Category: Features

WHEN we think of water, we often picture rushing rivers, underground wells, and rain falling over parched fields. But what if one source of drinking water were not underground, but in the moisture suspended in the air around us?

WHAT if the place you came from is not the place that shaped you, and the place that shaped you is not where you feel you belong? Which would you call home?
For some Filipino Americans, home is a place they have never known firsthand. Instead, it exists through family stories, language, and traditions carried across thousands of miles from the Philippines.

“MONEY, money, must be funny in a rich man’s world,” sings ABBA in its 1976 hit “Money, Money, Money.” As families struggle with rising prices, inadequate housing, and unstable incomes, a new face joins the agency tasked with representing them. Last Oct. 19, Zofia Canlas took her oath as commissioner of the Presidential Commission for the Urban Poor (PCUP).

IN today’s time, progress tends to be tallied in factories, fortunes, and futuristic technology, which is why, for smaller economies, it can feel necessary to follow in the footsteps of wealthier nations. As progress cannot be judged by how closely it resembles someone else’s, the proposed Pax Silica hub in Capas, Tarlac, poses a pressing question: Is the Philippines’ ability to pursue technology while protecting its indigenous roots the true measure of how the country will tally its progress?

HOW does one become a leader? Is it through formal training, the consistency of their actions, or the accolades attached to their name? For King Vincent Banaag, leadership began with something simple: caring for others.

ART has a way of meeting people where they are. It offers ways to encounter stories, consider different perspectives, and see familiar things anew. Yet experiencing art often depends on more than an interest in it.

IN a country attuned to signals of storms and stories of survival, resilience has become woven into the Filipino narrative. Yet, one of the Philippines’ most overlooked truths is its natural wealth. The country’s natural endowments are increasingly under threat. Palawan’s otters are the most recent example of wildlife disappearing beneath the very conditions Filipinos have learned to endure.

A dream is common enough, but a wish is a rarity on its own. It is born in a split second of desperation, formed through a whispered plea blown over melting birthday candles, a quick search through a patch of clovers, or a silent promise locked away behind closed eyes. Ask anyone what they wish for most, and the answer is rarely grand: just decent jobs that keep parents home, prices that spare the dinner table, and a government worthy of our endless patience. Perhaps that is why we hold onto it so tightly, hoping it will finally come true.

BEHIND courtroom walls, battles over truth and accountability unfold. As legal proceedings expose the tensions within the country’s political system, ordinary Filipinos are left to grapple with uncertainty. In moments when institutions, circumstances, and even certainty seem difficult to rely on, some turn to something more personal: faith.

CHARACTERS seen across comic book pages have long brought comfort and a sense of identity to Filipinos. Beyond entertainment, they have become reflections of dreams and ambitions. Since the early 1920s, komiks have become an integral part of Philippine pop culture, evolving from Filipino-crafted works to stories and characters embraced around the world.