By Rex Catubig APRIL Filipino Food Month’s celebration of our culinary heritage takes me on a gastronomic reminiscence of the food on our table in our barrio. Barrio Calmay was a Lilliputian town, where one could buy cheap home-cooked food in little pakanan or carinderia. Mama Bestre was undoubtedly…
By Rex Catubig FOLLOWING the 7.4 Taiwan temblor, Phivolcs issued an advisory citing the imminent danger arising from a strong earthquake up to magnitude 8.2. Responding to the possible scenario, Mayor Belen Fernandez held an urgent conference to discuss Disaster Preparedness. Actually, in January, the City already held a…
Handa ka ba? When the ‘Big One’ hits?
By Rex Catubig SHE is known as a shrewd businesswoman, a smart entrepreneur, an astute politician, a public servant nonpareil. But behind all this, is a facet rarely seen, thus, unappreciated. She hardly stays put in City Hall. Because the city is her office. And she’s always on the…
POV: Seeking Mayor Belen
(Easter Sunday in Blue Beach) By Rex Catubig BY the time the Sunday PUNCH reaches the newsstands today, morning has broken and the traditional Abet-abet depicting the encounter between the Risen Christ and His beloved Mother Mary on Easter Sunday would have already taken place at the Tondaligan Ferdinand…
“Abet-abet ed olin inbilay”
By Rex Catubig (Last of a series on ordinary but exemplary women in celebration of Women’s Month) AT the beach where a naval landing had made history, the same beach that has produced the legend of a rags-to-riches Matutina, other enterprising women vendors today do not even come remotely close to…
The unsinkable women of Blue Beach
By Rex Catubig SABEL, for her part, chooses to set up her “pakanan” — a street version of fast-food, further down the main street, in front of a store that is already closed for the night, and just slightly across the CSI Square. In a departure from the carinderia-caldero-caserola…
Sabel of the night (Part 2)
By Rex Catubig March is Women’s History Month. The national theme for 2024 celebrates “Women Who Advocate for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion.” “The theme recognizes women throughout the country who understand that, for a positive future, we need to eliminate bias and discrimination entirely from our lives and institutions”….
The Mely among us (Part 1)
By Rex Catubig HOMECOMING is that season in our lives that makes our heart sprout wings. For overseas workers, it’s the dream vacation with family. For expatriates or balikbayans, it’s a sentimental visit to hometown. For graduates, it is the reunion with classmates. There is a Greek word that is…
HOMEWARD BOUND: Dedicated to my Batch ’65
By Rex Catubig SHE was the fair maiden of the Doroteo Vinteres-Juana Galvan lineage that was witness to the ill-fated love affair of Dr Jose Rizal and Leonor Rivera. Her own love story mirrored the romance of the famous star-crossed lovers, but hers surmounted the challenges that barred the…
A LOVE SONATA : Based on the conversation with a grandson
By Rex Catubic CULTURAL heritage comes also in the form of culinary heritage—culinary practices and heirloom recipes handed down across generations. Their no-frill preparations, flavor and taste, hark back to halcyon times and recall happy moments of one’s youth. In every barrio, there is always a chef or two…