Archive - Arts & Culture

By IRA V. PANGANIBAN RARE is a Filipino driver involved in a car crash while using his cellphone that would admit  that his using of the gadget while driving caused the difficulty he got himself into, said former Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) chairman Francis Tolentino. “Not even if he has his hand on the

By MICHAEL JOE T. DELIZO   RC Rodriguez, 28, is one lucky guy. He has figured in more than one road crash while driving under the influence of liquor and he is still alive. Once, after imbibing two bottles of one-liter beer, he was driving at 100 kilometer per hour when his tire blew up

By ARIANNE CHRISTIAN TAPAO IN a 26-square-meter studio deep within the heart of Pasig City, people with autism fill the world with art, one canvas at a time. Last April, Vico’s Artism Gallery was established for them to hone their skills, and to an extent, make a living out of it. Artism is short for

By ALLAN YVES BRIONES AND BRYAN EZRA GONZALES THOUSANDS of persons with disabilities (PWDs) participated in the recent annual earthquake simulation exercise, some of them showing they could take part in rescue operations and provide invaluable assistance to others in times of disaster. Among those who took part in the drill were four students of

Text by ARIANNE CHRISTIAN TAPAO Photos and video by ALLAN YVES BRIONES [metaslider id=36323] CLAD in the blue, red and yellow colors of the Philippine flag, they are marching to freedom. As if going to war, they have armors strapped to their legs and their arms. Some are in phalanx formation, even. They are persons

Text and photos by COOPER RESABAL [metaslider id=36188] MARIBOJOC, Bohol—Summer is officially over as declared by Pagasa this week. Yet homecoming Boholanos here are still in a frenzy attending fiestas, school, clan and neighborhood reunions, and Flores de Mayo activities, that is, at least until the end of May. Aside from renewing bonds, such gatherings

By ELLEN T. TORDESILLAS  MARTIN Macalintal, audiovisual attaché at the French Embassy in Manila, might as well have taped his answer to the question, “Will Ma’ Rosa be shown during this year’s festival?” That was the question everybody asked Macalintal at last Wednesday’s press preview of the 21st Film Festival held at My Cinema in

By AMIEL CAGAYAN and EMMANUEL CAGAYAN MARBEL, South Cotabato – There were no assigned accessible polling places (APPs) in South Cotabato during the May 9 polls, but persons with disabilities (PWDs) who voted here said their experience was better than in previous elections. In lieu of APPs were express lanes, where PWD voters, as well

By LUCILLE SODIPE CEBU City – Election volunteers Krugger Tabada and Leah Recia, both persons with disabilities (PWDs), were startled by the high voter turnout in a polling place here last May 9. They were expecting some 50 PWDs to vote in the emergency accessible polling place (EAPP) here at the Mabolo Elementary School, but

By LUCILLE SODIPE CEBU City — Just hours away from the opening of the May 9 elections, teachers assigned at a polling place here were informed they need to instantly set up an emergency accessible polling place (EAPP). In this video, find out how they still managed to assist persons with disabilities (PWDs) exercise their

By LUCILLE SODIPE [metaslider id=35664] CORDOVA, Cebu — “Remain faithful to your commitment to protect the votes of the people of Cordova. Good luck and God bless.” With these words, Fr. Roman Alaan blessed and sent off the election volunteers of Cebu-Citizens Involvement and Maturation in People’s Empowerment and Liberation (C-CIMPEL). The political action arm

By ALLAN YVES BRIONES IT was supposedly the Daang Matuwid Coalition’s last hurrah, the Liberal Party’s final appeal to convince the people that they are the right people to move the country forward come election day. Instead, those who attended the miting de avance at the Quezon City Memorial Circle Saturday, estimated to be between

Text and Photos by ALANAH TORRALBA AS he ended his campaign, Vice President Jejomar Binay called on President Benigno Aquino III to keep the May 9 elections orderly and honest. During the United Nationalist Alliance’s miting de avance in Barangay West Rembo in Makati on Saturday, supporters came in droves as catchy jingles played on

Photos by MARIO IGNACIO Video by JOHN FRANCES FUENTES CROWDS estimated at hundreds of thousands swelled the Luneta Park in Manila, as well as the Crocodile Park grounds in Davao City yesterday, in support of the final campaign day of presidential frontrunner Rodrigo Duterte. Duterte, in Luneta for his miting de avance, stuck with his

By ARIANNE CHRISTIAN G. TAPAO Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago, whose meme-worthy pickup lines had made her popular with the youth, ended her presidential campaign last night by gracing a street party on West Fourth Street in West Triangle, Quezon City. Her running mate Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., who held his miting de avance in Mandaluyong

