By Rex Catubig HE’S probably grown tired of the ocean after so many years as a US Navy sailor, so when our high school classmate Pablo Miranda retired, he chose to build a second house atop a forested hill in Rosario, La Union. Hiring a bulldozer and armed only with…
By Rex Catubig THE Vietnam trip of the brothers Lomibao–Dante and Willie — has rekindled my unrequited love for the river. Dante who’s based in the world’s concretest jungle, until his early retirement, is partial to travelling the unbeaten path that has led him to the savannahs of Africa, the shangri-la…
(Photo by Willie Lomibao) By Rex Catubig WITH the heat index skyrocketing to 50 degrees, the City’s welcome for the momentous visit of the Diplomatic Corps on April 30th for the Bangus Festival Kalutan ed Dalan which featured one thousand grills with burning charcoal, could not have been any…
By Rex Catubig I’M the youngest in a brood of five. There is an eight-year gap between me and the brother who preceded me. But before my mother reluctantly bore me, (I was an unplanned child), she had prepared for this other baby boy. I had not asked my…
By Rex Catubig I ALWAYS threw it a glance but never really acknowledged its presence so that it might as well be non-existent. It has always stood there–silent and steadfast amid the cacophony and chaos of the marketplace. Its facade looks perpetually unfinished, painted in “carboro” white that makes…
By Rex Catubig WHILE it is popularly believed that the senses are dulled as one ages, I find that the opposite is actually true: Age sharpens the senses and enhances one’s perception of things. Simply said, one becomes acutely sensitive to the changes around him. And one becomes…
By Rex Catubig IN early 1990’s, Mayor Al Fernandez pioneered the staging of Bangus harvest or Gilon in his fish farm as entertainment for visiting Balikbayans. Then in 1997, when Councilor Belen Fernandez was appointed Chairman of Agew na Dagupan, she tapped Resty Fernandez, fresh from a choreography workshop…
(Second of 2 parts) By Rex Catubig LORETA, now 74, recalls that one day, the Americans came knocking at her grandparents, Bae Placida Viray and Laki Bonifacio Cruz’s house looking for lodging. They rented the house. But finding its thatched roof too hot for comfort, they had it replaced…
(1st of 2 parts) By Rex Catubig THE coastal barrio conjured images of white-crested waves, blue waters and fine sand, and magnificent undulating sand dunes with ruffled furrows carved by the fierce afternoon winds surging from the high seas. On tranquil days, the place was tropical paradise. Its residents…
Sunday Punch Women’s Month exclusive 2nd of 2 parts By Rex Catubig MALYN Laigue Astadan was married at 16 to a boy she met at a school in neighboring Carael. But the fairy tale soon shattered. The union bore three boys and the burden of earning a living fell…
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