When our votes gamble the future
The sound of vehicles blaring their horns echoes across the highway. Tires roll endlessly on burning roads, while the city...
The casual cruelty
There are stories you inherit unwillingly—stories that twist and churn long after they are told. One of mine surfaced when...
Why hope still matters to the young
I have often wondered if hope still mattered to young people when the meaning itself has become increasingly fragile. For...
The orchard called work
They say landing your first job is one of life’s sweetest fruits—a mark of independence, proof that you’ve finally “made...
What happens after you ask for help
Trigger warning: This article contains references to suicide and self-harm. In November 2025, I admitted myself to a psychiatric ward...
Forging the Filipino future
A new year has just begun, but 2026 arrives with a bang, as if to remind us that the world...
Lessons from the Bar
The waiting had already taught me how to disappear. For weeks after the Bar, I pretended I hadn’t taken it...
Bearing the day, bearing the year
The last day of December is just another day to survive. The street smelled of salt and ice, mingling with...
And so I pray
When did the people’s trust become a currency that the government spends so carelessly, as if our lives were small...
‘Sir, pa-cancel po’
In Metro Manila, movement is governed by delay. Last week, amid the December rush, I crossed the city by motorcycle,...
