ANDRE Charles Nagel, from the Netherlands, must have been truly captivated by the beauty of Filipinas that he took as wives two of them—while married to another woman in Taiwan.


Marry only one woman 

Paete, Laguna is my hometown: it is where my roots are, and wherever life takes me, which is not far, just 112 kilometers away in the city called Manila, the intention is to go back to this small town where my late father and mother lived, and my grandparents,  great grandparents, and ancestors lived too, eking out a living from the huge Laguna de Bay, the rice fields, the wood carving shops, and the coconut-and-lanzones “kaingin” in the Paete part of the Sierra Madre mountains called “Humarap.”


Paete’s Tatlong Krus and ‘Humarap’ 

From our perch here in Calumpang, we survey the lay of the land and what do we see? 

Listen to the surveys 

This week, there has been quite a lot of discussion about the reported influx of Chinese students enrolled in colleges and universities in Cagayan province.

Last word on foreign students 

HE may be the Presidential Adviser for Poverty Alleviation and thus, a member of the Cabinet, but Secretary Larry Gadon is first and foremost a Filipino, a nationalist, and an outspoken spokesman of himself.  He is not afraid to let his thoughts and sentiments be known, however unpopular these thoughts might be.

Larry Gadon, the contrarian 

At the airport, foreign tourists and homecoming Filipinos are given a peep of what the Philippines has to offer.  If we want to sell the country to leisure travelers, our airports should be clean, safe and secure, with dependable amenities for personal hygiene, establishments serving food and drinks, reliable power source, etc.

Making our airports safe and cool  

IN our farm here in Calumpang, cell phone and internet access may be thin, but we can still follow the news and public affairs and commentaries, so that we have remained updated on the current narratives in the nation’s lay of intellectual land.

Gift-bearing big pharma 

THE Asian region is sweltering, and people are dying from the heatwave that is sweeping this part of the globe.  Heat indices hovering between 40 to 50 degrees Centigrade are being felt in countries near the equator, such as India, Bangladesh, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, eastern part of China, and the Philippines.

Beware:  heatwave can kill

There are many things we should be thankful for in social media, and one of them is this---once in a while, socmed is able to effectively point out how the government has been remiss in its responsibility to protect the environment and the country's native tourist attractions.

DENR in trouble, but where is Loyzaga?

The latest announcement from Comelec Chairman George Erwin Garcia said he would push for a ban on withdrawals as a basis for substitution after candidates have submitted their certificate of candidacy (CoC) for the 2025 midterm elections.

Substitution of candidates not good

VIEW FROM CALUMPANG Column Diego Cagahastian and Raffy Sarnate

VIEW FROM CALUMPANG

Latest News