1,046 total reads
Ating inaalala sa araw na ito si San Juan Bautista, na kung saan ipinaglaban niya ang katotohanan hanggang sa kaniyang huling hininga. Itinuro niya sa atin na mahalaga na huwag tayong matakot na ipaglaban ang katotohanan, ang pagiging tapat, at tumayo para sa ating kapwa na ginigipit, iniipit, at pinagsasamantalahan. Higit sa lahat, ang pagbabago hindi lamang sa ikabubuti natin, kundi pati na rin sa ikabubuti ng ating mga kapatid.
706 total reads
Mga Kapanalig, dumating na ba sa inyo si Judith? Kung hindi ninyo siya kilala, si Judith ang buwan-buwan na dumadalaw sa atin para maningil ng mga bayarin. Mas kilala siya bilang โdue date.โย
Noong mga nakaraang buwan, naging mainit na usapan ang napakataas na singil sa kuryente. Kaya naman, nanawagan si Pangulong BBM sa kanyang SONA na amyendahan ang Electric Power Industry Reform Act (o EPIRA) at tanggalin ang system loss charges sa bill ng kuryente. Ang system loss ay tumutukoy sa kuryenteng pinababayaran sa mga consumers pero hindi naman nakararating sa atin. Kasama rito ang tinatawag na technical losses o kuryenteng likas na nawawala sa pagdaloy nito sa mga kable, at non-technical losses na dulot ng pagnanakaw o mga illegal na koneksyon. Ang system loss charges ay halos 6% ng electricity bill ng Meralco at umaabot ng 16% sa ilang electric cooperatives sa mga probinsya. Wika ng pangulo, kailangang itigil na raw ang pagpasan ng mga consumers sa system loss na hindi naman nila kasalanan.
Anong latest sa panawagang ito ni PBBM?
May system loss charges pa rin. Pero noong nakaraang linggo, idineklara ng Bureau of Internal Revenue (o BIR) ang pagtanggal ng 12% value-added tax (o VAT) sa system loss charges sa electric bill natin. Ayon sa Department of Finance, tinatayang katumbas ito ng anim na bilyong pisong savings para sa mga consumers kada taon, pero mawawalan naman ng sampung bilyong pisong kรญta kada taon ang gobyerno. Samantala, ang ganap na pagtanggal sa system loss charges mismo ay posibleng maipatupad bago ang huling SONA ng pangulo sa susunod na taon dahil, ayon sa Department of Energy, kinakailangang amyendahan ang EPIRA.
Para sa IBON Foundation, ang pagtanggal ng VAT sa system loss charges ay nagbibigay ng maliit na ginhawa sa mga consumers. Hindi rin daw dapat mawala ang atensyon sa mas malalim na problema sa power generation, transmission, at distribution na dahilan ng napakamahal na kuryente sa Pilipinas. Ayon sa IBON Foundation, ang tunay na problema ay nakaugat sa pagsasapribado at pagbibigay-prayoridad sa kรญta ng power sector sa ilalim ng EPIRA.
Para naman sa grupong People for Power Coalition, ang mahal na kuryente sa bansa ay nakaugat sa pagdepende natin sa fossil fuels gaya ng coal at petrolyo, korapsyon sa power sector, at sa bigong pangako ng EPIRA na mapababa ang presyo ng kuryente. Binigyang-daan ng EPIRA ang pagsasapribado ng power sector para magkaroon ng kompetisyon sa merkado na magpapababa sa presyo ng kuryente, pero kabaligtaran ang nangyari. Nagkaroon ng tinatawag na oligopoly, kung saan iilang dambuhalang korporasyon lang ang may kontrol sa merkado sa sektor ng power generation, transmission, at distribution. Dahil dito, posible ring nagkakaroon ng sabwatan sa pagitan ng mga kompanyang may hawak sa presyuhan para mapalaki pa ang kanilang kรญta.
Ang enerhiya ay isang batayang pangangailangan upang tayo ay umunlad at mabuhay nang may dignidad. Ito ay isang common good o kabutihang panlahat. Nakasaad sa Magna Carta for Residential Electricity Consumers na lahat ng consumers ay may karapatan sa de-kalidad, maaasahan, abot-kaya, ligtas, at tuluy-tuloy na suplay ng kuryente. Kaya naman, huwag natin hayaang mapako lang ang mga pangako ng gobyerno sa taumbayan. Huwag natin hayaang magpatuloy ang paniningil sa atin ng napakamahal na kuryente.
