MEDIUM RARE Hip hip hooray, six cheers, or three cheers for each of the two gold medals won by Carlos Yulo in the Paris Olympics 2024, a two-day haul that stunned us and put a shine to the red-white-blue-and-gold of the Philippines’ participation. Caloy is worth more than his weight in...
MEDIUM RARE Minus the light from two shining stars, the sky is darker now. “Mother” Lily Monteverde, a name as colorful as some of her movies, and Henry Lim Bon Liong, the “father” of hybrid rice whose planting techniques enabled an initial batch of 100 farmers to become...
MEDIUM RARE It pays – in peso and centavo terms – to know how much you can eat and how little you may waste of the food on your plate. As the only Daza who cannot and does not cook, who’s not even a fullfledged foodie, it was nice to discover, under the guidance of a food tripper who...
MEDIUM RARE Between Tessie Sy Coson and Robina Gokongwei Pe, you’ve got practically the A to Z of the retail, banking, real estate, food and other industries: SM under TSC and Robinsons under Robina. Tessie is chairman of Banco de Oro and vice chairman of SM Investments Corp. Robina was...
MEDIUM RARE How do you reduce the President’s SONA (state of the nation address) – from 90 minutes to a summary of bite-size facts, figures? Thanks to the bad weather that kept most of us home, I made it my homework to make that summary, if not for others, then for myself. Every SONA is...
MEDIUM RARE As if the strong winds (the Chinese word for typhoon is “big wind”) were not enough, the rain was intermittent yet persistent, plus it was high tide in Malabon, and then a barge contributed an oil spill to complicate the picture. Floods shallow and deep came along, floods on...
MEDIUM RARE President BBM’s announcement of a total ban on POGO (Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators) as a highlight of his state of the nation address brought back a wave of memories of how gaming/gambling was born in Manila as a shipboard amusement during his father and namesake’s...
MEDIUM RARE The best laid plans of mice and men don’t always pan out. Like assassination plots. CNN’s coverage of the attempted assassination of Donald Trump during a rally last weekend turned out to be a riveting live action show complete with an array of rifles, a huge crowd of...
MEDIUM RARE On the surface, another eating club sounds like something nobody needs, like two extra inches around the waistline. And yet, eating clubs like the one of David, Ading, VS, Julian, Charlie, Wicky, aka “Divisoria Mafia,” have lasted 40 years. No dues, no fees, no rules except to...
MEDIUM RARE For the longest time, the man’s name was preceded in media stories by the title “cashiered Colonel” – as in former Dr. or disbarred Atty., distinctions never used before. “Cashiered Col.” Greg Honasan, better known as Gringo – he’s not American, but of Armenian descent...
MEDIUM RARE You are not allowed: Soldiers and policemen; government officials and employees; minors under 21 years; and those barred by their family and licensee exclusions. (Wigs and disguises haven’t been reported to work.) If you have no idea what you are barred from, you’re a true...
MEDIUM RARE Magic all the way. A “sarimanok” – the legendary fire bird – plus a moon goddess, dancing fireflies and silvery nymphs everywhere, with original music and choreography – what was not to like and love? The lure of romance in a dimension that felt like silk after you’ve been...
