By Rex Catubig THEY are the calamity staple. Once referred to as “relief”, they have since mutated into the colloquial “ayuda” as food aid is called—a package consisting of a bag of rice, canned goods, noodles, coffee sachets, and the like—depending on the local government’s resources and “diskarte” or…
By Rex Catubig THE first time I watched my free movie as a senior citizen of Dagupan City was before the pandemic. And it harkened back those childhood discovery moments when you got feel-good freebies like ferris wheel ride, tinapay with ice cream, pancit at the Chinese resto–and going…
By Rex Catubig IT’S a question of chronology: Which came first– the Music Warehouse in Perez or the UPS in MH del Pilar? What was certain was they ushered in the revival of the dance club–called disco in those days– at the break of the year 2000, and filled…
By Rex Catubig AS the monsoon month gives way to longer rainless afternoons, at around three o’clock in our tranquil barrio of Calmay, across the river from baley, we kids are routinely roused from our mandatory nap by the sonorous shout of an itinerant vendor. The old woman whom…
By Rex Catubig I feel trapped in a time warp. While I’m fully aware of my advanced age that osteoarthritis has proclaimed and confirmed unabashedly, I realize that I have not really fully grasped the inevitability of age, the accretion in years, and the imminence of death. My theater…
In memory of Millette Mendoza Rutledge By Rex Catubig I flew into the Bay area, three more times to visit Millette. At one time, I organized a Luau in her backyard and invited a couple of friends to fly in and join us. Each time I tried to create…
In memory of Millette Mendoza Ruthledge By Rex Catubig I was in bed watching the ABC7 6 o’clock Eyewitness News when the phone rang. I reached for the bedside phone and limply said, “Hello”. “It’s Millette!”, exclaimed the voice on the other end. It took a trillion secs before…
By Rex Catubig IT was the mid ‘70s: the height of flower power, make love not war, and the iconic peace sign. It was my first trip to good ol’ USA, it was summer, and there was much more to see and experience than the must-visit recreation parks. Luck…
By Rex Catubig HE was the antithesis of a city official during his term as Mayor. He was down to earth, loud and foul-mouthed– way before a later Mayor in the south claimed the patent for crassness and rudeness. But the redneck and hillbilly pretensions were all shock tactics…
By Rex Catubig AT the beach where a naval landing had made history, the same beach that has produced the legend of a rags-to-riches Matutina, enterprising women vendors today do not even come remotely close to the parameters of the phenomena. They have neither made history, nor become the…
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