“Today’s gossip is tomorrow’s headline.”—Walter Winchell BEFORE Pope Francis flew back to Rome during his January 2015 visit in the Philippines, his No. 1 message to the Filipino people—Catholics or non-Catholics—was: “Don’t gossip.” At that time, the slang word “Marites” wasn’t yet coined. Marites refers to individuals or group of individuals
August 7, 2023
“Never expect a loan to a friend to be paid back if you want to keep that friend.”—Bryant H. McGill OF the reported 18 borrowers with the highest unsettled loans from the Iloilo City Government Employees Multipurpose Cooperative (ICGEMPC), Councilor Romel Duron was able to identify only two names in his
August 5, 2023
“It’s a wonderful thing to be optimistic. It keeps you healthy and it keeps you resilient.”—Daniel Kahneman THERE is more than meets the eye when Iloilo Governor Arthur “Toto” Defensor Jr. became the second high-ranking local government unit (LGU) chief from the opposition bailiwick of Western Visayas to express elation over
August 4, 2023
“Much talking is the cause of danger. Silence is the means of avoiding misfortune. The talkative parrot is shut up in a cage. Other birds, without speech, fly freely about.”— Saskya Pandita SOMETIMES it’s hard to trust Smiling Imee’s naughty mouth. Especially when she talks to the press while smiling. What
August 3, 2023
“Never run from the enemy, tackle them.” ― Victoria Addino A YEAR ago, I stood toe to toe against several pseudo community leaders and phony moral guardians in the Filipino community in New York City who tried to stop me from dispensing my job and obligation as a critical journalist based
August 2, 2023
“Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.”— George Bernard Shaw EGAY and Falcon went on a murderous binge these past days, killing scores of sea travelers and waylaid by floods, destroying millions of crops and properties, and isolating many people from their usual
July 31, 2023
“Heat waves make you appreciate the crispness of fall.”—Anonymous THE scorching heat wave has reached us. At past 12 noon on July 27 (Thursday), I experienced its brutality when I walked for 15 minutes from Park Avenue to the Tim Hortons on 3rd Avenue in the Upper East Manhattan. It’s not
July 29, 2023
“We’ve been given a warning by science and a wake-up call by nature; it is up to us now to heed them.”—Bill McKibben WHILE the Philippines was being battered by Typhoon Doksuri (Egay) and many areas have been inundated by floods according to the news I monitored as of July 27,
July 28, 2023
“What do you expect me to do about it?”—John Dillinger I WAS surprised when New York Police Department (NYPD) cops handcuffed and arrested the landlord or owner of our apartment in Queens July 24 evening. Minutes earlier, I heard him shout violently in the ground floor. When I checked, I saw
July 27, 2023
“The moving finger writes, and having written moves on. Nor all thy piety nor all thy wit, can cancel half a line of it.”—Omar Khayyam IT’S okay to criticize or praise President Bongbong Marcos Jr.’s State of the Nation Address (SONA), but we need to move on after the hailstorm of
July 26, 2023
“If nominated, I will not run; if elected, I will not serve.”—William Tecumseh Sherman IF Iloilo City Mayor Geronimo “Jerry” Treñas will continue to focus his energy and time as a pro-active local chief executive and retains his distinction as the top performing mayor in Western Visayas, the Marcos administration might
July 25, 2023
