Tourists from all over the world came flocking at the gates of the Manila Peninsula Hotel a day after the unfortunate event organized by former Oakwood Mutineer and now Senator Antonio Trillanes. They posed for their cameras with the now historical hotel as their background, like visitors in a zoo wherein a wild bear had been astoundingly tamed in a matter minutes. Or like first-timers in a circus which attractions are limited to the repeated acts of the juggler, the old clown and the trapeze artist. (30 November 2007)

When I was in grade school, my weekends and summers were usually spent at my cousins’s place. My cousins were three girls around the same age as me. They were my regular playmates. My mother would drop me off their house which was about three kilometres away from ours, to be able to attend to her responsibilities at home which she had neglected due to her work, like bringing my younger brothers (my youngest sister wasn’t born yet at this time) to the clinic for check-up, or supervising the cleaning of this or that part of our house.

We were better off than my cousins at that time, my father being able to work abroad and earn dollars. He used to send me and my brothers hi-tech toys. But although I had better play things than them, they were never envious; in fact it was I who had reasons to be. One summer night proved that I was. Read more

* The World According to Garp is a masterpiece by John Irving. The World According to Me isn’t in anyway related to it; it simply was my inspiration for the title.

She never saw light again. She died in the middle of the night, when everything was engulfed in lonesome darkness.

She was about to go to sleep that cold November night when she felt a chill envelop her. She tried to scream, but no sound escaped her lips. She was frozen to the spot, as if she had been dumped on cold water which immediately turned into ice, trapping her inside, even before she was able to summon all her courage to try to counter the spell casted upon her. She tried to tune out of her surroundings to block the fear creeping to her mind. She saw images: memories of her family, her mother, her father, her sisters and brothers. Her younger brother, her playmate and bestfriend, with whom she shared her dreams. She tried to gather all her strength. She tried to fight. But everything she did was useless. It was inescapable. Read more

Marianet Amper was not the only one who had experienced hardships in her young life and wished to end it. It was tough not being able to do anything about the situation you are in when you have all the will power to overcome the problem. Especially if it’s a money problem. Read more