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My reply to Miriam Defensor-Santiago
(Note: This article discusses prognosis of Stage 4 lung cancer. Anyone who has stage 4 lung cancer or is caring for anyone with lung cancer who may need psychological preparation should decide whether...
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The implicit religion that is #AlDub
Gerry Lanuza, a sociologist at UP Diliman, recently claimed that the whole AlDub phenomenon can be likened to religion. Many netizens felt offended and in response, questioned the integrity and...
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After Lando: A call for help for the children of Casiguran
After days of fighting the scorching heat and muddy roads, our team finally reached the Agta community in an island barangay in Casiguran, Aurora — the area where Typhoon Lando first made landfall on...
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Beautiful tranquility can be found in local cemeteries
How about cemeteries as a base for tourism? Yes, this question is legitimate. In fact, there is such a thing as ‘tombstone tourism’ and even a bigger concept termed as ‘dark tourism’.‘Dark tourism’ is...
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Game changer: America vs China in the West Philippine Sea
After hesitating for years, the United States has finally decided to openly challenge China in the West Philippine Sea, deploying destroyers into the 12 nautical miles radius of Chinese-occupied land...
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[Dash of SAS] Brokering intimacy
“It’s not always about sex. Some men just want to talk.”I did not know what to expect when I set out to meet Gwen, but it was not the non-chalant declaration of her services.Gwen is a PSP, a personal...
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Thirteen years a Fil-Am
Today marks the 13th anniversary of my move from Manila to New York. I remember it like it was yesterday - from the tearful goodbyes of my friends and family at the airport, to the long haul flight...
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War it is
How about we do this? Let our Marines attack the Chinese base now being built in the West Philippine Sea?A friend of me suggested this impish idea in a conversation on several topics where we...
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#WalkEDSA: 9 things I learned from walking the length of EDSA
Amid the worsening traffic situation in Metro Manila, I together with fellow sustainability advocates, wanted to explore a form of mobility that’s been with us all along: walking, our first and most...
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Part 1: AlDub: Stumbling upon a magic formula
The phenomenal success of the long-running television noontime program Eat Bulaga’s “kalyeserye” has opened the floodgates of commonly held views on popular culture, now going viral on social...
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Part 2: The AlDub experience: Millions captivated
(READ: Part 1: AlDub: Stumbling upon a magic formula)How has the kalyeserye resonated with its fans of all ages and fans from various classes? Tons of words have been written trying to explain the...
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Breaking down the Philippines’ legal victory in the West Philippine Sea
The widely-anticipated decision of an arbitration body, formed under the aegis of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), to exercise jurisdiction on the Philippines’ arbitration case against...
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Seizing the moment: Preparing for Obama’s trip to Manila
For the first time in anyone’s memory, foreign policy and national security are poised to figure as major issues in the Philippine presidential election, scheduled for May 2016. Recent polls show...
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'Marcos apologists, don't tell us to move on'
"Past is past.""Move on din pag may time."We see these often on social media lately, usually with the Marcos’ loyalists endless narrative of utopia during Martial Law when no criminals roamed the...
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#AnimatED: Seeing clearly through the haze
For about 2 decades, a scourge from Indonesia has blown over to neighboring countries, especially Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines.Like a yearly ritual, dark plumes of smoke rise to the skies,...
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Pinoy Power! California tech lessons for PH entrepreneurs
Philippines techpreneurs, take note.During our recent Milken Institute Asia Summit held a few weeks back in Singapore, we shared several lessons from the US state of California that not just the...
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Tourism and a fetish for arrival numbers
In the midst of a campaign season, candidates are likely to declare that boosting tourism will be a key pillar of their development platforms. Indeed, this would seem to be the patriotic thing to do –...
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The lost art of the personal email
I was doing an inbox search and found a friend's email from 2005. Several paragraphs long, it was a description of her life with her girlfriend in Tokyo where they taught English to Japanese...
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Where do our national loyalties lie?
Since we are all waving the flag these days – against China, against Grace Poe, against the Moros – let us look closer at the motivations for this unprecedented rise in jingoism.With China, there is...
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2 years after Yolanda: Learning from disaster
Two years after Typhoon Yolanda (international name: Haiyan) made landfall in the Philippines, recovery and reconstruction are well underway. We have learned many lessons – and are still learning –...
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