Karina Lagdameo-Santillan

When President Duterte assumed office, he promised that his administration would look into the state of minng in the country, especially with regards to its impact on the environment and on the surrounding communities. He nominated a staunch environmental advocate as…

“Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” Emma Lazarus (1883) America, the…

It was a Saturday afternoon, usually the busiest day of the week in Metro Manila. Streets were jammed as people went about their weekend activities and chores. Amidst the hustle and bustle, a motley group of people braved the traffic…

Millions, yes, millions of devotees converge in the navel of Manila, Quiapo, every January 9 to celebrate the Feast of the Black Nazarene. Once a year, the streets of downtown Manila along the route of the Traslacion is transformed into…

“Human rights do not have the universal application that would be desirable because they do not flow from the universal power of the human being, but only from the power that one part now exercises over the whole. If even…

How do we deal with the diversity? When we do not respect diversity, we tend to claim that ‘ours’ is superior to ‘theirs’. This stand fosters division among us and promotes bitterness. Each country, each culture, each family and even each…

Andres Bonifacio, Filipino hero and founder of the Katipunan which launched the Philippine Revolution to gain Philippine Independence from centuries of Spanish Rule during which time a revolutionary government was formed, is commemorated as a yearly National Holiday on his…

This morning, I woke up and found this lovely note from an old college friend on my Facebook page which, for some reason, touched my heart. Sure, we receive notes and posts like these which at times may sound mushy…

Yesterday, Mohammad Nazrul Islam, a humanist friend from Bangladesh, and country representative of The Community for Human Development currently developing volunteer educational and livelihood initiatives in the seaside district of Cox’s Bazaar, sent me some pictures of the Rohingya refugees…

It was the Sunday right after the Filipino people’s traditional visit to their beloved dead in the cemeteries along with their additional remembrance of those killed extra-judicially in the government’s bloody centerpiece war on drugs as implored by different religious…