‎There is a particular kind of poetic justice in the Filipino idiom "ginigisa sa sariling mantika" , meaning to be fried in one’s own lard. It captures poetic justice: oppressors fried in their own logic. Today, as the International Criminal Court (ICC) proceedings loom over former President Rodrigo Duterte, the man who once roared with bold and straightforward bravado is now whispering through a legal team about technicalities and frail health. The transition from a leader w

Are you man enough for this? I heard the echoes of the hushed ridicule of the wind. I stood beneath the mountain I was supposed to climb and reach its peak. It loomed over me—taunting me to brave this expedition. Yet this was no ordinary expedition, it executed the women that came before me and the women I knew over and over  again. But if I refused to take the first step, then what would that make of me? They'll think I'm weak, like I'm below them and easily trampled on just