Unfolding

     The School of Athens , a fresco by the Italian Renaissance Raphael, shows Western Philosophy’s iconic figures, namely Plato and Aristotle. The two giants in the academy are surrounded by people who are either engaging with each other through discussions or listening attentively to the great two. Trivially, this painting can be seen in our ordinary classrooms— a mere sight of disorder. But one must ask these questions: “Do our schools have the same spirit?”   “Do our schools engender an environment for the growth of authentic discourse? How does the school appear to the common students and their respective parents? It is already embedded in society that school is a gateway to employment. Students and parents alike see school as a ticket to a job; thus, a strong necessity to finish even in the most complacent and mediocre path possible. By Raphael - Stitched together from vatican.va, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4406048  ...

     Exquisite! By comparison, you are yet the students I handled as a batch for two consecutive years. Forgive me, knowing that I was going to be omnipresent in your senior high school life, I got excited to do an experiment. After a tiresome rubbish of an experience during the pandemic and your previous batch who were at most still having a hangover of simply passing by shitty compliance of modules (with few esteemed exceptional students), I pushed you into overdrive in a manner that I usually would when I taught in college before. And it worked!      I was engaged with the expected frustrations. The extreme poles were there, but those who were deserving of pity are not shameful in the sense – just minor outliers and I am leaving up to their gods for their character growth, that is all. A worthy spectacle was seeing how those who were already at some capability struggled to be better under pressure. An even better feast for the eyes were those who outshin...

Once I held you close Red, white, and blue rose You know how much I care Hurting you, I would not dare That morning smile I miss it for awhile That lovingly annoyed face And laughter while in embrace Times spent Memories, places, events Here I am stuck Tried my best without luck I know you want more I’m such a bore Forgive me, now, the walls are higher I tried climbing, yet you’re spitting fire We did reach out But why still in doubt? We have walked far Please keep your door ajar I have walked with you Through the smiles and the blue Your trials and pain Them, you overcame Every significant stride of a mile Remember that I was there all awhile Differences are present Bonds can be bent Hope not broken Hope not all spent Please, stop the push Don’t beat around the bush My wrongs are all accounted for I need us to walk miles more Why can’t we be ourselves like yesterday? To be only us again, I pray I did the best I could given the chance Are you still open for a dance? Once, I held you cl...

11 years ago. . . I look back. I smiled. I found my world in an unlikely place. Heart sparked. Heart kindled. Heart learned to open for a soul to rest. Your eyes. Your smile. Those pair of smooth limbs to hold beside a jeepney ride. The touch. The kiss. The embrace that warmed a cold rainy day. Holding your hand. Smelling your hair. Keeping you up close calmed my riot. Getting to know each other. Soothing curiosities with openness. Jokes and laughter made days brighter. Struggled for recognition. Struggled for acceptance. Like a movie, where love must be fought for. The places we went. The time we shared. Our heartaches deposited in each other’s caring ears. To survive, to thrive, a world to face while keeping each other tight. We fought. We shook our fragile new bond. We worked hard to stay. New. Vigor. La energia de amor. 11 years ago.    

  Too many events lately squeezed my life dry. Different forms of loss plagued my 31 st year of existence. I had renewed hopes and strength to carry myself into finishing my graduate studies, but instead of all emotions set for a grueling reading and writing, my being was swallowed into a deep sorrow that shattered my core. Plus, I have to extend effort to shield myself from distraught as I need all the sanity to function well in front of my colleagues, and most of all, to my students. I am used to broken glasses, cigarette smell, and alcoholic rage growing up as a child, and maybe the next worse thing that could happen to me will be at gun point; however, the sadness I now have is a bullet wound. When I am idle, I cannot read, I cannot look at the letters in silence as memories, events, stories, and recent affairs all come rushing down like floodwater from a broken dam. It even took me awhile to gather wits to write this short note. Songs begin to hurt. I used to jam even to ...

                Religion is a vital component in society as it bears the collective expression of its morality, identity, and goals. However, it has faced challenges in an ever-growing secularized world wherein its authority and relevance are placed on the pedestal as it is continuously challenged to make sense i.e., religion must be rationalizable. [1] Christianity is one religion that needs to make its place in the modern world as Paul Ricoeur noted that it is experiencing hiding behind the liturgies and with its preoccupation with tradition. [2] Moreover, critiques are launched towards religion especially at the height of modernity when the likes of Nietzsche, Marx, and Feuerbach issued their aggressive denunciative critiques. [3] (Especially on the Christian tradition of which can be done the same with other religions as well.) Regardless of all the bombardments coming from secularization, Habermas does not rule out religion; rather, he see...

  PHILIPPINES' WAR ON DRUGS Violent crackdown on drug-related crimes in the Philippines was one of the highlights of the previous administration headed by former president Rodrigo Duterte. He made known during his campaigns for the 2016 Philippine National Election his unwavering support to the killings of drug-related criminals often in a populist tone that arouses the emotional support from the people. Thus, his early pronouncements were already a problem given that he is running for a top position of the state. Pronouncements as such opened the doors for the public to anticipate a normalization of an uglier breed of violence i.e., murder. A state that uses violence (murder) for deterrence and not for penal purposes spells a crisis of the state in its exercise of power and its authority. An estimate of 12,000 Filipinos were killed in the drug war. And at least 2555 killings are attributed to the Philippine National Police. [1] These numbers tell us the horror of this war, an...