Melba Padilla Maggay, Ph.D.

Confronting EDSA Fictions: Renewing our Collective Memory

2011-03-01T18:51:00.000+08:00

Twenty-five years after EDSA 1, we have yet to come to an agreement on its precise meaning and significance.The hard Left and disillusioned elements tend to treat it as a historical cipher, a mere blip in the radar screen of this country’s long history of unfinished revolutions. No revolution has really happened, for it was neither a genuine transfer of power to the people nor a decisive

DIARY FROM THE BARRICADES

2011-02-27T18:12:00.004+08:00

( As printed in 1985-86 Philippines Yearbook of the Fookien Times ) The deciding factor in the successful February Revolution was undoubtedly the people – the hundreds of thousands who took to the streets and formed the human barricades that stopped the armed might of the dictator. The author was one of those who made EDSA her home during those four historic days, and this is her story.

Hearing the Call of the Great Flood

2009-10-07T13:16:00.004+08:00

“Ate, tubig! Dali, may tubig!” I was upstairs trying to finish writing a long-delayed book when I heard this shout from my sister down below. I rushed downstairs and saw water seeping through the door. ‘Where is all this water coming from ?’ I asked, fearing that the Marikina River, about a kilometer from the back of the house, has overflowed. ‘From out front,” she said. True enough, the water

ERAP'S PARDON IS CHEAP GRACE

2007-10-28T23:18:00.000+08:00

Dear friends,We are sending herewith the ISACC draft statement on Erap’s pardon. We focused on the moral issue as this is our major concern as a faith-based organization.Please send in your comments on or before 12:00NN tomorrow, so we can finalize and send it in to the newspapers before 5:00PM. You may affix your signature at the end of the document if you subscribe to the Statement.We would

A Derelict Democracy

2007-05-23T17:20:00.000+08:00

This Monday, May 14, the citizens of the oldest republic in Asia will troop to the polls and cast their votes in the country’s mid-term elections. Many are likely to vote quite willy-nilly, with no great expectations that the exercise will mean something to the vast poor crowding in its rapidly mushrooming slums. It is a political right that has steadily lost its luster since the apparatus of

Why I'm voting for Kapatiran

2007-05-23T14:30:00.000+08:00

http://archive.inquirer.net/view.php?db=1&story_id=65724First posted 01:27:41 (Mla time) May 14, 2007 Melba Padilla Maggay Inquirer THE SOCIAL WEATHER STATIONS finding that 77 percent of the people would vote according to conscience whether or not the candidate will win is welcome news to those who wish to see the end of the "segurista" (sure thing) mentality that keeps qualified candidates from

Religion, Human Rights and Development Cooperation: Some New Wineskins*

2005-09-17T19:29:00.000+08:00

IntroductionIn the face of the resurgence of Hindu nationalism, an Indian writer puts to words the central concern pressing upon us : “There is now a peculiar double-bind in Indian politics: the ills of religion have found political expression but the strengths of it have not been available for checking corruption and violence in public life.” 1This about sums up the task before us.By way of

A Call for Moral Courage and Social Discipline

2005-06-20T15:52:00.000+08:00

We, the officers, members and friends of the Institute for Studies in Asian Church and Culture (ISACC), express our deep concern over the gross scandals rocking the government of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Likewise, we decry opportunistic attempts to use these as political fodder for destabilization and a power grab on the part of the opposition.

Plots, Plausibility and the Politics of People Power

2005-06-16T15:52:00.000+08:00

Once again, the swords are drawn and the gathering armies of both the administration and the opposition are plotting in the shadows their next moves. So far, the center seems to hold although it has been fatally exposed as having a soft underbelly; murky revelations from the slimy underworld of illegal gambling and hints of reptilian tricks from an even slimier

The War on Terrorism and Its Moral Ambiguities

2005-04-23T17:12:00.000+08:00

Years ago there was a movie on the presence of the US bases here, likening the fight against it to that of a little moth taking on a giant eagle, 'minsa'y isang gamugamo ang lumaban sa lawin…' This comes to mind again as we see a small cell of terrorists inflict damage, perhaps far beyond what was originally planned, on a perceived arch enemy whose ubiquitous power and sheer size annoys many

The Enigma of John Paul II

2005-04-09T19:16:00.000+08:00

The weeping crowds say it more than words can: in death as in life, this Pope moves the hearts of millions.There is always a deep, solemn resonance that echoes in our hearts when a man of such great stature passes away. Karol Wojtila is undoubtedly a large man. On his watch, the lofty but paling shadow of Rome over its more than a billion faithful has sharpened once again into a stark chiaroscuro

Towards Contextualization from Within: Some Tools and Culture Themes

2005-04-09T18:30:00.000+08:00

IntroductionIt has been more than three decades since gospel and culture issues, now technically known as ‘contextualization,’ became a major concern for Two-Thirds World churches. The Willowbank Consultation on Gospel and Culture held in Bermuda in 1978 acknowledged that human beings are all creatures of their culture, and that everything we think, say and do is conditioned by it.1 This means

Welcome to my new site!

2005-04-09T17:33:00.000+08:00

I hope you'll enjoy each article you read. You can send me any feedback about the articles. Thanks!