Mga Kapanalig, sinabi sa Roma 13:7 na โIbigay ninyo sa bawat isa ang nararapat sa kanya. Magbayad kayo sa mga dapat bayaran at magbigay kayo ng buwis sa dapat buwisan.โ Paalala rin ito sa mga pulitiko, negosyante, at opisiyal ng gobyerno na dapat makatarungan ang sistema ng paniningil sa isang batayang pangangailangan gaya ng kuryente.
Sumainyo ang katotohanan.
3,404 total reads
I am deeply concerned about the continuing escalation of the war in the Middle East. What began with American and Israeli attacks on Iran last February has developed into a wider regional conflict, with Iran retaliating against American military installations in several Gulf countries, including the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman. Iran maintains that it has nothing against its Gulf Arab neighbors and that its targets are mainly American military facilities located within their territories. But the consequences of these attacks are being felt far beyond the military bases. Civilian lives, airports, energy facilities and international shipping are being placed at risk.
Saudi Arabia has also been drawn into the conflict, with renewed missile and drone attacks by Yemenโs Iran-backed Houthi movement. Just this weekend, attacks were reported near Riyadhโs international airport. The danger is that countries which have sought to avoid direct involvement in the war are nevertheless being drawn into its expanding circle of violence.
My apprehension is not only for the citizens of these Gulf countries, but also for the millions of Filipinos who live and work there. According to Philippine government estimates reported in March 2026, there are approximately 2.35 million Filipinos in the six Gulf states: 975,000 in the UAE, 813,000 in Saudi Arabia, 250,000 in Qatar, 211,000 in Kuwait, 56,000 in Bahrain and 49,000 in Oman. These are our fellow Filipinos who have left their families behind to earn a living abroad. Their safety and welfare must remain a priority for our government.
I am equally troubled by Israelโs continuing involvement in the war against Iran, even as its military operations in Gaza and Lebanon continue. In Gaza, Palestinians are still dying despite the ceasefire, while families displaced by the war are forced to live among the ruins of their destroyed homes. In Lebanon, renewed Israeli strikes and exchanges of fire with Hezbollah threaten to unravel the fragile ceasefire. How much more suffering must ordinary people endure before the parties involved seriously commit themselves to peace?
This situation has become a personal concern for me as well. I am scheduled to travel to Rome for meetings in early October, taking an Emirates flight that will transit through the UAE. During my previous trip to Rome, I deliberately avoided the Gulf region and took a China Airlines flight through Beijing instead. I now find myself wondering whether I should have made the same choice for this forthcoming journey.
There is another dimension to this war that troubles me deeply: the growing use of artificial intelligence in modern warfare. Reports indicate that AI-assisted systems have already been used in military targeting operations against Iran, as well as in Gaza and Lebanon. These technologies can accelerate the identification and selection of targets, compressing decisions that once took hours into mere minutes or seconds.
At the same time, leading AI developers themselves have been warning about the growing difficulty of understanding and controlling the behavior of increasingly powerful AI systems. This raises a disturbing question: Could AI-assisted military decision-making have contributed to the speed and scale of this recent escalation? We do not yet have sufficient evidence to answer that question. But it is a question that urgently deserves investigation, especially as the race toward artificial superintelligence continues.
Are we allowing the development of technologies that can accelerate the machinery of war faster than human wisdom, moral discernment and diplomacy can restrain it?
I pray that the leaders of the nations involved will find the courage to step back from this dangerous escalation and return to the negotiating table. Peace cannot be achieved simply by developing more sophisticated weapons or by threatening one another with greater destruction.
The lives of millions of innocent people, including our own Filipino brothers and sisters working in the Middle East, are at stake. We cannot afford to leave their future to the logic of war, much less to machines that may one day operate beyond our capacity to understand and control them.
3,935 total reads
Gospel Reading for September 22, 2026 – Luke 8: 19-21
ALL THE TIME
The mother of Jesus and his brothers came to him but were unable to join him because of the crowd. He was told, โYour mother and your brothers are standing outside and they wish to see you.โ He said to them in reply, โMy mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and act on it.โ
โโโโ
There are those who interpret this Gospel to mean that, for Jesus, Mary and his relatives were not important to him. But why would someone who preached about love ALL THE TIME fail to give importance to the woman who bore him in her womb, nursed him, raised him according to Jewish tradition, and, most of all, whose โyesโ was so important for the Fatherโs plan of salvation to come to fruition?
