RECENTLY a wave of killings and ambushes is being committed against our military and police personnel. This led me to ask the question that I have stated above.

It seems that when members of the left wing are killed, activists are quick to blame the government and ask for justice for those who have lost their lives. But why is it that when men in uniform are the ones dying, not even a whisper of protest could be heard from them?

Well, we could say this is part of the risk that the members of our Armed Forces face everyday, but aren’t they human beings too? Don’t they also have rights?

I’VE always made it a point to start my morning by reading the Inquirer online edition, most especially the show biz section as it somehow makes me feel closer to home (even though I’ve been in Chicago for more than 10 years now).

However, I recently came across Nestor Torre’s column “Viewfinder” and was shocked that such chauvinistic and unfounded views are being allowed to get published; I’m talking about the
article “Unsolicited Advice To ABC, Sharon & Regine“).

First of all, saying that an actress needs to lose pounds to be effective on screen and that an actress cannot have a younger leading man only proves that he’s (Nestor) a blatant personification of that ever popular Filipino male’s double standard. How dare he. Physical appearance has never been a factor in effective portrayals. Kathy Bates for one has gotten many lead roles and she’s no Uma Thurman. Demi Moore has Ashton [Kutcher], Cameron Diaz has Justin Timberlake, just to name a few.

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I READ in today’s news how the US CGFNS is going to send an observation team to this year’s nursing exams.

The writer wrote in such a way so as the reader thinks it’s a very good thing.

Hey, it is not a good thing.

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I AM happy that there are still a few journalists, like Manuel Quezon III, who have the ability to address an issue objectively and without bias. I agree with him when he said that Islam is not opposed to democracy.

While there may be interpretations of the Koran by various groups leading to the idea of anti-democracy, the fact that the Muslims themselves are the ones reporting the electoral fraud, albeit some are in hiding for fear of their safety, signals that Muslims also want to participate in Philippine democracy by having peaceful, credible and honest elections.

The proposal of the bishops for a different political set-up would result in marginalizing the Muslims in the Philippines and reinforce the longstanding claim of some of them for a separate Muslim Mindanao. This kind of thinking is a remnant of that of the Spanish colonizers. Note that there is an increasing number of Muslim professionals (including me) who are advocating for change in the Muslim areas although there names may be unheard of yet.

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