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50,000 cops nationwide, including 2,100 from Central Visayas, promoted to higher positions
50,000 cops nationwide, including 2,100 from Central Visayas, promoted to higher positions.....»»
LTO-7 on high alert for Holy Week
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Land Transportation Office in Central Visayas (LTO-7) is on high alert starting March 24 to 31, for the Holy Week. The LTO-7 announced their “Oplan Biyaheng Ayos: Semana Santa and Summer Vacation 2024” in a press release last Friday. Director Glen Galario has instructed all LTO-7 district and extension offices.....»»
PSA-7: Report to us if PhilSys ID not accepted
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Philippine Statistics Authority in Central Visayas (PSA-7) urged Philippine Identification System (PhilSys) ID holders to report to the agency if some entities do not accept their IDs. PSA-7 chief administrative officer of Edwina Carriaga told CDN Digital in a phone interview that the agency is urging PhilSys ID (National ID).....»»
PRO-7 warns against use of marijuana-flavored vapes
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7) has issued a stern warning against the use and proliferation of marijuana-flavored vape products. Police Lieutenant Colonel Gerard Ace Pelare, the PRO-7 spokesperson, said that they will arrest individuals who sell vapes mixed with marijuana oil. The sale and use of marijuana remains.....»»
OFW aspirants told: Engage with licensed recruitment agencies only
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The regional director of the Department of Migrant Workers in Central Visayas (DMW-7) warned aspiring Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) to engage with only legitimate and licensed recruitment agencies. Lawyer Karl Arriola, DMW-7 director, told CDN Digital that even if he was a lawyer, he still subscribed to the doctors’ advice: Prevention.....»»
PDEA-7: No marijuana-flavored vapes in Central Visayas
CEBU CITY, Philippines – No marijuana-flavored vapes have been monitored so far in Central Visayas, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in the region, said. This was according to Intelligence Agent IlI Jonar V. Cuayzon, chief of the Intelligence and Investigation Section of PDEA Regional Office 7. Cuayzon, however, said that they are not discounting the.....»»
Hundreds dead in Israel-Gaza war as Hezbollah launches attacks
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday warned of a "long and difficult" war, as fighting with Hamas left hundreds dead on both sides after a surprise attack on Israel by the Palestinian militant group. The conflict's bloodiest escalation in decades saw Hamas carry out a massive rocket barrage and ground, air and sea offensive Saturday that Israel's army said had killed more than 200 Israelis and wounded 1,000, while soldiers and civilians were taken hostage. Gaza officials said intense Israeli air strikes on the coastal enclave had brought the Palestinian death toll to at least 256, with nearly 1,788 wounded. As fighting raged Sunday, Lebanon's powerful Iran-backed Hezbollah movement said it had fired "large numbers of artillery shells and guided missiles" at Israeli positions in a contested border areas "in solidarity" with Hamas. Israel's army had earlier said it fired artillery on southern Lebanon in response to a shot from the area without identifying the attackers. "We are embarking on a long and difficult war that was forced on us by a murderous Hamas attack," Netanyahu said on X, formerly Twitter, early Sunday. "The first stage is ending at this time by the destruction of the vast majority of the enemy forces that infiltrated our territory," he added, pledging no "respite" until victory. Overnight Israel battered the Gaza Strip with air strikes as rockets from the blockaded Palestinians territory rained on Israel. Sunday morning gun still battles raged between Israeli forces and hundreds of Hamas fighters in multiple locations, including at the Sderot police station across the border from Gaza. Police and Israeli army special forces "neutralized 10 armed terrorists" who were holed up inside the station, a police statement said. The bloody air, sea and land attack launched Saturday by Hamas came half a century after the outbreak of the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, taking Israel and the world by surprise. As the UN Security Council called an emergency meeting for Sunday, President Joe Biden voiced "rock solid and unwavering" support for the US ally and warned "against any other party hostile to Israel seeking advantage in this situation". - Hostages and 'so many bodies' - The Israeli army said overnight its forces were still engaged in gun battles in a string of Israel locations, in an operation labelled "Swords of Iron", as reservists were being called up. Hamas earlier released images of several Israelis taken captive, and another army spokesman, Daniel Hagari, confirmed that soldiers and civilians had been kidnapped. "I can't give figures about them at the moment," he said late Saturday, adding there was also a "severe hostage situation" in the Negev desert communities of Beeri and Ofakim east of Gaza. According to Ynet Israeli news website "dozens of Israeli captives, including numerous women, children and elders, are believed to have been taken into the Gaza Strip". The fighting prompted Israel to cut off Gaza's electricity, fuel and goods supplies, Netanyahu said. The Islamist group started the multi-pronged attack around 6:30 am (0330 GMT) on Saturday with thousands of rockets aimed as far as Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, some bypassing the Iron Dome defense system and hitting buildings. Hamas fighters -- traveling in ground vehicles, motorized paragliders and boats -- breached Gaza's security barrier and attacked nearby Israeli towns and military posts, opening fire on residents and passersby. "Send help, please!" one Israeli woman sheltering with her two-year-old child pleaded as militants outside opened fire and tried to break into their safe room, Israeli media reported. Bodies were strewn on the streets of the Israeli town of Sderot near Gaza and inside cars, the windscreens shattered by a hail of bullets. "I saw many bodies, of terrorists and civilians," one man told AFP, standing beside covered corpses on a road near Gevim Kibbutz in southern Israel. "So many bodies, so many bodies." AFP journalists witnessed Palestinian armed men gather around a burning Israeli tank, and others driving a seized Israeli military Humvee vehicle back into Gaza, where they were met by cheering crowds. - 'Gates of hell' - Israeli army Major General Ghasan Alyan warned Hamas had "opened the gates of hell". An AFP journalist in Gaza saw clouds of dust from the remains of bombed residential towers which Gaza's interior ministry said contained 100 apartments. Israel's military said it had warned residents to evacuate before targeting the multi-story buildings used by Hamas. The escalation follows months of rising violence, mostly in the occupied West Bank, and tensions around Gaza's border and at contested holy sites in Jerusalem. Before Saturday, at least 247 Palestinians, 32 Israelis and two foreigners had been killed this year, including combatants and civilians, according to Israeli and Palestinian officials. Hamas labeled its attack "Operation Al-Aqsa Flood" and called on "resistance fighters in the West Bank" as well as in "Arab and Islamic nations" to join the battle. Its armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, claimed to have fired more than 5,000 rockets, while Hecht said Israel had counted more than 3,000 incoming rockets. Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh said the group was on the "verge of a great victory", vowing to press ahead with "the battle to liberate our land and our prisoners languishing in occupation prisons must be completed". - 'Dangerous precipice' - Air raid sirens wailed across southern and central Israel, as well as in Jerusalem on Saturday, and there were major disruptions at Tel Aviv airport where many carriers canceled flights. Israel said schools would remain closed on Sunday which marks the start of the week. Hamas took control of Gaza in 2007, leading to Israel's crippling blockade of the impoverished enclave of 2.3 million people. Israel and Hamas have since fought several wars. The last major military exchange, in May, killed 34 Palestinians and one Israeli. Violence also erupted across the West Bank, including annexed east Jerusalem, with five Palestinians killed and 120 wounded in clashes with Israeli forces and settlers, Palestinian medical services said. Countries around the world condemned the wave of attacks by Hamas, which Israel, the United States and European Union consider a terrorist group. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called the attack "terrorism in its most despicable form". But Hamas drew support from other foes of Israel, with Iran's supreme leader declaring he was "proud". UN Middle East peace envoy Tor Wennesland warned of "a dangerous precipice" and called on all sides to "pull back from the brink". (Rosie Scammell with Adel Zaanoun in Gaza) az-rsc-jd/hkb © Agence France-Presse The post Hundreds dead in Israel-Gaza war as Hezbollah launches attacks appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
HATING ONE’S FATHER, MOTHER, WIFE, CHILD, OR SIBLING
By: Rev. Fr. Orly Mendoza TWENTY-THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (Green) Cycle C/Year II (September 4, 2023) Wis 9:13-18/Phlm 9-10, 12-17/Lk 14:25-33 The family is the basic cell of society. This is true not only for any nation or country but even with our Catholic Church. In fact, the family occupies a central place in […].....»»
