PARADOXICAL
The faith chroniclesFriday, September 11, 2026
Adventures in FB Messenger
Adventures in FB Messenger
In 2016, I applied as a writer in the LGU and was eventually designated as a 'Public Information Officer.' Among the many tasks I didn't expect to have is answer messages from the people--directly--through our Facebook page, whether they were entered as comments or PMs (private messages).
In a town of an estimated 120,000 population, there were so many people, so many messages to handle. This alone was a humbling and exhausting work, and I was almost alone at it.
I received all sorts of complaints. Many of those were about the services of the power provider, water provider, telecom companies, local district hospital... I answered as politely and empathically as I could--after all, their complaints were my complaints too. But I felt bad that I had to answer at all for a lot of concerns, particularly those outside LGU jurisdiction.
I couldn't blame the people either. I myself didn't know before I became PIO that some areas were outside LGU jurisdiction, and this includes, I found out, national roads and provincial roads and bridges along those roads. The best we could do is coordinate with those agencies politely and relay the complaints from our people. (It didn't occur to a lot of people that they can, in fact, complain directly to all those agencies mentioned.)
The other complaints fell under different LGU departments' responsibility, and these were duly relayed to all the heads and staff concerned. So early in the morning and I was already exhausted dealing with someone whose neighbor had a stinking pigpen or a chicken hatchery overrun by flies.
Understandably, many messages are about local government services and ayuda systems: how to avail? what are the requirements? For this, I am thankful for our Citizen's Charter.
Speaking of ayuda, the bulk of complaints is about why this or that person is a beneficiary (4Ps) and he or she or his or her own father or mother or sister or brother is not. Another concern outside jurisdiction. (It's DSWD's this time.)
Messages come in at all times of the day and in all days every single day. Answering messages felt like it required 3 shifts, just like in factories!
There were times when I had to give updates and sometimes used my personal account for follow-ups. Big mistake. To my chagrin, I often ended up having total strangers as chatmates, with our kilometric 'convo' ending into the dead of the night. Gone was my precious energy, my limited time.
From time to time, there were messages asking for emergency assistance--even when we had an official emergency hotline fully equipped with responders of all kinds. I understand. Messaging through FB costs nothing, compared to making a phone call through landline or cell phone. Because I am too kind-hearted, I would answer anything of emergency nature and relayed whatever I received to proper authorities. Good thing Facebook eventually had a feature in which we can indicate whether the page is closed or open to messaging services.
In this task, I am particularly grateful for the screenshot feature (PrtSc) of my laptop and smartphone, while being mindful of confidentiality. (Confidentiality is a challenging legality to navigate.)
You can just imagine what it was like for me answering all sorts of frantic messages during the COVID-19 pandemic--all at the same time and one after another without fail. (I have written on this separately.)
I am thankful that the hiring of additional staff eventually solved the problem of the super-human amount of workload just in this part of the job. (All other departments experience the same feeling of being overwhelmed, I know, that our constituents are not even aware of.)
What I'd like to dwell on right now, though, are the most unusual and most unforgettable requests I got.
I can't quite forget the temerity of this person asking the mayor to shoulder her daughter's debut (birthday bash) or something like that. I double-checked and the person didn't look indigent to me. I had to do a quick review of the actual mandate of a local chief executive, whether it includes throwing away birthday parties for free. I realized I had the power to say no merely by ignoring messages I thought didn't deserve a response.
I also can't forget that wife who asked where her missing husband could be. Could I help her, please? I referred her to the Local Civil Registrar.
There were cases of lovers' quarrel too, which I am too inept to handle.
There are times when I would feel like the town's Google search engine or telephone directory, whenever someone asks whether this or that kind of establishment exists in Bayambang, or how to get from here to there. This has opened my eyes a bit to which services or business enterprises can and cannot be found in our locality, and how to get around from our town to other places. Among the things I noticed missing or woefully inadequate at the time are ENT specialists, dermatologists, allergy testing center, hearing testing center, other medical specialists, certain drugs (medicines), certain medical tests and procedures, cashew cream de-wart shops, specialty cuisine restos, and so on.
