The calendar turns, and with it comes the familiar whisper: new year, new me. A promise of reinvention, of release, of beginning again. It is true that new beginnings are not always magical. More often, they are uneasy, burdened by unresolved realities that refuse to be reset by a change in date. Because beneath the fireworks and countdowns that came with the new year, lies a country still grappling with political fatigue and unresolved injustices.  Renewal, after all, is not

Sa bawat hakbang ng mga bota, may lamat na naiiwan sa pusod ng gubat. Hindi nila dala ang ulan, kundi ang init ng bakal na naghahanap ng ugat. May mga papel na kasing puti ng ulap, ngunit kasing talim ng itak kung humiwa. Sinusukat nila ang hindi naman sa kanila habang ang mga bantay ng bundok ay unti-unting itinatali ang diwa. Huwag mong itanong kung bakit tahimik ang batis; natatakot ito na baka ang daloy niya ay maging abo. Ang mga bisig na dati’y nagtatanim ng buhay, ngay

There is an unremarkable table in a restaurant where two men eat steak as if it contains the shape of their future. A fork taps. A glass shimmers. And somewhere beneath it all, a typewriter clicks—Marcus’ typewriter, even though he isn’t here, reminding the room that words carry weight. Silence fills the space between their sentences, thick and trembling. Nothing about it seems remarkable—except the memory that lingers in those small gestures, as if the ordinary were only wai