Passing through a posh Makati gated community this week, I saw a sign regarding metal rat traps available from the barangay office. Ugh! Getting the rats in the cage is one thing, disposing of them is another. My housekeeper swears on rat glue on wood boards or even...

Visitors to the San Agustin Museum in Intramuros walk through hallways filled with ancient images of Catholic saints, many of whom they do not know nor recognize. Then there are wood reliefs and pieces of furniture with wood reliefs that depict biblical stories, or...

Jose Rizal’s love letters should prove that love is complicated, but he didn’t keep copies, not even drafts in his notebooks. Recipients kept Rizal’s letters from curious “Marites” like me. Leonor Rivera made sure these letters remained private and burned all their...

The library of Pedro Ortiz Armengol, Spanish ambassador to the Philippines (1981-1987) is now preserved in the Filipinas Heritage Library, and I intend to check it out when I have time. It was not well-known in Manila social circles that he was a literary historian,...

Primary sources on the outbreak of the Philippine-American War make for engaging reading. More so after the 125th anniversary commemorated last Sunday, Feb. 4. The New York Times carried the news on Feb. 6, 1899, two days late because of the time difference between...

One hundred twenty five years ago, this weekend saw the outbreak of the Philippine-American War. Araling Panlipunan or Hekasi used to teach that on the night of Feb. 4, 1899, the first shot was fired by a certain Private Willie Grayson, at a Filipino soldier who...

Trending on TikTok last Sunday was the post of Veronica Balayo on possible reincarnation. On a recent visit to the National Museum of Fine Arts, Balayo posed beside a photo-oleo of a beautiful woman who resembled her. Caption on her photo read: “Me, now and then?”...

People are shocked when I tell them I prepared the slide deck for my funeral. What else was left to do during quarantine? COVID was a nightmare we have woken up from, it will be remembered differently by different people depending on their experiences. I hope future...

Ephemera is a complicated term used to describe ordinary objects that obsess collectors. Ephemera is a subset of “collectibles” that are a few notches below “antiques” in age, value, and desirability. These objects, originally created to be useful or popular only for...

When people ask what translations of the “Noli me tangere” and “El Filibusterismo” I recommend, my standard answer is: Virgilio S. Almario for Filipino, and for English: Soledad Lacson-Locsin, Penguin-Harold Augenbraum, or León María Guerrero. Looking for these in a...