On rare occasions, I had to deal with mental cases, which are, of course, best ignored.
The worst case is downright criminal. One day a female staff--she was still innocent and single then--reported that a guy showed her a photo of his erect phallus while communicating.
For other obviously criminal incidents such as neighborhood altercations and physical violence, I direct complainants to the local police page, but protocol dictates that complainants coordinate with the barangay first.
Actually a lot of concerns can be solved at the barangay level and need not be relayed to our level, such as videoke time past 10 PM; tall coconut trees right beside someone else's fence, assuring clear and present danger; dogs leaving poo at the gate, etc. So I routinely advise complainants to raise the issue first with their Barangay Hall, out of due respect to the latter or in observance of the principle of subsidiarity. I am often rebutted with an irked comeback: "That is why I am directing the concern to you because I was ignored at the barangay hall in the first place!"
People sometimes forget that there is a real human being behind the PMs and lose their sense of common courtesy. But as a public servant, I had to keep my cool at saintly levels you could never imagine possible, considering how impatient I can get.
OFWs in distress are the most challenging to handle, emotionally speaking. Addressing their calls for help also requires a lot of back-and-forth and inter-agency liaison work. What if someone told you she was in jail in China and they shaved her hair? Or if someone informed you that she was being raped by her Arab employer at home just because she took a bath, which was wrongly read as an invitation to have sexual intercourse?
I wonder if these tens of thousands of people messaging us day by day realize how much they should be grateful to the kind, accommodating, and hardworking keyboard warriors behind each helpful answer and informative response they receive with the convenience of digital technology.
Where Was I on 9-11
Where Was I on 9-11
What's with '9-11'? In my 30s, 9-11 meant four different things all at once: One, September 11 was the birthday of my father. It was also the birthday of President Ferdinand Marcos. 911 was America's emergency hotline, and at the time, a popular TV show was named after it.
But when another 911 came into our lives and entered our language in 2001, I think I was at home at night in Pasay when someone watching the news on TV drew my attention to it. We were, of course, shocked, wondering what it was all about and whether World War III had begun.
The next day, I was at work in Makati when the day's newspaper arrived with the unimaginable image of the Twin Towers of New York City on fire. The Twin Towers were a familiar image to Filipinos watching Hollywood movies regularly because NYC is a favorite location of Hollywood movies. To us, attacking it was like attacking modern Western civilization itself.
I managed to read a few paragraphs just to get to know what it was all about, and after learning the key details, I couldn't go on any further. I guess I was too overwhelmed I chose to be in denial. If you are surrounded by skyscrapers and work inside such a building, the front-page image of two burning towers wasn't a very comforting thought.
But everywhere I went, it was the topic du jour. I eventually heard about entire offices, entire companies, entire floors being gone in an instant. I couldn't help but think about the last few moments of those workers gathered at each floor's edge in their work clothes about to plunge several meters to the ground. It was a most haunting image. Most unforgettable too was this particular shot of a man falling off with his head heading straight to the ground.
Then there were stories of miraculous survivals, stories of the heroism of firefighters--inspiration that gave hope, and on the other hand, critiques of why horrifying images of such proportion shouldn't be normalized and made easily accessible to all.
The world was collectively traumatized by political Islamists forever.
In a world that was already fraying at the edges in terms of safety, the fragility got intensified even more. More security measures were enforced in every portal of every major facility, from body search to sophisticated thermal scanners to having your shoes removed at the airport before boarding planes.
911, to me, is something that made me wary of any form of extremism, especially religious extremist thought--and conditions that give rise to it. I shall never forget. I shall always take note.
