MEDIUM RARE Jullie Y. Daza Stealthily, as if no one’s watching, it’s arriving, tonight. Christmas Eve, the magical moment of midnight signaling the arrival of the Baby who was born that he might die 33 years later, a common criminal condemned by the very people who had hailed him as their king....
Medium Rare Jullie Y. Daza What have we done to Christmas? Jammed in traffic. Crushed by fellow travelers at the pier, the airport, bus terminals. Flight schedules altered here and there. Police presence reminding the guilty and innocent of crime and other dangers. High and higher prices at the...
MEDIUM RARE Jullie Y. Daza In the olden golden days the expectation was for Christmas to cast its spell, a spell being an action that alters the dimensions of time-space-matter. Christmas, it is said, is the day that holds time together. The ghosts of Christmases past linger, touching the present...
MEDIUM RARE Jullie Y. Daza Nida left her house in Marikina at 7 a.m. for work in Intramuros, Manila, boarding her faithful motorcycle and hoping for a smooth, quick ride. She reached her destination two hours later. “To think I was on a bike!” she exclaimed in exasperation. What if she had been...
MEDIUM RARE Jullie Y. Daza Why is rice so expensive? Because our farmers aren’t planting enough, because the costs of planting are going up, and because, even as that is happening, smugglers are bringing in imported rice and hoarding tons for bigger profit margins. According to Cathy Estavillo,...
A member of the House minority bloc has admitted to being swayed by the changes he has seen on the controversial Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF) bill, which majority solons have been aggressively pushing for. Northern Samar 1st district Rep. Paul Daza (Facebook) Senior Deputy Minority Leader and...
MEDIUM RARE Jullie Y. Daza Undoubtedly THE cultural event of the year, the staging of Puccini’s great opera, Turandot, a lavish production that raises the bar and audience expectations from now on. For the 700 pupils that VP and Education Secretary Sara Duterte brought with her to the dress...
MEDIUM RARE Jullie Y. Daza At age 94, there’s not much in the world that surprises Tony Pastor, leading citizen of Batangas City who sings and plays piano, a philanthropist who keeps himself happy by helping others. But when he received a letter last month from Lipa Archbishop Gilbert A. Garcera...
The President of the Philippines will no longer become chairman of the board of directors of the proposed Maharlika Wealth Fund (MWF). President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. (Noel Pabalate/ MANILA BULLETIN) Instead, the Department of Finance (DOF) secretary will sit as chairman of the board that...
A step in the right direction. Northern Samar 1st district Rep. Paul Daza (Facebook) That's how Northern Samar 1st district Rep. Paul Daza described the Houae leadership's decision to amend the controversial Maharlika Wealth Fund (MWF) bill and remove the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS)...
MEDIUM RARE Jullie Y. Daza “It’s our money!” “Don’t you dare touch it!” In a nutshell, that’s how SSS and GSIS members, including retirees who are on pension mode, express their distrust of whoever will handle, manage, use the money to be poured into the so-called Maharlika Wealth...
The pilot thickens on the alleged anomalous P1.1-billion fund transfer between the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) and the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA). Northern Samar 1st district Rep. Paul Daza (Screenshot from Zoom) This, after whistleblower and...