The Art of Shining Shoes

February 26, 2025

Limpya Bota is a lost art. It was once a ubiquitous part of life, before the advent of those do-it-yourself liquid shoe polish that you buy at the grocery store. You shake it, press it directly on the shoe, slather it all over the surface and you are done. Convenient, yes, but soulless. In Cebuano, Limpya means to clean up, and Bota means boots. It’s exactly the same in Spanish, although with a slightly different spelling. Shoe shiners are called limpiabotas both in Madrid and in Padada. At one point in my past, I was proud to be one of them. You see, it was the 70s. Money was tight, and Papang was still recovering from his accident. We had to pull our weight so

The Most Difficult Times of Our Lives

February 19, 2025

Sometimes, life just gives you one challenge after another – and it’s up to you to see how you can rise to it. Just after my graduation from elementary school, Papang got into an accident. The vehicle he was driving was rammed by a passenger bus. He survived – but he sustained serious injuries. We didn’t have any money, and Papang’s release from the hospital was delayed because we couldn’t pay his medical bill. It was only after he and Mama signed a promissory note that he was able to leave the hospital. Life was tough before, but this accident made it even worse. Papang was bedridden for more than six months. We could not afford a wheelchair, so he was on crutches for more

A Lesson in Perseverance: A Father’s Incentive of Delayed Gratification

February 19, 2025

The Drive to Excel: Scholarship and Perseverance Penury spurred me and my siblings to excel and persevere in our studies. For me, academic excellence was crucial for survival. “Apart from my desire to always excel in academics, it was imperative of me to maintain my scholarship. Otherwise, I would not be able to continue my schooling if we were to pay my tuition and other fees”. Papang’s Bicycle Incentive at Padada Central Elementary School Papang motivated his children with a thoughtful incentive, promising a bike to any child who topped their class at Padada Central Elementary School. For me, the bicycle represented tenacity, convenience, and the primary means of affordable mobility around Padada, which Papang and many others used daily for work. A Symbolic Reward:

The Land of Luck and Opportunity

February 12, 2025

Padada, my hometown, is named after an extinct mangrove species that once was abundant in the region. According to a study by Lucille G. Tanguihan*, “age old tradition” says that the Padada tree brings good luck – whether true or not, no one can truly say. My family is of migrant stock – like most of the inhabitants of Mindanao, we can trace our lineage to those who joined the “Great Exodus” of the 1900s. Mindanao is the land of opportunity, and economic benefit was the primary reason that people flocked to Mindanao, specifically to the province of Davao. (This may be a little hard to believe if all you’ve ever known is the hustle and bustle of Metro Manila life, but I believe this

The Generics Act – Finding a Middle Ground for the Good of the Public

February 5, 2025

We take it for granted now, but back in the 80s and earlier, the brand of medicine that your doctor prescribed you was the one you got. As a patient, you would get the brand that was doc-prescribed – no matter how expensive it was! In the Philippines, cheaper alternatives existed, but the public really didn’t know any better. Unless you were a doctor, you wouldn’t really know the generic name of the medicine. You had to rely on what brand the doctor was pushing. Even the packaging of the drugs only had the brand name, not the generic name. How would the public know that there were cheaper alternatives, that were as effective? All this changed with the Generics Act of 1988, or R.A.

Remembering ABS-CBN and its Post Martial Law Resurgence

August 7, 2024

The late 80s – early 90s was a different time. There was no distinction between “social” media and “mainstream” media – there was just media. And probably the first thing that comes into mind when you say Philippine Media is of course the broadcasting giant ABS-CBN. Coming from their post-martial law revival, ABS-CBN needed to establish their footing again. Maybe not a lot of people know – I was fortunate enough to have been part of it. I was recruited by Mr. Freddie Garcia, or FMG as he is better known in the industry, in 1990 to join ABS-CBN. I was the head of research and business analysis, and was a strong believer that data is the key to success for any organization. I saw

Branding Duterte was an Exercise in Authenticity

July 3, 2024

One thing I proved during the presidential campaign of then Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte is that authenticity really is the best strategy. It was his brash talk, macho humor, and kitschy fashion that incited feelings of discomfort in some – but ended up endearing him to the majority of voters. It was very easy to frame this as his strength. He didn’t mince words, and he was unabashedly himself at all times. In short, he was always his authentic self. This brand of authenticity was what the Duterte Communications Team capitalized on, and which helped led to the first Mindanaoan President in our history. He was far from the cookie-cutter politico that everyone was used to, and instead of hiding all his flaws, we

Opening the Floodgates: How Free Facebook Changed the Campaign

June 26, 2024

Part 2 of 3 It used to be that campaigning for a candidate meant relying on the “holy grail” of tri-media: print (broadsheets, tabloids, magazines), radio, and TV. Traditional media was my expertise — it’s my background. But the times were changing. As I described in Part 1, when we first tested a possible Duterte candidacy, I was also feeling the pulse of an emerging field: social media, and how it could be used not just to get your message out, but to amplify it. Social media wasn’t new, of course. But by 2016, one thing in particular had become the game-changer — free Facebook. Globe had first rolled out free Facebook access back in 2013, and Facebook expanded it through Free Basics in 2015;

Feeling the Pulse: Was the Nation Ready for a Duterte Presidency?

June 19, 2024

Part 1 of 3 I remember back in 2014, Lito Banayo showed me a presentation prepared by a member of Mr. Bong Go’s staff. The objective was to test public reaction to a possible Duterte candidacy in the 2016 elections. I remember thinking it was an interesting proposition. Finally, a Mindanaon candidate who could truly represent the interests of the region! After what Lito showed me, I drew up a budget and told him that the right kind of exposure would cost ₱40 million. But we found ways to trim it down to eight — and here’s how we did it. It’s a story from more than a decade ago, but the principle behind it is one I’d still hand any strategist working today: the

The Benevolent Dictator: Lessons from Political Campaigning in the Pre-Social Media Era

June 5, 2024

“You should get this man.” That’s what Boo Chanco — then vice president of the news division at ABS-CBN — said to Sergio “Serge” Osmeña III sometime in the 1990s, while pointing directly at me. I still don’t know if Boo was serious or just enjoying himself at my expense. But Serge took him at his word. That offhand introduction turned into one of the defining professional relationships of my career, one that would take me from the newsroom into the war rooms of some of the most consequential campaigns in modern Philippine political history — including the campaign that put Noynoy Aquino in Malacañang in 2010. Understand who Serge Osmeña III was before you understand what he taught me. Born December 13, 1943, he

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