By Rex Catubig WE call them maid, boy, or katulong, now better known as kasambahay—short for kasama sa bahay–literally, house companion, euphemism for servant, househelp. However condescendingly they are called, they are an indispensable part of the Filipino household. Back in the day, our family had a handyman, a housemaid,…
By Rex Catubig MY reluctant American journey took 8 long years of my mother’s life. She had to shuttle back and forth from Dagupan to Los Angeles to maintain her petitioner status–10 months there and 2 months here. It was hard on her because she was used to living…
By Rex Catubig MARILOU from Puelay was a 2nd year Midwifery graduate of the Urdaneta Community College when she forsook her career because she got pregnant by her boyfriend, Rogelio, who hails from the same place. She was 21 and he was 26. Just the right ages to start…
By Rex Catubig LIKE a movie reel, life derailed just when it was getting exciting. My father’s plan to move us to the house he built on a property he bought in Babaliwan was aborted. Then, life rolled again. After Grade 4 at the Calmay Primary School, it was…
By Rex Catubig I almost missed the “once upon a star” chance of being my father’s son. When the baby that preceded me died at birth, my traumatized young mother couldn’t handle another pregnancy. Against her better judgement, she sought the Managilot to terminate her pregnancy with me. She…
By Rex Catubig TO paraphrase a writer’s words, “Why did our leaders aspire for freedom that people dream about, rather than provide them with food they cannot live without? In retrospect and context of the colonial past, with the discrimination and abuses dramatically depicted in two epochal novels, our…
By Rex Catubig NOTE: This article pays tribute to the lives of those hardy individuals who dared to break out of the mold in a cruel and uncertain time, and face an unwelcoming world. The Pride Month of June seeks to review that world, to overcome the gay stereotype,…
By Rex Catubig IT has withstood change: defying passing time, current lifestyle; and the emergence of a generation with different pov’s, tastes and preferences. Come hell or high water, it stands as the last bastion of status quo. Stubborn as the weed, it finds ways to sprout and gain…
By Rex Catubig “IT’S a constant battle, a war between remembering and forgetting.” ~E.E. Cummings. Aside from family, my brother had three great loves: politics, women, and food. It was his love of food that forged the bond between us. As kids growing up in the barrio, we were…
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