HOTSPOT Before February ended, right smack on the year’s leap day, I had a health emergency. Not feeling well but still lucid, I was able to bring myself to a nearby health center. I got checked by a doctor, received a prescription for maintenance (ha!), and was ordered to undergo tests. The...
HOTSPOT Bonifacio Ilagan’s latest play, Spirit of the Glass (SOTG), premiered March 8, International Women’s Day, at the University of the Philippines’ Ignacio B. Gimenez-Kolehiyo ng Arte at Literatura Theater in Diliman, Quezon City. I was fortunate to be invited to the press preview and did...
HOTSPOT I was planning to react extensively to Pura Luka Vega’s latest arrest this week, but I remembered that a prosecutor has dismissed one of the many cases filed against the drag artist over the “Ama Namin” performance. In a resolution dated Nov. 13, Tacloban City Prosecutor Ma. Liza...
HOTSPOT Becoming a campus journalist was a defining milestone in my student days. This passion for writing is something tried out, practiced, nurtured, and encouraged – wittingly or unwittingly – by several women. Of course, my Mama is on top of the list. A public school teacher, she was...
HOTSPOT Prabowo Subianto’s strong, first-round victory in Indonesia’s Feb. 14, 2024 presidential elections has made many pundits and observers draw parallels with the Philippines’ 2022 presidential election won by Ferdinand Marcos Jr. I cannot blame them. Prabowo served in the military...
HOTSPOT Many say sharing content on social media isn’t exactly an endorsement. But despite the disclaimers, the choices we make reflect a lot about ourselves and our views on what’s happening and the situation of the world. I don’t know if you also notice it with your circles, but quite a lot...
HOTSPOT Audiences bade a sad goodbye this week to the programs, journalists and staff of CNN Philippines. But sadness has turned into fury with the sudden take-down of the news channel’s website and social media accounts. As some have put it, it is as if CNN Philippines never existed. Today,...
HOTSPOT It didn’t strike me until my ex recently told me bluntly about it. Cubao really seems to be my favorite place, because I also happened to live here around 20 years ago this year. Back then, it was still Araneta Center and the LRT-2 (then called MetroTren) was still brand new. The original...
HOTSPOT Can you guess the name of the American leader who said this? “Until the latest of our world conflicts, the United States had no armaments industry. American makers of plowshares could, with time and as required, make swords as well. But now we can no longer risk emergency improvization of...
HOTSPOT History tells of the destruction in World War II of most of the churches that used to dot Intramuros. The only one left standing then was San Agustin, and what remained of the Manila Cathedral, which was later rebuilt. One of the former Intramuros churches was the Iglesia de San Nicolas de...
HOTSPOT When a friend-editor approached me, a blogger, sometime in 2013 about starting a column for the Manila Bulletin, I honestly thought it was a joke. He repeated the invitation several times, but I still didn’t believe it. How could that be when my beliefs are left-of-center, sometimes even...
HOTSPOT As I write this, the deadline for the so-called “consolidation” of our trusted jeepneys is fast approaching. Hopefully, one of two things would happen: Legally, the Supreme Court temporarily restrains the deadline. Politically, the President and Congress do it on their own. If tenacity,...
