The human body betrays language in explicating unusual faculties. Our bodies are biologically designed to “tell” us if something is wrong— but not through words. It pinpoints a specific part and uses the dialects of pain, as if to...

In the history of mankind, wars have taken away far more than it created anything. The 1945 Battle of Manila and the recent attacks in Ukraine's capital of Kyiv have shown us what we lose as a species when...

It was probably the most unsettling and shocking piece of news that broke during that second week of October. After eating his share of hotdog and marshmallow-on-a-stick, a boy, aged 3, uses the stick to stab the heart of his...

My grandfather was shipped out of the Philippines in the 1920s, and landed in Stockton, California—less as a starry-eyed immigrant, and more as imperial cargo.  The Americans needed hands, and the Philippines—trophy from the Spanish-American War—had plenty to spare. Men...

By all accounts, traveling in an archipelagic country like the Philippines has always required patience, strategy, and a little creativity.  Filipinos, especially seasoned “biyaheros,” have mastered the art of making every journey part of the adventure itself — even the...

Possessing one of the oldest civilizations in the world, China’s 5,000-year-old history is a tapestry of transformation—from an ancient, agrarian society (8,000 to 10,000 years ago) to becoming the world’s low-cost, manufacturing nexus (mid-20th century), all the way to...

BY HIS own admission, the young Orlando “Orly” Mercado was “a dyed-in-the-wool, left-wing activist,” having organized his first labor union shortly after beginning his broadcast journalism career. Born on April 26, 1946, he was only 20 years old when he...

Angelic, with a hint of sadness and uncertainty framing an otherwise cherubic, smiling face, the boy is small, thin, amiable, and sprightly. When asked what he wanted to be when he grows up, he quickly answered: “Gusto ko po maging...

Previous era of the arts had subversiveness, vulgarity, and blasphemy as its main problems. Now its inauthenticity—the single remaining line that shouldn’t be crossed. In Western theater, the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle discussed “Thespis of Icaria” in his foundational literary...

TRIBUTE — On September 26, the Filipino literary titan, maestro of the Philippine short story, and former Graphic editor Gregorio C. Brillantes passed away at 92.

It looks like it’s going to be a long haul when you scan the country, or even just this part of town, from the corner of Taft and Padre Faura—a long dazed journey, not to “Philippines 2000,” the splendiferous miracle promised FVR’s faithful a mere seven years from now, but to reality of NIChood probably a century hence.

I attended an awarding event once where I saw firsthand how a group of respected writers interacted only with those they deem worthy of acknowledgement. They clapped only to the people they know. Many of those in attendance were...