In the summer of 1999, with his friends and co-workers, Paul Farmer, a medical anthropologist, is walking to the border between Mexico and Guatemala. It is a heavily militarized frontier, a condition that we all know in our region. The group is on the way to meet a respondent, Julia. She has lost her husband, a health worker, described as having been “disappeared” by the Guatemalan security forces. She has also a 19-year old brother, tagged as a rebel soldier, who had been killed in combat. The brother’s body was displayed by the Guatemalan soldiers as trophy.

LONELINESS IS a painful reality. It can appear as a faint dis-ease, an inner dissatisfaction, and a restlessness in the heart. It is part of being human, because there is nothing in existence that can completely fulfill the needs of the human heart. It can become a source of creative energy. It is the fundamental force that urges mystics to a deeper union with God. It can be a force for good. However, loneliness shows other, less positive faces. It can lead to depression and chaos. It can become agony, a scream of pain. It can even become a taste of death.

A HOSPITAL CHAPLAIN NARRATED TO ME HIS EXPERIENCE WITH A DYING man. He was paged to proceed to room 205 in order to administer the last sacrament and when possible to make himself available for confession. When he entered the room he saw that the man was still conscious but waiting for his final moment on earth. The chaplain slowly approached the person and whispered to his ears an invitation: “Tumawag ka sa Panginoon, Tumawag ka sa Panginoon (Call on the Lord)!” To the chaplain’s surprise, the dying man opened his eyes and looked at him as if he wanted to tell him something. So he bent down and placed his ears near the dying man to listen to what he wanted to say. The dying man mustered enough strength and asked the chaplain this question: “Anong number, Father (What number, Father)?”

NAGA CITY (Nov. 16) – Police investigators here are nearing the completion of their investigation into the fatal Jollibee Panganiban robbery two weeks ago. Metrobank security guard Rowenel Gavarra died from multiple gunshot wounds after being shot by the armed suspects. The fast-food chain's security guard, Joey Robarios, was also shot but survived the incident. Gavarra was with an employee of Metrobank, picking up around Php 212,000 in cash from the said establishment. The eight robbers were able to escape with the money by motorcycle.

Iriga City - Mt. Iriga, known to the Irigueños as Mt. Asog, a popular destination for mountain climbers, home to some 3,500 Aeta aborigines in the Rinconada district of Camarines Sur, now poses a threat to the lives and dwellings of some 80,000 local residents living in at least nine barangays of the 36 villages in this city.

BULAN, SORSOGON – SOME governors and mayors in Bikol are now questioning how the P10-Billion “CARE” (Calamity Assistance Rehabilitation Effort) fund released by the national government early this year is ebing implemented by major government agencies to repair and revive Bikol provinces devastated by the 2006 typhoons.

KIDAPAWAN CITY, Philippines, June 22 (UCAN) -- Relatives and friends of a former Church employee killed with his wife last year hope the two will not become just additional names on a long list of unsolved killings.

The 60th Foundation Day celebration of the University of Nueva Caceres is not only a celebration of a learning institution which contributed immensely to the development of the region and the nation; it is also a celebration of a life-long dream of a visionary. When Don Jaime Hernandez founded the UNC in 1948 together with its other incorporators, they envisioned the realization of homegrown education that was “comparable if not better that any compared in Manila.”

From “Isang Bansa, Isang Wika” (one nation, one language), we now celebrate for this year’s Buwan ng Wika (language month) “Maraming Wika, Matatag na Bansa” (a gift of tongues for a strong nation). According to Ricardo Ma. Nolasco, Ph.D., Tagapangulo, Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino, in his speech at the 2007 Nakem Conference at Mariano Marcos State University on May 23, 2007, this change is justified thus:

In closing Buwan ng Wika, it bears to stress the critical importance of one’s native language/s like our Bikol—with English and Filipino/Tagalog—as a fundamental freedom and basic human right of each individual and linguistic community.