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Philippines Graphic Reader

The Decision

Guido hands the large envelope to Bea. She accepts it with two hands, but he doesn’t let go of it, suddenly hesitant. She looks too young and frail to be entrusted with important documents, or with anything that could seriously affect his life....

Nautilus

I walked barefoot on the Pacific beach,the sand a chill, the sun a dying coal.Waves whispered secrets to the rocks,and there it was—a spiral waiting in the breath of the tide.Its surface shone,etched with lines curling inward,like a road curving toward a hidden...

Feed Me

Amanda's heart raced as she navigated through the sea of well-dressed attendees at the charity event. The grandeur of the venue was overshadowed by the gravity of the cause—ending global hunger. She had dedicated her life to this mission, and tonight, she hoped...

The Photograph

Here my mother, who must have been in her early forties, sits on a stone ledge at Fort San Pedro overlooking the Guimaras Strait. The sun must have been strong, as she smiles, trying not to squint against the glare, as her left arm holds my then six-year-old...

The Cold War Aswang Incident

In the year 1950, my village knew little of the Cold War although its geopolitical tremors reached even our mountains. The Philippine national government, backed by the Americans, was locked in a struggle against the Huk rebellion for control of Central Luzon's mountain...

Sisyphus, Rockstar

One last time, my forgotten friend, poise your calloused hands and dig your battered heels into the dirt. Left behind by the new world. The others, glam dolls and pulpit idols, have all long gone. I watch as you reach the top, as a slow, hazy blues chord from a...

Random Pickings

Mother/Magical Creature/Crane

No one believes me when I say I’ve seen a magical creature. But what else do you call someone who grew lives from her own...

These Invisible Forces

There was pain, lots of it. And it seared. It felt like fire, or like being eaten alive. Vincent screamed, using that one scrap...

A Jeepney Tale

I sit ugly, like a duck waiting to exhale, in a crowded jeepney on the way to somewhere that seems like nowhere on a...

WHERE FLOWERS BLOOM

Today is the last Friday of March, and it is stifling hot over here on the island, its jungle mountains overlooking the Pacific seaboard....