The waves will never be quietwhile your wails search for those words That will heal your woundof the drowning From Aurora to Davao to Talacogonwe see what was supposed to be a hero’s welcome Turned into a farewell rideof dreams
MindaNews / 10 April – It came out on the eve of Black Saturday in the Holy Week, a short film uploaded by Cebu-based vlogger Joseph Sabello. In the past two years, Sabello has put up short films with social themes
The news of the University of Mindanao demanding its student publication Primum to take down a literary piece about Vice President Sara Duterte was not the first time that a school administration in Davao had tried to silence the campus
Before the controversy regarding student paper censorship, the University of Mindanao is popular because of their radio ad, “Hello, Ga”. I guess everyone in Davao remembers that popular line often played in its radio stations in the past decade. “Ga”,
MindaNews / 5 January — 2025 started with the closing of BookSale stores in Davao, leaving book readers brokenhearted. It ended with another bittersweet moment as the homegrown Victoria Plaza, bidding goodbye to Dabawenyos after 32 years. Nostalgia poured over
MindaNews / 27 December – It’s been a notable year for filmmaker and writer Gutierrez ‘Teng’ Mangansakan II as his two recent books gained recognition in the literary community. The anthology Panumtuman: Anthology of 21st Century Bangsamoro Literature is a
MindaNews / 13 December – When news broke out that Cebu reggae-dub musician Budoy Marabiles died on December 4, I always thought he would have lived forever like the sigbin. He is going to live forever. His songs, his version
for the past weeks letters I and C kept popping in the headlines ICI has kept its investigation of corrupt officials away from the public an ICC arrest forced a senator to hide under the rock as he prayed for
For most of us, we know Manuel Quezon as the man in the 20-peso bill. What else we know about him gets stuffed and wrinkled like the 20-peso bill in our pocket. At least he’s still in circulation, not like
MindaNews / 24 June (MindaNews / 24 June) — Apologies to Gary Granada and basketball fans who may remember that song dedicated to the fabled Barangay Ginebra team. But as I watched the recently concluded NBA Finals, there was one
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 15 June) — A former priest, a police officer, a preacher’s son, bothered God in the past weeks. The former priest was 90 years old when he died. But for the past fifty years, this priest
MindaNews / 4 June — Has everyone accepted the mission of watching probably Tom Cruise’s last Mission Impossible movie in the past weeks? Not if you find it hard to part ways with ₱300 for a ticket to a three-hour
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 04 February) – My Facebook wall last Monday, February 3, was filled with grief from friends, over a TV character. News on the death of Taiwanese actress Barbie Hsu, age 48, more popularly known in the
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 07 January) – It’s tough when you start a new year with a goodbye. But that is what BookSale, the popular chain of secondhand books, is doing, as it announced that its SM City Davao branch
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 08 December) — The Catholic Archdiocese of Davao is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year. Part of their celebration was a cultural exhibit of photos and artifacts that narrate their contribution to Davao history. The exhibit
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 03 Nov) — Davao City’s contribution to regional cinema is its one of its kind Davao Ngilngig Asian Fantastic Film Festival. By its name “Ngilngig,” Bisaya for ghastly or macabre, one gets the idea that the
(17 August / MindaNews) – I wish the 2024 Olympics didn’t have to end. For the past two weeks, it was something that kept me glued on the screen. Perhaps for millions of us too. I imagine our collective witnessing
It is right that you call out friends and family for those homophobic, gender insensitive remarks on Algerian boxer Imane Khelif when the issue on her gender and sex came out in the public during her Olympic match last week.