Heaven, NAIA mess, easy way out
Dear Editor, Who wants the Ninoy Aquino International Airport or NAIA to remain one of the worst airports in the world? Nobody. But who sells or disowns his child just because the child is problematic? Nobody either, except the loveless and crazy. The Marcos Jr. administration has just formally kicked off the sale of NAIA to the private sector. But for unknown, real/deeper sense and repercussion, what does this mean? Letting one’s knee touch the canvas during a boxing matchup means surrender. Alas, this is exactly what the government tries to do in pushing its knee hard to the floor. Or in doggedly pushing to privatize the “helplessly” beleaguered NAIA. It is the way to “solve” the mess at the country’s premiere airport, or so they thought. But what is the use of government if it can’t compete with the private sector in efficiency, governance, and modernization? What can private people do that public officials can’t, with all the yearly budget (in trillions of pesos) at their disposal? Cryptic. Hindi ba gobyerno pa nga ang dapat magpakita ng pinakamagaling, pinakamoderno at pinakamagandang halimbawa para sa lahat sa bansa (Shouldn’t the government be the one to show the best, most modern and best example for everyone in the country) to serve as a standard/benchmark for excellence? If a government can’t set the right example for everyone, then how can its people expect something good to come out of it? There is more than meets the eye to all these NAIA brouhahas/shenanigans. The main challenge lies in our officials’ capability, effectiveness, and wisdom in solving the ongoing issues at NAIA. What sane reason does the Department of Transportation and Communication (or Malacañang) have to privatize NAIA? Are they admitting that the private sector or business people are better off than them in the area of managing and administering? If that’s the case, then Filipinos would do well to have these private people take over every single office in the government. Or could there be something behind the “privatization” move that only those behind are aware of? Given the ever-escalating prices of rice and other agricultural/local products, the needless importations, the unabated smuggling, and the hoarding that causes artificial shortages of rice, sugar, salt, onion, meat products, etc., in the market, would it be bad to suggest that we privatize the Department of Agriculture, following the government’s touted line of thinking in wanting to privatize NAIA? Easy, lazy way out. Time to break the cycle, this vicious cycle of “privatization,” lest Filipinos someday find the entire country privatized “wisely”. Easy, lazy way out. I had a wonderful experience of government efficiency on 30 August 2023, when I went to the central office of the Philippine Statistics Authority along East Avenue to get an authenticated birth certificate. I thought I wouldn’t be able to do my purpose anymore because I came very late due to the rain and heavy traffic. But I got the surprise of my life, having found the PSA staff (including the guards) very accommodating and friendly, quick to respond. The processing of papers was highly systematic, cogent, instantaneous, and ingenious. The counters and machines, and the whole big, wide people area were well arranged and ventilated. Admirable. I arrived at 4:30 pm and I left at 4:50 p.m., with my authenticated birth certificate. Wonderful. No delays, hassles or inconvenience. And no exaggeration. For the first time, I felt like I was in heaven — inside a government office, unbelievably. True to its motto, the PSA is “Solid. Responsive. World-class.” You can do it (Philippians 4:13) at NAIA and elsewhere, dear government. But do away with privatization. Reni M. Valenzuela renivalenzuelaletters@yahoo.com The post Heaven, NAIA mess, easy way out appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
N. Korea claims American soldier defected
The American soldier who crossed into North Korea during a tour at the demilitarized zone defected to escape “mistreatment and racial discrimination in the United States Army,” Pyongyang’s state media said Wednesday, its first official confirmation they were holding him. “Travis King confessed that he had decided to come over to the DPRK as he harbored ill feeling against inhuman maltreatment and racial discrimination within the US Army,” Korean Central News Agency said, referring to the North by its official name. King “came to be kept under control by soldiers of the Korean People’s Army” after he crossed the border, KCNA said. “He also expressed his willingness to seek refuge in the DPRK or a third country, saying that he was disillusioned at the unequal American society,” KCNA said, adding that a government investigation was still ongoing. KCNA did not provide any details about King’s health or location, or about what they planned to do with him. The US has previously said that King crossed the border at the Joint Security Area in the DMZ separating the North and the South “willfully and without authorization.” Following a North Korean investigation, King “admitted that he illegally intruded,” KCNA reported. Just before they issued their comments on King, KCNA put out a statement criticizing discussion of Pyongyang’s rights record at the United Nations, describing America as “the anti-people empire of evils, totally depraved due to all sorts of social evils.” “Not content with conniving at and fostering racial discrimination, gun-related crimes, child maltreatment and forced labor rampant in its society, the US has imposed unethical human rights standards on other countries and fomented internal unrest and confusion,” the statement reads. King crossing the border comes as relations between the two Koreas are at one of their lowest points ever, with diplomacy stalled and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un calling for increased weapons development, including of tactical nuclear warheads. WITH AFP The post N. Korea claims American soldier defected appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Reviews: Cinemalaya Shorts B
‘GOLDEN BELLS’ Kurt Soberano’s Golden Bells is the only entry with superior technical craft. However, it severely alienates the audience by picking a subject matter that not everyone can relate to. Sure, it carries universal themes of familial relationships, hopes, desires and sacrifice, but Golden Bells fails to connect emotionally. It’s a monotonous story about a Filipino-Chinese family running a garments business, with one of the sons as its central character. It is through the son’s lens that we learn his perspective of the family patriarch. Too bottled up in its own world on a very surface level, it is largely unrelatable and feels more like a commercial ad for a business rather than a piece of cinema. (1 out of 5 stars). ‘TONG ADLAW NGA NAG-SNOW SA PINAS’ Joshua Caesar Medroso’s monochromatic Tong Adlaw nga Nag-snow sa Pinas starts off quite well. Set in a remote and impoverished coastal town, two young boys, Makong and Renren, are playing, pretending that it’s snowing by making fake snowflakes out of styrofoam boxes. The styro-snow looks great in black-and -white and Medroso manages to evoke nostalgic imagery of a pre-Internet childhood. But underneath the innocent play lies a violent subtext: child abuse cushioned by a melodramatic portrait of compassion and friendship. The short abruptly ends, and it feels as if Medroso’s other video clips got mistakenly deleted and he has no choice but to finally put the end credits and submit his film. (1 out of 5 stars) [caption id="attachment_170059" align="aligncenter" width="656"] Ang Kining Binalaybay Kag Ambahanon ko para sa Imo[/caption] ‘ANG KINING BINALAYBAY KAG AMBAHANON KO PARA SA IMO’ Kent John Desamparado’s family drama is heartbreaking and appeals to the special bond between a grandfather and a granddaughter. It follows a poor, ailing fisherman, who, no longer able to take care of his young granddaughter, painfully decides to give her away to other relatives. The filmmaker takes the viewer along on their journey to inevitable doom. Desamparado manages to capture the nuances of a very loving relationship between the grandpa and the little girl. It breaks the heart, and also becomes a light commentary on the realities of poverty. However, it’s still rough around the edges and the finale is too weak. (2.5 out of 5 stars). ‘MAKOKO SA BAYBAY’ This is so forgettable I honestly could not recall the details of the short. I could vaguely recall a very strong sunset color palette, sea monsters and mothers and little kids longing for their mothers. If something like this vanishes from your mind soon after you’ve left the cinema, then you get my point. (0 out of 5 stars). [caption id="attachment_170060" align="aligncenter" width="600"] ‘Maudi Nga Arapaap’[/caption] ‘MAUDI NGA ARAPAAP’ Daniel Magayon’s psychological horror short is funnier than scary, amusing rather than disturbing. It follows a graveyard-shift female nurse with experiences of traumatic child abuse by her mother, who has recently died. The scenes of a child being abused by the very person that should nurture her is heartbreaking. But the occasional appearance of a demon-like creature related to a plant is funny and fails to evoke sinister vibes. Magayon, however, still manages to send a clear message about the fragile relationship between a mother and daughter, as well as the long-term effects of child abuse. The literal monster element is wholly unessential, offering nothing sinister or metaphorical, ultimately causing the short’s downfall. (2 out of 5 stars) The post Reviews: Cinemalaya Shorts B appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Cinemalaya Shorts B
