in the news

So here’s a pre-holiday surprise gift from The Weekly Sillimanian. I honestly thought the article would come out next year.

Those are big words in that headline. But all I want (for Christmas) is to carry everything I’ve learned as a practicing writer and as a volunteer for Bohol Climate Walkers, Plastic Free Bohol, Kaliwat ni Karyapa, Bohol Arts and Cultural Heritage Council, and Center for Culture and Arts Development - Bohol into my work as a museum researcher in Dumaguete City. That includes, especially, the hope of cultivating more writing in Binisaya from my two hometowns. Considering that the paper’s writers interviewed me on two separate occasions for almost four hours, it’s understandable that some things may have been lost in translation, or that not everything could fit into a single news article.

Still, I am deeply grateful. As I shared with them, everything I do is ultimately for the public. Projects should never be born out of a personality, but out of the needs of a particular community. Happy holidays, friends and family!

[ full article can be read here ]

family time

The tapok-tapoks have begun. Birthday plus holiday plus welcome back gathering with the family and cousins. Savoring the moment. 🌟

[ more photos here ]

surprise cameo

 I’ve received this link to a video four times now, from four different people. Turns out I make a small cameo in a video by lawyer and online personality Regal Oliva about Dumaguete’s declaration as a UNESCO Creative City of Literature.

Really looking forward to the next move, especially how the city government chooses to carry the weight of this title. Perhaps the most concrete step is the creation of an official council—entirely separate from the tourism office—that can genuinely dedicate time and resources to literary programs that shape how a community thinks, listens, and imagines.

happy things

 Weeks earlier, I finally got to open my box of copies of the second edition of Little Things: An Anthology of Poetry, edited by Loh Chin Ee, Angelia Poon, and Esther Vincent. My poem “Poetry as a Lesson in Zoology” is republished here.

This poem first appeared in volume 39 of ANI: The Philippine Literary Yearbook of the Cultural Center of the Philippines back in 2016.

The first edition of Little Things was launched in 2013, and was organized into six sections, namely, Little Things, Growing Up, People Around Us, Going Places, Love and Loss, and On Words. 

The second edition is an expanded version that includes all the original sections and now adds a seventh section—Our Earth. This new section includes poems focused on environmental subjects. My poem found a new home in this particular section, and it’s the second from the last poem in the book. 

I still find it fascinating that my poem is in the same book that contains works by e.e. cummings, Billy Collins, Derek Walcott, Raymond Carver, Philip Larkin, W.H. Auden, Alvin Pang, and Joshua Ip. 

Both editions were printed by Ethos Books, an independent book publisher based in Singapore. 

Little Things is primarily designed as an educational text for lower secondary school Literature students, and it is curated to allow readers and students to draw connections between local and international poems dealing with related universal themes.

Little Things is available in print and e-book format. You can get your copy through this link.

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literally literary

Last Saturday, December 13, turned into a very literary kind of weekend. After revising some old poems in the morning, went to the Arts and Design Collective Dumaguete (ADCD) in the afternoon for BazArt 2025—a gathering of local artisans, creatives, and makers. Got to see the fundraiser art exhibit and the soon-to-open office of the Buglas Writers Guild. Turns out, I was one of the first two visitors.

Later that evening, had dinner with friends from the Pride Run Club and met Vince Lopez of Mugna Gallery, along with the gallery’s latest featured artist, Marvin Chito Natural. I had admired his realist works, but unfortunately, only through Facebook. He’s easily like a modern-day Amorsolo.

Chito shared that before fully committing to painting, he used to write balak—poetry in Binisaya—and asked for advice on translation and on finding his way back to writing. He then showed me some of his pieces. All I could really say was he should keep doing both writing and painting. He's really good.

