By Dr. Freddie Rabelas Obligacion Is there evidence showing the coexistence of poverty and optimism, two seemingly incompatible precepts? Yes, there is and definitively so, according to findings of my study of blighted Estero de Aviles and Estero de Uli-uli communities along the Pasig River. Notwithstanding a dismally low economic well-being index score of 25% (100% corresponds to… Read More »
Part I In one of my commentaries, I signed my name as a “Recovering Catholic.” One of the online comments read: ” welcome back, people do realize the advantages of being on the inside,” to which I replied: “you obviously are not familiar with the phrase. A “Recovering Catholic” is similar to a recovering alcoholic. It is based on the… Read More »
“There are so many things one would like to preserve with words but which are forever lost.” Simone de Beauvoir, The Mandarins (1954) Just like a coin has two sides, so is the word “watering” in this context. One is the washing away; the other is all about nurturing. In the process of aging, the watering of memories… Read More »
“I think that inside all of us…is a devil just dying to break out. Most of us, we know how to keep him penned up. We lock him away in a personal jail with bars of morality. But sometimes, he’s able to pry those bars apart, just enough to slip out. And if he’s been in there for… Read More »
The wishy-washy style of undocumented minutes of meetings, inaccurate and incomplete financial reports, and questionable handling of funds characterize a culture of leadership at the Filipino Centre Toronto (FCT) akin to running a bubble gum store. For example, a scramble for payable invoices ensued to justify the release of $678,000 in 2017 when FCT sold its building in… Read More »
The Notorious RBG “I would like to be remembered as someone who used whatever talent she had to do her work to the very best of her ability.” – Ruth Bader Ginsburg.Being a male, it’s very natural to idolise someone in the same sex but not the opposite. But because it is now the 21 st century, considering… Read More »
Are you feeling overwhelmed these days? Or am I just getting more angsty, being cooped inmore as a result of COVID-19 restrictions? Maybe I am watching too much news, and a lot of itis not uplifting, more depressing to be precise. I looked deeper into some statistics to gauge thedistress in the general population. In a nutshell, my… Read More »
By Socrates ‘Soc’ Moreno Non-profit organizations like the Filipino Centre-Toronto (FCT) do not belong to a chosen few but to itsmembers, who in our case, represent the Filipino community.FCT executive council officers and board of directors (BOD) who volunteered their services have afiduciary responsibility to safeguard members’ interests, manage assets of the organization withintegrity, and promote the Filipino… Read More »
I had a wonderful calming Thanksgiving Day event with my immediate family last weekend. Hope you did too. Nothing over the top. Who does fancy in this Covid age? We had an Asian-Canadian feast. Of course, no one wanted to cook. The solution (as always) – take out food. We had a table full of Peking duck and… Read More »
I’m ready! “But what now if all the peace, the comfort, the contentment were to come to a horrible end?” – Franz Kafka, The Metamorphosis. I have a good life. How can I complain when I had drawn the lucky stick, being born in a rich, middle-class family? My parents had professional careers: dad was a surgical doctor… Read More »