Christmas always brings me home. Not just to the house, but to the corners we don’t visit the rest of the year—the cabinet that smells like dust and pine cleaner, the room where forgotten things gather because throwing them away feels like erasing proof that we once believed in something. This year, while unpacking old decorations, I found a small box tucked behind tinsel and old lights. Inside were letters. Folded unevenly. Some smudged in pencil, others neat in pen. All add

Ngayong buwan ng kapaskuhan, isa sa mga hinahanap-hanap ng mga labi ay ang lasa ng mainit at matamis na tsokolate sa isang malaking tasa. Sinasangga nito ang malamig na simoy ng hangin at nagsisilbing malaking yakap na tila ba selebrasyon sa pagtatapos muli ng isang buong taon. Bahagi na rin ng tradisyon na ito ang pag-inom ng nasabing inumin tuwing gabi. Marahil ay sa gabi tunay na nararamdaman ang pagpasok ng iba’t ibang agam-agam kasabay pa ng malamig na hangin, kailangan

It is a rule that when you don’t get what you deserve, you leave. But for Filipinos who have been battered by a great deal of disappointments from the government, leaving is not that simple. Because unlike those politicians under scrutiny, they cannot just leave the country easily—not when it’s difficult enough to bring food to the table, and not when they were promised something else. Every Christmas in the Philippines, it has always brought the light and warmth people nee