Wednesday, September 09, 2026
September 2026
Viral: For the content, babae dinilaan ang bentang hotdog saka ibinalik sa warmer sa 7-11. Lalaki, naglagay ng deodorant sa kilikili sa grocery store saka ibinalik sa shelf. >>> These pranks are going too far.
Cayetano siblings left Philippines, BI confirms. Rumors had it that Legarda and son as well.
Monday, September 07, 2026
Finally, Sunlight (Post-Habagat Debriefing)
Finally, Sunlight (Post-Habagat Debriefing)
I
Nothing will ever make you appreciate the sun more than after being soaked for weeks and weeks like some piece of pork in a soy marinade.
As I write this while on leave on September 7, I take a solemn moment to appreciate the sun, and 'worship' it like some pagan tribesman. No, really, it's for my daily dose of natural vitamin D. As I struggle with staring at the glare for one second, I am reminded of my many sins against it: the times I complained too much about how unbearable its heat, how blinding its light, how it makes you short of breath while walking and waiting out in the street in the height of summer, and so on.
In moments of human weakness like that, I try to recall what a Practical Arts teacher (Mr. Fernandez) back in high school told us, his class, when we complained aloud how "everything was wet and muddy" at the onset of the rainy season. "But weren't you complaining about how everything was hot and dry just a few days ago?" "Make up your mind!" was the implication. We just laughed at him, or on our own folly, in response.
Lately, as we all endured the worryingly long rains punctuated by torrents that seemed to tear through the roof and felt like bullets falling on high, I tried to balance my thoughts as is my nature. I tried hard to think of both the pros and cons, so as not to fall into the negativity of grumbling, as is my other natural proclivity.
Cons
In a waterlogged world such as we've had, I noticed how old forgotten but familiar problems crop up: Matchsticks that won't light. A stove that won't spark on its own like it used to. Wooden door jambs swelling, making the door hard or impossible to close. Plywoods curling. Clothes getting damp and moldering. Clothes impossible to dry without a dryer. No matter if you keep a dozen carzoncillos, you will surely run out of them in the long run. The unwelcome smell of rot from the mold and mildew in the rooms. Roofs leaking.
Outside, plants get overwatered. Prized succulents turn into jelly. Some non-native food plants yellow, wilt, and die from excessive condensation and precipitation. Pathways turn either muddy or green with algae and moss, making them slippery and posing dangers most especially to running kids and frail seniors.
Wrigglers multiply exponentially. Flies and mosquitoes are a-swirlin--I just had to buy an electric swatter and think of myself as a famous tennis player. Athlete's foot threaten the feet. There's the risk, too, of leptospirosis after wading in the flood, plus the rise in incidence of other diseases such as fever, cough, and cold, dengue, diarrhea, etc.
Staying indoors and not being adequately exposed to the sunrays comes with vitamin D deficiency, rickets, growing fungus inside the ear, and having weather-induced depression, among other such risks. For hypertensives, being cooped up and sedentary for so long is also not good for the blood pressure.
Frozen foods are harder than usual to thaw as they turn Siberian permafrost-hard. Umbrellas misplaced, forgotten, lost. Taking a bath becoming an unwelcome chore.
There's also the more serious side effects of work and business stoppage. Business losses. Zero income for those depending on jobs that are paid arawan (by the day), and we know what this means: no food on the table. In local parlance, the times are referred to as panao'y gawat (meaning hard times). The police chief says petty thievery is on the rise, that even kalderos (iron pots) with leftover rice are stolen.
And of course there's flooding. Depending on the severity, it runs the gamut, from minor inconvenience to a life-and-death scenario requiring decisions from authorities, like pre-emptive and forced evacuations and entire rescue boat operations.
As we nursed our little sufferings, we had to deal with certain incidents, both here and abroad, that were truly staggering and requiring psychological first aid: a glacial collapse that wiped out entire villges, an SUV falling into a river as a span of bridge collapsed (the second bridge in a row to have the same misfortune), with five of its passengers going missing, a promising young boy being swallowed up in a hole on a sidewalk while navigating the flood, etc. (We in Pangasinan were stunned to know that floodwaters from Tarlac could reach up to Dagupan!)
