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Carmen Linda Atayde: Life in perfect phases

Like a flawlessly solved puzzle, everything fell into place for Carmen Linda Macasil-Atayde by the time she reached the age of 25. In 1965, at the young age of 23, she graduated with a degree in Chemical Engineering from the Mapua Institute of Technology....

Ces Buenavista: Queen of the barracks

She was one of the thousands of college students stranded in their campuses when the Enhanced Community Quarantine was imposed throughout Luzon.  “Sir, it was difficult to get tickets. The airline schedule kept changing because of the developing situation,” said Ces Buenavista, 21, the...

Heidi Sison: Radio, TV, and ‘doing what’s right’

Her life has gone through a world war, the martial law years, show business, and working closely with cops, soldiers, and high officials in the military. But almost 80 years and two careers later, director Heidi Sison still professes she has not been witness to any atrocity or decadence of any kind.

Town cops repulse NPA surprise attack

It was supposed to be a surprise attack on a police station. The plan was to take the police officers unawares by hitting them a couple of hours before dawn. This was the time when someone manning a post through the night is...

The bookshop my parents built—growing up at Solidaridad

When Solidaridad, the bookshop my parents, Frankie and Tessie Jose, set up in 1965 on Padre Faura Street in Ermita, Manila, turned 50, we should have probably thrown a month-long party. Fifty years is a huge accomplishment for any business, all the more a...

Love locks, tokhang, and Rosario at Baclaran

He cradled his son with his right arm, while he wrapped his left fist around a sledgehammer. The grilles surrounding them were full of padlocks with names written on them. A spotlight focused on the father and son, their figures unnoticed by the passing...

Random Pickings

The Battle of Leyte Gulf: Oct. 23 to Oct. 25, 1944

The year was 1944. The war in the Pacific had definitely turned against Imperial Japan. On June 19 of that year, the outcome of the...

Uppance come a-knocking

In criminal law, it is believed that “the guilty flee when no one pursueth but the innocent are as bold as a lion.”  This...

The ides of a university

Intelligence-gathering, when conducted by the Armed Forces of the Philippines, becomes less of an undercover op and more of wish-fulfillment in that it could...

Leona Florentino: Mother of Filipina poetry

Leona Florentino had a very brief life.  She just lived for 35 years, and had written only a handful of poems.  However, during her...