By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo A group of eight bikers arrived as we were leaving the area before three o’clock in the afternoon. My companions took their turns taking a bath in a makeshift shack made of bamboos. JC and Chloe took a shower in a faucet under the bamboo trees….
By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo IT was an experience, unexpected and unpredictably dangerous trek. My nephew, JC, thought his head was going to be staked in a bamboo after the vehicle he rode in skidded 30 kilometers per hour going down a ravine 20 feet below, so he ducked his head….
A taste of heaven (Part 1)
By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo THE Lingayen Gulf is described by the ICLARM Technical Report: Lingayen Gulf coastal area management plan: National Economic Development Authority, Region 1: San Fernando, La Union (Philippines), United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, 1992 as follows: “The coastal area of Lingayen Gulf represents a continuum…
Mine-ing
By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo MY dad’s garden was a garden of necessity. He planted for nourishment. We had abundant supply of pechay, ampalaya, kabatiti, patola, upo, kjalabasa, pallang, kardis, saluyot and some others whose names I have forgotten. We had mangoes, papayas, bayabas, lomboy, various citrus fruits. The neighbors…
The communal garden
By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo THERE are friends we can entrust some of our secrets, although there are very few of them, not more than half the total count of our fingers. In these fingers, the secrets live a life, free and unconstrained, in total trust and acceptance, and thrive,…
Perfect landing
By Virginia Jasmn Pasalo I was having conversation with my father, then he suddenly fell on the bed and stopped breathing. I pumped his heart, but to no avail. I called for help, but no one heard me. Then I woke up, panting, like a tired horse. It was…
The other memory
By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo I learned that a monument of Rizal was taken down to give way to another monument in a Pangasinan town, fermenting a quiet dissent among Masons and Rizal advocates. Another monument was beheaded by a lightning in a Pangasinan island some time ago. Whether these…
Monuments of love
By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo IN the book Blink, Malcolm Gladwell redefines how we can understand the world around us. He revolutionizes the way we understand the world within. Gladwell talks about the processing of information from “thin-slicing” or filtering the very few factors that matter from an overwhelming number…
I know you
By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo FOR a country largely dependent on foreign tourism, the Philippines is now dependent on domestic tourism. In a chart entitled, “Domestic versus International Tourism, % of in-country tourism spending, 2019 or latest year”, published by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), almost 90…