Text by AVIGAIL OLARTE Photos by LUIS LIWANAG SHE was back to where it all began. There in the historic Plaza Miranda in Quiapo, presidential candidate Grace Poe retold her story as a baby found on the footsteps of a church in Jaro. And on a solemn Saturday evening, just as the bells of Quiapo church

Text by ELLEN TORDESILLAS WRITER and political commentator Teddy Locsin Jr., summarizing the campaign for the  2016 elections, said of Grace Poe, the presidential candidate of Partido Galing at Puso: “To Grace, who has had to mature in such terrible adversity; and yet struggled without losing an ounce of the grace that is her name. I apologize

Photos by LUIS LIWANAG NECK and neck with administration bet Leni Robredo in the vice presidential race, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. capped his campaign with a miting de avance in Mandaluyong on May 5. His running mate, Miriam Defensor Santiago, was absent in the event and held a separate sortie in the University of Santo Tomas in Manila.

Photos by DANIEL ABUNALES and BERNARD VER PRESIDENTIAL aspirant Jejomar Binay had an interesting Monday last May 2. At 9 a.m., he attended Holy Mass at the Manila Cathedral officiated by Manila Archbishop Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle. Mar Roxas was also there. Binay and Roxas signed a covenant for “Truth” organized by the Archdiocese of

Photos by ALLAN YVES BRIONES and LUIS LIWANAG ON Saturday, two days before the elections, presidential frontrunner Rodrigo Duterte will make his final pitch to the public and hold a miting de avance at the Rizal Park. The event is expected to draw thousands, as had Duterte’s previous campaign events in various places in Metro Manila,

Text by ALANAH TORRALBA Photos by LUIS LIWANAG, ALANAH TORRALBA and ALLAN YVES BRIONES [metaslider id=35101] THE Roxas camp seems to be pulling out all the stops a few days before the May 9 national and local elections. On April 28, the Smart Araneta Coliseum, Mar Roxas’ home turf, glistened in yellow as thousands gathered

The latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey, released earlier this week, puts Sen. Grace Poe in second place, behind Davao City Mayor Rody Duterte. In February, when Poe formally launched her campaign in Manila, survey results showed her neck-and-neck not with Duterte, but with Vice President Jejomar Binay. VERA Files reporter Maria Feona Imperial was among

The most recent Social Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey results put Vice President Jejomar Binay in second place, statistically tied with Sen. Grace Poe and DILG Sec. Mar Roxas. Back in March 8, when he was leading his opponents in the survey, Binay along with his running mate Sen. Gregorio Honasan II held a sortie

Results of the Social Weather Stations (SWS) and Pulse Asia surveys, released early this week, show Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte in the lead. Last Friday, he and his running mate Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano spoke at a tourism expo in a Pasay mall, went on a motorcade in Parañaque and Las Piñas, and finished

By COOPER RESABAL  ON election week, residents of many barangays in the island province of Bohol usually greet each other with this question: “Is it raining over there? (Wa ba’y uwan-uwan diha?)” They are not talking about the much-prayed for rain to water the dried-up rice fields. They are referring to the cash and goodies

By DESIREE CALUZA BAGUIO CITY— She is a mother to every Cordilleran. To many she is “Mother Petra.” With clenched fists, hers were the hands that nurtured the indigenous peoples’ aspiration to fight for their rights over their land. It is a battle she has been waging in Bontoc, Mt. Province since the dark days

By ELLEN T. TORDESILLAS I haven’t bidden Norman goodbye properly and I feel bad about it. Norman is a very good writer and it was a privilege for VERA Files to have him as one of our writers. When young writers inquire about contributing feature stories for VERA Files, a group that publishes in- depth

  By WINNIE VELASQUEZ “EVERYDAY is a painting day for me,” said Raul Isidro a few hours before his nth exhibit opened March 16 at Galleria Nicolas in Glorietta 4, Makati. Now well into his seventh decade and with almost fifty years of work as a professional artist (his, first solo exhibit was in 1969)

  By PABLO A. TARIMAN IT’S a week of classical guitar in the Philippines. Japanese classical guitarist Tomonori Arai and the Duo Trussardi are the attraction at UP Abelardo Hall in Diliman, Quezon City on Sunday, March 20, 2016 at 5:30 p.m. Over in Catanduanes in Bicol, prize-winning classical guitarist Aemilio Cecilio Enginco performs at

By WINNIE VELASQUEZ CARMEN Brias rekindles her love affair with her country of birth in “In a New Light,” an exhibit of her latest paintings and sculptures which is ongoing until March 13 at Altro Mondo Gallery in Greenbelt 5, Makati City. Brias was born in Manila and lived here until her teenage years before