“Don’t follow the path Ka Ella Colmenares took in the underground.” And so began Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Southern Luzon Command chief Lt. Gen. Antonio Parlade Jr.’s tirades against those whom he suspects to have communist ties—throwing allegations at opposition figures, arousing suspicion at a sitting mayor, and giving “warnings” to outspoken celebrities. …
Category: Opinion
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Personal Letters
In 1999, I was a freshman at 17 years old, a perfect lifetime ago. In those days, TLS was housed on the 3rd floor of the SPS Building, in one long room together with the Malate Literary Folio and Ang Pahayagang Plaridel. One or two bulky desktops littered the space on the long table and…
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Under Review
Martial law was declared on Saturday, September 23, 1972. On September 21 and 22, we went about our usual activities. The dictator Marcos already started his revisionism as early as then, by setting the date of the declaration to Thursday, September 21. When I entered DLSC in June 1974, the entire Philippine society had pretty…
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Butterfly Tornado
2004-2005 was a definitive time in movies. Among now film greats like Troy, V for Vendetta and Kill Bill 2, that period saw the release of Pixar’s The Incredibles, Howl’s Moving Castle by Studio Ghibli, Christopher Nolan’s opening salvo Batman Begins, the controversial and ambitious Butterfly Effect and still my favorite installment in the HP…
On this day, October 24, in 1960, The LaSallian released its very first print issue. Today, after 60 years of serving the Lasallian community, the publication commemorates the milestone that serves as a testament to the decades-old principles of impassioned journalism that we have stood—and will continue to stand—for. True to its motto, “Be there…
September 21, 1972 etched itself in Philippine history as the day the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos began a 14-year rule with the country under Martial Law. But what is often left unmentioned is that the proclamation was not officially declared that day; in actuality, those alive at the time would remember Martial Law to have…
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The war of art
When Walt Disney Studios released a teaser last year for a live-action adaptation of Mulan, the film gained widespread attention for casting mostly Asian-descended personalities, with Chinese star Liu Yifei playing the titular character. A little over a month later, calls to boycott the film flooded social media after Liu expressed support for police brutality…
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Word of caution
We should not want to go back to the way things were. President Rodrigo Duterte still holds the highest seat in the Philippines. The War on Drugs tactics of the Duterte administration was perhaps put on hold by the outbreak—yet just as existent in the mobilization of the military and police during a health crisis.…
When the Department of Health (DOH) disclosed last July 30 that it carried out a “mass recovery” adjustment, it gave the impression of a government papering over the many, many cracks caused by their refusal to deal with the crisis in an appropriate and immediate manner. The record-high amount of “recoveries” reported are meant to…
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Packing up the pitchforks
In 2018, Amber Heard wrote an op-ed, published on the Washington Post, about her experience with domestic abuse, saying, “I became a public figure representing domestic abuse, and I felt the full force of our culture’s wrath for women who speak out.” This was alluding to the abuse claims she filed against her ex-husband Johnny…