Category: Opinion

BEING a woman living in a patriarchal society means existing in a world where rights are constantly undermined, boundaries are crossed, and identities are reduced to objects of the ‘male gaze.’ Growing up, I was surrounded by expectations: how I should look, how I should dress, and how I should behave. The phrase “kababae mong tao!” echoes all too familiarly, a reminder not just for me, but to countless Filipinas, that womanhood is often policed, and rights are infringed upon.

WHAT appears on the surface as a distant geopolitical issue that seems oceans away from our archipelago—the ongoing conflict in the Middle East—has gradually crept its way into Filipino households and the daily lives of our ordinary citizens. To most, the ever-changing price boards at gasoline stations are not mere inconveniences, but rather drastic costs that make or break whether one gets through the day with even a penny to spare.

HAVE you ever felt indebted for something that was already yours? That quiet, unsettling pressure to say “thank you” — not out of genuine gratitude, but out of obligation. As if the debt were real, even when you know, somewhere underneath it all, that it never was.

Procrastination does not destroy the soul through dramatic failure but through quiet stagnation.

ARTISTS have always longed to create, to push beyond limits in the name of discovery and art. It is embedded within our fibers to embrace art and alter the universe’s patterns with it. With this, we are born with the innate power to create ripples using our touch, our words, and even our very existence. Sometimes, however, we tend to forget about the power that we hold in each of our fingertips.

The youth are not the ones who are fragile — the system is. Some leaders would rather make fun of how young people talk about mental health than fix the lack of therapy services, poor funding, and the culture that makes people feel ashamed for being honest about their struggles.

HAVE you ever met someone and felt, without explanation, that your paths were always meant to cross—as if the stars themselves had collided to bring your constellations together?

There was a profound relief in no longer needing to spread myself thin across countless spaces, just for the sake of something that never mattered in the first place. When you realize that a distorted tomorrow provides no salvation, the illusion of more loses its power and leaves behind only what matters.

“AND with that the 2025 season comes to an end, good night..,” plays a famous Tiktok audio as I scroll in my Facebook feed watching people’s year-end recap videos accompanied with a long–essay entry as a caption.

“IT’S the most wonderful time of the year” blasts through the speakers as the holidays roll by. On paper and through social media, plastered with wide smiles on family portraits, it truly seems as if it were true. But is it truly the most wonderful when people are forced to reconnect and tolerate abuse?