I am no stranger to earthquakes. This country has had so many of them—small, medium, large—during my lifetime. By grace, the devastation doe...

From the General's daughters, his faithful driver while still in the service, and fellow generals, one last salute.   ". . . even...

Our well-loved cousin whom we simply called “The General” (aged 80) accepted his marching orders from our heavenly General (“The real Gener...

I wrote about this lovebird sometime ago, about how it came rapping at our chamber door and refusing to leave. Tony went out of his way to ...

Once upon a time, many lifetimes ago, I was into theatre. I feasted on Konstantin Stanislavski, Bertolt Brecht and Eugene Ionesco. To gra...

Our Medical Transcription School has this huge white board which looks impressive if it faces you. But the minute you turn it around, the ba...

My 10th book in the “Oh, Mateo!” series was recently reviewed by an 11-year-old reader, Alexia Bejasa, in the Junior Inquirer Magazine. It...

Mateo, eight years old, has one surviving parent—his father, a poor farmer in the province of my youth, Pangasinan. But he has five energeti...

Nobody could have predicted that Abba’s timeless songs would create a phenomenon years after their heyday. When Mamma Mia! (based on Abba’s...

1) Hold them firmly with both hands. 2) Put them up on your mouth and pause a little. 3) Try hard to get them past your upper lip. 4)...

Mornings are always a puzzle, five puzzles! I get to solve five crosswords in a row—after finishing my 7,000-step walk and before breakfast....

Through loved ones, family, friends, friends, and friends in all of 366 (2008 is a leap year) days since my last birthday, grace had been at...

This mess is heaped upon my bed once a year, at least. Those multi-colored thingies are clear books—you know, folders containing plastic po...

Eleven Million people were murdered in the Holocaust , that’s what history tells us. To this day, I can’t imagine how such a genocide could ...

I Shall Wear Purple  This yellowing, tattered book sat in a small second-hand bookshop in Bohol, where I was conducting a creative writing w...

The crossword puzzle in one of the dailies today had this clue: Today . It called for 15 letters. A tough one. I moved to another clue som...

Sonia was my sister in everything but blood and genes. She lived a life that taught me many things about growing in faith. I will allow my...

Our president, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, is now in the US for a working visit, with an entourage of over 50 politicians and high-ranking gove...

My doctor was more than one hour late. In the clinic’s receiving room, I sat with other patients waiting for their doctors as well. Two yaya...

I first saw this awesome bridge when I was watching Mr. Bean. I wondered if it were real or if it were just the handiwork of computer grap...

As a student, I had often wondered whether my teachers talked about me in faculty meetings. Now as a teacher I know they actually did! Fac...

I write a regular column tagged Happy Endings for Moms and Kids Magazine. Let me share with you the first one. Since the fonts are too sma...

This poem by Edgar Allan Poe came to mind when Ate Vi showed us the yellow bird over our chamber door (well, back door actually): While...

Each time I see JC or a skinhead on TV, I am reminded of the Broadway musicale: “The King and I.”   This dates me, I know. But there seems...

I have something in common with the Queen of England. I have not changed my hairdo—not in eight years. She has not changed hers far longer...

In the Philippines, when the youngest child graduates from college, the parents also graduate. Unlike other cultures, ours sees every chil...