By Herman M. Lagon You do not need to live in Tehran, Tel Aviv, Caracas, or Washington to feel a war. Sometimes it reaches you while you are standing at a gasoline station in Jaro, watching the numbers jump faster than your patience. Sometimes it arrives in the market, where a vendor apologizes for the …
Impulses
Bastos by any name
By Herman M. Lagon March had barely begun, purple ribbons had barely been pinned, and the country had barely warmed up to Women’s Month when Congress handed us one of those scenes that make you put down your coffee and stare at the screen in secondhand shame. Forgive this piece, too, if it runs a …
Idioms with impact
By Herman M. Lagon Language may shape thought, but the way we joke, hint or sidestep often says more. In our classrooms, where teachers balance modules and quiet pushback, idioms are not just flair — they are lifelines. Whether softening a correction or nudging a colleague to speak up, these phrases are less textbook and …
Reduplicatives in real life
By Herman M. Lagon They slip into our speech like old jokes or fresh tsismis. You hear them everywhere — kids on swings, sari-sari store chika, even in a politician’s punchline. These word pairs like wishy-washy, flip-flop or hocus-pocus turn stiff talk into everyday kwentuhan. For Pinoys, they are more than playful sounds — they …
The audit of learning
By Herman M. Lagon The first time you hear “P1.015 trillion,” your brain does what brains do when numbers get too big: it turns the figure into a mood. It sounds like rescue. It sounds like a national apology with commas. It sounds like a future finally being taken seriously. Yet my most honest “budget …
Bring justice home
By Herman M. Lagon Justice does not travel well when it is wrapped only in slogans. This reflection feels especially apt as we mark the 40th anniversary of the EDSA People Power Revolution on February 25. Four decades ago, Filipinos filled a highway not merely to chant, but to insist that institutions must answer to …
Schadenfreude in the workplace
By Herman M. Lagon There is a German word that sounds heavier than it looks: schadenfreude. It means taking quiet pleasure in someone else’s misfortune. It is usually used to describe a classmate smirking when his rival slips on stage. But it also lives in more ordinary places — like a cramped registrar’s office on …
The line we defend
By Herman M. Lagon Some campaigns fade once the hashtags cool down. “Atin ang Kinse” refuses to. It keeps resurfacing because the issue is not symbolic; it is daily rice, tuition and ulam. In many coastal towns, the 15-kilometer municipal water line is where the morning begins: a father warming a small engine that coughs …
‘Bridgerton’ kilig before February ends
By Herman M. Lagon There is a quiet excitement creeping in as the end of February approaches. It is not the kind tied to election tallies, budget hearings or the latest corruption headline. It is softer, almost embarrassing to admit for someone who spends most days talking about literacy gaps and policy failures. I have …
When travel is taxed
By Herman M. Lagon The last thing an ordinary Filipino needs before an international flight is one more counter that feels like a small punishment for having a reason to leave. Not a “rich people problem” reason, either. A contract signing. A scholarship slot. A father’s burial. A sibling in labor abroad. A five-year-planned family …