“Ballerina,” the fifth chapter in the John Wick world, is not just another action movie. It is a sharp, stylish tale that dances between violence and vulnerability, grit and grace. After a long, draining duty, my daughter Parvane—clearly exhausted and in need of a break—was nudged by me to watch a
June 19, 2025
Every Filipino teacher knows that the real weight they carry is not just the lesson plan or the chalk, but the silent frustration of decisions made far from the classroom. Education policies often come from top floors, built on numbers that do not reflect what is happening at ground level. That
June 18, 2025
There is a strange quiet surrounding HIV in Western Visayas. When monkeypox hit the news, it caused a brief stir. But HIV, which has been spreading slowly and silently for years, barely draws attention. It is not as sensational, but it is far more dangerous—and much closer to home. In Iloilo
June 17, 2025
In the country, one does not often find education making front-page policy breakthroughs. But when Malacañang gave the green light, in principle, to the long-proposed Cabinet Cluster for Education, it felt like a much-needed gust of air had been allowed into a suffocating room. As classrooms reopen post-pandemic and our learners
June 16, 2025
The numbers did not whisper—they shouted. According to the 2024 FLEMMS survey, only 68.4% of people in Iloilo Province and 70.7% in Iloilo City are functionally literate—the lowest in Western Visayas. Once hailed as an academic stronghold, Iloilo now trails behind Aklan, Antique, Guimaras, and Capiz. And while “Functional literacy” may
June 14, 2025
Not long ago, I had the chance to teach a PhD class on Technology Integration in Formal Education. Most of my students were librarians. What started as a deep-dive into tech tools quickly turned into something more profound: a shared realization that libraries are far from outdated. They’re not dying—they’re transforming.
June 13, 2025
Monday night felt less like a solemn constitutional proceeding and more like a confusing rerun of a political drama that no one asked for. Many of us—teachers, tricycle drivers, nurses, cops, market vendors, even lawyers-in-the-making—are still trying to make sense of what just happened. The Senate, expected to play its part
June 12, 2025
The conversation surrounding the future of the Catholic Church often circles around vocations. Are there enough priests? Are the young still listening? Cardinal Robert Prevost, now Pope Leo XVI, offered a refreshingly honest take. He said, “It is true that some parts of the world right now… there are fewer vocations
June 11, 2025
In Lapuz District, where the salty breeze from the port mixes with the comforting scent of early-morning pandesal, our family and neighbors have grown familiar with a different kind of daily ritual—not waiting for sunrise, sunset, or dawn, but for the rumble of the water delivery truck we all quietly hope
June 10, 2025
To my BSEd Math Major graduates, You made it. And truly, I am happy for you—not just because you completed the requirements, but because you endured. You pushed through when things became chaotic, frustrating, overwhelming, and at times, painfully dramatic. Analytic geometry, differential calculus, integral calculus, mathematical investigation, problem solving, mathematical
June 7, 2025
When news broke that the Department of Education (DepEd) was proposing to remove Ethics from the Senior High School (SHS) and college general education curriculum, many educators, thinkers, and citizens winced, some in confusion, others in silent dismay. It felt like watching the final scene of a film where the hero,
June 6, 2025
