Fascinating Features

“Sa tanan trabaho, ngano tricycle driver imong gipili, Kuya?” guest writer Quinn Iderf Quiñanola asked tricycle driver Mang Jun.

(Out of all the jobs, why did you choose to be a tricycle driver?)

“Wala naman koy lain choice siguro. Mura’g mao nalang gyud ni ang trabaho nga naay dakong kita na pwede nako buhaton. Naa man sad koy experience drive-drive, pero mao lang sad hinuon na,” Mang Jun replied.

(I don’t think I have any other choice anymore. This might be the only job left that actually brings in enough income—one I can still do. I have experience with driving, and that’s just it.)

Manong once dreamed of more. But dreams, he says, are expensive. In his world, education is a palace with locked gates, reserved for those born with keys—the scholars, the rich, the brilliant. “Only the smart and the wealthy get ahead,” he tells Quinn in Bisaya. “People like me, the poor, the unremarkable… we get left behind,” his words land like stones. “I am a dog.”

Click here to read the newest article by guest writer Quinn Iderf Quiñanola:
www.fascinatingfeatures.com/series-5/mang-jun

It was eight years after the second millenium, the third month of the year, and on the sixth day. The night sky, dark and silent, loomed over the place. Inside a small unfancy house was a couple. The woman who had her dress rolled up to her waist seemed restless, even aching. On her right side was a man, with his thick brows crumpled above his nose bridge. They were praying.

Hours passed yet their emotions remained high. He rubbed her belly from time to time, tears rushing along the mountains of his cheeks. Meanwhile, the woman felt contractions squeezing her intestines. It was gut-wrenching–literally. Then the midwife began the procedure.

Breathe in.

Breathe out.

Push!

Those were the only sounds in the room throughout the next few minutes. The clock was ticking back and forth, and so was her breath. The sky was still dark, as was her vision; the woman fell unconscious.

"God..." begged the man.

Click here to read the newest article by guest writer Strella Germino: www.fascinatingfeatures.com/series-5/strella-germino

On November 20, 2023, Hans Balila rallied alongside around 300 university students of Cebu, walking out of their classrooms in protest of what they consider to be flagrant injustices and archaic policies within the Philippine education system. Hans took to Fuente Osmeña Circle with his fellow students to make their calls for genuine change louder and clearer for politicians who have failed to make progress happen.

In the hours and days after the student walkout, Hans’ face was on several news outlets, from pictures published by Today’s Carolinian, Rappler, and the Philippine Star, to the front page of SunStar Cebu.

Hans’ mother may not have been too pleased to see her son’s face at the protest. She confronted him the day before the walkout when she saw one of his posts on Facebook, inviting others to join him and fellow student leaders.

In a post on X (formerly Twitter) by Hans himself – posted hours after the walkout – he confessed that he “lied” to his mother, telling her he couldn’t attend the walkout since he had classes that day.

“I think she knew I was lying,” Hans said in the tweet, “but, in a conflict-avoidant family, we never talk about politics.”

Read the article here:
https://www.fascinatingfeatures.com/features-series-3/hans-balila