Dear Mark and Cathy, My boyfriend of five years passed away suddenly six months ago. In the wake of his passing, I discovered many secrets—things that he did not tell me about. It appears that all that time we were together he was leading a double life. Whenever I think of his betrayal, I am...
“Tanda,” a Filipino term for “old,” can also mean “sign.” So one can easily ask: What is the sign of getting old (Ano ang tanda ng tumatanda)? The song “Kahit maputi na ang buhok ko” speaks of love that persists even as one’s hair turns grey—just one sign of ageing. Of course, the birthdate is...
Dec. 8, the feast of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, is a special nonworking holiday nationwide by virtue of Republic Act. No. 10966. The law calls Our Lady “the principal patroness of the Philippines,” but more than that, she is the “mother” of millions of Filipinos who look to her as the fount of love...
AVERNES, France—Here in my garden, I sow, I grow, and I remember my mother. She didn’t have a garden. No one did in that part of Manila, but beside our house where the neighbors had the right of way, she planted hardy San Franciscos and greens with heart-shaped leaves (Homalomenas, I now think). Asparagus ferns...
Tucked in semi-commercial Bulihan in bucolic Silang, Cavite, is a “trattoria”-style restaurant called “Cotoletta Ni Saletta.” It gets its name from the owners, Matteo Saletta, an Italian who speaks Filipino quite fluently, and his wife, Jonie Olandag-Saletta, a Filipino who speaks Italian like a native. In Italy, a trattoria is a small restaurant usually run...
Dear Cathy & Mark, Our beloved 72-year-old father died last June of Covid-19. He was generally healthy otherwise. My four siblings and I are devastated by our loss. Our father loved Christmas and always made it a special time for our family. Two of my siblings suggested that we carry on our family traditions as...
The Asean Centre for Biodiversity (ACB), co-organizer of the International Ecotourism Travel Mart (IETM), is in the thick of preparations for the world’s first green travel festival to be held next year in Silang, Cavite, Philippines. Scheduled on March 29-April 2, 2023, IETM is a historic assembly that puts ecotourism in its rightful place in...
The Christmas holiday season in the Philippines starts in earnest after All Souls’ Day. Gift lists are updated, the holiday-party, vacation and reunion schedules finalized. Weeks prior, the mall and tiangge merchants are already on holiday marketing mode, playing carols to set the mood and reeling in customers with irresistible discount sales. But now is...
In 2010, moved only by a need to find a job (having been unemployed for more than five years), I accepted the position of executive director of a 40-year-old company called United Way Philippines Inc. (UWPI). At first, I thought it was some pharmaceutical or pyramiding firm. It turned out to be a non government...
There’s no fiesta like Christmas, and it’s aptly called the holiday season—a season that starts as early as the first days of December and extends to the last days of January. It even spills to mid-February, or up to the so-called “Feast of the Candelaria.” I know this from my parents, who were conservative Catholics. ...