With the serious flooding, people were, of course, reminded of the recent corruption issues over flood control projects that blew in our face in a big way lately. And about how we abuse the word 'resilience.' And how we should change our strategies, making it more comprehensive, "from mountain to seashore" approach, as renowned urban planner Jun Palafox points out.
Not to be dismissive of these things, as this part deserves a separate discussion, we must also be mindful of whether the torrential rains are normal or not. According to disaster mitigation expert Mahar Lagmay, the habagat (monsoon rains) this August of 2026 are frighteningly way above-normal, almost 300% higher in certain areas at the most. And this seems to have happened not just here but in other countries we regard as far more advanced and equipped in disaster resilience (Japan, China, etc.).
If this is truly unprecedented in history, then we are indeed living in an era of climate change. But if it's not, if it happens with regularity in a cyclical manner, then it should have long been a part of our response. But these issues are for another day because they deserve urgent attention.
What I just wanted to say here is far less ambitious: that this supposed 'bed weather' brings with it a thousand rather creative aggravations.
It appears that living in a swamp or bog is not an ideal place to be. To misquote Emily Dickinson, it is like "being a frog telling your name the whole day to an admiring bog."
***
Pros
But all is not lost. As we say goodbye to sweltering temperatures, unwanted sweating is gone. We smell better. (Though it can be argued that sweating it out with regularity is far more healthy.) We also get considerable savings on the usage of lighta, aircon, andelectric fans. It also means finally getting to use those 'winter' clothes from abroad or wagwagan and surplus shop, and enjoy wearing our new outfit of the day (OOTD).
The repeated cancellations of work mean resting from the tremendous amount of work, except for the poor unfortunate souls (the "Team However" of LGU frontliners who always belong to Executive Order exemptions and qualifiers). It means catching up on sleep, picking up long-discarded hobbies once again, and the luxury of listening to various kinds of insects whistling and frogs croaking at night.
The nonstop rains are a great excuse to do many other things, like cooking all sorts of hot soups and brothy dishes and reminiscing on unforgettably delicious though humble dishes now long gone.
Agriculturally speaking, seeds begin to sprout like on cue. Forgotten seedlings rise at the speed of light, raring to be bear fruit and be picked. As our LDRRM Officer pointed out, the water table is refilled. Massive irrigation of farmlands can be had for free!
Moreover, if we are smart and able, we can harvest unlimited rainwater While at it, for later use, maybe during the reported "super El Niño." If we could find a way of shipping the excessive moisture of parched farmlands in the rest of the country, what a wonderful thing it would be.
Other people's misfortune also prompts the kindhearted-hearted ones to reach out without being told, both leaders and ordinary people who take the initiative to help out in whatever way they can, restoring whatever faith you have left in humanity.
***
At this point, I am not sure which I prefer, but I guess life always balances things out. Our role is to ride out this season of slush till the elusive sun appears again, or we might as well enjoy it while it lasts. (Except, of course, when our whole domicile is flooded, which is an entirely different conversation.)
II
But this rainy season is quite unusual for a couple of other things. Except for gale-force storms, it made us experience all kinds of rain, from the faintest pitter-patter to the torrential. Then in one particular interregnum, there was this intermission number of having rain and sunshine at the same time! When the weather can't make up its mind, you get confused as well.
Puzzling
I am reminded of an old hit song by Rivermaya, "Umaaraw, Umuulan." The song wasn't really about the sun shining brightly and rain falling, but about life being "sadyang ganyan" (it is what it is). Like one psychologist I talked to said, "Life has its ups and downs, negatives and positives." It was a very simple observation, but a major eye-opener for me: I received it at a time when I couldn't help but dwell on the unacceptable negatives in my life, yet I was also being blind to the many positives I had.
