It is a sad reality that someday we will all go home to our creator. Some of us will leave in seemingly untimely fashion and others in a more acceptable circumstance. Either way, we will ultimately depart in total surrender to our mortality and leave behind memories for our friends and families. Fray Paolo may […]
It has been a privilege to be a part of the great Letran tradition, having lived in the school residence for over two years and consumed the academic excellence a student can ever derive from an alma mater. My contribution to the school had been measurably miniscule when juxtaposing with Letran’s 400 years of existence. […]
This year’s Christmas day seems to have come so fast. I felt like I was caught unaware. The thought about it was totally forgotten. Or maybe I just had no anticipation of what was to come at all this year. I just let the day unknowingly go by, or anything for this matter, and that […]
Question begets answer. But in the midst of a pandemic, it may be an exception. Not an exception to the rule but exception to reality. Removed from reality, I am an aberration. I depart from the usual, normal, typical, and on to obscurity, absurdity, and I dwell headlong as a menace to society. I am […]
Seven clicks into Highway 403 from the Starbucks franchise in Matheson, I got off the Erin Mills exit and took a beeline to the first street on my right. Two successive left turns, then one right turn followed by another left turn, and house #241 on Fudge Terrace Avenue on my right finally came into […]
On a good sunny day in summer, when the weather bureau issued no warning alert on extreme heat and high humidity, I would drive and park my car in our neighborhood’s Rathwood Park along the Rathburn road. Then I would spend a good hour walking repetitively around the whole circular length of the park, sometimes […]
My descent from the back of a carabao Water buffalo – rice paddies – sugar cane plantation – scythe – farm bolo or machete – unleashed dogs – kerosene lamp – farmers planting or harvesting – chicken and swine roaming freely. These are some of the many images pictured vividly in my humble beginning. Images […]
The three photographs below are original shots taken by a consummate photographer, Leon Paulo Zaragoza. These works of art fall under the intellectual property belonging solely to the photographer and may require his consent for their use by others, original or derivative, in any medium of communication or advertising, online or otherwise. There are many […]
It was my first bout with the infamous traffic deadlock from MOA, Pasay City to Loyola Grand Villas, Quezon City. For the most part during the trip I entertained myself by looking out fleetingly at silhouettes of the colossal infrastructures I have not seen before. I was in awe as we drove by many of […]
It didn’t take Medelianism philosophy for Iloilo Filii to figure out the best venue to hold a mini re-union and a welcome bash for fray Ted Fullona, a fellow Ilonggo who was on vacation and back in Dumalag, Capiz during the week of February 11th. On short notice and under pressure in rounding up would-be […]
The rhythmic sound of drum beats emanating two blocks away from where we stand begins to vibrate. As the sound gets closer and louder, you can sense the excitement on painted faces of spectators and revelers — boys, girls, men, women, seniors — aged from as young as two to as old as one can […]
My excitement erases the rigors of eighteen hours of intercontinental flight from Toronto, Vancouver, and Hongkong as we descend in Terminal 3 of the Ninoy International Airport at 10:45 in the evening on January 10th. I have been to many airports in North America and most of the Caribbean islands and I could easily deduce […]
Portrait photography is not only about lighting or composition. It is the ability of the photographer or photographer assistant to direct a model to strike a pose that looks right and compelling. As photographer, one of your mandates is to creatively and uniquely get the most out of the model you are photographing. Be prepared. […]
Impregnated by many urging ideas and by a proverb that “pen is mightier than sword”, Epistoliorum was conceived and birthed, placed on a Filii cradle for nurturing where in no time it can grow into another form, assert itself, and assume its purpose in life – communicate. epĭs•to•liórum might strike you as unique, a jawbreaker […]
We’re almost on the home stretch. Most articles we were committed to writing have been punctuated swimmingly with a period. And a few that we thought we could deliver within the given timeline hit a snag. We were able to pull some magic out of our hat and replaced undelivered ones without compromise. We honestly […]
At the intersection of King and Bay Streets, a big yellow school bus full of kids stopped to unload its passengers. Right behind the bus, motorists in private cars and Uber cab passengers grew impatiently weary as kids take their time leisurely from getting off the bus, oblivious to the traffic urgency they created. School […]
Arrested for Laughing A young woman who was several months pregnant was sitting in a bus. When she noticed a young man smiling at her she began feeling humiliated on account of her condition. She changed her seat and he seemed more amused. She moved again, and then on seeing him laughing even more, she […]
At the Roxas City airport, a guy who just arrived from Manila, asks a lady vendor, “Manang, saan po nakatira itong si Mrs Jasmin Fuliga?”, showing her a piece of paper on which the name is written. “Fuliga? Ay ti, taga Dumalag ina siya” (She’s from Dumalag) the lady answers spontaneously in her Capiznon dialect, […]
Stones or sandals bouncing off the weight reinforced tin can planted upright on the ground. Kids hustling back and forth taking turns as either thrower or keeper, either way, they all play with great enthusiasm as they cry uuuhs and aaahs everytime a stone or sandal hits the tin can and sends it tumbling down away […]
Who do you think you kid? Are you really a photographer like you said your are? Well, I can easily find out if you are just disguising as one behind that expensive DSLR you hang around your neck. Let me see how you hold your camera. There you go. (See answer at the bottom of […]
The maiden issue of Epistoliorum is finally served. Like most ambrosial meals, it is only fitting to serve desserts after they are consumed, and it holds true for our first offering of Epistoliorum. Experience always yields results and in the case of our readers who patiently, and hopefully leisurely, consume contents of this publication we would […]
The month of September heralds the advent of autumn in Canada and for Canadians it means anticipating the onset of leaf fall. As temperature begins to drop gradually to a comfortable level and the end of everything estival and serotinal becomes impending, somewhere in Philippines, California, Texas, Florida, New Jersey and even in the most […]
Afternoon overcast sky and isolated showers did not deter the Fuliga family. They’ve been doing this since Juanito, the head of the family, was aged two. Back then Juanito was still too wobbly to walk, getting by narrow pathways in between congested tombs. Accompanied by his parents, he was led to a concrete enclosure repainted […]
“Inay, tapos na po ba?” (“Mom, is it done?”) anxiously asked a seven-year old Mikay, her voice overwhelmed by the whirring of a sewing machine. “Mag-antay ka naman. Ang kulet kulet mo!” (“Can’t you wait? You’re so annoying!”) shot back her mom, Nisa, irritated from the urging of her daughter. “Excited na po kasi ako, […]
