November 24, 2009, I was in Sultan Kudarat to speak at a literacy conference organized by the Literacy Coordinating Council (LCC), the Education Network (E-Net), the provincial government, and Congressman Pax Mangudadatu.

For a while, we thought the conference would not push through, since the day before, a horrific and gruesome massacre happened at the neighboring province of Maguindanao, just one hour away.

Despite his grief over the killing of members of his clan, and his urgent efforts to restrain his clan members from launching an armed retaliation, Congressman Pax still found time and energy to address our conference.

Continue Reading or Post a Comment …

Last September 26, typhoon Ondoy caused unprecedented flooding in MetroManila. The raging flood waters entered the ground floor of ELF’s administrative office, and drowned not just our paper files, but even those in the desktops and laptops that were submerged for hours. The same fate was suffered by E-Net Philippines, with whom we have shared the office for over a year.

It was Saturday, and no one was at the office. We took comfort that no life was in danger.

But after the flood receded, we decided that it is time to move elsewhere, to higher ground.

Continue Reading or Post a Comment …