By Rex Catubig PEOPLE point to it as Abong na Panangaro or House of Love, a secluded compound in Barangay Lucao in Dagupan, off the road going to Binmaley. It is the Missionaries of Charity, Home of Peace, a shelter run by the sisters of the Missionaries of Charity,…
By Rex Catubig UNKNOWN to many, we, Dagupenos, are blessed with a date with history and sainthood as we hosted a saint in our midst in 1986. As founder of the Missionaries of Charity, a Roman Catholic congregation of women dedicated to the poor and destitute, Mother Teresa came…
By Rex Catubig “CHECK out this old picture, Kuya Rex, I think it’s you!”, the Mayor exclaimed on the cp. She was at the City Mayor’s Office on a Saturday, rummaging through the Iwata photo collection of Helen Co, as part of the initial preparations for the goodwill visit…
By Rex Catubig MENTION San Roque during the monsoon season, and it conjures fear and flare-ups of goosebumps. A dam, sacrilegiously named after the saint, and notorious for unleashing water that turns into horrendous floodwaters as it cascades down the lowlands, is to blame for its ill repute—making it a…
By Rex Catubig CARINA’S tempest hurled me back to childbirth at the height of typhoon monsoons ago. The surreal scene showed a disheveled woman slouched on a dark narrow pavement, while a SWAT officer cuddled a newborn in a yellow cloth. Taken during Typhoon Karding which lashed the city…
By Rex Catubig THE seasonal high tide brought on by the lunar cycle aggravated by monsoon rains and storms has made Dagupan vulnerable to constant flooding, and the unkindest cut of all, vulnerable to unreasonable bashing and name calling: DaguPond Seaty, Bangusville, Waterworld, are but a few of the water cannons hurled…
By Rex Catubig IT’S celebrated and immortalized in Karen Carpenter’s song. “Rainy days and Mondays”, she sang, “always get me down”. On the contrary, the rains, be it on Monday or Tuesday or whenever they come, have an exhilarating effect on me. Not in any jubilant way, but in…
By Rex Catubig WE call them maid, boy, or katulong, now better known as kasambahay—short for kasama sa bahay–literally, house companion, euphemism for servant, househelp. However condescendingly they are called, they are an indispensable part of the Filipino household. Back in the day, our family had a handyman, a housemaid,…
By Rex Catubig MY reluctant American journey took 8 long years of my mother’s life. She had to shuttle back and forth from Dagupan to Los Angeles to maintain her petitioner status–10 months there and 2 months here. It was hard on her because she was used to living…
© 2025 Sunday Punch. Dagupan.
