'Sassy Lawyer' archive

Freebies and freeloaders

The brouhaha over Senator Juan Ponce Enrile’s statements about the travel record of Presidential Commission on Good Government Chairman Camilo Sabio over the past 18 months brings to mind the President’s 2004 trip to China where the official party included nannies and Chinese business tycoons. The howl of publicity prompted certain quarters to issue statements [...]

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The anatomy of a rumor

After writing a few articles about my firstborn who is now a college freshman, an obviously curious reader e-mailed me asking why my daughter was taking up a vocational course. I said she wasn’t and explained that A.B. Photography is a regular college course. But there’s no such thing, she said. Yes, there is, I [...]

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What does your doctor say?

UPDATE on June 24, 2009 @ 9.50 p.m. For those who have been asking about coffee alamid, please read My Civet Coffee Experience. And here’s a photo of the palm civet (alamid).
Last week, over cups of coffee alamid, a lawyer friend, Eric Santos, and I were discussing a syllabus for the Internet and Law subject [...]

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Beyond Hollywood gore and glamor

For all the glory reaped on Hollywood, both by rosy-eyed moviegoers and Hollywood habitues themselves, American movie makers can learn a lot from their European counterparts on how to narrow the gap between commercial filmmaking and art. I saw The Legend of 1900 (Giuseppe Tornatore, director) and Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (Tom Tykwer, [...]

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No storks, just babies

If having a baby were as easy as having a stork deliver a healthy, kicking and howling child at your doorstep, there wouldn’t be any occasion for pregnancy-related stress. But the stork is a myth and every mother knows that pregnancy and giving birth are no walk in the park. “Behind every baby is an [...]

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A taste of the empty nest syndrome

[Republished from yesterday's op-ed column]
Early in February, on the way to a UP College of Law reunion, my friend, fellow law alumnus and fellow Antipolo resident Eric Santos and I drove through Global City. I told him how much I liked the way the community was planned and laid out. I wouldn’t mind living there, [...]

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Community service

My friend, fellow lawyer and batch mate in the U.P. College of Law Eric (a.k.a. Rhoda) Santos invited my family to watch a stage play that he directed. We caught the last show on Sunday and we were prepared to enjoy a Filipino translation of Louise Bryant’s The Game.
To our surprise, it was a double [...]

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Kapeng barako and Batangas beef

[Today's column]
Everyone believes in something and many consider their beliefs to be causes worth fighting and dying for. For some, it’s hoarding money even when it’s really taxpayers’ money. For others, it’s bad-mouthing whoever sits in power. There are those who seek to protect something like the animals rights activists and the environmentalists. There are [...]

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Respecting our children

[Today's column]
When you buy a book at Powerbooks bookstore, your purchase often comes with a free magazine. Sometimes, it’s the in-house publication which contains a list and reviews of new book titles. Last Sunday, it was a parenting magazine with Lea Salonga on the cover and a snippet from the article she wrote that advises [...]

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Yes, I still eat lechon

When people ask if we avoid pork these days, I tell them we don’t. When people ask if we’re not scared of contracting swine flu by eating pork, I tell them to go and educate themselves. This swine flu pandemic is scary enough without people confusing what’s real and what’s not. People avoided chicken at [...]

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