Roll Jervis Manahan

Why We Fight for ABS-CBN

A Kapamilya reporter explains why they will continue to push for the renewal of ABS-CBN’s franchise.

A Tribute to the Future

The mercury retrograde started again today, and the first casualty is a bar we grew to love.

#DUPDalagita: Reflections and Subversions

The stage is bare, black, and empty. Yet this emptiness is the most telling of Eimear Mcbride’s A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing, which has been recently adapted in Filipino and premiered in Dulaang UP (DUP). A single actress is all it took for DUP to stage a story of 15 characters, each of whom…

Bagong Cristo

In a conservative country like the Philippines, tinkering with the image of Jesus Christ is usually taboo. We are all familiar with the divine narrative – the begotten son of God was sent to Earth to save the world from sin, the man spends his three decades on Earth teaching, and is later persecuted and…

Fathers and Sons: A Dulaang UP Masterpiece of Two National Artists

What do you get when a Nick Joaquin classic gets translated by Virgilio Almario and Jose Lacaba, directed by Tony Mabesa, and brought to life by veteran thespians like Leo Rialp and Rody Vera? For the opening salvo of its 42nd season, Dulaang UP stages Fathers and Sons – a powerful work of not just…

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…

After the M6.5 Leyte Quake: Images of Destruction

On July 6, 2017, at 4:03:53 pm, a Magnitude 6.5 tectonic earthquake jolted the Philippines, with its epicenter in Leyte. PHIVOLCS has expected damages and more aftershocks. Here are images from the town of Kananga and from Ormoc City where seismologists reported Intensity-7 tremors. Still recovering from the ravages of super typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda), the…

From the Frontlines of Marawi

The siege was already on its ninth day when my cameraman and I flew to Marawi. It was an assignment I was anticipating since the day firefight broke out in the city. Our defense reporter rode a C130 on the second day, and I was asked by the desk to replace her after a week….

Three Days in Benham Rise

May 5, 2017—It was a dry and humid day in Infanta, Quezon. I wandered around the fish port, quietly observing the locals. I would occasionally glance on my phone, snap a shot, and try to post it on Facebook. But the entire town is practically a dead spot, making it extremely hard for us to…

Understanding the Angry Christ

Churchgoers would know that most images of Jesus Christ were of a loving man. While there are biblical accounts of Jesus Christ being angry, he was never pictured like that. That is the most baffling part of Angry Christ.

Sulu: A Lost Paradise

Berwina Timbang, a grade six student in Sultan Jamalul Kiram Elementary School in Maimbung, Sulu, was diligently listening to her English teacher when I first saw her. I was in Sulu then for a one-day news coverage. Occasionally, she would glance outside the window, her eyes innocent and her face hopeful. In a class of…

Backpacking Bohol

I rarely go out of town during the Holy Week, as I grew up in a devout Catholic household. But my birthday coincided with Maundy Thursday this year. It’s been my tradition to travel on my birthday week partly to escape office pizza requests. But mostly, I find it romantic to turn in a new year on…

The Risks I Took to Be a Reporter

My hands were shaking as I handed my resignation letter to my bosses. My thoughts were all incoherent as I explained why I was leaving GMA News. The only rational thing I remember telling them: I was a millennial seeking to explore the bigger world outside the newsroom. My bosses were shocked because I didn’t…

The Truth about Apolinario Mabini

Many remember our hero Apolinario Mabini as a paralytic made immortal in ten-peso bills and coins. But there are unsung historical facts about the Brains of the Revolution you may not know about.

Of Rape and Other Demons: The Story of Anria Espiritu

Anria, my second cousin, it’s such an irony how I only got to know more about you now that you’ve passed away. We lived in the same barangay. Our houses were no more than three kilometers away from each other. You were just four years older. We could have made more childhood memories together. But we…

Ten Ideas I Never Learned in College

From the practical to the existential, this millennial TV reporter compiles a list of things he never learned in school.

Kung Paano Ako Naging Leading Man

Opening Act The curtains rise, the music plays, the backstage hushes stop and the house lights dim. You step onto the stage and the spotlight is on you. That moment, you’d feel infinite. It’s one of the idiosyncrasies of theatre. At any given point, you could be anyone or anything. You could be a king, a peasant,…

Nude Photography to Abstract Paintings

Just before college ended, I did what could be the fiercest thing in my life — a nude photography experiment.

Conquering Pico de Loro

I never liked the whole idea of climbing mountains. But I ended up on top of the Pico de Loro monolith in Cavite. How and why I got there? It’s a long trek but let me walk you through my journey. Early this year, I found a new (and rather eccentric) hobby: mountaineering. I have climbed…