Archive - Reviews

By PABLO A. TARIMAN
THE latest film of Brillante Mendoza, “Captive” attempts to document the perennial problem of kidnap-for-ransom associated with Southern Mindanao.

SCHOLAR Cristina Pantoja Hidalgo, a fictionist and essayist in her own right, describes the state of literary biography in the Philippines in her latest book “Six Sketches of Filipino Women Writers” as “a wide, arid stretch, with a few patches of grass, and perhaps a tree or two.”

By ELIZABETH LOLARGA
WHILE a bloody encounter was playing out on a field in Basilan, journalist Cathy Babao Guballa was in the midst of preparing what Lorna Kalaw Tirol, a veteran editor, calls a "landmark book."

THE Diliman Book Club, which meets every Saturday at the ROC Restaurant at UP Balay ng Alumni at the Quezon City campus, usually discusses social sciences and politics with the author of the moment.

By LUZ RIMBAN
A YEAR ago today, Filipino journalists had pinned their hopes on newly elected President Benigno Aquino III to put a stop to the killing of media persons, which had risen to record levels under his predecessor, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. But the journalism community was in for a disappointment.

HOW does a pet lover grieve when a cat in his menagerie passes away? It was the wrong question to ask of a pet lover like Victoria Rico Costina, author of the recently launched book Those Who Love Cats and a literature professor at the University of the Philippines Baguio.

By ELLEN TORDESILLAS
ONE hundred twelve years after the Philippines declared itself an independent state, questions on the width and breadth of Philippine territory are still a subject of intense debate. The latest book of distinguished diplomat Rodolfo C. Severino, Where in the world is the Philippines?, tackles this issue comprehensively.

WITH upbeat tunes like "Feels So Good" and "What a Wonderful World" played at the launch of Margarita Go-Singco Holmes' Down to 1: Depression Stories, a guest wondered aloud if the condition discussed in the book is being trivialized.

WHEN Manang Bolabola came out, there was a new doll in her secret room, with eyes the color of twilight that had been grazed by the twinkle of the first evening star.

By KHRYSTA IMPERIAL RARA EVERYONE likes a thriller, especially one that is based on fact. Watching the documentary film The Cove is like watching a James Bond movie, where the main characters resort to secret tactics and weapons to outwit the enemy. But unlike James Bond movies which are fiction, The Cove revolves around a gruesome fact:

FILIPINOS are generally known to have an aversion to reading, and educators often despair at how difficult it is to make students appreciate the printed word. Given a choice between books and films, most Filipinos would opt for the moving image rather than text. Filmmaker and teacher Nick de Ocampo offers a solution: Why not

By CHIT ESTELLA IF numbers represented money, wouldn’t more people be interested in them? The innocuously titled book, “Your Guidebook to Effective and Transparent National Budget Legislation: Philippine Setting,” shows how true this can be. The product of 15 years of observation and research, the book is the work of former accountants and managers who

By CHIT ESTELLA MANY Filipinos would find it hard to find a Tagalog word for “honest.” Matapat, the oft-cited word, comes closer to the English word “faithful.” Malinis is clean, which could refer to many other things. The debate goes on. They would find it easy, however, to come up with local equivalents for the