“We showed no care for the little ones, we abandoned them,” Pope Francis says in a letter to the entire Catholic Church in which he condemned the clericalism, the arrogance, abuse of power and position of bishops and religious superiors in the Church who allow and cover up and thus perpetuate sexual crimes against children (Sunday Examiner, September 26).  
 

What is family to each one of us and how important is it to belong to a family? We all greatly desire and long for a secure happy family whose members love and trust each other, share solidarity, give mutual help and care and are faithful to shared values and goals. They live and work together to meet the basic human needs of all. This is the ideal and beautiful to behold, but sadly and tragically, the reality is frequently far different. So what is the modern family?
 

We don’t need to be scientists to notice that, in recent years, around the world all creatures are enduring more severe weather conditions, as the planet gets warmer. We have to keep the increase in global temperature below two degrees centigrade or we are all going to fry. One result is that the forests are burning. 
 

The defenders of the rights of the people, those who stand for justice, tolerance, equality, human dignity and freedom of speech are the conscience of a nation. In the Philippines, more social activists are being killed than ever before. Pastor Lovelito Quiñones of the King’s Glory Ministry, was shot and killed by police near his home in Mansalay Town, Mindoro Occidental, on 3 December 2017.
 

Thousands of undocumented immigrants who have crossed into the United States (US) in the past several months have had their children forcibly taken from them and placed in cages in detention centres by the president, Donald Trump.
 
Church leaders of many denominations and political leaders—Democrats and Republicans alike—and millions of good-hearted Americans and the international community expressed outrage calling it a violation of children’s human rights and a form of child abuse.
 

Let us look at ourselves as human beings with dignity, values and inalienable human rights. We are persons not like the animals that see enemies and rivals all around them in the wild, and who fight and kill for food and survival. Most humans have a higher standard to live by and coexist in peace on this planet—but not all. 
 

What is independence but the freedom from the domination and control of others? Freedom is firstly an inner, non-material spiritual value. The desire for it is a natural right and when achieved, it is a joyful experience. The freedom to practice our religious beliefs and to be freed from chains and bondage, the freedom of expression and to live in dignity free from poverty and fear are the greatest values of being human. They are universal human rights.
 

We live in a new age of freedom of expression, when the long history of suppression and covering up of the truth is crumbling and social and mainstream media have championed the voice of victims and survivors of child sexual abuse. The controlling power and influence of some leaders in traditional institutions like the Catholic Church to instill fear, bury the realities, deny crimes of child abuse and silence the complainants are being challenged, and their credibility has weakened.
 

The Avila sex bar in Calapandayan, Subic town, Zambales, has been closed with a steel gate since the hand of justice came to that place when we rescued young girls from sex slavery and the domineering  power of the owner, 49-year-old Arthur David Benjamin, of the United States of America (US), on 6 February 2013.
 

`We all love being connected to the Internet and it is a wonderful technology for communicating, providing information and entertainment, and keeping people connected. Commerce and business is totally dependent on it what with e-mail, conferencing, communication, document transmission in which it is essential and has saved countless number of trees with the reduction in the use of paper.