Gathering Around A Truth
PALIMBANG, Sultan Kudarat (MindaNews / 30 Sept) -- Teenagers beat an enthusiastic rhythm on a kulintang set made of tin. The larger babendir gongs...
Fowl means: Some tinolang manok tricks
Like in courting the girl of your dreams, cooking tinolang manok (chicken broth) requires patience, care and using the right mix of ingredients. Never...
The Stone Cutter and the Peace Builder
PATIKUL, Sulu (MindaNews/10 October) – Epal Sahipa, 46, is a stone cutter. Daily he would go to that side of the mountain where he...
The madrasah as space for intervention vs violent extremism
ILIGAN CITY (MindaNews / 06 September) – Before entering the gates of the Toril compound in Barangay Ubaldo Laya in Iligan City, an evacuation...
Visitors flock to South Cot’s sunflower field
TUPI, South Cotabato (MindaNews/10 June) – Visitors have been flocking to a new tourist attraction here that features a sunflower field, the first of...
Former fastfood chain employee now living her dreams
GIGAQUIT, Surigao del Norte (MindaNews / 25 May) – Who would have thought that a fastfood chain employee would end up owning bakeries and...
Huckleberry remains a Philippine Tatler best for two years in a row
For the second time in a row, Davao’s Huckleberry Southern Kitchen & Bar makes it to the exclusive Philippine Tatler's Best Restaurants Guide (BRG).
Huckleberry...
“Fadlog Tubad Blaan”
By Ronald de Jong
Fadlog Tubad Blaan, this means; “Don’t give up Blaan” strong and promising words coming from a remarkable woman. Her name is...
FILM REVIEW: Ang Hapis at Himagsik ni Hermano Puli
FILM REVIEW: Ang Hapis at Himagsik ni Hermano Puli
Screeplay: Eric Ramos
Director : Gil Portes
Producer: Rex Tiri under T-Rex Entertainment
Title Role: Aljur Abrenica
Karl M. Gaspar CSsR
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/24 Sept)...
Baguindan and the Fight to Fulfill a Promise of Peace
TIPO-TIPO, Basilan (MindaNews/23 September) -- Abdulhusin Inam had yet to learn how to walk so his parents and siblings would carry him as they...
Ashes and phone numbers: Stories of struggle of people with HIV
Raped in Dubai
In 1996, Rina, then only 17 years old, worked as a domestic helper in Dubai. There she was raped by her male...
Keeping Davao City restos alive with live grouper
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/25 May) -- The recent surge in visitors coming to Davao as a result of Mayor Rodrigo Duterte’s impending ascension to the...
A Gentle shaft of light shines on Kadtabanga through Shariah
COTABATO CITY (MindaNews/13 November) - It’s not every day that one encounters a great woman Moro leader who not only commands respect and allegiance...
Exploring science and solutions
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/06 October) -- Filipino ingenuity is developed when young inventors and innovators are given chances to dream and to develop ideas.
When given...
A ritual for the spirits of Tinuy-an Falls
Surrounded by boulders, trees and waters rushing down Tinuy-an Falls, a baylan (tribal spiritual leader) led an early morning ritual on September 20. Called...
Molmol the Parrot Fish meets school children and communities
"Hello Molmol,goodbye Nemo!" giggled the mothers huddled together as they watched their children do a theatrical reading of "Ang Dangpanan ni Molmol" (Molmol's Refuge)...
Bagani’s silent cry called art
Her works show the hand of years and practice. The colors of her drawings and paintings, the arrangement of beads on the necklaces and...
Life with the candles
MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews/28 August) -- Her stall in front of the San Isidro Cathedral in Malaybalay City measures just around 2.5 feet x 3...
To live – and die – as an artist
BUTUAN CITY (MindaNews/18 August) – When Casiana "Kasi" Cane Torralba retired from private school teaching 16 years ago, she did a most unexpected thing...
Taking pride in local languages
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/07 August) -- It's easy to take Philippine regional languages for granted. If you speak Cebuano on a daily basis, it would...
Village of PWD dreams
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/29 July) — Wheelchair user Sofronio Floro, 54, has carefully assembled an armchair, one of the hundreds he and his fellow workers...
Search for a lost love and another legend of Tinuy-an Falls
Alright, you've probably never been to Tinuy-an Falls in Bislig City in Surigao del Sur, indisputably (to a lot of people) the most awesome...
FEATURE: My romance with foot reflex
BUTUAN CITY (MindaNews / 30 June) – A friend introduced and recommended me to foot reflex. I declined, believing it was the kind found...
Ate Kimmy: Painting a rainbow for Zamboanga IDPs
ZAMBOANGA CITY (MindaNews/08 June) -- To the majority, helping people who are in dire conditions means extending financial assistance and donating relief goods. But...
Tricycle diaries: passengers, drivers as story tellers
ZAMBOANGA CITY (MindaNews/08 June) – Tricycles, a major means of transportation in downtown Zamboanga City, are a rich source of stories, as drivers and...
