Dancing shadow By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo WHEN I was twenty, it is as if I could do almost anything.  I felt invincible. I fearlessly committed mistakes, because I was young and had all the time to correct them. I loved to the full, irrespective of the risk and the pain,…

Focus on the breath By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo I do not pretend to be perfect. I accept myself with all my flaws and try to work around it. Don’t come to me for answers, I cannot offer you any. My life has been a story of unanswered questions. “Ma’am, what…

Sotto Voce By Virginia Jasmine Pasalo IT is quiet on the western front. Except for the unseen inhabitants of this place, there are two of us still awake: the front desk officer and myself. Not a sound, except for a wandering lizard, whispering, sotto voce. I am here again, for…

Writing Pangasinan By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo DURING the making of the book, Pangasinan Pinablin Dalin: History, Culture and Development, we interviewed several prominent Pangasinan leaders, on how history, culture and development could be woven together to develop a Pangasinan identity and to push for the development of the province. The…

Armando By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo DURING the first reunion, I remember Armando telling me, “Ania ti ilutlutom, saan nga aglalaok dagita!” (What are you cooking, those things don’t mix!). But as sure as Manang Biday was sure of her choice of a cigar, I knew my Ilocano vegetables and proceeded…

Do we really turn to dust? By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo GOING to Baguio City once again, to be with my own diminishing. This year had chipped away portions of me, in the passing of dear friend, Jun Velasco, and now, Abet Licuben, whose energies have started the journey of returning…

I wonder where tears go By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo AT 2:00 a.m., the streets are quiet, not a sound of anything is heard, but the whisper of the cool wind. I stood at the door, under the bougainvillea, waiting for the Grab to arrive. Exactly five minutes after, a red…

Silk dreams By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo IN a Senate hearing last 21 February, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said, “roughly half of the 169,000 Alien Employment Permits issued by the Department of Labor and Employment in the last 3 years went to Chinese nationals and a third of which are…

The backpack By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo HE used to talk a lot even before the mass begins, annoying those seated beside him. There is an eagerness to his existence, always ready to give an opinion over the “kilometric” homily, the waste of words in litany and the impropriety of “pekpek”…

The other half By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo IT is difficult for most to conceive happiness without a partner. Especially because we have been conditioned to think in terms of the “other half” and not as wholes getting together. To speak of the other half is not even correct because in…