just a thought

If we're tired of being asked questions, perhaps it's because we failed to give clear and precise instructions. Just as it is imperative to answer (even to questions we'd rather sweep under the rug), it is equally necessary to spare one another from constant second-guessing. State all intentions and interrogations clearly. We are not psychics.

goodbye, buster

This morning, I received news from home that Buster passed away. He would have turned six on August 6, 2020.

I was in Bohol over the weekend, and just a few hours before heading to the pier to return to Dumaguete, I noticed him lying in his bed, unwell. He was the shy type, but this time he was just suddenly too quiet, too still. Sat next to him and repeated his name, and he would slowly lift his head, answer me with a soft, feeble sound. Long, slow blinks and all. Offered him water, but he only lowered his head toward the bowl and never drank, as if still trying to be the obedient boy he always was. Then, very slowly, he walked away, turned his back to me, and faced the garden, as though telling me to not see him like that.

Before I left Bohol, I asked my sisters to take him to the vet. Arrived in Dumaguete last Tuesday night uneasy and heavy with worry. Kept asking for updates the following day. His vitals did not improve. Today, February 19, he is gone.

Now, who will I sing my Bebe Buster song to? When will I ever hear my mother say, “Bus-ter-teeeer!” with that unmistakable delight whenever you gently wandered into the room? Who will my sister look for as you playfully hid under the dining table? Where will we see those ice-blue galaxies in your eyes again?

Dear Buster, my last image of you is that afternoon before I left—your back turned, weak and in pain. But today, I choose to remember you differently: resting on a pile of leaves in the garden, your favorite, facing the early morning sun, just as I would always find you whenever I came home, with the light catching your fur, turning it the brightest of whites, glowing, as if our days were blessed by your presence.

Buster, we will miss you so much. 💟

[ more photos here ]

fragile things at dib bangkok

Dib, its name drawn from the Thai word for “raw” or “authentic,” grew out of a long-held dream of Petch Osathanugrah, the late father of Chang. A collector, musician, and heir to an energy-drink empire, Osathanugrah spent nearly four decades assembling a collection of more than a thousand works from across the globe, alongside an equally enduring desire to one day build a museum where these pieces could finally breathe in public. Eventually, the Dib International Contemporary Art Museum was realized. 

Among the works we encountered on February 7, one stayed with us long after leaving the gallery. It was “Incubate” by the Indian artist Subodh Gupta. It features a stack of twenty-five oversized eggs made from stainless steel kitchen utensils, beneath five elaborate chandeliers. The materials are unmistakably domestic and humble but are arranged in a way that feels tense and loaded. As one friend puts it, it feels like our ordinary working-class lives are always beneath or at the service of the elite and opulent. 

All of this is housed in The Chapel, a cone-shaped, acoustically engineered space appended to the main structure. From the outside, it looks like a tower of a power plant. But inside, it is a vessel for something even more powerful and profound.

[ more photos here ] 

who watches the watchmen?

I was standing by the roadside when a police car pulled over nearby. What caught my eye was the marking “Donated by: PMSC.” All-new Tamaraw pa ha. I’d always been told that government agencies and officials are discouraged from accepting donations. Out of curiosity, I Googled it.

PMSC turns out to be Philippine Mining Service Corporation, a mining firm that, according to its own website, “pioneered the production of quality dolomite in the Philippines” and became a major supplier to Japan and other parts of Asia.

That carries a lot of weight.

Knowing the country’s long and painful history—where police forces have often been deployed against Indigenous communities defending ancestral lands, and against farmers and residents resisting displacement by mining, logging, agribusiness, and large-scale development—this was unsettling. It blurs lines that should remain clear.

Who watches the watchmen?

round and round at dib bangkok

Last year, on December 20, a renovated 1980s warehouse in Ekkamai, Bangkok opened its doors to the public as the Dib International Contemporary Art Museum, or more commonly known as Dib Bangkok.

On February 7, had the chance to visit this expansive museum. The experience begins even before stepping inside any of the galleries. Scattered across the courtyard is Pars pro Toto (2020), a work by the Polish-German artist Alicja Kwade. She created these eleven natural stone spheres that, depending on where you stand, appear either as oversized marbles or as planets suspended in a solar system. To me, they look like ancient alien debris.

