I have always loved how Dinagyang can make even the most serious Ilonggo smile like a child. The drumbeat enters the chest first before it reaches the ears, and suddenly everyone is walking faster, speaking louder, and looking up. Yet Dinagyang can also humble you. You think you have a plan,
January 23, 2026
A week before Dinagyang, the city already changes its posture. Banderitas begin to bloom. Sound systems get tested. Food stalls start rehearsing their own kind of choreography: grill, wrap, sell, repeat. The streets feel like they are holding their breath for January 24–25. And if we are honest, the biggest question
January 22, 2026
I have heard worse words shouted in a barangay basketball game over a bad foul, and nobody called it statesmanship; they called it ordinary Saturday. So when Senator Panfilo “Ping” Lacson opened the Senate Blue Ribbon hearing on flood control anomalies by telling the “skeptics, detractors, and hijackers” to “shut the
January 21, 2026
There is a quiet kind of joy in ticking off a full list of government errands in one afternoon. Not because it happens often, but because when it does, it feels like a miracle. No fixer needed. No dramatic sighs. Just systems that actually work—like when government offices stick to the
January 20, 2026
There is always one in every thread. You know the type. The one who snubs joy like it is a sin, who turns your good news into a courtroom drama, and who reads your promotion or your child’s graduation post like it is a personal affront. It does not matter if
January 19, 2026
In a world where truth is often dressed in charisma and conviction, the most dangerous lies are the ones that wear robes of faith. We have seen it before. Leaders who speak with such certainty that you start to question your own doubts. Followers so devoted that they would walk barefoot
January 16, 2026
A funny thing happens in Philippine politics when English gets involved: one word can suddenly acquire the flexibility of a rubber band and the stamina of a seasoned senator. Take “forthwith.” It is a term that sounds like it was borrowed from a British courtroom drama, dusted off, then dropped on
January 15, 2026
Some ideas spread faster than official memos because they sound like relief. The four-day workweek is one of them. Mention it in a faculty room and you will hear two reactions in the same breath: “Pwede gid tani,” followed by, “Pero indi na bala kami mapatay sa 10 hours?” That mix
January 14, 2026
We have a way of laughing even when the news feels like a slap. My prediction since 2022 is captured in two words: “Popcorn, please.” It is the kind of line you throw when the plot becomes predictable yet too juicy to miss. Only this time, the screen is not in
January 13, 2026
January has a way of forcing institutions to look at themselves in the mirror. Not the flattering kind, but the one that catches what has changed, what remains unfinished, and what still needs courage. When Iloilo State University of Fisheries Science and Technology (ISUFST) turns three as a university this January
January 10, 2026
I was given just a weekend to rest after retiring from Ateneo de Iloilo. My body welcomed it; my mind refused to. The calendar cleared, yet instead of relief, I felt oddly misplaced. Almost right away, I found myself starting anew at Iloilo State College of Fisheries (ISCOF), now Iloilo State
January 9, 2026
