BY DENIS GADIL www.malaya.net.ph THE Senate Blue Ribbon committee can on its own re-open the P728-million fertilizer fund scam investigation to hear the testimony of former agriculture undersecretary Jocelyn "Joc Joc" Bolante, Sen. Francis Escudero, chair of the committees on justice and ways and means, said yesterday. The Blue Ribbon panel is chaired by Alan Peter Cayetano. Senate President Manuel Villar has said he will first call a caucus to decide on which Senate committee should handle the investigation. Escudero said no senator complained when Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago convened her committee on foreign relations on the "euro generals" without plenary approval. "Dito sa kaso ni Joc Joc parang masyadong maraming reklamo at kiyaw kiyaw," he said. Escudero criticized his colleagues who came out strong against the "euro generals" during the probe of Santiago but suddenly became "overprotective" of Bolante. Senators Edgardo Angara a...

yesterday my parents and i went to holy cross memorial park to visit the tombs of my grandmother, uncle and aunt. the all soul's day traffic and crush have not yet descended on the green, well-trimmed lawns. i have already bought my own plot here, my memorial service, the coffin, the works. somebody asked me, what if you become national artist, then you will have to be interred in the libingan ng mga bayani. i smiled at him who wanted to flatter me, and told him the line is way, too long for that kind of honor. i paid a man to clean the tombs, inscribe the names. i also visited the grave of the writer alfrredo navarro salanga, which is nearby. has it been 20 years since the then-40 year old freddie died at the height of his literary career? his daughter elyrah just won the ncca grant for biogrphy. she is writing the bio of her great dad. and now i am at home, devouring books, only too happy to know that there is no class tomorrow, no paper to be checked, no speech to be given, jus...

As my friend from Thailand wrote me, "Happy All Saints' Dal." Sawadeeka!

Of course, I am one of the signatories to this open letter. And I have signified my intention to join public discussions on this bill. Let the debates begin! *** Editorial Manila Standard Today A heavy-handed attempt by the bishops to silence dissent on the reproductive health bill among thinking Catholics is backfiring. Yesterday, 55 more faculty members of the Jesuit-run Ateneo de Manila University joined 14 of their colleagues who last week urged the passage of House Bill 5043, which the Church has condemned as “anti-life.” This was probably the exact opposite effect that the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines hoped to achieve when its president, Archbishop Angel Lagdameo, wrote Ateneo president Fr. Bienvenido Nebres to lay down the law on the bill. In his letter, Lagdameo asked Nebres to explain why the 14 original faculty members, including some from the Department of Theology, had publicly declared their support for the bill. The pressure from the bishops prompted Ne...

By Christine F. Herrera Manila Standard Today GOING against an admonition from Catholic bishops, at least 55 professors from the Jesuit-run Ateneo de Manila University have joined 14 of their colleagues who last week urged the passage of the reproductive health bill. The Ateneo teachers not only refused to toe the Church line to reject the bill, but urged the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines to reconsider its position and take into account the lives of 473,400 women who resorted to abortion because they lacked an effective way to prevent unwanted pregnancies. The 69 Catholic educators wrote to the 240 members of the House of Representatives and the 23-member Senate and attached to their letter an 11-page Declaration of Support for the Immediate Passage of House Bill 5043, which seeks to establish a national policy on family planning. The bill supports the use of contraceptives such as condoms, and age-appropriate sex education in schools, both of which the Church opposes....

BY Ellen Tordesillas www.malaya.com.ph That was one great statement that the Jaro Archbishop Angel Lagdameo, president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, released yesterday. He practically called for the ouster of Gloria Arroyo. Not in 2010 but now. In a statement he read flanked by four other progressive-thinking bishops namely, Lingayen Archbishop Oscar Cruz, Bataan Bishop Socrates Villegas, Masbate Bishop Joel Baylon, and Legazpi Bishop Emeritus Jose Sorra, Lagdameo said: "The time to start radical reforms is now. The time for moral regeneration is now. The time to conquer complacency, cynicism and apathy and to prove that we matured from our political disappointments is now. The time to prepare a new government is now. " In the open forum, Lagdameo said Gloria Arroyo is not capable of instituting reforms because he said, "I believe that the President is corrupt." The question and answer portion with Bishop Cruz was fascinating. Asked if Arroy...