There are times when the challenges of daily life sadden and discourage us, even when we are doing our very best to serve and help the needy. Many believers find encouragement in the inspiring words of Jesus of Nazareth. He said to not lose heart, but to have a stronger conviction that trying your best…
February 2026 marked 52 years since the establishment of the Preda Foundation, a charitable organisation aimed at helping children in conflict with the law, street children, children at risk, and child abuse victims/survivors. We should never underestimate the desire and determination of children to fight for their rights and demand justice. Today in the Philippines,…
It is the truth, spoken quietly but with conviction and clarity by children who are victims of sexual abuse, that wins justice for them in courts of law and by which they gain freedom from the domination of their abusers. Their abusers are frequently their biological father, stepfather, live-in partner of their mother, grandfather, brother,…
Andrea was an 8-year-old girl in a town in Zambales when her parents separated, after which her mother moved in with Christopher, who became her stepfather. In January 2024, when she was 11, Christopher sexually abused her. She was afraid to tell anyone, lest he would hurt her and her mother. During a counselling session…
There is a ceasefire finally in effect in the Gaza Strip, where Israel launched a horrific military campaign in response to attacks on the country’s south on October 7, 2023. On that day, Hamas fighters and their fellow militants assaulted Israeli settlements and fortified military outposts. They killed around 1,200 people, and over 251 others…
At a United Nations high-level meeting in New York, Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher of the Vatican said “technology is being used to exacerbate certain forms of abuse and violence,” adding that the gravity of the violence and abuse against women and children extended beyond sexual exploitation and trafficking. That technology he spoke of is the…
A hospital is supposed to be one of the safest places to go to amid armed conflict, like the war Israel is waging against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. However, there is strong evidence that Israeli forces are deliberately killing civilians, including women, children and journalists, in and around hospitals. On August 25, Israeli forces…
The Philippines has suffered damaging floods despite the billions of pesos paid to contractors for hundreds of flood control projects, mostly in Bulacan province. The Senate has uncovered fake projects, overcosting and underperformance by contractors. Some senators claim in recent hearings that corruption is so widespread. Investigators cannot cope and law enforcement against fraud and…
The news in the Philippines these days is focused on impeachment, changing the Constitution, and other mundane political matters. The public, Congress and government agencies are far from addressing the needs of children who are sexually and physically abused by relatives, human traffickers and online predators, and the seeming social acceptance that allows the abuse…
The hope and dream of the late Pope Francis was to reform the Catholic Church and make it a synodal Church at every level, where everyone — laypeople, priests and bishops — are considered equal before God and Jesus of Nazareth, working together, sharing thoughts, listening and learning from one another, and participating humbly in…