Patis Tito Garden Café, San Pablo, Laguna. In my last trip to our home country late last year, I was truly grateful for the chance to visit 2 outstanding places in the outskirts of Manila which gave me a deep, moving sense of my roots. Thanks to a good friend of ours Benjang Alvendia. Perhaps, it was just… Read More »

If Ka Doroy Valencia, dubbed by Associated Press then as one of the most influential journalists in the Philippines during his time (1913 to 1987), had his “Over a Cup of Coffee” column, then we had our “over a bowl of butong pakwan” session in our home. Complete with Marites stories. Woe to the one who did not… Read More »

These words ring true more than ever today.  These words were first written by the novelist and playwright Edward Bulwer-Lytton in “Cardinal Richelieu”, the historical play he wrote in 1839.  According to Alison Gee of BBC News, there were previous writers who have expressed the same thought earlier, like Robert Burton, in the early 17th century when he… Read More »

Something is afoot at the Philippine Consulate General of Toronto.  And it is a welcome change. For the first time (after around 4 or 5 years), there was a real, living, breathing person who answered the phone at the PCGT. I trust that these are changes due to the initiatives of the newly appointed Consul General Angelica C.… Read More »

For some people, Lammas Day is a day of celebration.  In the olden days, it is traditionally, observed on August 1, which marked the beginning of the harvest. Specifically, it celebrated the harvest of the first wheat crop, or of corn.  It derives from the ancient English festival the Gule of August. On this day, the first fruits… Read More »

Traveling alone is not new to me, even in my younger years. (Huwag na ninyong itanong how long ago!). Somehow, especially in the Philippines, or in Asia for that matter, people would look at me askance, sometimes with downright incredulous eyes. This happens almost always when they find out I am on a trip by myself.  This time,… Read More »

As we transitioned to today, July 1, Canada Day, it is interesting to note that the month preciding it, June, was both Filipino Heritage Month and National Indigenous Month in Canada. I started my piece for this issue intending to highlight the similarities in the cultures and histories of both nations – Canada and the Philippines. Offhand, or… Read More »

However much I try not to follow what is going on in Ukraine and the rest of the world, I am inexorably drawn to the video posts from both MSM (mainstream media) and independent journalists (mainly the latter as I am beginning to doubt  the former’s credibility, or at least, their evenness). I cannot help but compare the… Read More »

The global pandemic not only devastated (in many more ways than one) countries and peoples regardless of age, color, income, and what-have-you, but it unleashed hordes of travelers in airports and countries after it was officially over (or is it?). I know. I was one of them.   As early as late 2022, as soon as I received my… Read More »

This is one time when I was grateful for the heat in Manila. What???!! Yes, readers, because if Manila was hot during the Holy Week, Bangkok was near-scorching. And yet, I had an incredibly satisfying time in the land of tuktuk and traffic (I think, Bangkok traffic was even worse than Manila, or maybe “patas lang”). No wonder… Read More »