Growing up, I heard about Corregidor, the Death March, guerrillas, and late President Ferdinand E. Marcos Sr.’s questionable wartime medals. When I visited Corregidor on a school field trip, I wondered why the story was largely narrated from an American viewpoint that...

During childhood summers with my cousins in Pampanga, I was taught that Holy Wednesday marked the day Judas Iscariot offered to turn Jesus over to the temple authorities for 30 pieces of silver. I read the Bible years later, for a college theology class, and know of...

Unwritten Women,” from Good Intentions Books, gathers the stories of women who lived through dangerous periods of Philippine history but are left out of the narrative. Eight brave Filipino women are profiled, from Rizal’s mother, Teodora Alonso, to Letty Jimenez...

Going on a day trip along the lakeshore towns of Laguna is always a treat. Traveling with Albert Barretto, curator of the Nagcarlan Underground Cemetery, is even better because of his local knowledge. We visited Nagcarlan, Liliw, Majayjay, Magdalena, Pagsanjan,...

Midway into Women’s Month, I looked into sources on the long and complicated campaign on women’s suffrage in the Philippines. I plowed through this to put context into the historic photograph from Sept. 17, 1937 when then President Manuel Luis Quezon signed Filipino...

Clutter grows on my desk faster than I can say “Kondo Method” or “döstädning” (that’s Swedish death cleaning). Reclaiming space on the desk is a constant battle, and the last major victory was during the pandemic when I literally put my affairs in order. I went beyond...

On April 24, 1972, Fernando C. Amorsolo breathed his last. Three days later, he rose again (figuratively) as the first national artist for painting. One could say that the national artist award was created for him, or began because of him. With Proclamation No. 1001,...

Artificial intelligence, or AI, is a technological tidal wave that only fools will resist at their peril. At a discussion two years ago, many professors wanted to ban or at least limit the use of AI in writing assignments, more so for theses and dissertations. I was...

Seventy-five years ago today, Fort Santiago in Intramuros was declared a national shrine by virtue of Republic Act No. 597. I dug up the law and was surprised to learn that Fort Santiago was supposed to be known as the “Shrine of Freedom.” Today, Fort Santiago is a...

March 16, 1521, is a date that opens Yoyoy Villame’s folksy “Magellan” song. It is the only fact, the only thing worth remembering in his amusing retelling of Magellan’s short visit to the Philippines. March 16, 1521, was the day Magellan sighted Samar after a long...