‘GOLDEN BELLS’ Kurt Soberano’s Golden Bells is the only entry with superior technical craft. However, it severely alienates the audience by picking a subject matter that not everyone can relate to. Sure, it carries universal themes of familial relationships, hopes, desires and sacrifice, but Golden Bells fails to connect emotionally. It’s a monotonous story about a Filipino-Chinese family running a garments business, with one of the sons as its central character. It is through the son’s lens that we learn his perspective of the family patriarch. Too bottled up in its own world on a very surface level, it is largely unrelatable and feels more like a commercial ad for a business rather than a piece of cinema. (1 out of 5 stars). ‘TONG ADLAW NGA NAG-SNOW SA PINAS’ Joshua Caesar Medroso’s monochromatic Tong Adlaw nga Nag-snow sa Pinas starts off quite well. Set in a remote and impoverished coastal town, two young boys, Makong and Renren, are playing, pretending that it’s snowing by making fake snowflakes out of styrofoam boxes. The styro-snow looks great in black-and -white and Medroso manages to evoke nostalgic imagery of a post-Internet childhood. But underneath the innocent play lies a violent subtext: child abuse cushioned by a melodramatic portrait of compassion and friendship. The short abruptly ends, and it feels as if Medroso’s other video clips got mistakenly deleted and he has no choice but to finally put the end credits and submit his film. (1 out of 5 stars) [caption id="attachment_170059" align="aligncenter" width="656"] Ang Kining Binalaybay Kag Ambahanon ko para sa Imo[/caption] ‘ANG KINING BINALAYBAY KAG AMBAHANON KO PARA SA IMO’ Kent John Desamparado’s family drama is heartbreaking and appeals to the special bond between a grandfather and a granddaughter. It follows a poor, ailing fisherman, who, no longer able to take care of his young granddaughter, painfully decides to give her away to other relatives. The filmmaker takes the viewer along on their journey to inevitable doom. Desamparado manages to capture the nuances of a very loving relationship between the grandpa and the little girl. It breaks the heart, and also becomes a light commentary on the realities of poverty. However, it’s still rough around the edges and the finale is too weak. (2.5 out of 5 stars). ‘MAKOKO SA BAYBAY’ This is so forgettable I honestly could not recall the details of the short. I could vaguely recall a very strong sunset color palette, sea monsters and mothers and little kids longing for their mothers. If something like this vanishes from your mind soon after you’ve left the cinema, then you get my point. (0 out of 5 stars). [caption id="attachment_170060" align="aligncenter" width="600"] ‘Maudi Nga Arapaap’[/caption] ‘MAUDI NGA ARAPAAP’ Daniel Magayon’s psychological horror short is funnier than scary, amusing rather than disturbing. It follows a graveyard-shift female nurse with experiences of traumatic child abuse by her mother, who has recently died. The scenes of a child being abused by the very person that should nurture her is heartbreaking. But the occasional appearance of a demon-like creature related to a plant is funny and fails to evoke sinister vibes. Magayon, however, still manages to send a clear message about the fragile relationship between a mother and daughter, as well as the long-term effects of child abuse. The literal monster element is wholly unessential, offering nothing sinister or metaphorical, ultimately causing the short’s downfall. (2 out of 5 stars) The post Cinemalaya Shorts B appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Huge mass in Lisbon ahead of pope’s arrival for ‘Catholic Woodstock’
A sea of flag-waving pilgrims from around the world packed a Lisbon park on Tuesday for an open-air Mass that kicked off a week-long jamboree of Catholic youth on the eve of the arrival of Pope Francis. Lisbon's patriarch, Cardinal Manuel Clemente, delivered the homily at the service held at the hillside Eduardo VII Park with sweeping views of the Portuguese capital and the Tagus River. "Lisbon welcomes you wholeheartedly," he told the crowd as pilgrims waved national flags in the air. Local authorities expect some 300,000 people to attend the opening Mass of World Youth Day, which is actually a week of religious, cultural, and festive events held every three years in a different city. Francis is set to arrive in Lisbon on Wednesday morning to join the event, which has been dubbed the "Catholic Woodstock". The 86-year-old pontiff is by Church standards the most liberal pope in decades and is very popular with young people. During his papacy, he has tried to create a more compassionate church, reaching out to the gay community and talking frankly to youngsters about abortion, divorce, and gender identity. "Pope Francis is open to young people," said Cristina Kelly, a 39-year-old who came from Brazil, just before the start of the Mass. "He called on us and we came. People need that today, for young people to be called to God," she told AFP. 'Recharge spiritual battery' In Portugal, the pope has a typically packed schedule for his five-day visit, despite having spent nine nights in hospital after undergoing hernia surgery in June. Francis, the first Latin American pope, is due to make 11 public pronouncements and hold numerous meetings, and on Saturday will visit the shrine of Fatima north of Lisbon. Church organizers expect one million faithful will attend the event's closing mass which will be delivered by the pope on Sunday at a waterside park on the outskirts of Lisbon. Images of the pope were on display on banners across the city as well as on screens on automatic bank machines along with the message: "I am with you". A Lisbon pastry shop is even selling cookies with the image of the smiling pontiff wearing a crucifix. "My goal is to recharge my spiritual battery because sometimes, as young people, we let it run low," Xochilt Cecilia Velis, a 24-year-old from El Salvador, told AFP in central Lisbon. World Youth Day is part of the Vatican's efforts to galvanize young Catholics at a time when secularism and disgust over clerical child sex abuse cause some faithful to abandon the Church. Meeting with abuse victims The gathering comes as the Portuguese Catholic Church is reckoning with its legacy of clerical sexual abuse. A report released in February by an independent commission determined that at least 4,815 children had been abused by clergy members in Portugal since 1950. The inquiry -- similar to audits elsewhere in Europe and the Americas -- concluded that the Church hierarchy "systematically" tried to conceal the abuse. Pope Francis is scheduled to meet privately with abuse victims during his visit but the date of the encounter or other details has not been released. Initially scheduled for August 2022, but postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Lisbon World Youth Day is the 16th international edition of what has become the largest gathering of Catholics worldwide. Church organizers said there are pilgrims registered to take part in this year's event from every country in the world except the Maldives. A brainchild of the late Pope John Paul II, the event started in 1986. The current one is the fourth presided over by Pope Francis, who became head of the Catholic Church in 2013. The last three events took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 2013, in Krakow, Poland in 2016, and in Panama City, Panama in 2019. The post Huge mass in Lisbon ahead of pope’s arrival for ‘Catholic Woodstock’ appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Katya Angara – The journey of a woman and artist
The promising artist that Katya is today is the latest phase in a lifelong journey that began at an early age when she began drawing characters from cartoon comics. All the while she was growing up in a home that nurtured her interest in the arts, as much as it prepared her for rigorous academic training. She read early in life, in a house filled with books. In this second part of our interview, Katya shares with us how she made a number of choices that would lead to where she is today. But once upon a time, for all that had been given to her on a silver platter, she was in a quandary as to what to do with her life. But when she finally decided on what she wanted, there was no stopping the talented and smart girl who, it turned out, possessed an intellectual prowess not unlike those of her parents, the lawyer, and senator Edgardo Angara, whose affinity for the land had been impressed on his daughter, and the lady educator Gloria Manalang Angara, who opened up her daughter’s eyes and minds to the wonders of world literature and the other arts. And it was in art that the young girl did not only find solace but also healing. Here is the final part of our interview: DT: After high school, did you immediately leave for London? KA: To be honest, and I don’t want filters here, I had mental health issues at that time. I was severely depressed. Before I went to London, I went through a tumultuous period of deciding where to go with my education. So, after Poveda, I went to Woldingham (boarding school). then I did half of my BA Psychology degree at UP Diliman from late 2000 to 2002. I loved my time at Diliman but it was a tumultuous transitional period for me, so I decided to revisit pursuing university in London. Central Saint Martins, to be precise, is one of the most prestigious and distinguished art and design schools in the world DT: Around what time was this? KA: It was in 2002. I was bouncing around like I couldn’t anchor myself to one thing. Like, okay, I’m here in London already. And then, okay I’m going to study Psychology in UP. So, what’s with the leap, the sudden jump, the sudden shift? I couldn’t make up my mind. And I think that frustrated my parents for the longest time. I was also being hard on myself because I ended up causing a lot of frustration for myself. And I think that depressed me. So, you know, I’ve been diagnosed with different things. I’m bipolar. And then, I had the hallmarks of ADHD. Let’s just say that my brain works differently DT: Well, one can never be sure about oneself. KA: No, you can never be sure about yourself. And I was questioning myself. For the longest time, all those years I thought, what’s wrong with me? Why am I making all these strange decisions? Why am I behaving this way? Why do I react to people this way?”