After a hearty Vietnamese dinner and a calamansi liquor sorbet for dessert, spontaneously joined the poetry reading and open mic at The Shed, and read two unpublished poems I’d recently sent via text to friends—“Waterworld” and “Everything is Metaphor (or The Dolphins).” Before heading home, I slipped into a core group meeting for the third edition of the Dumaguete Literary Festival (DumaLitFest) in April 2026. We talked plans—and even dreams—for Dumaguete as the newest Creative City of Literature in UNESCO’s Creative Cities Network. 

Also mentioned to the group that it is also the right moment to lobby for a council or a provincial government arm to preserve, promote, and develop Negros Oriental’s cultural heritage and artistic talents through various programs, workshops, events, and collaborations with local and national partners, and not just for literature. This office should be separate from both city and provincial tourism offices because tourism has a different set of priorities. Just my Christmas wish. 

Thrilling times ahead. Here’s hoping we get the support we need from the people and institutions meant to help carry these projects forward.

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happy holidays!

It’s the holiday season at the National Museum! Just my second year-end gathering in the “little museum that could,” which can only mean I’m inching closer to my second year here—and to the move back to Dumaguete City from Bohol. Everything feels fast, and yet, somehow, it also feels like a mountain of things has already happened in between. My genuine holiday wish? A return to six-day operations, breathable schedules, clearer and more thoughtful minds all around. Make it happen, dear cosmos. Do your thang. 🥹

[ more photos here ]

beach bums

 Sunday city-wide power outage? No problem. Go out and hit the waters of the countryside. 🏝️

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fellow fellows

As the years go by, it becomes harder to round up and keep in touch with people you’ve found meaning and connection with. You might call it fellowship, especially when you first met as fellows in a writing workshop. That’s why last November 27 felt like such a gift, seeing Yas, my co-fellow from the 15th Iligan National Writers Workshop back in 2008, and Jennie, a fellow from the recent 63rd Silliman University National Writers Workshop, whom I met—and instantly clicked with—when their batch had the Fellows Forum at the museum last July. Both had come all the way from Davao for a quick visit.

I’m a transplant myself, somehow still finding my way here in Dumaguete City, which makes it both touching and amusing when people gravitate toward where you are and speak as if you last saw each other only yesterday. Funny because the last time I met Yas was in 2017. This is his first visit to the City of Gentle People, and now also a UNESCO Creative City of Literature. Yas and Jennie were heading back to their hometowns the next day, so I took them on a quick tour of my favorite spots. It was a beautiful day.

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To Tging, our littlest eldest sister with the biggest heart—happiest of birthdays! I wish more people were as strong and compassionate as you. Thank you for taking care of our home’s fur babies. You deserve everything beautiful in this world. I couldn’t come home to Bohol today, but see you soonest!

on asin tibuok

Cheers to the team who made Alburquerque, Bohol’s asin tibuok part of UNESCO’s list of intangible cultural heritage in need of urgent safeguarding. But I hope media would stop calling it “dinosaur egg” in their headlines and start calling it as it is—asin tibuok.

conversations

So the former interviewer got interviewed. Yesterday and today, writers from The Weekly Sillimanian and The Silliman Magazine visited the National Museum of the Philippines to speak with me for a feature they’re preparing. Two long sessions. Party because we covered a lot, partly because I definitely went off-tangent more than once. 

We talked about personal projects, literary work in my home province of Bohol, nuances across Binisaya languages. We even tried to define what “literary culture and heritage” means in Negros Island and how institutions like the museum can help sustain it. Plus many small, unexpected detours in between.

It was fun. I remembered being in their place, writing features for The Weekly Sillimanian in 2006-2007, and then serving as features editor in my last two years of college.

When asked what my recognitions mean—whether the Poet of the Year titles from the Nick Joaquin Literary Awards or the recent Pres. Carlos P. Garcia Award—I said they feel like bonuses. They push me to keep writing, yes, but they were never the point. I’ve been writing since I was five or six, stumbling and growing through the work, and these milestones arrived without my chasing them.

