NIGHT OWL One of the most important pieces of advice I have ever received did not come wrapped in grand words. It came in the form of a simple question from one of my mentors in the UK: Why can’t you seem to focus on your research? At first, I did not know how to answer. My struggle was not about...
NIGHT OWL The Philippines does not need to be in recession to prepare for one. In fact, the right time to prepare is when growth is still positive. The IMF still projects 5.6 percent growth in 2026, but the recent trend is not comforting: full-year GDP growth slowed to 4.4 percent in 2025 from 5.7...
NIGHT OWL There are honors you do not expect to receive, especially when your earliest experiences taught you to expect limitation instead. Receiving the Programme Director’s Prize is one of those honors. The Programme Director’s Prize is awarded for an exceptional contribution to the classroom...
Oxford, United Kingdom — Anna Mae Yu Lamentillo has been awarded the Programme Director’s Prize, an honor presented to a student who has made an exceptional contribution to the classroom and cohort. Recipients are selected by a panel of judges that includes the Programme Director and the...
NIGHT OWL When people speak about Oxford, they often speak about its history, its prestige, and its excellence. They speak of it as though it exists somewhere above ordinary life. But what Oxford taught me most was not grandeur. It was bravery. Standing at the Holywell Music Room and speaking on...
NIGHT OWL We are told to greet artificial intelligence with awe, curiosity, and optimism. We are told it will make life easier, work faster, decisions smarter, systems smoother. We are told that autonomous agents will book our travel, manage our inboxes, negotiate our bills, write our reports,...
NIGHT OWL In a multi-party democracy like ours, the math of governance is never simple. In the House of Representatives, more than 300 legislators bring with them different parties, loyalties, regions, advocacies—and, inevitably, different ambitions. Majorities can be built, yes, but they can...
Eight years ago, in 2017, my dad and I had our last conversation—and I didn’t know it would be the last. His death was sudden. There were no prior goodbyes, no long talks that eased us into the idea of life without him. One day he was there, and then he wasn’t. The kind of loss that...
NIGHT OWL I keep a notebook in the pocket of my suit. Not the sleek digital kind that syncs to the cloud, not a tablet disguised as stationery, but a small, slightly battered paper notebook that feels like an anchor. It stays with me wherever I go. Sometimes it lies forgotten for hours, pressed...
NIGHT OWL A city reveals its values not through speeches or slogans, but through sidewalks, buses, corridors, crossings, and doorways. It reveals who it welcomes—and who it quietly leaves behind. And the uncomfortable truth is that far too many of our cities and municipalities are still built...
NIGHT OWL Linguistics is the science of the human mind. Each language is a unique experiment in how to structure thought, perceive time, and relate to the world. We are shutting down these experiments before we even under-stand what they can teach us. The alarming rate of language extinction is...
NIGHT OWL When I left the Philippines, I thought I was chasing only an education. What I didn 't know then was that I was also running into a mirror—one that would reflect not just the world beyond our borders, but everything we still lack, everything we could become. Abroad, my days were...
