Ang buwan ng Abril ay hindi lamang basta paglipas ng panahon sa kalendaryo kundi isang paalala ng ating kolektibong alaala bilang isang bayan na may sariling tinig, sariling kuwento, at sariling pakikibaka. Ang pagdiriwang ng National Literature Month ay hindi simpleng selebrasyon ng mga akda kundi isang panawagan na balikan
April 7, 2026
My mother is from Guimaras, although they used to have a house in Villa Arevalo. Still, every summer of my childhood seemed to lead me back not to Villa, but to the island where her roots — and eventually my memories — were anchored. In Jordan, where their old house
April 2, 2026
I chose not to drive today because I wanted to place myself, deliberately and without insulation, inside the everyday reality that most people cannot opt out of. What unfolded was not just a commute across Iloilo City but a slow and layered encounter with how policy, economics, and power shape
April 1, 2026
I used to be uncomfortable with beauty pageants. They often felt like empty spectacles that reinforced shallow standards rather than meaningful dialogue. For a long time, I questioned their place in educational institutions. That perspective began to shift when I witnessed events like Busalian kang CAS. What I saw was not a
March 31, 2026
At the beginning of this year, I made a deliberate promise to myself to pay closer attention to local stage productions in Iloilo, not merely as entertainment but as cultural texts worthy of critique. On March 26, 2026, a Saturday, I found myself rushing to catch the final performance of
March 30, 2026
One afternoon inside a mall in Iloilo, I first heard the word “geng-geng.” It was casually tossed into a conversation among friends as we watched a group of teenagers pass by, dressed in loud and glittering outfits. In that moment, the word felt both playful and judgmental, like a wink
March 27, 2026
In the Philippines, we often celebrate how “open” society has become toward the LGBTQ+ community, yet this openness is sometimes only surface-level. Behind colorful shows and viral content, there are strategies that profit from queer audiences without truly making space for their lived experiences. This is where queerbaiting emerges as
March 26, 2026
On Monday, March 23, 2026, in celebration of National Women’s Month, Det Neri, the author of the well-known book “Ang Ikaklit sa Aming Hardin,” is currently here in Iloilo, and her presence feels both rare and deeply meaningful. She came to the city to deliver a lecture and hold a
March 25, 2026
We urgently need films of this kind, works that confront us with the shameless brutality of American colonial rule. Films like Sisa (2025, June Robles Lana, The IdeaFirst Company) do not merely entertain but instead provoke the intellect and disturb the conscience. They unsettle the gut and compel us to
March 24, 2026
When I first heard about the idea of a third space, I did not even know it had a name. I just knew there were places outside my home where I felt calm, safe, and human again. Sociologists call this a third place: a social environment separate from home, which
March 23, 2026
There is no single formula for writing a great poem, and John Iremil E. Teodoro proves this in his collection Buang sa Pag-ibig, published by the University of the Philippines Press in 2025. This book is a shining contribution to contemporary Filipino poetry and an important addition to the growing
March 3, 2026