. You know, parang I shouldn’t be talking or reacting to people like this in this kind of situation. And I’m not just saying with family or what. But with my classmates in school. What drew me to art was it being a place that has its own language e. It’s a place where I can express myself. Art is also a way of healing your own wounds. It’s also a way of revealing those aspects of yourself that you wouldn’t be able to otherwise. It really was a way of healing for me. And I didn’t even know that I needed it. Because again, I was a very quiet and introverted kid. I don’t know why. I couldn’t rely on people, talk to people the way I thought, or maybe people thought I should. So, you know, I kept to myself. I’d hide away in the library every recess or lunch. I didn’t want to talk to anyone. So, that carried on until my university years. Daily Tribune (DT): What did you finally take up in college? Katya Angara: Well, first I just wanted to do a purely art course. So, my foundation course to get me a degree was an Art and Design course. My first choice for this was Central Saint Martins, which continues to be ranked as one of the best art and design schools in the world. I was over the moon when I made it in. DT: What did you have to show to qualify? KA: I needed to show my work. I had some already since I was drawing a lot in my childhood and teenage years. DT: Your works are not the usual ones that use oil, watercolor, acrylic, and all that. KA: I was drawing mostly. And for some reason, I have always been more of a draftsman eh. I’m always more into drawing. I have more illustrating tendencies. DT: Like pen and paper? KA: Yes, pen and paper. Pencil, charcoal. I’ve always had a thing for dry media and pen and ink. It’s more about the control and the precision. That’s my personality. DT: That’s not easy ah. KA: It’s not easy. But you have an affinity for it. And your hands have to be steady. Which is unlikely for someone with pasmado hands like me. But that’s where I find my control eh. That’s why I like it so much. DT: So, what was it like when you showed your drawings at Central Saint Martin? KA: So, I showed my drawings because that was required during the interview. And so I went through the ropes. They asked questions like, "why do you want to do this course here?" DT: Your work must have been good to get you accepted. KA: They were fine. I think it was good enough. But there was a lot I had to improve on. I only knew that once I got into the school. Then, you told yourself, Ah, oo nga pala. There was so much I had to learn. That I could be taught. DT: How was your learning experience? KA: From the beginning, as a child, I always copied from cartoons. And they didn’t like that. They didn’t want to see any cartoons or anything like that. They wanted to see me. They wanted to see my work. My drawing from life. DT: So, how did you do that? It must have been challenging KA: So, I gave them the best of my life drawings. But when I showed them my other works, they weren’t happy with them. So, I learned from that. Being young, you got a bit crushed. But then, you realize it’s a different way of thinking. It’s a different way of doing things. Okay, there’s still so much to learn in terms of art. And it’s not the be-all and end of it all. And then, they said, “This is where you should be learning from.” And they showed me art books. They said, “Go to this gallery or this museum.” DT: How was it like living abroad? Back home, you were the daughter of a senator. KA: Which means nothing when you’re abroad. It meant nothing. Which I actually loved. It was something that I was looking for. Because I lived in a bubble back home. To my parents’ credit naman there’s a reason for that. I was very protected. They wanted to keep me safe and secure given my father’s position. So, I’d always lived in a bubble. I’d always have bodyguards and drivers and all that. And it just felt at times a little restrictive. DT: So, it was a welcome thing? KA: It was a welcome thing. Really, I felt different. I felt normal na parang my family name didn’t mean a thing. And that was refreshing. I could be anything I wanted to be. I could experiment and nobody would judge. Because in schools like that and abroad, especially in Europe, they’re so open-minded. They’re so liberal. DT: How were the teachers? KA: Oh, wonderful. Of course, you always have your favorites, right? Very varied. Depending also on what course you were taking up, whether industrial design or sculpture which I was horrible at when I tried it. I didn’t really get close to my tutors until I moved on to my actual degree. Funny enough, instead of ending up in a practical course. Which would have been like Fine Arts, Graphic Design, or even Illustration because I love drawing. You would think that I would end up in a more practical course like Fine Arts, Graphic Design, or even Illustration, I did a complete shift and I did a theoretical course. I did Curation, Art Criticism, and Art History. So, my training is as a curator and an art critic. DT: Wow, that was very intellectual. It’s good that you always read a lot. KA: Yes, I think that helped because you have to read a lot. You have to love reading. You have to like doing the research. And that served me well. Who would have known, right? But if you think about it, as long as you follow what you want to do in life, it just opens up even if you don’t intentionally seek it. Somehow it just finds you It just fell into place for me in that sense. This is not what I initially set out to do. But I think you have to allow yourself to change your mind. Parang whatever happens at the time, you change with it. You adjust to it. And it worked out beautifully for me. DT: So, were the teachers terrors? KA: Mabait naman sila. But they have very different personalities. My course leader was a lovely older lady who was really into Victorian arts and culture. As in, Victoriana lahat. She would tell you everything about English Victorian history. And she was very passionate about it. And you know, it involved a lot of writing and research. But my favorite tutor was someone who was writing about comic books. Comic books and Pop culture. So, for me, that was a revelation because I didn’t think you could take comics books and put them in the academe. You know, academic level like intellectual. Pwede pala e. Because he showed me a way. He took me under his wing and he showed me his work and from there I learned to write. And because I love comic books. I’m actually a huge geek. I’m a nerd, I’m a dork. DT: What was your thesis? [caption id="attachment_165427" align="aligncenter" width="463"] Roger Sabin was Katya's pop culture mentor at Central Saint Martins in London.[/caption] KA: Because I wanted Roger Sabin, my pop culture tutor, as my professor for my thesis, it was about a 1990s Japanese animated film called Ghost in the Shell 101. It was an animated film based on a very heavy graphic novel, a manga or Japanese comics, by Masamune Shirow. And for me, his work is revelatory. It wasn’t just the style of the Ghost in the Shell. And to think just one man could draw like this. I mean it was a very thick graphic novel. He could draw like that. And he wrote the story too. And to think you had the mental stamina to be able to write something like that and to draw. DT: You must enjoy doing comics. KA: Since I was a kid, I’ve made my own comic books. You know, I would sell my own comic books and people would actually buy them. I taught myself to draw in the comic book style. I learned them all. You know, there’s like Stan Lee of Marvel. DT: You really had it in you. KA: I had it in me. My love for comic books started by reading the ones my brother had collected over the years. He had a stash of them, so, I just devoured them. It was all very amazing to me. Kasi the drawings, the stories, these are worlds written by someone else. So, you have Marvel comics, DC comics, Dark Horse comics. [caption id="attachment_165417" align="aligncenter" width="2560"] With brother, Senator Sonny Angara, whose comic books she devoured for their cartoon figures.