The work forms part of the museum’s inaugural exhibition, "(In)visible Presence,” which invites viewers to reflect on perception and the underlying structures that shape how we experience and interpret reality.

[ more photos here ]

happy birthday, pa!

Travelled back home in Bohol to celebrate a trio of birthday celebrants today, February 15—our dear father and my two pamangkins, Kylie and Hansoy. The kids aren’t home with us this time, but they’re very much present in spirit. 

My wish remains the same, that we stay healthy, inside and out, and that we hold on to the truth that peace of mind is worth far more than all the world’s riches combined. I truly believe in that.

[ more photos here ]

happy valentine's!

The ladies of the house, getting their flowers. Happy Valentine’s Day to the women who hold our homes—and practically our lives—together. Thanks to the pamangkins for the beautiful gift.

[ more photos here ]

this saturday looks beautiful and lovely

 

[ see the original post here ]

louis vuitton visionary journeys, part 2

The third section of the Louis Vuitton Visionary Journeys exhibition in four parts is called Icons. It highlights pieces shaped by other designers. This  seamlessly flows into the fourth and last section Collaborations, which celebrates partnerships with artists like Yayoi Kusama. 

That part, especially, felt serendipitous because just two days earlier I had encountered an original Yayoi Kusama painting at the Museum of Contemporary Art Bangkok. It felt like she was following me around the city! The journey ends with a free souvenir from the museum to take home.

That day, February 6, reminded me all this was an entirely foreign world for me. What felt oddly familiar, though, was the persistence to create, to go against the unimaginative, and how history can turn something as ordinary as a traveler’s bag into one of the world’s most luxurious objects.

[ more photos here ]

coffee, tea, or...

Just the right dose of coffee at Pieces Café & Bed in Song Wat Road, Bangkok, Thailand to power through a long, long day. A welcome bonus that this might be one of the best cups I’ve had so far this year. 

[ more photos here ]

louis vuitton visionary journeys, part 1

Last February 6, after the hubbub at Song Wat Road, my K-pop-fanatic friends happily disappeared into a G Dragon Übermensch merch wonderland and a VR concert. I went to the nearby Louis Vuitton Visionary Journeys instead, an exhibition unfolding in four parts.

Here are its first two parts. It opens with Trunkscape, a tunnel made of 96 classic LV trunks, the very object that started it all. This is followed by the segment Origins, which traces the brand from 1854 to the evolution of its now-familiar monograms, bags, luggage, and couture. On a separate occasion, because LV locks were long marketed as “unpickable,” I learned that the brand once invited the famous magician and escape artist Harry Houdini to break one open. He declined.

No matter how effective that marketing is, I still have zero plans of buying a bag worth half a million pesos. 

[ more photos here ]

long in song wat

Lost, but not really. Tucked near the Chao Phraya River, Song Wat Road feels like a place learning how to live in the present without letting go of nostalgia. The old buildings are still there, worn and dignified, now sharing space with what’s modern and on the rise. Murals, graffiti, and small exhibits appear almost by accident, quietly surprising you as you walk along this historical street.

There is definitely an argument about gentrification here. But if this is one way of nurturing local creativity while keeping centuries of history intact, then this kind of change feels more than welcome, I guess. 

[ more photos here ]

food trip, street-style

Just wandered through Song Wat Road and its web of alleys leading to cafés, galleries, boutique shops, and restaurants tucked into old, weathered houses.

And the food. Let’s talk about the food. Thailand rarely disappoints the palate. Tried the buns and shumai from Michelin-recognized Gu Long Bao, coffee from Goútes, and so much more. And there’s the street food in between, of course. Going home at 75 kilograms is no longer a joke.

[ more photos here ]

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.

[ more photos here ]

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.

[ more photos here ]

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. 🏝️

[ more photos here ]

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.

[ more photos here ]

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.⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣

[ more photos here ]

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?

[ more photos here ]

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 ]

dumaguete pedicab 0483

Earlier this afternoon, I picked up a box of donated toys from a friend for our museum’s “Give a Toy, Share a Joy” project. Instead of just walking to the museum and lugging the box around, I hopped on pedicab 0483.

