Lex Ian with his class adviser, Ms. Linn Antonette, and classmates in a recognition ceremony. Today, I am forever a proud stage-mom photo-documenting pieces of his successes.
Reflection and Photography | Violeta Gloria | Instagram: @violetvisuals “Someday, when white hairs crown my head and my skin completely lost its youth, I hope to look myself in the mirror and see the face of a museum eclipsed with the memory that once every year, the street is a stage of multiculturalism, pluralism, and multi-ethnicity.” It all began in the cathedral. When the symbolic image of Saint Michael the archangel was carried out of the church, the trumpets, drums and bugles burst into an energy driving the faithful in a slow cadence of processional movement with vivacious chants and dances. From above, the streets appeared as if all people of the city left their homes, converged from divergent places accentuated with colorful banderitas—these triangular flaglets strung together to evoke a vibrant and joyful community spirit. The main thoroughfare echoed with the rhythm of drums and the lilting melodies of indigenous chants, beckoning people from all walk...
"Death is something I have known intimately. It was not just the loss of a parent—it was the loss of a dream. At times, there are passing which could be violent, unjust, and filled with deep political and personal consequences. But even in that loss, I understood that death sharpens our sense of purpose. In mourning, we honor the memory of those who are gone by continuing their work, carrying their ideals forward. I realized that my own life was not truly in my hands. I had always known that death could come for me, but after that, I was no longer afraid of it. In a way, I embraced the possibility that my life could be cut short—because, in my heart, I believed that if I were to die, it would be for something greater than myself. In the final moments of life, death would not silence the cause people dedicated their lives to. As a woman in politics, death has always loomed close, not just for me, but for others like me—those who challenge the esta...
President Rodrigo Duterte signed Executive Order No. 70 on December 4, 2018. This EO provides for the institutionalization of the “ whole-of-nation ” approach in attaining inclusive and sustainable peace, creating a national task force to end local communist armed conflict, and directing the adoption of a National Peace Framework. The EO defines this National Peace Framework as an embodiment of “ principles, policies, plans, programs, for inclusive and sustainable peace; address the root causes of insurgencies, internal disturbances and tensions as well as other armed conflicts and threats in identified areas. It will include a mechanism for localized peace engagements or negotiations and interventions that is nationally orchestrated, directed, supervised, while being locally implemented. ” This Whole-of-A-Nation as an approach is inspired on the Joint Communique of the 50 th ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting in Manila on August 5, 2017 which posits the proc...