1 day agoDomus is the Understated Dumaguete Restaurant That Never Fails to ImpressIf you have seen The Menu (2022), Mark Mylod’s scathing “eat the rich” satire set in the world of haute cuisine, you will probably remember the cheeseburger scene. Not to give too many details to avoid the worst of spoilers, the film chronicles a particularly life-changing day for a celebrated…7 min read7 min read
Dec 17, 2022Technology ParalysisThe trip was one for the books for me. It was going to be my first extensive trip out of Dumaguete since the pandemic started, and immediately it felt ambitious: there was a first leg consisting of a Cebu stay, and there was a second leg consisting of a Manila…8 min read8 min read
Dec 8, 2022What Makes ‘Hugkat’When Hugkat Journal was conceived sometime in 2017 as one of the flagship projects of the newly formed Dumaguete City Heritage Council, with Dr. Earl Jude Cleope as the founding director, it had always impressed me as being almost a sacred duty. Let me try to explain it this way…9 min read9 min read
Nov 25, 2022The Years That Molded DumagueteLast Thursday, November 24, we celebrated the 74th anniversary of the charter of Dumaguete as a city — and while it’s tempting to think only of those preceding 74 years as the period that has mattered most for the growth of the city, it’s not. Most people think ahistorically. It’s…11 min read11 min read
Nov 18, 2022Clay and CathedralI am tempted to start on a note about veneration — that air of worship that envelops you when you are confronted with an unexpected spectacle that demands stillness, silence, and soulful scrutiny. This is a rare metaphysical occurrence, very personal, and something the French would probably call frisson, a…7 min read7 min read
Nov 16, 2022How Dumaguete Got Its Name — and It’s Not Exactly the Kidnapping StoryThere are four competing stories as to how Dumaguete got its name. The first one, which we can glean from the Historical Data Papers on Dumaguete City prepared for the National Archives of the Philippines in 1953, posits that the original name of Dumaguete was “Dumalaguete,” which means that the…7 min read7 min read
Oct 28, 2022What I Love About the Dumaguete Booth at the 2022 Buglasan FestivalIf you ask me, what I love about the Dumaguete Booth at the 2022 Buglasan Festival is the fact that the entire thing is essentially a tribute to the city’s heritage of culture and the arts. [Full disclosure: I am responsible for the design of the various labels featured in…8 min read8 min read
Sep 22, 2022A Remembrance of a Dumaguete FilmmakerLast September 22, we celebrated the 98th birth anniversary of a Dumaguete filmmaker who was acclaimed and well-awarded in his prime, and produced many great works that contributed considerably to Philippine cinema — but is sadly mostly forgotten now. Two weeks ago, a restoration of one of the films he…18 min read18 min read
Sep 17, 2022A History of Dumaguete Choral MusicTwo weeks ago, I wrote about the launch of the Elizabeth Susan Vista-Suarez International Choral Festival, set to begin its first edition in 2023 — and how in a way it is a cumulative effort of a very long tradition of choral music in Dumaguete. I thought of putting on…7 min read7 min read
Aug 31, 2022Taking Dumaguete Choral Music to the WorldA few days ago, in the midst of the hubbub that was the long-awaited return of “normal” Founders Day festivities for Silliman University, the Elizabeth Susan Vista-Suarez [ESVS] International Choral Festival was officially launched at the Claire Isabel McGill Luce Auditorium. It is scheduled to premiere in 2023, a year…5 min read5 min read