Where the court is seldom needed
If it rarely happens that a Lumad from Barangay Rogongon in Iligan City lands in jail, it does not mean that it has always...
63rd Miss Universe: MJ would have floored the competition
One by one, some disappointed fans walked out of the viewing party room when they didn't hear “Ms. Philippines” being called to be in...
Marielle Achacoso: A girl whose dreams ended on Bus 2640
MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews/16 December) -- "Happiness is a positive cash flow" and "nothing is impossible" said two of the stickers placed by 17-year old...
A bath habit: Cleansing the body with beer
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/25 November) -- “Being dirty is bad, and beer is good,” the product label reads.
However, it does not mean that you may wash...
The Bomb in a Drawer
For quite sometime, it was just there, inside a drawer of an office table in a village hall in a town in Maguindanao. It...
Celebrating Davao’s chocolates
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/13 September) -- Exactly seven days ago, I was bugging a Filipino friend who lives in Vietnam to meet another Filipino friend...
Life in Liguasan Marsh: A garden in a flood zone
Ferdinandh B. Cabrera
in Barangay Balong, Northern Kabuntalan, Maguindanao
It looks daunting but people living in Liguasan Marsh have learned to deal with the floods that...
All-girl Davao singing group wins awards in international competition
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/06 August) -- The love for singing is what brought seven young girls together.
The common ground where Alexea, Rica, Adrianna, Dianne, Christina,...
#YouthToday: tech and sex and other encounters
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/18 July) -- Perhaps the most alarming result in a 2013 study on youth sexuality by the UP Population Institute and the...
Pii Mai: Another year to renew hopes
XAYABOURY PROVINCE, Laos (MindaNews/30 April) -- A distant small village woke up to loud Lao and Thai music on the first day of Pii...
Rescued macaques find home at Lao zoo
VIENTIANE, Laos (MindaNews / 22 April) – Walking in the Lao Zoo at Keun village on the outskirts of Vientiane on a weekday was...
Baskets of salt for a living
Earning a living by making table salt in the middle of landlocked Laos
VIENTIANE, Laos (MindaNews / 18 March) – Away from the sea, Laos...
A child of revolution recounts
Secretary General of the Lao Securities Commission Mrs Vathana Dalaloy recalls memories of the first eight years of her life, when she and her...
Another Day: A story about living in Vientiane’s wasteland
VIENTIANE, Laos (MindaNews / 22 Nov) – Welcome to “Disneyland”! It is a mosaic of blue, black and white polyester unevenly blended with brown...
A ringside view of “The Riddles of my Homecoming”
For the longest time, the award-winning Mindanawon filmmaker, Arnel Mardoquio, had been inviting me to visit him and the members of his team while...
A Filipina and a Lao woman in Seoul
SEOUL, South Korea (MindaNews/1 November)---The Philippines and Laos have been famous to Korean tourists. Last year, South Korea was the top source of tourists...
FEATURE: On the Lao side, Naga fireballs remain…
People swarm into a small village in Vientiane to see the Naga fireballs themselves despite others’ belief that the phenomenon is but a legend...
‘Winning beyond boat racing’
VIENTIANE, Laos (MindaNews/19 October)--In Ban Sai Fong Neua, 17 kilometers south from the city center, at least 40 women, each holding a wooden oar,...
Cooking hot to keep the climate cool
VIENTIANE, Laos (MindaNews / 16 Oct) – Buying a new cookstove is not easy. Sellers offer heaps of different models that look alike and...
Close encounters with ‘Mike’ and company
BARANGAY NEW ISRAEL, Makilala, North Cotabato (MindaNews/02 July) -- “Mike!” tourist guide Virginia Laniohan shouted in a prolonged manner when we arrived at the...
Yesiree, we’re a family of dwarves: so what?!
KALAMANSIG, Sultan Kudarat (MindaNews/24 April) – They won’t basically stand out in a crowd but they have “rock star” popularity, at least in the...
The sea turtles no longer come to Punta Dumalag
PUNTA DUMALAG, Davao City - The summer heat on Saturday afternoon made the beach at Punta Dumalag, the coastal part of Barangay Matina Aplaya...
PERSONAL ESSAY: Who would pull the trigger against this gentle Tausug?
Alber Husin is dead. Like Gene Boyd Lumawag, Mindanews’ photo editor, he was gunned down. Both were very dear to me. Alber was shot...
PERSONAL ESSAY: A letter to Bro. Alber Husin
Dear Brother Alber,
Assalamu Alaikum warakmatullahiwabarakathuh!
When a member of our family, a relative, or a friend is hurt, my initial reaction has always been to...
PERSONAL ESSAY: Requiem to a Gun-less Warrior
“At the age of eight, I witnessed a massacre which I barely escaped from and where we lost three uncles and an aunt. Vividly,...