INDIA’S online TV recently came up with a report that some relatives of Chinese youth who had been arrested for denouncing Xi Jin Ping and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) over the “zero-Covid” lockdowns fear for their lives. The reporter-commentator recalled her interview with a Chinese medical intern – let us call
December 9, 2022
THERE’S a movie now filming in Iloilo City, with my friend Jun Intrepido doing “extra”. It would certainly boost tourism. I learned from the city tourism officer, Junel Divinagracia, that travel agencies everywhere have already “boosted” Iloilo City as a tourist destination; more so because of its night tourism being touted as an
December 7, 2022
WHO has not heard or read that idiomatic expression? We often stumble upon it on Facebook whenever somebody pledges his love to a spouse, a lover, a parent, or anyone else. “I love you to the moon and back” is much easier to remember than saying, “I love you 768,800 kilometers long,”
December 5, 2022
THE other day, I lamented the death of the region’s Hiligaynon magazine — a weekly compilation of feature stories, serialized Ilonggo novels, illustrated novels and short stories – that had been born and reborn since its birth in 1935 until it bowed out for good in 2019 due to bankruptcy. This time,
December 2, 2022
DURING a coffee talk with my artist friend Art Geroche, we could not help but reminisce about our good old days with the defunct Hiligaynon magazine and our common friend, the late novelist-journalist-realtor Quirino “Quin” Baterna. The magazine Hiligaynon was the pioneer weekly Ilonggo magazine (founded in 1935) – a compilation of feature stories,
November 30, 2022
JEFFRY, an inquisitive nephew, asked me, “Uncle, how should I know who among my friends are true friends?” I initially thought of quoting quotable quotes like “A friend in need is a friend indeed” and “Tell me who your friends are and I will tell you who you are.” “True friends,” I
November 28, 2022
THIS corner agrees with the popular notion that the Department of Justice (DOJ) is on the right track in probing the murder of our fellow journalist, Percival “Percy Lapid” Mabasa. It’s no joke that that DOJ has suspended Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) Director General Gerald Bantag, suspected mastermind behind the murder of
November 25, 2022
THIS month of November, we electricity consumers are bound to pay higher bills, unless we have drastically reduced consumption – as in keeping the air-conditioner off, using a lesser number of low-voltage lights, spending lesser hours TV-viewing, and eliminating karaoke-singing. But, of course, probably as a knee-jerk response, some of us immediately
November 23, 2022
THE New York Post (Sept. 20, 2022 issue) reported that a dream had come true for the late American celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain – Urban Hawker, a street-food hall on 50th St., New York City. Singaporean chef K.F. Seetoh said he built it in fulfillment of Bourdain’s dream of building food stalls for
November 21, 2022
IT was just to heat up the coal issue, I hope, that motivated two Iloilo City councilors – lawyers Romel Duron and Sedfrey Cabaluna — to argue over the former’s resolution aimed at reducing the price of coal sold to the local power distribution utility. In a nutshell, Cabaluna pointed out that
November 18, 2022
“TRYING to please everybody is impossible,” said the late singer-composer John Lennon. “If you did that, you’d end up in the middle with nobody liking you. You’ve just got to make the decision about what you think is your best, and do it.” This must be the situation that MORE Electric and
November 16, 2022
THIS writer was among the first to go to my favorite fish market yesterday to catch up with the few slices of Blue Marlin still available. Being a regular customer, I asked the vendor for a discount. The inflationary price tag indicated “P650 per kilo”. “Just between us,” the vendor whispered, agreeing
November 14, 2022