Maybe that’s why they’re gratifying. They all came as surprises. I’m already happy sending drafts of poems through text messages to friends and loved ones, the way I’ve done since 2006. I still believe this: when you love the things that work for you, and when you work for the things you love, everything else falls into place.

We then talked about Dumaguete’s UNESCO Creative City of Literature designation. In my heart and mind, Dumaguete has always been a City of Literature. Long before the title, the art thrived through brave, thoughtful souls who kept the words alive. My hope now is that this recognition widens the circle—welcoming more voices, making literature accessible, and helping people see how prose and poetry matter in everyday life, from the tiangge to government offices, from the streets to the academe. 

Thank you, Danielle Mari Bonior, Zarelle Villanzana, Carla Adeline Via. I hope I got the message across.⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣

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the bar's open

We missed the happy hour club.

More photos here.

Another reason to thank the Silliman University National Writers Workshop (SUNWW). Just happy to be part of this growing community. And here are a few factoids about how this thing—the oldest creative writing workshop in Asia—became so intertwined with my life.

🔸 I applied twice. First, as a poetry fellow in 2007. Rejected. The following year, I put together some stories and applied for fiction. That did it. I got into the 47th batch of writing fellows. I was 19.

🔸My co-fellows were Lawrence Anthony Bernabe, Noelle Leslie dela Cruz, Ma. Celeste Fusilero, Rodrigo “Igor” dela Peña, Arlene Jaguit Yandug, Bron Joseph Teves, Marguerite “Margie” Alcazaren de Leon, Dustin Edward Celestino, Joshua “Tokwa” Lim So, Liza Bacay, Ma. Elena Paulma, Anna Carmela Tolentino, and Lamberto Varias Jr.

🔸On Day 1, National Artist for Literature and workshop co-founder Edith Lopez Tiempo herself opened the first panel, discussing Noelle’s poem.

🔸 Our panelists were Ernesto Superal Yee, Bobby Flores Villasis, Myrna Peña Reyes, Cesar Ruiz Aquino, Dr. Rowena Tiempo Torrevillas, Jose “Butch” Dalisay, Butch Macansantos, Dave Genotiva, Susan Lara, Danny Reyes, Anthony Tan, and Lito Zulueta.

🔸 I remember being in awe of everyone—sharp, talented, articulate—while I was just there soaking everything in. But one co-fellow stood out in particular. Back then, the workshop ran for three weeks, each devoted to a genre: poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction. There were 15 fellows, five per genre. Except in 2008, we were only 14. It turned out one fellow had applied to all three genres, and the screening committee found all his manuscripts strong enough to represent each genre for discussion. So he had a slot every single week. His name is Lambert. And then he disappeared from the grid. I still don’t know where he is.

🔸 There were days when we arrived late to KH 1, the room in Katipunan Hall where most sessions were held, and the running joke among panelists was that our nights were long and bacchanalian. To prove we weren’t drunk every night (just “every other night,” as Liza put it), we decided to make a book of new works to give the panelists and organizers on culmination night. Just so we can say we did some new writing during our stay. 

🔸 That book became Sea[sic]: Prose and Poetry by the Fellows of the 47th Silliman University National Writers Workshop. It was launched at Hayahay on Escaño Road during the final night of the workshop. People were so thrilled to receive a copy that they decided right there and then that future batches should also produce a book of new works. What started as our simple thank-you gift is now a workshop requirement. Peace to all future fellows. We didn’t mean to give you an extra task.

🔸 We call our batch the Katsubongs, after one memorable trip from Bacong. I wrote about it for the workshop’s 50th anniversary in 2011 (link here: https://su.edu.ph/137-drugged-and-still-drugged/). 

🔸 We spent a night at Salagdoong Beach in Siquijor. Literally slept in the huts by the shore, waking up to sunlight and sea breeze, practically ignoring the hotel rooms we had rented.

🔸 Seventeen years later, we’re still in touch, jumping from Yahoo Groups to Facebook to Messenger. A little older, maybe wiser, but still here, and I am still in awe of what have transpired. Still thankful. 