Poetically speaking, the inclement weather teaches us that "into each life, some rain must fall," to recall an old English class in high school discussing Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Not all days will be bright and beautiful. One time you are down, nursing pain both physical and metaphysical for no apparent reason.
But the sun shining and the rain falling at the same time is some seriously confusing phenomenon indeed when philosophically interpreted this way. Life's plus and minus, ups and downs, occurring at the same time, instead of one after another is just disorienting. We can only take change one at a time.
I suddenly remember that in the Pangasinan language, there is reportedly specific terms for this strange phenomenon. According to the book "Pinabln Dalin," it is called 'dalapa,' "that rare weather phenomenon in which it rains while the sun is shining." Similarly, 'uran-bakes' or 'ura'y bakes' (literally, 'ulan ng unggoy' or monkey rain) is a little rain that suddenly comes then suddenly stops, while the sun is shining.
According to an oldtimer, old folks in our town believed that an 'engkanto' o elemental spirit (called 'kaibaan' locally) is having a childbirth whenever this happens. When everything is wet around me while the sun is shining brightly, I too would feel like a total weirdo, like some wet dried fish, or 'daing' in drenched in water.
At this point, I suddenly recall the time in my boyhood when I was told to dry out corn seeds in the sun but had to struggle saving it from a sudden and surprisingly heavy downpour. It was a day of disaster. We ended up having sub-par corn seeds because, the next day, they were infested with aflatoxin-producing molds, a toxin that accumulates in the body, according to research. The harvest couldn't be sold as animal feed.
I guess, into each life, some rain must fall indeed--you win some, you lose some, oftentimes one after the other, but sometimes at the same time. We have to be resilient like the bamboo, as the cliche goes. To learn to bend while the blanket is small, as the local idiom goes. To go with the flow, to roll with the punches.
But as others have argued against such resilience mentality, there are situations in life where we abuse the concept of resiliency. We also must learn to fight back by outwitting the harm posed by water, by making it work for us instead of monkeying around us. We can't just bend and bend and accept things as they are when we can do something about it. I don't know what to say as of the moment, so this musing ends with me being puzzled--I just can't make up my mind, with something to think about for later while sunning myself out.
(Note: Not written with AI; 0% AI slop)
Saturday, September 05, 2026
Thoughts on an Old Photo
Thoughts on an Old Photo
While cleaning up some of the things my departed parents left behind, I found an old framed photo of a man whom I was told to be my grandfather. His name is Faustino Junio Odon.
The photo is faded and looks more like a watercolor painting in the most delicate pastel shades. And the paper margin, glass cover, and wooden frame could use some serious cleanup and repair. The dust, yellowing, and insect bite marks are all shouting, "Throw me away."
Wearing a coat and bow tie, my grandfather looks like he's from a more genteel time and "of the manor born," indicating the photo was taken at perhaps a studio during the American era. But I was told that he was a kutsero (horse-drawn cart driver) and sold meat for a living, while his brothers Telesforo, Evaristo, and Angel chose to finish high school and "intermediate school" to become teachers.
Apart from being the husband of my grandmother on my father's side, I know almost nothing about him.
It's true what they say. When you die, you will no longer be remembered by anyone after just a few generations, even just a few decades or a mere number of years.
Indeed, no one alive today can reliably talk about Faustino as personal eyewitness. The most that can be had are dubious secondhand accounts.
We, his descendants, only remember this man whom everyone around us called either 'Tio Nonoy' or 'Amang,' during All Saints Day and All Souls Day, whenever we troop to the cemetery to search for his tomb, light candles, offer flowers and 'atang' (ritual food offering), and a prayer for the repose of his soul.
When my father died and we had to bury him at the new burial place called Hands of Heaven, my family made it a point to transfer Amang's remains (and those of Inang's, lola's, and Uncle Felipe's) from the decrepit, overcrowded, 'condominium-ized' public cemetery, thanks largely to the financial assistance we had received from our relatives abroad.
