Our Global Editor Hon Sophia Balod explores how the Filipinos in the Netherlands are coping with the pandemic protocols. This is the first installment of our New Normal Series.
Tag: Hon Sophia Balod
Plant Parenting in the Time of Pandemic
I have been in love with plants long before the quarantine started in the Netherlands, and during the quarantine period, I may probably have transformed into a full-fledged plant mom. The outbreak came in the most ill-opportune time in Europe: lente (spring). Days were becoming longer as the sun started to show up more and…
Fact, Fake, Freedom: The Battle of Filipino Journalists in an Era of Misinformation
The latest death toll from the war on drugs flashes on the screen. Official police data says the toll nears 4,000 deaths, but according to Human Rights Watch, the numbers reach up to 12,000. Carlos*, an executive producer for a news documentary for a major television channel in Manila, sighs as he reads the toll….
Kayumanggi and Proud: Life as a Filipino Gay Immigrant in Denmark
Alvin Tuling, 37, has always been reserved and shy. He admits he is not openly gay as some of his friends are. He wears typical men clothes and tries to “act like a heterosexual man.” “I do not like drawing attention to myself,” he says. Alvin comes from the Philippines, a country populated mostly by Catholics….
Horror Story in Denmark: ‘I think I just experienced racism’
Oct. 27, 2016 Dear Airbnb: A few weeks ago, I just experienced the worst Airbnb stay in my life. In just a span of three days and two nights, I have been humiliated, discriminated and talked down upon as a Filipino. I think I might have experienced racism too. Here’s my story. On October 7,…
Agriculture: What Do the Presidentiables Have to Say?
If you ate today, thank a farmer. Food is crucial for survival, and yet, the agriculture sector remains the second poorest sector in the Philippines, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority. We are dubbed as an agricultural country, blessed with water teeming with fish, thick forest for vegetation, and hectares of land that extend from…
Who Run the Farm? Girls!
In the hottest place in the north of the Philippines, farms are drying up and animals are dying. Men are getting old, or sick, or too weak to till the land. Their able children, in the meantime, have no interest in farming, and instead want a better chance at life outside the province. But life…
Less Is More: The True Value of Vote-Poor Places Like Batanes
In a faraway province in the northernmost parts of the Philippines, Ryan Cardona is excited for the month of May. The clear blue skies, pristine waters of the Pacific, and the warm winds from the ocean during this month are all good signs for his business. Ryan works as a tourism officer in Batanes, ushering…
The Treasures of Turkey
Days ago, a suicide bomb blast killed 10 people at the heart of Istanbul. The attack targeted Sultahnamet Square, an old district flocked by thousands of tourists everyday. It was the latest in a series of bombings that rocked Turkey in recent months. I stayed in Turkey for 15 days last October to attend the United Nations Convention…
The Unseen War of the Lumads Against Climate Change
Our indigenous people are waging wars on numerous fronts. It’s bad enough that many of the Lumads of Mindanao are fighting for the right to live, but some are also fighting an enemy that is both faceless and relentless: climate change. Take the Lumads of San Francisco, Agusan del Sur, for example. Dry spells in…
Lumads of Davao del Sur: Students without a School
“Tak tak tak.” It’s the sound of a bolo hitting the chopping block, reducing rotten and rejected bananas from the plantation into small, circular pieces. The chopping would go on all afternoon until the sun turned golden and the shadows of the banana trees envelop the little town of Hagonoy, Davao del Sur. Three boys would…
The Batanes Survival Guide: 13 Places You Must Visit
Just a decade ago, Batanes was just a small, unpopular island at the northernmost tip of the Philippines. Some would remember Batanes from the elementary textbooks as a place frequently hit by typhoons. Some would associate it with Ivatans, the indigenous tribe from the north who built the vernacular stonehouses. Either way, just a few…
Love in the Time of Martial Law
Editor’s Note: Just in case you think it’s unimportant — Moving On from Martial Law? Fe and Roger had been co-teachers in a university for quite some time, occasionally exchanging nods and “hellos” inside the campus. But it was only when Roger won his first Palanca award on his poem “Mga Duguang Plakard” (Bloodied Placards) that Fe took…
President Noynoy Aquino’s Report Card
Three Filipinos representing three social issues from poverty to press freedom were asked to rate Noynoy Aquino on his fourth year as President.
Abortion in the Philippines: A True Story
10:30pm. Three girls were about to meet in a fast food chain. A girl in a jacket arrived with her boyfriend, planted a peck on the boy’s cheek and wished him a safe ride home. The other girl was carrying a box of blueberry cheesecakes with a note: “It gets worse before it gets better.” The…
Cagayan de Oro: Rapid River Thriller
Last 2014, the body of a missing tourist was recovered in Cagayan de Oro River, Mindanao. This was the first accident since CDO began its commercial white water rafting operations in 1995. I was shocked to hear the news. After all, we did have a great time rafting in the river in 2013. It was a…
Bullies Everywhere
I was once a bully. During my freshman year in high school, I used to put freshly-picked grass on my classmate’s desk and call him “Potro.” It is the name of a horse in one of the stories I read in our Filipino class. I called him Potro after he was assigned to act as a horse…
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