It was precisely for this reason that Jesus pointed out the quality that made Mary truly blessed: she heard the Word of God and acted on it. Even while dying on the Cross, Jesus entrusted Mary to John, symbolically giving her to all of us as our Mother.
Although it is not mentioned in the Bible, Jesus would naturally have gone outside to see Mary and his relatives. After he began his public ministry at the age of thirty, he no longer lived with Mary. Let us not forget that Jesus was born into a family, and being Jesus, his family surely mattered very much to him.
Lord Jesus, help us always to listen to your Word and to act upon it. Amen.
707 total reads
707 total reads Mga Kapanalig, dumating na ba sa inyo si Judith? Kung hindi ninyo siya kilala, si Judith ang buwan-buwan na dumadalaw sa atin para
34,142 total reads
34,142 total reads Mga Kapanalig, dumarami ang mga Pilipinong overweight at obese. Ayon sa Food and Nutrition Research Institute, 16% ng mga batang edad 5 hanggang
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66,288 total reads Mga Kapanalig, sa Ebanghelyo ni San Mateo, matutunghayan natin ang pagtuligsa ni Hesus sa mga tagapagturo ng kautusan at sa mga Pariseo. Mababasa
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132,344 total reads Kapanalig, laganap sa ating bayan.. sa ating mga Pilipino, lalu na sa mga lider ng bansa ang โculture of superiorityโ, maging sa loob
151,610 total reads
151,610 total reads Kapanalig, simpleng lohika lamang ang kailangan ng mga Senador-judges para pagbotohan kung iko-convict o hindi si Vice-President Sara Duterte. Ito ang kasagutan ni
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322,594 total reads Ika-14 na Linggo sa Karaniwang Panahon (B) Ezekiel 2, 2-5 Salmo 122, 1-2a. 2bkd. 3-4 Mata namiโy nakatuon sa awa ng Panginoon. 2
366,174 total reads
366,174 total reads ๐๐จ๐ง๐จ๐ซ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐๐ข๐ง๐ญ ๐จ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐๐ฒ: ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐จ๐ง ๐จ๐ ๐ ๐๐ข๐ญ๐ก ๐๐ง๐ ๐๐ง๐ฌ๐ฉ๐ข๐ซ๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐๐๐ซ๐๐ก ๐ โข ๐๐ญ. ๐ ๐ซ๐๐ง๐๐๐ฌ ๐จ๐ ๐๐จ๐ฆ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ Saint Frances of
366,203 total reads
366,203 total reads ๐๐จ๐ง๐จ๐ซ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐๐ข๐ง๐ญ ๐จ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐๐ฒ: ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐จ๐ง ๐จ๐ ๐ ๐๐ข๐ญ๐ก ๐๐ง๐ ๐๐ง๐ฌ๐ฉ๐ข๐ซ๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐๐๐ซ๐๐ก ๐ โข ๐๐ญ. ๐๐จ๐ก๐ง ๐จ๐ ๐๐จ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ต ๐๐ฐ๐ฉ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ง
366,182 total reads
366,182 total reads ๐๐จ๐ง๐จ๐ซ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐๐ข๐ง๐ญ ๐จ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐๐ฒ: ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐จ๐ง ๐จ๐ ๐ ๐๐ข๐ญ๐ก ๐๐ง๐ ๐๐ง๐ฌ๐ฉ๐ข๐ซ๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐๐๐ซ๐๐ก ๐ โข ๐๐ญ. ๐๐จ๐ฅ๐๐ญ๐ญ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐ข๐ด๐ฌ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ค๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ฆ
366,194 total reads
366,194 total reads ๐๐จ๐ง๐จ๐ซ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐๐ข๐ง๐ญ ๐จ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐๐ฒ: ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐จ๐ง ๐จ๐ ๐ ๐๐ข๐ญ๐ก ๐๐ง๐ ๐๐ง๐ฌ๐ฉ๐ข๐ซ๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐๐๐ซ๐๐ก ๐ โข ๐๐ญ. ๐๐ฅ๐ข๐ฏ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ต ๐๐ญ๐ช๐ท๐ช๐ข, ๐ฑ๐ข๐ต๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง
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