[/caption] Q: You didn’t idolize anybody? A: Well, I wasn’t particularly huge on the American comics. I think it was until I stumbled upon the Japanese comics or manga. That really piqued my interest to a degree I never felt before. Kasi it wasn’t just the style, which at first for me was very girly. I mean, I love the romantic comics. But I also felt myself leaning toward the darker stuff. DT: What did you like about Ghost in the Shell? KA: It’s a cyberpunk graphic novel. So, ang galing, ang ganda ng style. It was like, wow. You know, the sheer amount of detail that he puts into the drawings. I said I want to draw like this. I want to tell a story like this. But I don’t know if I was capable of telling if I had the stamina to tell something so intricate and complex. DT: When did you graduate? KA: In 2008. The BA in the UK is only three years. That’s why you take a foundation course. There’s a BA in Curation, and Communication, and criticism in Arts and Design. DT: I am told that you graduated at the top of your class. But you’re not telling me. KA: It sounds so funny kasi eh. Anyway, I graduated with first-class honors for my degree. So, basically, I was Suma Cum Laude in my batch in my year. So, that was what sealed the deal for me and my dad. Kasi for the longest time, I was kind of meandering. I was kind of flip-flopping. My mom knows this eh She goes, “You know Katya you have a tendency to be whimsical.” I am an artist eh, what can I do? Besides, I was young and I wasn’t sure. I knew what I wanted to do, which was to be in the arts but not where I wanted to go. I was asking myself if I had the stamina, the commitment, the fortitude to see it through. [caption id="attachment_165415" align="aligncenter" width="2560"] Katya and mom Gloria Angara, who first ignited her interest in the arts.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_165419" align="aligncenter" width="854"] Katya with her dad, the late Senate President Edgardo Angara from whom she learned to apply the principles of nature to her art[/caption] DT: College made you really bloom. KA: Yes. It was the environment. it was the people I was with. Because I was able to go into something I really enjoyed. I wasn’t just doing homework because I was told to do homework. I loved what I was doing. I was invested in it. DT: What did you do after you graduated? KA: Apart from community work, I also worked for some small galleries. I did some work for the Victoria and Albert Museum. I tried to have experiences in bigger institutions, bigger museums, and small independent galleries. I thought that experience would hone me and make me well-rounded. With the smaller galleries, I was able to practice my curatorial background. I was able to help a lot of young artists. They don’t know how to talk about their work or they’re not confident enough to do so. So anyhow, apart from helping them put together shows, I help them speak about their work. Or offer them a perspective they have never seen or thought about. And I feel that that was helping them and I think that’s where I have been able to engage with them. It was fulfilling to help them find their voice as an artist. DT: All the while, you were all alone in London? KA: I was married actually. To a Filipino who was born in the UK, in London. He’s an Englishman, for all purposes. It didn’t work out. We have a daughter. I had a beautiful little girl with him. She lives in London with her father. She’s been here. She lived here in her early years. After she was born in 2010, I decided to move back here. Then, after four years, we went back to London because it was what my husband wanted. He and my dad had a falling out. DT: When was your first exhibit? KA: Last year. Earlier, I did a group show at the Lethaby Gallery at Central Saint Martins. So, I did it with other emerging artists. My next group show was at The Crucible. But it was for a book that Sari Ortiga had commissioned me to do. He wanted to do a series of children’s books about Philippine artists. I did mine. Mine was about Anita Magsaysay-Ho. I did the illustration. It wasn’t new to me because I had been making my own books. I would staple them myself. Although up until that point I didn’t know how to really do it professionally. I found out it could be lucrative and fulfilling. This was in 2008 when I didn’t have a daughter yet. DT: Tell me about your forthcoming show. (The current show had yet to be opened). What paintings are you showing? KA: They’re not paintings, they’re not just drawings. They’re an amalgamation. They’re what you call a compendium of everything I’ve ever done as an artist. The book illustration, and then I dabbled a bit in black-and-white photography. I like the look of black and white photography. So, I do it with my phone or a simple camera. It’s also good for taking reference photos for my work. Because if you can’t sit in the park drawing people or objects, or subjects, the next best thing is you take pictures. And you can draw from those pictures. Kaya maganda siya for reference. So, my work is that, actually. DT: So, what about your subjects? KA: Well, I’m a very central person. We live in a very conservative culture. And I have subjects that would make people say ay, you know, you shouldn’t talk about that. So, there’s no filter, it’s very raw, very natural. In London, I was able to talk to people about things like BDSM or Bondage Sado-Masochism. And you know, that can get a bad rap. Because if you do it wrong, it would look strange to anyone who is not familiar with it. Among the Japanese, there is a subculture that does that. DT: Do they consider BDSM an art form? KA: There’s a particular Japanese artist whose work I used to admire. He’s a photographer. And his subject is BDSM. There were pictures of women tied up and then there were flowers and reptiles. So it was very sexual. I found myself drawn to that because there’s the element of the dark side. Carl Jung, the psychoanalyst, talked about how we have to make our unconscious conscious. The darkness in us is unconscious. And if you don’t make your darkness conscious, it’s going to come out in other ways at some point. Meaning to say, you shouldn’t repress those sides of you. I think it is a side that’s intertwined with the creative side of me. I can’t be an artist without being sensual. Without that aspect, all that would be macabre. Which brings me to my mom again. She used to chide me for reading Stephen King when I was a kid. I’m a huge Stephen King fan. She was like, “It’s so macabre, so dark.” And I’m like, “I like it, I like his work.” He’s such a skilled writer. And I like how he could take something so mundane and make it terrifying and frightening on all levels. Stephen King said that he writes two thousand words every morning. I’m not sure if I can do that. I wanted to write na rin eh because the natural partner of my art is my writing. Because as a curator, I didn’t just read. I had to write a lot. And that’s where I honed my skills. Kasi siyempre, it’s a sword that you have to sharpen every now and then. So, for the show. I did a lot of writing. I did my own writing. DT: While we're on the talk of artists, what about the Filipino artists? Who among them do you admire? Do you have any mentors and idols? KA: Among Philippine artists, Junyee is my second father and my first artistic mentor. He is my OG sage and shaman of Philippine art, the Father of Philippine Installation Art. I'm actively lobbying for him to become National Artist soon, as no one deserves it more than he does, with his magnificent oeuvre. I'll always remember how, in a fleeing moment of impostor syndrome, he consoled me by saying that making art for myself always comes first. Love the process and the rest follows. The maverick attitude is very Junyee! And yet, he lives a modest life in the forest-like setting of his home in Los Banos, echoing the nature-loving ethos of our favorite Japanese animator, Hayao Miyazaki, creator of Toroto, Nausicaa, Spirited Away, among many other magical films. Since I was a child, Junyee saw my potential and continued to push me to have my own gallery shows, as did his longtime friend and one of my other mentors, Sari Ortiga. Sari's daughter Yasmin is a good friend and batchmate of mine from Poveda. Sari owns and runs the distinguished Crucible Gallery, and he hired me to illustrate one of the children's books for his series "Growing up with Philippine art" in 2009. It's thanks to Sari that I pushed myself to evolve as an artist, to grow outside of my comfort zone. The acclaimed visual artist and sculptor Jinggoy Buensuceso is something of a bad boy du jour of the Philippine art scene, and his dissident attitude is something I can identify with. I love the unorthodox, the sensual, the macabre, the dark stuff that delves deep into the psyche. I'm so bored of the "covers" or "riffs" of the countless Amorsolo, Basquiat, Picasso, or Rothko-type artworks that I see so much of in the local art scene. As wtih Junyee and Sari, Jinggoy has taught me how to navigate the perilous seas of art and life, echoing Junyee's advice to remain myself, in a world that often pushes us to be someone else. My three mentors, by example, taught me how to be original. DT: How many are you exhibiting? How many works? KA: Now, I have 9 complete pieces. I’d like to add another one. Honestly, medyo cramming ito because I only had two months to do the show. Normally for this kind of work - especially with the big piece I am doing - it’s a seven-foot piece. I would need, preferably to be comfortable, at least four to six months to do all this work. Kasi, there is so much nicer when you give it time to compost. To come together, to become fertile. DT: Is there enough time for one more work? A: Yes. I have one more work that I want. Because I feel that it rounds it up eh. If I do ten, I love the work that I’ve already done. Again, it’s not a painting, it’s a collage. So, I’d call it a photographic collage with paper cuttings on canvas. I wanted to treat canvas in a way that is not painting DT: Shouldn’t someone curate for you? KA: For now, I’m happy to have to do it myself. Because I feel that I’m the only one who can portray myself in a way that I feel I should be portrayed. Kasi it’s art eh. You’re trying not so much to explain yourself as you’re trying to convey who you are to somebody without being obvious. That’s art. DT: Where does Stephen, your partner, come in? [caption id="attachment_165418" align="aligncenter" width="2560"] With her partner and anchor, Stephen Lu.