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In a few days, it will be All Souls’ Day, and my thoughts turn to those who rarely figure in the ethnography of Undas. They are the freelance gardeners at memorial parks whose livelihood depends solely on…
A country’s institutions are strong when they are able to maintain their autonomy against pressures that seek to alter their standard operating procedures in order to accommodate the interests of powerful actors. The key word here is…
The first Elizabeth, who died just the other day after a 70-year reign, was, of course, the Queen of the United Kingdom. The second Elizabeth is new British Prime Minister Liz Truss, whose full name is Mary…
We who were born in the age of passbooks and real bank tellers will never feel at home in the world of digital banking and automated teller machines (ATMs). This is not a Luddite resistance to all…
I went to a public elementary school in Pampanga in the 1950s. As I recall, the language that all my early grade teachers used was Kapampangan. My classmates and I learned how to read and write in…
Around noon on June 30, a new government headed by Ferdinand Marcos Jr. will be inaugurated. At about the same time, a new movement that took shape in the final leg of Vice President Leni Robredo’s 2022…
Last Thursday, March 31, President Duterte visited Cebu, and gave two speeches. One was before a meeting of the National and Regional Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-RTF-Elcac). The other was at the grand…
It is my late wife’s birthday as I write this. Karina would have turned 76. I woke up early, so I could visit her grave, bring her flowers, and light a candle. I do this quite often,…
In trying to understand momentous political events like the current crisis in Ukraine, it is always good to bear in mind that the situation on the ground and the perspective of ordinary people tend to be far…
It will be 36 years this week since the Edsa people power revolution broke the Marcos dictatorship’s stranglehold on the Filipino nation. Many felt justified in calling it a miracle because it happened swiftly, and just when…
Sociologists who study modern society like to predict that the family — that realm of interpersonal intimacy — will have a diminishing role in the determination of an individual’s life. As societal functions become differentiated, they expect…
At the start of a new year, toward the end of your life, and in the midst of a pandemic, it is difficult not to feel anxious about time. You realize that life is absurdly short relative…
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