(MindaNews / 21 May) — A journalist friend asked me, since I’m a Tsinoy, if I speak Fookien better than Chinese Mandarin. This question had to do with Alice Guo, that 37-year-old first-time mayor of Bamban, Tarlac, whose nationality is
With a chart-topper and controversy on her hit single Selos, 22-year old Maguindanao singer Shaira is now branded “Queen of Bangsamoro Pop.” This is an amusing thing. Is there such a thing as Bangsamoro music scene where she rules? Is
inig bangon mitulo na ang singot sa lawaspero pag abli sa gripo wala namay agaspastilan ipit gyud ta sa kwartakinahanglan modiskarte bisan di na maagwantaang kainit murag nag barbecue ang panitka tulo na gani maligo pero mopilit gihapon ang initgalabad
March 1, Araw ng Dabaw, happens to be the birth anniversary of the late Davao-born National Artist for Visual Arts, Ang Kiukok. This could’ve been a double celebration of sorts, but not every Dabawenyo recognizes Ang Kiukok. Given that today’s
The Chinese New Year festivity last February 10 was all over my Facebook wall, with Chinese communities in major cities – Binondo, Cebu, Cagayan de Oro, my Davao, and even Naga – performing the customary dragon dance welcoming the Year
Badong: Pre, unsa to ingon sa imong misis, dili na daw siya magmahal?Onyot: Aw, dili ui. Ang iyang giingon, dili na unta mag mahal ang mga palitonon ug kining krudo. Badong: Aw, kay abi nako mag sabay mo sa mga
I was about to hang the dragon decor by the doorwhen I noticed the old tiger decor was left hanging for two yearsapologies to the rabbit who’s hopping home now after a year but the past two years do seem
Onyot: Galawgawa ani oi.Badong: Ngano man pre? Onyot: Nagpirma ko, karon dili diay mao?Badong: Unsa diay imong gipirma? Nagpakasal na ka? Onyot: Dili ba, kadtong usa ka adlaw ba, naay nilibot dire unya nangayo og pirma nato sa barangay, unya
Woman Lumad chieftain Bai Bibiyaon Ligkayan Bigkay from Talaingod, Davao del Norte has died, the Indigenous group Sabokahan IP Women announced December 6. Bigkay died in an undisclosed place last November 20 “surrounded by loved ones,” the group said. She
Badong: Ui! Nadaog atong silingan pagka-Miss Universe?Onyot: Naunsa, kalagyo ba nato sa ilaha uy. Badong: Diba Nicaragua man tawag sa atong lugar sa una?Onyot: Nicaragdao man to. Badong: Oo, also known as Baryo Patay. Wala pa ka gitawo atong panahon.Onyot:
That moment to soaron stage comescrashingon cosplay like wingsa “national costume”that re-presents somethingof nationalityperhapsa nationwhere two millionfly to foreign landin a yearleaving familiescarrying hope a planesymbolizingscreamsof bombswreckinglumad mountainsMoro farms or the final journeyof an OFWarrivingin a brown boxno longerfeelingthe embrace
(MindaNews / 05 November) — My previous column presented real talk from netizens about the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections. But in this column, after the election results, comes reality bites. What will leave you scratching your head is how
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 28 October) – The Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections will be held on Monday, October 30. By this time, one must have seen their barangay littered with tarpaulins and flyers of faces, of incumbents and newcomers
Which one here constitutes a crime? An artist performing a dance version of “Ama Namin” (Our Father), expressing her/their struggles of being both queer and Catholic? Or this 21-year old self-proclaimed savior who recruited his townmates in Socorro, Surigao del
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 06 October) – Pinoys are the world’s top Facebook users. It is a portal to veer one’s mind away from news of sex, scandals and political antics, and into endless reels of, well, sex (of the
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 30 September) – The fifth Mindanao Art Fair at SM Lanang Davao staged on September 24 to October 1, showcased an abundant total of 1,000 works from 500 artists all over six Mindanao regions. The artworks
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 07 August) – The protagonists went searching for something that has bothered them. This leads them to a church, filled with wild singing about salvation. But they later snoop around further and found an elevator, which
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 28 July)—While the Filipino community cheered for the Philippine women’s football team’s first victory in the FIFA World Cup, my friend spurred a discussion on his Facebook post about how Pinoy is this team, and what
Ang hirap mong mahalin, Pilipinassays the womanwho lost her dreamsin Maythe sandcastlewashed awayby torrentsof heartshaped emojisand euphoria of 31 millionbelieving this is lovenostalgicelectronicunity with soft fabrictorn by pridesub-divide So now they want love? Mahirap,nagmamahalwe learn onionscan make us cryin other
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 9 May)—Mention Kidapawan and people will picture a quiet city nesting in North Cotabato, known for its agriculture, its early inhabitants of the Manobo/Monuvu tribes, and its being located at the foot the majestic Mount Apo.
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 21 Sep) – Maybe we should ask ourselves that question too: What lesson did we learn from Marcos? Besides, I’m a Martial Law baby, born two years after it was declared. Many of us grew up
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews /11 Sept) — Where was I when 9/11 happened? School was over when the news broke that an airplane crashed into the World Trade Center in New York. There was an HQ where we hung out,
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 07 August) — The independent film festival Cinemalaya stages its 17th season with its second online festival from August 6 to September 5, featuring two award-winning Mindanawon films, a documentary on Marawi evacuees and a full-length
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews /26 June) — On Father’s Day last Sunday, while I was reading friends’ Facebook posts sharing memories of their father, I tried to remember memories of my father, but it was hard. Dad passed away in 1999
I. 2015 The forest emerald faded and red the valley turned as embers devoured the commune The dawn cracked with bullets on the heads of two datus and a blade slashed Emok’s neck Wails echoed across Andap walls shake
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 11 April) — When visual artist and graphic designer Paul Corpus migrated to Toronto with his family in 2000, he carried that longing to reconnect with his home city of Davao. There was Facebook at first.
