October 16, 2025 — Back home in the Philippines, Sundays meant one thing — ASAP. I remember tuning in at lunchtime to watch my favorite ABS-CBN artists perform Original Pilipino Music. It was my weekend ritual — a burst of joy, colour, and song before another busy week began.

October 16, 2025 – Philippine Artists Network for Community Integrative Transformation (PANCIT) in Vancouver was formed on the premise that visual arts can convey a concept, a feeling, an idea which may be difficult to express in words or in actions. 

Winnipeg: Viewed from picture gallery in the media, it was a rare yet universal moment of joy among the Israeli and Palestinian populace on October 13 when the remaining 20 living Israeli hostages held by Hamas and the nearly 2,000 Palestinian detainees and prisoners held by Israel were exchanged and reunited with their respective families, friends and communities. But tinctured with grief for Israeli whose loved ones are deceased, particularly for those whose deceased loved ones have not yet been returned. 

October 16, 2025 – On the night of April 26, friends, colleagues, neighbors, current and former students worldwide – some I have not heard from in twenty years – sent text messages and calls offering condolences and support following Vancouver’s “darkest day.”

October 1, 2025 - The dream of having a Filipino hub in Vancouver, BC is getting close to fruition.

 October 1, 2025 — Canada is standing with the Philippines against China in a diplomatic row over a chain of reefs and rocks in the South China Sea.

[Ed’s Note: Dr. Rey Pagtakhan, a retired medical professor and lung specialist from the University of Manitoba and Winnipeg Children’s Hospital (1971-1988) and a former Member of  Parliament (1988-2004) and cabinet minister – a historic first for a Canadian Filipino – is widely published in medical journals and textbook chapters and in community newspapers. This Commentary is from his column, Medisina at Politika, published in Winnipeg-based Pilipino Express.] 

October 1, 2025 -  Canadian Filipino dance artist Alvin Erasga Tolentino leads Co.ERASGA’s production of Eternal Gestures, a trilogy of solo works by Indigenous Coast Salish-based choreographers Margaret Grenier, Starr Muranko and Michelle Olson on October 9 and 10 at the Scotiabank Dance Centre in Vancouver. 

October 1, 2025 -  Starting on October 9, Lasa ng Imperyo  will be on stage at Presentation House Theatre.  Presented by NPC3 in partnership with Rice and Beans, a Vancouver-based theatre company, this adaptation of Jovanni Sy’s A Taste of Empire, performed in Tagalog with English surtitles, was adapted, translated and performed by Carmela Sison.   Surtitles use projection equipment and software (like Captitles) to display live text synced to a performance.

October 1, 2025 – Bayanihan (collective or community care and support) is a valued tradition among Filipinos. In Philippine villages, its spirit draws farmers to join hands and help each other plow the fields, plant and harvest rice, maintain irrigation canals, or move a house. It inspires urban dwellers to get together and volunteer to patrol the neighborhood to keep peace and order or fight fires.

September 16, 2025 — An interfaith movement in Canada says that the prosecution of former Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte before the International Criminal Court is a “historic opportunity to affirm the primacy of human rights and the rule of law”.

September 16, 2025 — They came as temporary foreign workers (TFWs) in Canada, and many of them have stayed for good.

[Editor’s Note: Dr. Pagtakhan – a retired medical professor from the University of Manitoba and former Parliamentary Secretary to former Prime Minister Jean Chretien and Minister of Western Economic Diversification in former Prime Minister Paul Martin’s cabinet – served in Parliament from 1988 to 2004. This Commentary is from his column, Medisina at Politika, published in Pilipino Express.]