[/caption] KA: Stephen is somewhat of an anchor for me. So, I feel comfortable, I feel more confident when he’s around. But I guess I’m okay. DT: Now, as we wind up, let’s talk about how you are like your parents and not like them. You said that your interest in the arts came from the exposure that you received from your mother, and of course, the presence of books at home. Tell me more about your father’s role in your becoming the person that you are. KA: One of my fondest memories of my father was his love of nature, gardening, and farming, which I learned from him. He was at his best and calmest when he was at his farm in Nasugbu and Baler. Whilst my father was a “man of the soil”, I learned to be an “artist of the soil”, a gardener who applies the principles of nature to my art. Hence the overlying themes of nature in my oeuvre of artwork. And the most resonant themes of philosophy (which my father also studied and applied in his life) are the themes relating to lessons learned from nature: patience, fortitude, temperance. From this I’ve become more acutely aware of life’s transience, making our time all the more precious, being grateful for small and simple pleasures, and the opportunities that come my way. The naïveté of my younger years meant that I didn’t have a complete grasp of the opportunities presented to me by my father, I took much for granted. Now I see why he did what he did, he gave me the tools to be able to achieve my full potential. Only now that I’m embracing that fire and heading in a direction that makes the most of my talents. I had impostor syndrome for the longest time. Always questioning and doubting myself. Now I can fully embrace who I am and it is cathartic. DT: In what way are you like them? KA: I have the different strengths of my parents. I’ve inherited their academic minds and cultured tastes, with an eye for detail and beauty. I have many mannerisms and behavious in common with my mum, in terms of poise and self-possession. But, she is like Audrey Hepburn and I am infinitely more of a Marilyn Monroe. Marilyn was also a very private person and something of a poet and writer. I guess it’s no surprise that I am drawn to art and writing; I am highly introspective, painfully self-aware and attuned to my moods and to the moods of others; like my Dad, I’m intuitive and know how to read people. DT: My last question is, how has art influenced you in your direction in life? And where are you going from here? KA: Being an introvert, I don’t always translate into easy social interactions with most people. So I channel it all into my art. It’s a language that best expresses my psyche, thoughts, and emotions. Working with my hands is healing and consolation for the isolation, depression, and anxiety attacks that grip me on bad days. That’s why as an artist of the soil, gardening and art go hand in hand. In the future, I can see myself tending to the land and becoming a farmer as my father was. It’s like coming home. The post Katya Angara – The journey of a woman and artist appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Judge outlaws hotel housing for solo child asylum seekers
A British court has declared illegal the government’s long-term hotel accommodation for lone child asylum-seekers. Judge Martin Chamberlain said the hotel housing for child migrants should only be used for “very short periods in true emergency situations.” He noted it had become “systematic and routine” since December 2021 and that interior minister Suella Braverman had “exceeded the proper limits of her powers” in allowing it. “It cannot be used systematically or routinely in circumstances where it is intended, or functions in practice, as a substitute for local authority care,” the judge said. Earlier, the charity Every Child Protected Against Trafficking sued the interior ministry over the practice of housing unaccompanied youngsters in department-run hotels. ECPAT had sued the ministry over the practice of housing unaccompanied youngsters in department-run hotels, arguing that the arrangements are “not fit for purpose.” Under United Kingdom immigration law, central and local governments are required to provide accommodation to all asylum-seekers, who are not allowed to work while they await decisions on their cases. That includes thousands of children who have arrived unaccompanied across the Channel in small boats in recent years, with the government’s increasing use of interior ministry-run hotels widely reported. WITH AFP The post Judge outlaws hotel housing for solo child asylum seekers appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Feel like royalty at Tivoli’s Royal Lounge
When you’re starving, you want to wolf down on great food. You crave the familiar, the basic but lip-smacking delicious. You naturally pick your comfort food and wish to be satisfied, happy and full. [caption id="attachment_156739" align="aligncenter" width="525"] country burger.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_156741" align="aligncenter" width="525"] Pot roast beef braised in red wine.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_156742" align="aligncenter" width="525"] BBQ Pork Ribs.[/caption] That’s the idea behind the Royal Lounge, Tivoli Royale Country Club’s banner restaurant located on Yakal Street, Tivoli Royale Subdivision, Quezon City. It understands the concept of great food in a way that it does not need to impress. It just wants to make you happy. The al fresco poolside restaurant is unpretentious. Right next to a glistening turquoise pool, aesthetically pleasant dining tables and chairs are invitingly open to the hungry, or to big families with little kids, or to corporate yuppies for a hearty lunch meeting. The atmosphere at Royal Lounge is chill and friendly. The menu consists of familiar Filipino favorites but upgraded to an edgy hotel experience. Their chicken pork adobo, for example, has boiled egg and pickled papaya. They have pancit canton, beef nilaga, sinigang na sampaloc (pork or salmon, your choice) and even beef and ox tripe kare-kare. Their free-range chicken inasal with java rice is finger-licking good. At P580, it can serve up to three people. This popular Visayan dish of marinated chicken grilled over hot coals is mouthwatering, perfect for lunch after a dip in the pool. For shrimp enthusiasts, I highly recommend the Po’Boy — Louisiana-inspired crispy chunks of deep-fried freshwater shrimp sandwiched between Pistolet buns (all their yummy bread is baked in-house!), but made even more deliriously good with the Cajun spice blend, topped with pickle relish and remoulade sauce. Sous chef Jomhar Marcial’s Nasi Goreng is perhaps the ultimate breakfast meal. Inspired by Indonesia’s national dish, the rich and flavorful fried rice is cooked in a wok and served like a surprise underneath a perfectly concocted omelet and served with a side of chicken satay. Just opened a little over a year ago, the restaurant revamped its menu. Since then it has become quite popular not only among the country club members, but a favorite venue for social and corporate events for its pleasant and spacious area — and the scrumptious food. Thanks to executive chef Emmanuel “Jonnel” Roxas who specializes in Mediterranean cuisine and backed by experience in both hotel dining (the Sheraton Manila Bay, Pan Pacific Hotel Manila) and casual American dining (TGI Friday’s), the restaurant experience at Royal Lounge has elevated ever since his arrival. Chef Jonnel shared that he is collaborative, allowing his chefs in the kitchen to be creative and imaginative in putting their signature twist to already well-known dishes. But chef Jonnel says that he still makes sure that the food served to the members and guests is still familiar, because familiarity brings comfort. “Siyempre po, sa country club, normally, the families would want to have a place where they can relax and unwind, to bond,” he said. “Yung tema kasi dito is: ‘I want to eat something I can eat, and my family can eat’. The concept is familiarity.” “The guests are not going to spend a lot of time thinking what to eat, so they will get a burger, club sandwich, pizza — the familiar, humble and simple everyday favorites,” he further explained. But chef Jonnel’s creativity in these “simple” dishes is notable. His European taste, for example, is evident in his pot roast beef, braised in red wine sauce, as if you are tasting Julia Child’s recipe of Beef Bourguignon — designed for family dining. It is a savory delight, the beef melts in the mouth and you are suddenly transported to east-central France, in Burgundy. For young kids, the menu does not disappoint with a wide selection of meals that will keep them coming back: beef and bacon sliders, cheesy macaroni, mozzarella sticks and chicken tenders and fries, spaghetti and a lot more. The country club burger, meanwhile, is a sight to behold. Towering