MDAS: Simpleng Math

Ilang araw

Ang nagdaan

Mabilis….nakakapagod

Isang paligsahang sinalihan

Kahit talo may premyo

Eyebags,,,,itim pa

Pero may pag-asa sa

1*10^2+5*4

Minuto lang yan

Makakauwi din ako….

Sa bahay

Modern Nightingales

“This is our dream… to nurse foreigners” uttered comically by a clinical instructor in our RLE laboratory while showing picture slides of a nurse with a white patient.

I was struck on my seat while I ponder on the thought of her saying that. She was right thinking that majority of our nursing professionals are going abroad for what they say a greener pasture and perhaps many of us in the room will also agree.

I will be a hypocrite if I try to argue with her on that matter because I also have a dream of improving the quality of living of my family like everybody else and the easiest way of doing such is taking up nursing as a stepping stone for a greater chance of going abroad. Perhaps I am a lost for the country in the making, born and raised here but will soon leave like the millions who are now in different corners of the world.

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‘Til (Death) Divorce Do Us Part

“For better or for worst, for richer or for poorer, ‘til death do us part”. Anyone who is in love dreams to recite the quotation in front of a partner and will definitely dream of pictures of a happy married life after the wedding ceremony. But what if all of a sudden the blissful dream becomes a nightmare?

Married life can never be as ideal as what we think off when we are in love. Reality speaking, there are numerous cases of failed marriages in our country across all Filipino classes. Commonly experienced by the Filipinos below the poverty line, these marginalized sectors usually suffers most of the consequences of family problems and are unable to have access with courts for legal proceedings due to financial constraints. Currently, the country has no law that allows divorce or the dissolution of marriage. Only annulment and legal separation is honored by the courts, two legal processes that require not only time for proceedings but also more on monetary funding. 

‘Til divorce do us part

Historically speaking, earlier periods of the country tells us that divorce among couples were allowed. Divorce was legal among ancestral tribes before the colonial rule of the Spaniards such as Tagbanwas of Palawan, Igorots in the Cordilleras and Moslems in Mindanao to mention a few.  During the American occupation, Divorce Law of 1917 (Act No. 2710) was enacted and during the Japanese occupation, pursuant to Executive Order No. 141 (1943). It was only on August 30, 1950 when the new Civil Code took effect and thereby disallowing marriage dissolution.

House Bill 1799, an Act introducing Divorce in the Philippines is proposed by Gabriela Women’s Party Representatives Luzviminda Ilagan and Emerencia de Jesus to be an alternative solution to  marital problems where it is already beyond saving and already detrimental to the couple’s well being. GWP, known to be an advocate of women’s rights in the country, believes that if married relationships gets worst, it is always the woman who suffers most of the damage and more commonly than not, the woman gets to be battered most of the time.  The party condemns this act and proposes the bill to be an alternative in saving a defective relationship. (more…)