By Herman M. Lagon The clack of the typewriter still echoes in my memory — my report on LASER taking shape under the steady guide of my Grade 7 Science Teacher, Ma’am Zenaida Espino. I pieced it together from volumes of encyclopedias, journals, textbooks, indices, and clippings in the dusty UI High library, each keystroke …
Impulses
Valedictorians with no filter
By Herman M. Lagon Not all graduation speeches shout. Some speak in quiet truths. And this year, those truths echoed all over the country — of hardship, survival and questions that do not end with a diploma. Valedictorians gave us a picture of success with cracks in it, asking, “What does winning mean if …
When tangerines taste like home
By Herman M. Lagon Ask any Pinoy why we love K-dramas, and you will likely hear about family, sacrifice and the bittersweet struggles of real life. Netflix’s “When Life Gives You Tangerines” captures all that and more. Though set in Korea, its story feels right at home with us, echoing the same heartbeats and hopes …
K to 12 still works — if we let it
By Herman Lagon You know something is working when the people who quietly fix things every day are the ones speaking up to keep it alive. In the case of the K to 12 reform, it is not only education experts but business leaders, school administrators, religious groups, and community workers who are calling on …
Not about AI, but us
By Herman M. Lagon Some speakers deliver data. Others stir something deeper. Professor Naqi Azam, President of Mylynx International Cambodia, did not bring slides to the 2025 Augustinian International Research Conference. What he brought instead was quiet clarity. Known across Asia for his work in digital transformation and cross-cultural leadership, Azam did not dramatize the …
Creating with, not by, AI
By Herman Lagon In a cozy 7th floor hall of the University of San Agustin CPMT Building, while the city of Iloilo simmered in July heat, a soft-spoken priest posed a piercing insight: Artificial intelligence may never have a soul, but it surely can be persuasive. Rev. Gary McCloskey of the Order of St. Augustine, …
Bring back ‘Kaos’
By Herman M. Lagon Just as “Kaos” is starting to gather steam, Netflix has canceled it; it seems as though Zeus himself knocked down something holy before it could peak. Drawn to its clever, chaotic interpretation of Greek mythology, fans hung about and demanded more. Netflix pulled the plug despite critical acclaim and a strong …
Beyond the Peter Plateau
By Herman M. Lagon It is almost instinctive for people to view promotions as rewards for hard work and competence. One works tirelessly, masters the responsibilities of a position, and is rewarded with the golden ticket — advancement to the next level. Yet, this upward mobility often leads not to continued excellence but to eventual …
No read, repeat!
By Herman M. Lagon There is something gut-wrenching in listening to a teen struggle through reading aloud one sentence of a textbook. It is not so much the question of being off in syllables or of violating the rules of punctuation — it is the moment of silence, the heavy-with-embarrassment classroom, and the silent looking …
Mission over metrics
By Herman M. Lagon Some victories are quiet. A midwife from a state college opens a birthing center in the mountains. A student from Samar borrows a neighbor’s phone for online classes and finally passes the board. A public university secures clean water for its drought-hit town. These moments rarely go viral. They are not …