and crammed with cheese, caramelized onions, lettuce, bacon and a fat, juicy patty in the center of it all, which is so thick it’s like meatloaf. I had to break it down just so I can fit every single layer in my mouth. The BBQ pork ribs with a side of corn is another memorable experience — fall-off-the-bone tender. But what truly made an impact on me was the new experience: Chef Jonnel’s Tapa Don Galo, a recipe close to his heart as he grew up in the coastal town of Don Galo in Paranaque, where tapas are the specialty. One spoonful of the Tapa Don Galo is like eating the complete tapsilog experience with fried garlic sprinkled on top. It is heavenly. It comes with four kinds of dipping sauces: banana ketchup, white vinegar, chopped chili and rock salt. Mix, match, ignore, you can customize your dipping sauce. But, personally, the tapa alone is a winner. Believe me, you will dream about it for days. If you are on the hunt for afive-star hotel dining experience of your all-time favorites and more, the Royal Lounge is the ideal place. Sure, you can get a burger anywhere, or a gising-gising, or a country-fried chicken, but what the Royal Lounge does is that it adds a magic sprinkle of specialness to every dish, making it still comfortable but deliciously unique. The post Feel like royalty at Tivoli’s Royal Lounge appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Lucky to come home: Growing up trans in Brazil can be deadly
Wearing a pink dress that matches the bow in her hair, eight-year-old Agatha flashes a smile that belies all she has been through as a trans child growing up in Brazil. Agatha's mother, Thamirys Nunes, says she vividly remembers the day her daughter, then almost four, asked the question that has changed both of their lives. "Mommy, can I die today and come back tomorrow as a girl?" Nunes, 33, who lives in Sao Paulo, says she knew then they both had a hard road ahead, in a country where the discrimination and dangers facing trans people run deep. Gender dysphoria among children, a sensitive subject in many places, is especially fraught in Brazil, the deadliest country in the world for trans people. There were 118 trans people murdered in Brazil last year, 29 percent of the world total, according to the National Network of Trans People of Brazil. Polarizing politics have only made things worse, in a country where far-right ex-president Jair Bolsonaro (2019-2022) made attacking "gender ideology" a central issue in elections last year, and conservative parties hold a strong majority in Congress. Nunes says she worries every time Agatha leaves the house. "I'm afraid people will call her a freak, hit her or mistreat her," she says. "I feel lucky every time she comes home." Activist mom It was not easy for her to accept Agatha for who she is, admits Nunes. "It wasn't my dream to have a little trans girl. I had lots of doubts," she says. She remembers Agatha playing with dolls and wearing earrings from the time she was small. "She had always been uncomfortable with the gender she was given at birth," she says. A psychologist told Nunes she needed to "reinforce" her child's masculine side, she says. But "trying to reaffirm her masculinity just hurt her," she told AFP. So, overcoming her own prejudices and fears of what people would think, Nunes decided to let Agatha change her name and live as a girl. It has been a transformative experience for Nunes, too. Today, she is an activist for the rights of trans children and teens. Last year, she founded an organization called My Trans Child, which has nearly 600 members. 'Abandoned to their fate' Although Bolsonaro lost last October's elections, replaced by the more tolerant administration of veteran leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, activists say the situation for trans people remains alarming. Aline Melo, a member of Nunes's organization, says things have only gotten worse in recent years. Her son, 14-year-old Luiz Guilherme, is trans. "He's proud of who he is. But he knows he can't always be himself when he leaves the house," she says. Nunes says the lack of government protections to combat rapes and violence against trans youths is "absurd." "We want public policies to protect (this group) that is abandoned to their fate," she says. Forced to leave home Celeste Armbrust still remembers how she felt when she embraced her own gender identity, her eyes lighting up beneath her new pink bangs. "I felt like myself. I felt free," says the 17-year-old trans girl, who began hormone therapy at 16 -- the age authorized under a 2020 decision by Brazil's Federal Council of Medicine. She was brave enough to unveil her new identity at school. But she is afraid to leave the house alone. "She's fearful of being singled out and suffering for it," says her mother, Claudia Armbrust. Brazil, a sprawling country of 214 million people, has just five public centers to assist children and teens on gender identity issues. There is a long waiting list at Sao Paulo University Clinical Hospital, which is helping around 400 such minors. "We help them feel understood," says psychologist Larissa Todorov. But few in Brazil have access to such programs, which struggle with insufficient funding. Carolina Iara, 30, a trailblazing state legislator who is Brazil's first intersex lawmaker, says the country has made progress since her childhood. But not nearly enough, she adds. "There are still trans kids who get kicked out of the house at 13 and have to turn to prostitution," she says. The post Lucky to come home: Growing up trans in Brazil can be deadly appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Fear, grief after 41 dead in ‘brutal’ Uganda school attack
Grieving families buried their dead in western Uganda on Sunday while others searched desperately for missing loved ones after militants killed dozens of students in a "brutal" school attack. Officials say at least 41 people, mostly students, were massacred Friday in the worst attack of its kind in Uganda since 2010. President Yoweri Museveni, in his first statement since the attack, vowed to hunt the militants "into extinction". Victims were hacked, shot and burned in the late-night raid on Lhubiriha Secondary School in Mpondwe, which lies less than two kilometres (1.2 miles) from the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo. Pope Francis offered a prayer on Sunday for "the young student victims of the brutal attack" that has shocked Uganda and drawn condemnation from around the globe. Ugandan authorities have blamed the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a militia based in DR Congo, and are pursuing the attackers who fled back toward the border with six abductees. "Their action -- the desperate, cowardly, terrorist action -- will not save them," said Museveni. Fifteen others from the community, including five girls, were still missing, said Eriphaz Muhindi, chairman of Kasese district, which shares a long and forested border with DR Congo. - 'Great pain' - Families desperate for news waited all night in the cold outside a mortuary in nearby Bwera. Those able to identify loved ones embraced and wept as they took away the bodies in coffins. "We flocked (to) the hospital and found many bodies -- of boys and girls, some cut with pangas (machetes), others hit with hammers on the head," Roti Masereka, a farmer, told AFP. He left with the body of his brother -- 35-year-old Mbusa Kirurihandi, a security guard at the school -- and his 17-year-old son. But a third son, aged 15, is missing, and the family is distraught. "Today we have buried two bodies, the father and his son. But we are still looking for the missing child," he said. The government said Sunday it would assist with funeral arrangements and support the injured. Seventeen victims were burned beyond recognition when the attackers set a dormitory ablaze, frustrating efforts to identify the dead and account for the missing. Muhindi said they had been taken away for DNA testing, a process that could take some time. "This is a great pain to their families," he told AFP. - 'They wore military camouflage' - Officials said 37 students were killed -- 17 in the torched men's dormitory, and 20 female students who ran but were hacked to death. Elias Kule, an 18-year-old survivor, said the boys locked their dormitory door when they heard gunshots and saw armed men entering the school. "They wore military camouflage. Each had a hammer, a hoe, knives, pangas (machetes) and guns with magazines," he told AFP. He said the attackers started firing through the windows and doors, hitting at least one student, before lobbing a "bomb" into the dormitory that started a fire. "I ran out of oxygen, I covered my mouth and nose with a cloth... I got blood and smeared myself on the head and ears to claim I was dead," he said, waiting until the coast was clear to escape. Four non-students, including the security guard Kirurihandi, were also killed. - 'Appalling act' - The African Union, France and the United States, a close ally of Uganda, offered their condolences and condemned the bloodshed. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said: "Those responsible for this appalling act must be brought to justice." Questions have been raised about how the attackers managed to evade detection in a border region with a heavy military presence. Major General Dick Olum told AFP that intelligence suggested the presence of the ADF in the area at least two days before the attack, and an investigation would be needed to establish what went wrong. Uganda and DR Congo launched a joint offensive in 2021 to drive the ADF out of their Congolese strongholds, but the measures have failed to blunt the group's violence. Originally insurgents in Uganda, the ADF gained a foothold in eastern DRC in the 1990s and have since been accused of killing thousands of civilians. The Islamic State group claims the ADF as its Central African affiliate. Attacks in Uganda are rare but in June 1998, 80 students were burnt to death in their dormitories in an ADF raid on Kichwamba Technical Institute near the DR Congo border. More than 100 students were abducted. The attack was the deadliest in Uganda since 2010, when 76 people were killed in twin bombings in Kampala by the Somalia-based group Al-Shabaab. gm-np/bp © Agence France-Presse The post Fear, grief after 41 dead in ‘brutal’ Uganda school attack appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Knowledge Channel, AboitizPower lead support for more mobile libraries
