental illness nor criminality. These are basic human rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that not even the Roman Catholic Church can deny. The celebration of same-sex weddings speaks of the love of two persons, and this is not an issue for the Roman Catholic Church to interfere in. It is also not a Roman Catholic Church issue to criticize or question the authority of religious leaders of the Metropolitan Community Church, which do not belong to its denomination. While Ladlad is nonsectarian, we are calling for respect; respect that Christ advocated and which is the basis of Christianity, respect for different forms of expression and diverse views. Let us not resort to name-calling, when the issue is simple: Do LGBTs in the Philippines have human rights? If the answer is yes, then there should be no attacks on them based on their expressions of love and exercis...

May Isang Matalinong Obispo Ni J.I.E. TEODORO OO, mayroon, taga-Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines o CBCP, at ang ngalan niya ay si Msgr. Pedro Quitorio. Sa pangalan pa lang niya, nanginginig na ako sa takot. After all, huwag nating kalimutan, si San Pedro ang may hawak ng susi papasok sa tarangkahan ng langit. Kung wala ang pangalan mo sa kaniyang libro, good luck sa ‘yo, doon ka na sa impiyerno. Kung susundan kasi natin ang argumento ni Quitorio, kung bading ka (at gusto mo pang magpakasal, que horror!), wala ka sa listahan ng kaniyang tokayo. Ganito kasi iyon. Sa News To Go ng GMANEWS TV kaninang umaga (27 Hunyo 2011), masayang ibinalita nina Howie Severino at Kara David na ligal na ang pagpapakasal ng parehong babae at parehong lalaki sa New York. Inaprubahan ang batas na ito ng kanilang Senado noong isang araw at nagdiwang ang maraming mga bading at lesbyana sa iba’t ibang bahagi ng mundo lalo na siyempre sa di natutulog na lungsod ng New York. Pang-anim na estado na...