EXCITED FOR THE HOLIDAYS As September nears, Christmas decorations are already being sold Social media tells me that Christmas decors are already being sold at malls and establishments like Dapitan Arcade in Quezon City. I remember Dapitan when it consisted of makeshift stalls by the streets, where...
MEDICINE OF LIFE Author jumps off a rock into the river I had heard about the healing powers of walking in nature but didn’t realize it had a name—forest bathing. Used in Japan in the 1980s, meant “forest bathing, forest therapy, or taking in the forest atmosphere.” Immersing in...
News of the latest skirmish between the Philippine and Chinese coast guards in the Spratly islands has added weight to a mental drawer in my head regarding the issues surrounding the disputed territory. The territorial dispute between the Philippines and China revolves around 50 small islands and...
When I was in grade 7, I remember watching my English teacher as she was writing a sentence structure diagram on the chalkboard. She paused frozen, then slowly turning to face us as if something had just occurred to her, she declared, “If you want to learn grammar, the best way to do it is to...
ON POINT President Ferdinand E. Marcos points to a map of Palawan during a press briefing When asked why he chose to specialize in Indo-Pacific archaeology, Peter Bellwood, archaeologist and emeritus professor at the Australian National University in Canberra, said, “There was less to memorize...
I have been asked on a number of occasions to represent relatives at various official functions. I am sent to the far corners of the archipelago to deliver speeches and meet with supporters. Sometimes, there would be incidents of violence a week or two prior to these occasions, which would cause so...
I’ve never had issues facing a blank page. Some writers admit they dread having to start a page. Fearing the blank page can be translated to making oneself vulnerable as you present yourself to the world because once you hit that first key, you make yourself subject to both praise and attack or,...
Keeping my inner Marites at bay is a virtue. Sorting through thousands of audio reels my uncle, the late President Ferdinand E. Marcos, recorded from 1965 to 1986, I would come across a great number of boxes of audio reels with the phrase “Off the record” written on them in capital letters. I...
SUPERWOMAN Imelda Marcos, matriarch of the Romualdez family, turns 94 on July 2, 2023 Here’s to strong women connected to the divine, who help guide us as women equal to men on this earth. In my lifetime, I have been fortunate enough to meet a handful of women who have greatly impacted my life...
A SIGNIFICANT STRUCTURE OF THE PAST Built structures, even in dismal states, are an important source for traces of memories of our past I looked back at our guide Heritage Collective founder Stephen Pamorada defying winds of monsoon-like proportions as he led his Tondo Walking Tour participants...
BIRTH OF A NATION The Third Republic of the Philippines was inaugurated on July 4, 1946 The World Bank doesn’t have a formal definition for nation-building. It has one for state-building but none for nation-building. Why? Perhaps the question lies in the concept of “nation.” It is, after all,...
A CAREFUL PROCESS A lot of thought and effort went into the planning of the park, every single detail including the Relief Map of the Philippines Listening to the rationale behind the destruction of the Relief Map of the Philippines in Rizal Park, and hearing this heritage icon and artwork...
