MAY ASIM PA
Literally translated in English it means “sourness retained” or “sour still”. The language switch however does not do justice to its real meaning. Sourness is synonymous with dourness. It conjures up an idea of acidity and therefore repulsive. Its free translation should be “sweetness retained” or “sweet still” and captures its sense in greater part....
PANTALAN
The island of Alabat has three towns, two are on the opposite ends and the third is in the middle. The elongated island is about 33 kms. long and 5 kms. wide. Its nearest point to the mainland is the poblacion of Quezon, which is about 700 meters off Roma Point, part of Guitis, Quezon....
GABALDON: AFFAIRS OF A LITTLE HEART
At nine years old I began to notice the opposite sex. But I was overwhelmed by the physical disproportion. Why were the girls much taller and bigger than us? I was clueless of the biological rationale. I was skinny then, and I was covered with banil as the libag got stuck on my neck. At...
RAUL ROCO: A BICOLANO BETRAYAL
“‘Tis not seasonable to call a man a traitor that has an army at his heels.” John Selden (1584-1654), British jurist, statesman. “Traitor,” Table Talk (1686). We pride ourselves with our regionalistic inclinations. We identify ourselves with our friends, relatives, and neighbours. And we find ourselves more in common with our kababayan. Our townmates, provincemates,...
LOST PARTY
It is understandable if the likes of Jejomar Binay or JV Ejercito keep their swashbuckling animus while the object of their best punch remains standing. They are now back on the drawing board charting how best to politically decapitate their target. While the budget from Tanay keeps on coming. These opposition top honchos remain unperturbed...
REPUBLIC OF MAKATI
Since the death of FPJ, the Mayor of Makati has lent his visibility and probably leadership in the rudderless opposition ship. The competing irresistible forces of the camps of two high profile senators, who are both presidential wannabes, have rent asunder a model united opposition front. In this country however, the self is much larger...
SET-UP
Had the 2004 elections been computerized and not conducted in what observers then called the archaic system of manual counting, today’s allegations of cheating and rigging would simply be baseless. It is disturbing (but also revealing) that hardly anyone is campaigning for election reforms today. This leads to the conclusion that many in the political...
PINOY NETWORKING
Recently, when I e-mailed a long-lost friend who is now based in America, he asked me how life is today in his old Philippines. He told me he hasn’t been here for the last 30 years. Of course he told me that he is kept posted on the developments hereabouts via the internet, as all...
TRANCHE DE VIE
This year is the 25th anniversary of my lawyering. Not a single day interrupted my continuous trial life as an attorney. While I had my foray in government service for six years, the law did not forbid from practicing my profession. For ten years from taking my oath as a lawyer, I worked as an...
30 YEARS IS A LONG TIME GONE: A LETTER TO A FRIEND
(NOTE: I received the following unedited email recently from a friend based in California whom I have not heard from for the last 31 years. The death of a fraternity brother induced the exchange of emails.) Dear Sonny, I have been informed of important news about tom for all the years. I have been in...
simple life
That man is the richest whose pleasures are the cheapest. Henry David Thoreau US Transcendentalist author (1817 – 1862) Hands down, there is no debate that we live in a poor country. In Quezon, we have meager resources. Yet, if one looks around, there is something still for everybody. Our marine life is bountiful. We are...
RETURN ON RATE BASE
Return on Investment (ROI) is the old formula of computing how much an investor gets from his investment where we look at the quotient of net income over total capital. The higher the ROI, the profitable the business. But this method of computation is inapplicable to power plants selling electricity to distributors who in turn...