SYDNEY—“This is your captain speaking. We shall soon commence our descent into Melbourne …” I felt a lump in my throat. Every year when I visit my daughter here, I make a side trip to Victoria’s capital to see a dear friend from college. The pandemic paused the practice, and now, after three years, I...
Category: News
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Smallest rafflesia blooms reveal some family secrets
Most likely, the world has heard about the awesome rafflesia bloom, its rarity and inherent malodorous turnoff. But Filipino scientists are keen on further unlocking the mystery and meaning of the plant’s parasitic existence. Nearly half, or 13, of the more than 30 rafflesia species currently identified and all endemic to Southeast Asia are found...
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Abra quake was less destructive but a complex seismic event
A magnitude-7 earthquake has long been associated with a nightmarish aftermath: massive devastation and hundreds of deaths. But more than two weeks after one such temblor jolted Abra province and its vicinity last July 27, disaster response officials reported only 11 fatalities so far and a little over P2 billion in damage to infrastructure and...
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Hurdling missteps in face-to-face learning
After two years of holding classes remotely and online, some universities in Metro Manila will open the academic year 2022-23 on Aug. 15 and gradually return to in-person and onsite learning. Once again, a reimagination of “class,” “class activities, and “learning” is needed. When classes were abruptly halted in March 2020 due to the Covid-19...
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Landslides in Leyte: Why the threat persists
BAYBAY CITY—Virginia Queza remembers sharply the Day of the Landslides’, for that was when she lost her husband, house and almost everything else she had. “I kept shouting for help while we were deeply covered with mud, surrounded by dead bodies. My husband was still alive. But all my pleas were ignored,” Queza, 60, recalled,...
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Landslides in Leyte: Pain, grief stifle hope to rebuild lives
BAYBAY CITY, LEYTE—Almost every passing day, Rolando Tagnipez lights a candle before an image of his son on a made-to-order tarp installed in his house. The ritual reminds him of his loved one whose whereabouts he has surrendered to nature’s will. “They have not found the body of my son, together with those of his...
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Honor, courage and storytelling in difficult times
Editor’s note: The following is the commencement speech delivered by Caroline S. Hau via Zoom at the University of the Philippines Diliman on July 31, 2022. Ms. Hau began her speech in Filipino with a greeting to the UP Regents, President Danilo Concepcion, officials of the UP System, Chancellor Fidel Nemenzo, vice chancellors, deans and...
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Peace and the FVR presidency
In my assessment of the peace process during a conference examining the Fidel V. Ramos (FVR) presidency, I gave his administration the grade of 6 out of 10. Looking back at that event organized by then University of the Philippines president Jose “Pepe” Abueva, since deceased, I concede that it was a stingy grade. It...
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How events in 2019 resulted in the Furigay assassination
The body of slain former mayor Rose Furigay was brought home to Lamitan City, Basilan, on July 31, but closure is nowhere near the horizon. Contrary to what is being claimed by partisans on social media, the feud between Furigay and her suspected murderer, Dr. Chao Tiao Yumol, did not spring from the latter’s campaign...
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From fish vendor to town mayor
I was in Dolores, Eastern Samar, a few weeks ago and had a chance to take a photo of the new mayor of the third-class municipality (annual income: P15-20 million) facing the Pacific Ocean, on a billboard near the port. The story of Rodrigo “Onoy” Rivera, 62, a fish vendor who became mayor, is one...