By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo   “DID I hear you right?” A question I repeated to a fellow Commissioner who gave me an update on what transpired during the meeting of the Pangasinan Historical and Cultural Commission (PHCC) with newly-elected Governor Ramon “Mormon” V. Guico III. PHCC Commissioner Arabela Arcinue was…

By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo   HOW do you sum up the life of a man? Stories are but a glimpse, and so are photographs. Stories are never enough even when told truthfully and well. Photographs, even when taken in the most candid way, are but epitaphs, memories entombed in time….

By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo   AS soon as I wake up, I begin to thank God for the many things I have been blessed with. I give thanks for the people and circumstances that make my life a celebration, for the little things that make my life’s journey a meaningful…

By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo   TODAY, I fell on the pavement facedown. I thought my face was broken because I was bleeding on the face, and tasted blood inside my mouth. Afraid that I would pass out, I immediately stood up with the help of strangers who took a cab…

By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo   THE rain continues to pound on the cosmos flowers which we hoped to gather as soon as the sun rises. My sister Emma had purposely scattered cosmos seeds in almost every sidewalk that we passed on our daily walks, and on the adjacent lot where…

By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo   This morning, I think of my mother. I think of the times that I have decided, on so many occasions I have taken personal decisions without much regard for her own sentiments. Not that it is intentional to disregard it, but worse, it seemed sometimes…

By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo   LAST night, my sister noticed that there were piles of construction materials dumped on the adjacent lot we had maintained cleaning for several months now. The ampalaya (bitter gourd) was buried under the rubbles, and its leaves wilted from the weight carelessly dumped at its…

By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo   I wake up to the dawn of calm, before the birds steal the silence, where I can only hear the sound of me. I listen to my breath, telling me, that the moment is precious, and each breath that passes is a moment gone, and…

By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo   HE was, the son of a king, who was made by her mother, who made kings. They were immortals, biding time in the long sleep of a wink, and smelling blood, they resurrected. But he, coming out of his father’s bile, was not even half…

By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo   OUTSIDE, the pink night sky is being scolded by lightning and thunder. In between, it gets a slight whip from the wind, and a lashing from the rain. Despite all these, the sky calmly weathers the elements, becoming the wind and the rain, the lightning…