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‘Scandalous inequality’

by Iris Gonzales - April 24, 2025 - 12:00am

In a world that is moving and turning at dizzying speed – and increasingly backward and rightward – Pope Francis had been that rare moral titan, unafraid to say the things that must be said.

From black magic to blackouts

by Iris Gonzales - April 22, 2025 - 12:00am

Maundy Thursday night, riding a tricycle down Mt. Bandilaan – home to Siquijor’s famed healers – I looked back and gasped. The mountain behind us had disappeared into a pitch-black curtain, with...

What’s happening to Alyansa?

by Iris Gonzales - April 20, 2025 - 12:00am

That was a welcome pause – Maundy Thursday and Good Friday – from the dizzying political circus, which has become as scorching as the sweltering summer heat.

‘Strange Fruit’

by Iris Gonzales - April 17, 2025 - 12:00am

There’s no lack of rituals in this nation of 120 million as Filipinos observe Holy Week.

Red light, green light

by Iris Gonzales - April 15, 2025 - 12:00am

The Trump administration announced yet another surprising trade policy pivot, this time a sweeping tariff exemption on key tech imports.

From Clark to Suzuka

by Iris Gonzales - April 13, 2025 - 12:00am

Engines roaring to life. The smell of burning tires wafting through the air. Cars hurtling at dizzying speeds. Fans jumping and thumping in wild surrender. And then – the deafening sound of it all.

Kidnappings, scams, gambling

by Iris Gonzales - April 10, 2025 - 12:00am

First, it was a Chinese teenager who was kidnapped and whose finger was chopped off; the family driver was found dead, murdered in cold blood the day after the student went missing; police eventually found the victim...

Tough love

by Iris Gonzales - April 8, 2025 - 12:00am

US President Donald Trump’s tariffs or what he calls “tough love,” which he announced from the Rose Garden, are already creating waves of panic.

‘A light has gone out in Mindanao’

by Iris Gonzales - April 6, 2025 - 12:00am

I’ve read her work long before I even met her, in awe of the stories she told from faraway Zamboanga and Tawi-Tawi – tales of love and war, life and death, conflict and peace and, in between, the daily...

Tatay Digong

by Iris Gonzales - April 3, 2025 - 12:00am

Someday in the future – if it hasn’t happened yet – psychologists and sociologists may try to dissect and understand the Philippines’ singular Rodrigo Duterte, just as universities have started...

Shameless scammers

by Iris Gonzales - April 1, 2025 - 12:00am

The conviction of Charlie Javice, described by The Guardian as the charismatic founder of a startup company that claimed to be revolutionizing the way college students apply for financial aid, should be...

Modern-day heroes, pawns

by Iris Gonzales - March 30, 2025 - 12:00am

When I think about overseas Filipino workers, the mothers among them and the mothers who depend on them come to mind.

The road to 2028

by Iris Gonzales - March 27, 2025 - 12:00am

Just thinking about the run-up to the May 2028 presidential elections gives me the jitters.

Fractured

by Iris Gonzales - March 25, 2025 - 12:00am

It feels like 2016 all over again – so much hatred spreading around, antagonistic netizens lashing out at each other and all that gutter-level language filling our timelines.

Succession at the Consunji Group

by Iris Gonzales - March 23, 2025 - 12:00am

Tycoon Isidro “Sid” Consunji stands casually on the sprawling Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia, the world’s largest salt flat or playa, touted as one of South America’s most majestic vistas.

Aramco’s bet

by Iris Gonzales - March 20, 2025 - 12:00am

After nearly two decades, Saudi Arabia’s oil giant quietly returned to the country through a stake in Co family-led Unioil Petroleum Philippines Inc.

Logical fallacies

by Iris Gonzales - March 18, 2025 - 12:00am

The political noise is getting louder as I write this.

Fighting corruption

by Iris Gonzales - March 16, 2025 - 12:00am

It’s a critical time in our country today and I am watching with bated breath. Political tensions are worsening amid Rody Duterte’s arrest and looming trial at the International Criminal Court in...

Justice

by Iris Gonzales - March 13, 2025 - 12:00am

When I think about Rody Duterte’s presidency, I am haunted by the memories, the images, the sounds and feelings of those dizzying days, and those cold, dark evenings when a surreal and labyrinthine netherworld...

ABS-CBN Town Center?

by Iris Gonzales - March 11, 2025 - 12:00am

There’s Alabang Town Center in Alabang, which was once upon a time a farming district, and then there’s UP Town Center in Katipunan.

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