Church calls for repentance ahead of Holy Week rites

by ROBERTZON RAMIREZ Philstar.com

MANILA — The Catholic Church is inviting the faithful to participate in religious activities in line with the observance of this year’s Lenten season, beginning on Feb. 22, Ash Wednesday.

In an interview with Church-run Radyo Veritas, Fr. Gregory Gaston of the Pontificio Collegio Filippino in Rome said Ash Wednesday is a reminder for people to repent, to fast and to spiritually renew oneself.

“If you can, do go to the church on Ash

Wednesday and have ashes placed on your forehead. It is not just for show, but it is also an invitation to reform our lives, to repent,” Gaston said in Filipino.

The prelate also reminded the Catholic faithful to confess their sins to prepare themselves for the Holy Week.

He said confession is God’s way of giving the faithful the strength to fight temptations, committing sins and other circumstances that might lead to committing sins.

This year’s Holy Week will be observed from Palm Sunday, April 2 until Black

by NESTOR CORRALES Inquirer.net

BAGUIO CITY — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Saturday said he was not yet inclined to invoke the country’s Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) with the United States over incidents in the West Philippine Sea because it would only escalate rather than cool down tensions. Speaking to reporters here after joining the annual alumni homecoming of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) at Fort del Pilar, the president said activating the MDT at this time would only be “counterproductive.”

“It is because if we activate that, what we are doing is escalating, intensifying the tensions in the area,” Marcos said, adding that the Philippine government is in “constant contact with our treaty partners,” such as the United States and other countries in the Asian region.

“And that I think is the better recourse rather than to go directly to the Mutual Defense Treaty which again, I am very concerned would provoke the tensions rather than cool the tensions down,” he said. The MDT, signed in 1951, is an agreement between the Philippines and the United States to defend each other

by MICHAEL PUNONGBAYAN Philstar.com

MANILA — Filipino and American troops are set to hold their biggest joint military exercises in April under Balikatan 2023 amid China’s growing brazenness in asserting its claim over waters within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone.

Philippine Army Commanding General Lt. Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr., in an interview with “The Chiefs” on One News Monday night, February 20, said Palawan would be among the areas where the exercises would be held.

Several of the land features in the West Philippine Sea occupied by the Chinese are off Palawan.

Last week, a Chinese coast guard ship beamed powerful lasers on Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) vessel BRP Malapascua that was helping deliver provisions to a military outpost on the grounded BRP Sierra Madre in Ayungin (Second Thomas) Shoal in the Kalayaan Island Group. The military-grade lasers briefly blinded some crewmembers of Malapascua.

The Chinese claimed the laser beams were meant merely to check the speed and distance of the PCG vessel and was not harmful.

“We are now bringing in more