Borrowed the image above from the official Facebook page of the SUNWW. You can check out the original post here.

47th ugat conference

One more thing. On the third and last day of the 47th Ugnayang Pang-Aghamtao (UGAT) International Conference, November 14, I attended the panels “Everyday Economies and Lived Precarities: Ethnographies of Survival and Care” and “Bodies, Forests, and Frontiers: Indigenous Ways of Knowing and Governing.” Also joined the lecture by Alberto Gomes of La Trobe University titled “Phoenix Rising from the Ashes: The Promise of Regenerative Anthropology.” And I finally met poet, doctor, and researcher Vincen Gregory Yu. It’s always a quiet thrill to meet in person the people whose work you’ve only encountered on the page.

In the afternoon, joined Tigum, the conference’s field immersion segment in partnership with the National Museum of the Philippines–Bohol and the Bohol Arts and Cultural Heritage (BACH) Council. The activity encouraged delegates to examine Tagbilaran City as a coastal and urban landscape shaped by its community. We walked through the city and learned about the history of the Knights of Columbus Wharf, the Balili Heritage House, the People’s Mansion (formerly the Governor’s Mansion), the Gabaldon building of Dr. Cecilio Putong National High School, and the shophouses along CPG Avenue. Our last stop was Sitio Ubos, an enclave of late Spanish colonial structures just behind St. Joseph the Cathedral. The closing ceremony of the conference’s panels and lectures was held later that afternoon at HNU.

Much has been said about our local and indigenous communities, and how research must move away from extractive tendencies. My own approach remains simple: you must be biased in favor of those who are underrepresented, ignored, or deprived of their rights and voices.

Because what is the point of our conferences, meetings, and publications if communities—made more isolated and vulnerable each day by institutional obsessions with credentials, prestige, and even our silence—continue to suffer and be stripped of their humanity? Who benefits from what?

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honored

It’s a rainy gloomy Friday morning here in the Visayas, with Tropical Depression Wilma looming over us, but there is also a bit of light with good news like this. 

Thank you, Silliman University, especially to the Silliman University English and Literature Department and The Edilberto and Edith Tiempo Creative Writing Center. As the sole creative writing major in my last two college years, I thought it would be an extra lonely journey, but here we are. I was wrong.

Borrowed the image above from the Silliman University website. You can read the full article through this link. 

roll the credits!

On December 2, found myself in the company of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) - Negros Oriental for their yearend gathering. Was invited as one of three judges for the agency’s Film-Making Competition, “Love and Service: A Story of a True Public Servant.”

It was commendable to witness the works of people who, on top of their responsibilities in the office and in the field, still carved out time and energy to create these films. Entries ranged from the solemn to the comedic. If this activity continues in the coming years, one can hope the same passion and eagerness can flesh out nuances of what a government worker can be and should be, someone who balances self-care with genuine service, someone who works without expectations, and someone whose story also sheds light on what erodes the integrity of public service, especially given what we’ve been seeing in the news lately.

My co-judges were filmmaker and beetzee founder/CEO Chamberlain Gueverra, and Dr. Belen Calingacion, who served as head judge. Dr. Belen is a professor and former multi-term chair of UP Diliman’s Department of Speech Communication and Theatre Arts.

Even before we spoke, I had the feeling I’d seen her somewhere before. When she mentioned that I should’ve watched the play she appeared in last October, it clicked. She played the grandmother in Ang Sugilanon ng Kabiguan ni Epefania at the Woodward Little Theatre in Silliman! My hunch was right.

Grateful that the cosmos allowed the three of us to meet that night. Stories flowed, ideas aligned. Something cooking up for 2026. Many thanks go to visual artist Kevin Cornelia for the recommendation and to Agrarian Reform Program Technologist Nhelyn Ross Mahinay for the invitation. Maybe next year we should have a play competition?

[ More photos here ]