It’s remarkable, what a long-unopened filing cabinet can yield. On this trip to Manila, we found a faded document with the ambitious heading: “CONCEPT PAPER: A PASIG-BASED COMMUTER TRANSPORT SYSTEM…

IN September 2011, for the Global Summit of Filipinos in the Diaspora convened by the Commission on Filipinos Overseas, then CFO Chair Imelda Nicolas, asked me to write a poem,…

WHEN I read the post in social media that Senator-boxer Manny Pacquiao had proposed crucifixion as a method of imposing the death penalty, my automatic response was to suggest, “Crucify…

“Now that I’m growing older, My pilot light is out; What used to be my sex appealIs now my water spout…” I WAS in my mid-20s, at the peak of…

MY very first newspaper column came out in Business World, the leading business daily in the Philippines, on September 21, 1988, almost 31 years ago.  Headlined, “Ah, those good old…

We’ve probably all heard the tale of the fox who raided the chicken coop and had to be hunted down by the farmer. But have you heard about the farmer…

The sinking of a Filipino fishing boat in the West Philippine Sea by a Chinese vessel has created a sticky public relations situation for the government of President Rodrigo Duterte….

Remember the old saying? “When in Rome, do as the Romans do.” They watch out for pickpockets. I momentarily forgot this valuable piece of advice and, as a result, lost…

Now that the Philippine midterm elections are over and new senators and local government officials are going to assume office, can we, the citizenry, expect the “promising” men and women…

OUR Marian pilgrimage group had just checked in on Sunday night at the Grand Hotel in Assisi, the town of St. Francis — after whom San Francisco, California and Pope…

I AM writing this in Lourdes, France, the town of St. Bernadette to whom the Blessed Virgin Mary showed herself 18 times over a period of six months, from February…

I have just filled out my ballot as an overseas Filipino qualified to vote in the May 13, 2019 midterm elections. While we are outside the Philippines, dual citizens like…

One of the most touching chapters in “El Filibusterismo,” Jose Rizal’s sequel to the “Noli Me Tangere,” was when Padre Florentino asked plaintively, “Where are the youth who will consecrate their golden hours,…

First, Malacañang spokesman Salvador Panelo described as “futile,” the recent complaint against Chinese President Xi Jinping filed by former Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario and former Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales…

POOR Nic Gabunada. He is being crucified for being good at what he does. Gabunada, a former ABS-CBN research specialist, is credited with harnessing social media to help President Rodrigo…

The recently concluded “Abuse Summit” at the Vatican convened by Pope Francis frontally addressed the problem of priestly sexual abuse –  a problem and a challenge set against the extremely…

HOW does one win in a senatorial election where 63 candidates are fighting over 12 seats? The advertising geniuses at the watering holes in Makati insist that name recognition is…

The hot topic at my favorite watering hole in Daly City is  the 2019 midterm election in  the Philippines, scheduled on May 13. That date is an unlucky one for…

In Washington D.C. and wherever in the U.S. federal employees proliferate, there is a lot of weeping and wailing over a wall. This is not Jerusalem’s Wailing Wall. It is…

Mike de Leon is a multi-awarded cinematographer, screenplay writer and director in Philippine cinema. Among his first works as a cinematographer was Maynila, Sa Kuko ng Liwanag, directed by Lino…

“And so it came to pass that a choir of elves appeared in the night sky singing, ‘We bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all…

NORBERTO Gonzales, the national security adviser during the incumbency of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, has rung alarm bells about a possible attack on the Philippines by China. This was his reaction…

“IN union there is strength,”  has become such a cliche that even otherwise sensible people tend to forget its inherent wisdom. In the wake of the declaration of martial law…

THERE is a caravan of an estimated 4,000 men, women and children from Central America hiking hundreds of miles from their home countries to Mexico and from there to the…

With all of the bad news coming out of Manila, like typhoons, runaway inflation and Duterte lawyer Salvador Panelo, I felt a need to inject some happy thoughts into the…

In grade school in Tacloban, Leyte, what we pupils dreaded most was to be told by the teachers, “Bobo…better go home and plant camote!” I guess that served to create…

In death Sen. John McCain was honored by colleagues whom he disagreed with, even fought with and who considered him a disloyal maverick during his long tenure as a politician….

IF anyone were to tell a foreigner that the Philippines is a poor country and Filipinos can hardly afford three meals a day, he’d never believe it if he were…

On a visit to Baguio a few months ago, the hotel we stayed at had several young people working at the front desk, in the restaurant, and as bellhops. What…