The Knowledge Channel Foundation Inc. recently partnered with Aboitiz Power Corp. and Aboitiz Foundation Inc.’s business-to-business clientele in providing Knowledge Channel Portable Media Libraries to partner schools. These schools were given a KC Portable Media Library — consisting of an external hard drive containing more than 1,500 Department of Education-aligned, curriculum-based video lessons and digital materials — and a 43-inch smart TV with a built-in Knowledge Channel app. Along with the tools, in-person and virtual technical training were conducted to help equip teachers in maximizing the learning resources they received. AboitizPower customer-corporations who contributed to the project were NEO, JTekt Philippines Corporation, Cargill Bulacan, Cargill Pulilan, Pascual Laboratories Inc., Philippine Resins Industries Inc. Mabuhay Interflour Mills Inc. and Embarcadero Land Ventures Inc. Meanwhile, partner schools include Gat Andres Bonifacio Elementary School, Santiago National High School, Baliuag Central School, Rufino A. Cruz Memorial Elementary School, Gat Francisco Balagtas High School, Josephine Khonghun SPED Center, Mariveles National High School Batangas II and Barangay 17 Child Development Center Day. “I’m very proud that at this moment our partners are at our side to help our youth… To have these digital learning modalities go into our schools is a very rare opportunity,” Baliuag South Central School Principal III Rosalie S. Santos said in the vernacular. “Because of the Knowledge Channel, visuals and thereby learning are also made more appealing to kids.” “Thanks to AboitizPower, this project was able to reach us. The words ‘thank you’ are inadequate for our overflowing gratitude for your support in helping improve education,” she added. By establishing these initiatives, KCFI continues to be at the forefront of helping improve education by developing educational video resource libraries, as well as enhancing partnerships and programs for teachers and other child development stakeholders. These educators are also able to save time as they are spared the task of scanning books, editing videos and creating presentations. “Accessibility to learning is a common challenge across public schools in the country. We thank our partners from various industries and KCFI for helping us leverage multimedia resources and innovative tools to help improve the quality and accessibility of education,” said AboitizPower first vice president-head of Retail James Byron Yu. AboitizPower and its partners continue to support public schools across the Philippines by helping improve the quality of education and welfare of students through greater access to media and technology. The Knowledge Channel accepts donations through BPI Acct. No. 0201-0409-14. More information about the organization can be learned through their website knowledgechannel.org. The post Knowledge Channel, AboitizPower lead support for more mobile libraries appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Thousands flee flooded homes after Ukraine dam destroyed
Thousands were fleeing their homes Wednesday after the destruction of a frontline Russian-held dam in Ukraine flooded dozens of villages and parts of a nearby city, sparking fears of a humanitarian disaster. Downstream from the breached Kakhovka dam, Ukrainian police and troops in the southern city of Kherson were bringing people out from inundated areas in inflatable boats, most clutching only a few documents and pets. Despite the evacuations, officials said Russian forces have kept shelling the residential neighborhoods. Ukraine and Russia have traded blame for the dam being ripped open early Tuesday, prompting Turkey's president to propose to both nations' leaders an international probe of the breach. The destruction has also raised fears of an environmental disaster and nuclear safety risks as it provides cooling water for Europe's largest nuclear plant. One woman, Nataliya Korzh, 68, had swum part of the way to escape from her house. She emerged from a rescue boat barefoot, her legs covered with scratches, her hands trembling from cold. "All my rooms are underwater. My fridge is floating, the freezer, everything. We're used to shooting, but a natural disaster is a real nightmare. I wasn't expecting that," she told AFP. She feared for her two dogs and cat, which she was unable to save. "To get to the room where the dogs were, I would have had to dive. I don't know what's happened to them." The water was waist-deep in the central streets of Kherson and the ground floors of buildings were submerged. A spokesman for Ukraine's emergency services, Oleksandr Khorunzhyi, said that "currently there is no information about the dead or injured". Water levels in Kherson have risen by five meters (16 feet), he said. While finger-pointing continued over the dam's destruction, Moscow accused Kyiv of blowing up a key pipeline that Russia used before the war to export ammonia and whose re-activation it has requested as part of grain deal talks. Continued shelling The governor of the Kherson region, Oleksandr Prokudin, said 1,700 people had been evacuated so far and reported that ongoing shelling was endangering rescuers and locals. Moscow-installed officials on the Russian-occupied side of the river said on Tuesday that more than 1,200 people had been evacuated. A policeman, Sergiy, 38, was using a radio to coordinate the rescue boats. "Today we've already saved 30 people, 10 pets. There was one child. We will work until we've brought out all the people," he told AFP. Washington warned there would be "likely many deaths" due to the breach of the Kakhovka dam. Kyiv said the destruction of the dam -- seized by Russia in the early hours of the war -- was an attempt by Moscow to hamper its long-awaited offensive, which Ukraine's leader stressed would not be affected. The United Nations warned that hundreds of thousands could be affected on both sides of the frontline. The governor of the Kherson region, Oleksandr Prokudin, said 1,852 houses had been flooded by early Wednesday. "According to our forecasts, the water level will increase by one meter within the next 20 hours," he warned. An official in President Volodymyr Zelensky's office, Daria Zarivna, said that in the occupied territory "the Russians simply abandoned people" and in the town of Oleshky on the opposite bank from Kherson, "many spent the night on the roofs of houses". 'Environmental bomb' Zelensky accused Russia of detonating an "environmental bomb of mass destruction", saying authorities expected up to 80 settlements with tens of thousands of residents to be flooded and urging the world to "react". "This crime carries enormous threats and will have dire consequences for people's lives and the environment," Zelensky said. But the explosion would "not affect Ukraine's ability to de-occupy its own territories", he added. Last October, Zelensky accused Russia of planting mines at the dam, warning that its destruction would spur a new wave of refugees into Europe. Kyiv said 150 tonnes of engine oil had spilled into the river, and the agricultural ministry said about 10 thousand hectares of farmland on the right bank of the river would be flooded and "several times more" on the left bank. China expressed "serious concern" over the dam destruction, while EU chief Charles Michel called it a "war crime" and NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg condemned it as "outrageous". Russia has said the dam was partially destroyed by "multiple strikes" from Ukrainian forces and urged the world to condemn Kyiv's "criminal acts". Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's office said he proposed setting up an international commission to investigate the destruction of the dam in calls with Zelensky and Russian leader Vladimir Putin. The Soviet-era dam, built in the 1950s, sits on the Dnipro River, which provides cooling water for the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant some 150 kilometers (90 miles) away. The UN nuclear watchdog agency said the dam break was posing "no short-term risk" to the plant. Separately, Moscow accused a Ukrainian "sabotage" group of blowing up a section of the Togliatti-Odesa pipeline that Russia used to export ammonia and that is part of the international talks on allowing grain exports from Ukraine amid the conflict with Russia. Ukrainian officials have accused Russian forces of firing at the ammonia pipeline. The post Thousands flee flooded homes after Ukraine dam destroyed appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»