By Rex Catubig   IT was as if a little God had thrown his jackstones up in the sky and these had fallen down deep into the belly of the ocean, then after a storm surge were disgorged and washed ashore by the tide of time. Around the bend that…

By Rex Catubig   THERE are no road markers to lead visitors to the site. The site, in fact, is hardly known in the vicinity. The name Villa Milagrosa no longer rings a bell, silenced by the hands of time. Undeterred, we found the way through some remembered route much…

(A corollary homage to commemorate Dagupan’s 75th Diamond Jubilee) By Rex Catubig   I did not get to know Pangasinan’s political luminary, Speaker Eugenio Perez Sr, who authored the charter that made Dagupan into a City. But growing up in the 1960’s, I was fortunate to have had personal encounter…

By Rex Catubig   I woke up to a stacticky radio on Saturday, September 23, 1972. No matter how I twiddled the dial, there was only hissing and crackling. And there was no newspaper, either. I was waking up to a bad dream, I thought. I hurriedly took a jeep…

By Rex Catubig   BEING advanced in age tends to make one retreat and hark back. It seems to follow the rule in physics where for every action there is an equal opposite reaction. So as you move forward in years, the more you get older, the more you look…

By Rex Catubig   THE news reports a shortage of condiments that are essential for cooking food and enhancing its taste. It started with the shortage of white onions. Then like domino, there is a shortage of sugar, followed by the shortage of salt, and garlic.  Without these ingredients, food will…

By Rex Catubig    THE past few days had us anxiously awaiting the intrusion of a dreaded typhoon while excitedly anticipating the coming of the “ber” months. Thus conflicted, I recall the dilemma I was caught in several years ago in a similar setting. Spurred by an oncoming howler, I…

By Rex Catubig    FIVE years ago, as we chronicled the city’s past seven decades, there was a scathing outcry that put into question the city’s evolution in the coming years. The core of the outburst was the planned relocation of the city hall and creation of a new growth…

By Rex Catubig   I’m a source of embarrassment when it’s time to pay for goods bought or food consumed. My friends steer clear of the awkward situation when I reach the cashier counter. The reason being that I always demand my change to the last coin. And I’m a…

By Rex Catubig   \BEFORE an infamous dam lent a bad reputation to the name, making it synonymous to being a harbinger of catastrophe as opposed to its religious significance of being a beneficent healer of sickness, San Roque had been, and remains a revered patron saint of my beloved…