My grandfather, they say, died of colon cancer or something like that long before I was born, before mysterious illnesses previously attributed to the supposedly envious 'evil eye' and witchcraft had scientific explanations and pharmaceutical cure. I once checked his birth certificate at the Local Civil Registrar, but I was told that prewar documents have been destroyed.
I hate the idea of no one ever remembering you someday, but it is a truth, a reality of life. So I am writing this, I guess, to defy that thought. I pray that Faustino Junio Odon, though he is an insignificant name to the rest of the world, is in a good place.
Think about how you would no longer be remembered by anyone anymore sooner than you expect.
The only thing that consoles me is the thought that it doesn't matter if no one remembers you as long as God does remember you when your time comes.
Still, it is better to look back and re-examine the value of anyone in our family tree who has left behind any kind of legacy to us, the living, and appreciate what they have contributed in their own little way, no matter how small.
I am glad that I grew up praying that "Fatima ej@culation" (how awful that this religious word became warped, sexualized, and dirtied)--"Deliver all souls especially those who need most of thine mercy." I understand "all souls" here to mean anyone and everyone who has departed, so this means that, even though ordinary people who have been long dead are largely forgotten, they are never forgotten in the little, unsung prayers of the faithful.
May Faustino requiescat in pace, but I am keeping this memento, the only one we have left of him.
August 2026 Debriefing
August 2026 Debriefing
I think August 2026 will be remembered as the cruelest month in recent memory.
I've been thinking long and hard whether to continue posting on Facebook at this time of our lives.
My thought went like this: Why am I posting despite my workload and despite this month being especially unfortunate to a lot of people? Is it all about, as others probably assume, "impression management"? Am I "curating" my life in nice images to make a good impression? The idea sounds laughable at my age. There's nothing glossy in my life to curate like an Instagrammable museum. Maybe when I was younger and better-looking.
Is it really, in colegiala-speak, to "make yabang"? My life is hardly what you might call enviable. There's nothing to get envious about me. Ask the people around me.
Could it be that I am just being myself, a writer with a natural impulse or instinct to write about things, about anything? Now, this one sounds true for me.
But wait, there's more. Could it be that I just wanted to be right, to win arguments? Maybe, but what for? People are mostly smug and closed-minded, even the smart ones. Nothing I will ever say will change their mind.
Furthermore, since the month was particularly marred by traumatic events here and abroad, is it also likely that I just wanted to debrief myself from all that negativity? (Eureka?)
Or could it be I just want to be thankful for anything to be thankful for, as well? This is also likely, as I don't take things like kindness and little treats and surprises lightly, considering my humble circumstances.
And so, for what it's worth, for whatever reason, I am posting stuff because I need to delete them from my old trusty cell phone to make space for new things.
I hope you are not reacting to this month's photo dump for the wrong reasons.
Of course, each photo comes with a caption, if not full-length, nauseatingly long article--what do you expect? Consider them my own way of saying 'Grateful I survived the so-called Ghost Month.'
Monday, August 31, 2026
September 2026
Viral: For the content, babae dinilaan ang bentang hotdog saka ibinalik sa warmer sa 7-11. Lalaki, naglagay ng deodorant sa kilikili sa grocery store saka ibinalik sa shelf. >>> These pranks are going too far.
Septembah quickly opened with the usual Jose Mari Chan meme. As they say, IFYYK: If you know, you know. >>> Chan is around 80 years old, I would learn randomly. He says he stays healthy by avoiding pork and beef. Ouch.
Stories came out of how people survived the all-day-long traffic at NLEX because of flood in San Simon, Pampanga.
***
Para umano may maipambayad sa utang dahil sa sugal, nagkunwaring dinukot ang isang estudyante sa Lipa, Batangas.
May video pa siyang umiiyak at naghahabilin para magmukhang legit at magbigay ng ramsom ang kaniyang mga magulang.