As we passed a group of protesters along the boulevard who were calling for justice, denouncing corruption, the wastewater spill in Bais, and other forms of neglect, the driver noticed me taking a video. He turned to me…

Driver: “Bisa’g unsaon nila’g singgit dira, dili gihapon na sila masabtan. [laughs]”

Me: “Sige lang. Naa man silay placards ug streamers. Makabasa ra ang tawo.”

Driver: “Gibayran siguro na sila noh? [laughs]”

Me: “Dili man. Kung mahuman kos akong lakaw ron ug dili ko kapuyon, muapil siguro ko nila.”

Driver: “Wala diay nay bayad?”

Me: “Wala. Pero kung ganahan ka, pwede ka muapil.”

(He fell quiet for a moment.)

Driver: “…So bahin diay na sa kamatuoran ug kaayohan sa katawhan?”

Me: “O. Para asa pa man diay ning gipangbuhat natong tanan?”

He stayed quiet for the rest of the ride.

Sometimes you don’t need to fight fire with fire. But you also shouldn’t shrink and allow yourself to be subjected to ridicule. Sometimes the most powerful thing you can do is hold your ground—calmly, firmly—and offer a clearer view of what others have long refused, or never had the chance, to see all their lives. 

After my trip to the museum, I walked back home, passed by the protesters again to take more photos and videos. I didn’t get to join them this time, but I am with them. 

47th ugat international conference (day 2)

Last November 13, returned to Holy Name University for Day 2 of the 47th Ugnayang Pang-aghamtao (UGAT) International Conference and attended the panels “Folklore Between Linguistics and Anthropology,” “Transdisciplinary Engagements in Archeology” (particularly for the talk on reviving the asin-tibuok of Alburquerque, Bohol through chemical engineering which was very, very interesting), and “An Ethnography of Ibanag Warfare and Weaponry Based on Spanish Colonial Texts.” The panelists were demonstrating martial arts movements and included capoeira!

Before the day closed, attended the film screening of Tumandok by Richard Jeroui Salvadico and Arlie Sweet Sumagaysay, a Cinemalaya and Gawad Urian award-winning docu-fiction movie with my colleagues from the National Museum of the Philippines-Iloilo. We were all seated in one line while watching the movie, and when the lights turned back on, we apparently found ourselves on Hikbi Row. Namula ug nanghubag among mga mata, friends. 

The displacement of our indigenous communities like the Ati in Western Visayas, the bureaucratic red tape they are forced to endure, and the violence they face which includes the Tumandok massacre on December 20, 2020, simply for defending their most basic rights, were gut-wrenching and massively frustrating to watch. And this is all still happening today. In fact, the inspiration for the film’s lead character, En-en, was present that night in HNU to share her story herself.

I cannot stop thinking about the film. It’s one of those works that lingers; one that feels essential viewing for everyone, especially in this country.

After the screening, I approached one of the co-directors, Arlie, and mentioned the possibility of bringing the film to Dumaguete. She was enthusiastic and hoped an institution could help make it happen. We will see. 

[ More photos here ]

we're on the news for good reason

So news about the ceremony of the 2025 President Carlos P. Garcia Awards for Excellence held at the Ceremonial Hall of the Provincial Capitol of Bohol was published in The Bohol Chronicle last Sunday, November 23, 2025. Posting here for posterity. 

To the other awardees, you can get a copy of the paper at the newsstand beside Pizza Hut in BQ Mall or directly from The Bohol Chronicle / DYRD Office along B. Inting Street, Tagbilaran City.

 [ More photos here ]

essay on my poem

A breather in the middle of the suffocating week. Just learned that an essay about my poem, “The Electorate Weighs In,” is featured in Issue no. 7 of Buglas Writers Journal of the Buglas Writers Guild.

This essay first appeared in Dumaguete MetroPost (Vol. XXVI, No. 1292) for its May 18–24, 2025 issue, specifically in the paper’s City of Literature section.

The full article can be read here.

dumaguetres

The National Museum of the Philippines-Dumaguete turns three today, November 25, on the very same day Dumaguete City celebrates its fiesta in honor of St. Catherine of Alexandria, the patron saint of philosophers, scholars, and students! A fitting date for a museum dedicated to learning and promoting our culture, arts, and heritage. And most of all, for a city that is now a UNESCO Creative City of Literature. 

