By Rex Catubig I WAS fixing my bed-zombied self and arranging my nine o’clock face for the day, when my Messenger rang incessantly. It was Lenuski Peruskiini on the other side of the world, apparently taking a break from his dinner and in the process of opening a bottle…
By Rex Catubig I grew up in Calmay which was cut off from the población by the river. Our barrio had everything a village needed, but we would cross the river aboard a banca to partake of life on the other side. On Sundays, my mother and I would…
When Dagupan was 8, going on 13

By Rex Catubig IN 1997, a neophyte in the political arena, a rookie Councilor, was appointed as the Chairperson of Dagupan City’s 50th Golden Jubilee as a charter City. Twenty years hence, as the city’s history unfolded, she had grown into the role of City Mayor concurrent with Dagupan’s…
Serendipity and Destiny
By Rex Catubig EXPECT the unexpected and bizarre in the seniors’ Jayceeken meeting. In one of the group’s afternoon merienda meets, its safe harbor, the Luz canteen, proved true to its name as it was brightened by the luminous strain of a member’s saxophone. But in contrast to the…
Pussy and Phallus pride
By Rex Catubig THERE was a time I was remiss with my being a Cerrado Catolico Romano. Some life changing upheaval had me questioning my faith, and forsaking the obligations expected of a faithful. I stopped going to Confession which I had done regularly, even confiding once to the…
Desperate demons

By Rex Catubig THE out-of-town excursions of the Jayceekens prior to the pandemic, had always been a box office favorite among the footloose and fancy-free seniors. But two Covid years after, and many aborted trips of sighs spread across, you’d bet the City shuttle bus would be on SRO…
No to sunset on the hills of Mapita
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…
Ship ahoy!

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…
Let the river run

(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…
Chillmax with the diplomats
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…