WHENEVER I see old classmates, I tend to hark back to our good old days. But there was a time when Cris Dannug (a retired regional director of the Department of Labor and Employment) discouraged me. “Stop it,” he said. “It’s harmful.” If I got what he meant, he would rather have
April 28, 2025
I AM A frustrated grandfather at age 75. My only son, now 51, has remained single while eking out a living as a nurse in New York City. But I no longer think of it negatively because it has done my son good. He has made up his mind to stay single,
April 25, 2025
AFTER terminating their political alliance, Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas and Congresswoman Juliene “Jam-jam” Baronda seemed to have minimized its impact on the basis of mutual understanding. The agreement called for the mayor to quit and let his daughter Raisa take over his position in the event she wins the May 12 mayoralty race. In
April 23, 2025
THIS writer was never as close to the late singer-actress Nora Aunor as others in the entertainment beat in the 1970s. But I had the unique status of having written a series of trivia on her for the defunct Daily Express, daily for four straight months. I could have stored that work
April 21, 2025
“MAMALANDONG anay kita,” warring politicians say on the air to explain why they are on ceasefire from “word war” on Holy Thursday and Good Friday. That reminds me of that day in 1959 when an old woman scolded us small boys playing at the plaza on a Good Friday. “Don’t you know that
April 16, 2025
WHILE having coffee at Hotel del Rio, we stumbled upon the amiable regional director of the Commission on Elections (Comelec), Atty. Dennis L. Ausan. He was so busy typing on his laptop that we dared not disturb him. But he stood up, approached our table and shook our hands. “Why so busy,
April 11, 2025
IN his YouTube vlog “Politika All the Way,” host Jojo Alejar of One News PH asked Larry Gadon – the Presidential Adviser for Poverty Alleviation – what he thought of the senatorial surveys that are being touted as “snap shots” of who could make it to the “magic 12” on May 12,
April 9, 2025
THIS corner lauds retired Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Carpio, retired Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales, and former Commission on Elections (COMELEC) chairman Christian Monsod, for leading various cause-oriented groups in filing before the Supreme Court a petition for certiorari and mandamus to compel Congress to enact a law prohibiting political dynasties. The
April 7, 2025
ANO ang balita? What’s the news? As a guest speaker in a Journalism class. I quoted its briefest definition in the dictionary: “Any previously unknown information.” I recalled a “history” that was news to me on my first day as a Journalism student at Manuel L. Quezon University (MLQU) in Manila. There walked into
April 4, 2025
FORMER President Rodrigo “Digong” Duterte must have realized the futility of the “bring him home” demand by his supporters in well-funded rallies here and abroad. This became very evident when his daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte, said, “Hindi na siya maibabalik. Hindi na mababalik si Pangulong Duterte sa Pilipinas.” She said so before
April 2, 2025
WHY do Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas and Congresswoman Julienne “Jam-jam” Baronda attack each other below the belt — on stage and on the air — when they are not running against each other? You only have to listen to their radio ads to know them. In fact, Treñas is not running for any position. It’s his
March 31, 2025