We may still be young and small, but we always make sure every visit is meaningful and memorable. 

We’re open every day—yes, Mondays to Sundays—from 9AM to 5PM. See you puhon! And Happy Fiesta, Dumaguete! 

[ More photos here ]

just thankful

After several schedule changes, no thanks to both typhoons and earthquakes, the event finally pushed through. Yesterday, in the morning of National Poetry Day, November 22, I went to the Ceremonial Hall of the Provincial Capitol of Bohol with my parents for the 2025 Carlos P. Garcia Awards and received a gift from the cosmos.

There were many stumbles before getting the CPG Award for Excellence in Literary Arts. Or any recognition for that matter. I’m just lucky I have a family that reads, especially parents who supported my decision to take on what others might say an “uneconomical” field (creative writing what?), and a sister who introduced me to books and to writing very early on. Lucky to have relatives like my lolo Julian “Papa Iyan” Ypong Torralba, whose little library in the old house in Tamblot was packed with books, journals, magazines, and newspapers. That slim room taught me that entire universes hide between tiny printed words.

But even with an early intro to reading and writing, life still gets in the way. You get distracted, get your heart smashed into smithereens, get hurt so deeply that not even the salve of prose or poetry can soothe you. Or quiet the demons in your head. I stopped writing for almost three years, no new sensible material from 2013 to 2016. This is where my gratitude goes to my partner Marjune, and to my friends in Kaliwat ni Karyapa, Plastic Free Bohol, and the Bohol Climate Walkers. These people showed me what purpose looks like. They were the compass that pointed me back to myself and what matters most. Other fellow CPG Awardees who I knew from way, way back and became friends along the way are also an inspiration without a doubt. There are people who aren’t happy for this award, and you can tell by their forced snark and indifference, but I let it be. We focus. 

Beyond that family, that sister, that lolo, that private library, that circle of friends, or that organization, I wish all our governments could be the support system a talent needs, and provide the kind of foundation that consistently nurtures it until it can stand on its own. I wish for more public libraries in our city and municipalities. I wish we recognize that reading and writing are as intrinsically valuable as any other discipline. 

Because privilege can be made accessible. Because public spaces that nurture learning and leisure are possible. Everyone in the ceremonial hall that morning holds the power to move us in this direction. May the 2025 Carlos P. Garcia Awards be a true beginning, a moment when we choose to share that power with all.

Once again, thank you to Loon, the municipality that first nominated me for this award. Thank you to the 2025 CPG Awards committee, the Provincial Government of Bohol, the Center for Culture and Arts Development - Bohol, and the Bohol Arts and Cultural Heritage Council. Daghang salamat!

[ More photos here ]

viva excon 2025

Today marks the opening of the 2025 VIVA ExCon (Visayas Islands Exhibition and Conference), the longest-running, artist-run biennale in Southeast Asia. This year, Kalibo, Aklan hosts the gathering under the theme “Sádsad Panáad.” It ends on November 23, 2025. 

I’m not attending this edition, but somehow I’m still there through an “Island Report.” My gratitude to VIVA ExCon Negros Island Coordinator and Researcher Ma Isabel Gutang and to videographer-documenter Ryly for reaching out and recognizing the NMP-Dumaguete as a partner to the region’s creatives. I deeply appreciate their alignment with a principle we hold close, which is art matters most when it considers how it empowers and improves the lives of people, especially those in the grassroots and indigenous communities who often carry the stories that shape our cultural identity.

I had the chance to be part of VIVA ExCon in November 2018 in Roxas City, Capiz, and it was an experience that stayed with me. It opened my eyes to how art thrives outside the usual “centers” of the industry. One important realization is that the artistic practice in the Visayas is a delicate balance of production, appreciation, and, ideally, fair transaction. These initiatives are largely artist-led and deeply connected to local communities. You rarely see that kind of authenticity and reciprocity in galleries!

Thanks as well to writer, visual artist, and fellow Bohol Climate Walker Liza Macalandag and to the National Museum representatives Harriet June Tubil, Julie Bee Unlayao, and Bryan Noel Marzona for suddenly sending photos from the opening this afternoon. If not for them and their surprise updates, I wouldn’t have known that the convention had already begun. 

[ More photos here ]