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The Ten Commandments for the Millennials

Here are some insights that will help millennials live a better life. 1. Never discriminate people based on race, gender, religion, social status, and cultural beliefs. And if possible, never discriminate at all. The world is better when we respect each other. After all, we are created equal. 2. Drive defensively. Imagine if all drivers…

Skinned Injustice: Christine Silawan, Rest in Peace

It was a viral news story that gripped the entire nation. Last March 12, the authorities discovered the corpse of 16 year old Christine Lee Silawan in a vacant lot in Sitio Mahayahay, Barangay Bangkal, Lapu-Lapu, City Cebu. Her undergarments were missing. She had around thirty stab wounds. Half of her face has been skinned….

A Filipina in the Time of Walang Ligo

What a bad time to have your monthly period. As a woman implored on a live television interview recently: Maawa sila sa’min. Ano, magbabahuan na ang mga kipay namin? Gan’un na lang? Is self-care a luxury nowadays? Should I feel guilty washing my pasador? Should I revert to sanitary pads for now? What about the…

Pamana ng mga Lola

Maalinsangang Sabado ng hapon, at malayu-layo ang nilakbay ng isang grupo ng mga babae mula sa Candaba, Pampanga. Suot ng mga Lola ang mga bulaklaking ternong wari’y naghuhudyat ng panibagong tagsibol, ng bagong pag-asa sa kabila ng madilim at malungkot nilang nakaraan bilang comfort women. Dala marahil ng edad at sampu ng marami nilang kasamang inagaw…

Balance that Works: The Fallacy of Work-Life Balance

Two years ago, I wrote an article for SubSelfie.com entitled False Balance in Journalism. It points out how journalists commit false balance by giving equal space or equal exposure to at least two conflicting sides of a story, even when one side is an utter lie (has no basis in science, history, or human experience),…

Inside a Refugee Camp

Filipinos are among the minorities living in deplorable conditions in one of the oldest refugee camps in Lebanon set-up in 1949: the Shatila camp. The vulnerable population, mostly comprised of Syrian and Palestinian refugees, suffers less from the acute trauma of war than from shifts in family dynamics and relationships caused by displacement. To address…

All The Additional Things I Need to Prove to the World Because I’m a Filipino

I have stayed off credit cards for most of my adult life, just because I don’t trust myself to be disciplined with my spending, yet I opened 2019 running paper errands because I need to open a credit account. Why? The Italian Embassy “suggested” I should submit credit card statements if I want to reapply…

A Bangsamoro Millennial’s Reflections on the Plebiscite

The campaign period for the BOL (Bangsamoro Organic Law) Plebiscite has a lot of twists and turns for us. If I were to summarize some of the lessons I learned during the campaign period, it would be the following: 1. ‘What Works’ Overrides ‘What’s Right’ We may have an ideal way of persuading the public…

Why I Left My Job as a TV News Reporter in a Popular Network

It’s not the pay. To be honest, it’s the pay that had held me back. For years, I postponed any pursuit of relatable opportunities because of bonuses and pay raise that were at stake. Bills and payables were also powerful grounding forces. Then one day, everything imploded into a thought: kung puro pera at bayarin…

Mula sa Buwan’s #HulingLipad: Wounds Cut Anew

Raw, vivid and emotionally haunting—that was how I felt when I first saw Pat Valera and William Manzano’s Mula sa Buwan two years ago. This majestic Filipino Zarsuela was an adaptation of Edmund’s Rostand’s timeless piece, Cyrano de Bergerac but instead of 17th century France as its setting, the play brought us to Manila during the 1940s…

The Reason for Frat-Related Violence Could Be You

By all means, rage against the corrupt, elitist, mysoginistic, padrino system-loving culture of fraternities — but please do not forget to check on the company you keep. This culture of toxic masculinity is alive and well because it feeds off from our own inaction, our being complicit, if only because we refrain or refuse to…

Peeking into ‘The Dressing Room’

Staging re-runs is equally challenging than staging original theatre productions. One works with the same material but newer elements have to be added to make it more powerful and visually stunning. Hence, a re-run isn’t just a re-play but a whole reimagination of the same story. Dulaang UP’s The Dressing Room might be a re-run, but…

Manila’s Downtown Cinemas: Flicks and Memories

What was once a beacon of vibrant, colorful, and glamorous entertainment is now a forgotten, struggling and lonely place. Downtown Manila has been known as a center of educational and commercial activities. Movie houses were very prominent as early as 1930s with the screening of local films. First-run theaters such as Times, Dilson, Roben, Vista…