MEDIUM RARE Said his best friend and sidekick: “He’s been planning, planning and going over the menu since December 26. He’s changed it three times, maybe more.” That’s Benjie Yap, all right, as described by Fermin Reyes. Meticulous to the last tiny drop of sequin (or ruby, or diamond),...
Two hours up in the air on an airplane and you’re in Taipei. The same as riding in a car from Quezon City to Parañaque! But then time is relative, on the ground or up in the air. The best thing about flying to Taiwan at this time of year is that it’s winter – a mild one without the snow –...
MEDIUM RARE For many years when we were of school age the rumor going around was that good girls and boys did not use the abbreviation for Christmas, C’mas, because it was an attempt by evil forces to remove Christ out of the story of his divinity. Apparently, none of our teachers in religion or...
MEDIUM RARE “Mader” Ricky Reyes, who brands himself as GRR – Ganda Ricky Reyes – is wearing a choker of rubies framed with diamonds around his throat and a single star, also ruby, on his left ear. Unlike most days and nights when he’s in black, dazzling with a ton of sparkling-white...
MEDIUM RARE Our Miss Philippines Universe, Atisha Manalo, landed third runnerup. She has stories to tell. . . not now but in due time. Senator Ping Lacson has been approached by persons he did not name who want him to head some kind of a civil-military junta, just in case. Another group would want...
MEDIUM RARE Thirty-three (33) days to Christmas! Our tree is nine years old – 3 plus 3 plus 3 – but it’s only 8 ft tall; I wish it was a nine-footer. It’s been good to us, so I shouldn’t complain. We’re quite sentimental about our tree, even if the three of us at home are no longer...
MEDIUM RARE One month and five days to Christmas! Peace on earth to warring siblings, separated couples, families torn apart for whatever reason or reasons! In Pampanga, the lantern festival beckons. In Tarlac, Belenismo reigns supreme. In Metro Manila’s component cities, the lights on traffic...
MEDIUM RARE Believe it or not, I had my own mini-“Thrilla in Manila” moment in the middle of the “fight of the century” between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier 50 years and eight days ago, on Oct. 1, 1975. As a member of the free ( 'walang bayad ') press whose seat happened to be at...
MEDIUM RARE Do not be deceived by those pictures showing PBBM serving — not cooking — soup in a soup kitchen to home-less persons in a “Walang Gutom” kitchen in Pasay City. The Chief Executive may not be a certified chef, but he knows how to cook! It’s not a state secret, though not many...
MEDIUM RARE Ten days left in September, with 31 to go in October and 30 in November for a total of 71 days before December comes merrymaking in. No apologies for the longest Christmas celebration in the world! lasting until January 6, feast of the Three Kings. Since last weekend, signs of the...
MEDIUM RARE Just like a typical teenager, Carlo Acutis, the newly canonized saint of the millennium, wore blue jeans and sneakers, usually paired with a t-shirt in a bright color. In his right hand, he carried a video camera, the better to record miracles, especially miracles centered around the...
MEDIUM RARE Maybe what we should do is control those anti-flood projects. So many of them, and still floods remain fashionable, unbeatable, unbearable but profitable for some. As DPWH Secretary Vince Dizon puts it, they’re like some kind of mythical monster, where the more of them you slay the...