***
"Bagong hanging bridge sa Indonesia, biglang gumuho habang pnasisinayaan. Agad nirescue ang mga nahulog sa ilog." >>> Lintek na engineer ang engineer nyan. O baka substandard na naman ang ginamit na materyales?
***
Nine days after disaster, two pulled alive from Nepal hydropower tunnel
A new silly dance craze is performed to the tune of "Para lang sa yo ang giling giling ko." >>> Reminds me of a photo of a random man I posted on social media that earned laugh reacts despite his serious demeanor. When I took a closer look, his shirt has a large red heart with the caption, "SOLO ka sa puso ko."
***
A warrant of arrest was issued to VP Sara Duterte.
***
While Luzon was being overly drenched, a severe drought was slowly devastating the rest of the country, it is reported. Talk about climatic irony.
***
Oh, what fun steps: NSync's I Want You Back dance trend. Every step looks like it's been made for me.
***
Fires are smoldering on the surface and underground in Indonesia, which is in a severe and widespread drought.
Some of these are tropical peatland fires, which burn slowly, release higher amounts of air pollution, and are notoriously difficult to extinguish because they smolder at low temperatures and often burn underground.
this affected air quality in the philippines
Steel bars recovered from the rubble of a collapsed building in Angeles City, Pampanga, were traced to a steel manufacturing plant under investigation, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) said Thursday.
The disclosure was made during the Senate Committee on Economic Affairs’ second hearing on the domestic steel industry, where lawmakers continued to examine the possible use of substandard steel products in buildings and other structures.
US feminist icon Gloria Steinem dies at 92 - Everything in her obit about women's rights at a time when women were second-class citizens seems agreeable until you learn about her "abortion rights" advocacy which easily sounds "mass murder of innocents" if you think about it.
A postmortem: When the Bhotekoshi–Trishuli floods tore through Nuwakot, Nepal, they swept away almost everything in their path. Homes, roads, and entire structures were destroyed. But one house remained standing.
Footage of the house quickly went viral, and much of the internet called its survival a miracle. The engineering, however, tells a different story.
The house survived because of how it was built. It had a reinforced-concrete frame, with steel reinforcement running continuously through the foundation, columns, and beams. This tied the entire structure together into a rigid system capable of resisting forces from different directions.
Many of the homes that collapsed were made from unreinforced stone and brick. These structures can carry heavy loads from above, but they are highly vulnerable to powerful sideways forces, like those created by a fast-moving flood.
The house also had two other major advantages: a compact shape that helped split and redirect the water and debris rather than acting like a wall, and a deep foundation that resisted the scouring effect of the current—the erosion around a building’s base that can undermine its foundation.
In other words, the house didn’t simply withstand the flood. Its design helped divert the force of the water around it, while its reinforced structure and deep foundation kept it anchored to the ground.
***
At 9:20 in the morning, Rajendra Dawadi received a phone call.
Minutes later, the school he was standing inside would be gone.
Rajendra is the principal of Tribhuvan Trishuli Secondary School in Nepal's Trishuli Valley.
On August 26, 2026, a friend upstream warned him that a massive flood was racing toward the area.
Around 900 children were already inside the school.
Hundreds more were still arriving.
Rajendra didn't wait to see how bad it would become.
He rang the school bell.
Teachers emptied the classrooms and began moving the children uphill toward higher ground. At the same time, Rajendra called the school bus drivers and ordered them to stop or turn around.
One bus had barely crossed a nearby bridge before part of the crossing collapsed behind it.
Then the flood arrived.
From the hillside, the children watched as powerful water, mud and debris swept through the valley and destroyed their school.
Rajendra later described the moment simply:
“We all climbed uphill, and when we looked back, we saw the whole school was washed away.”
The school had 1,643 students.
All of them were kept out of the disaster zone because adults acted before there was time to hesitate.
No complicated rescue.
No extraordinary equipment.
Just a warning, a school bell and one decision made quickly enough.
The classrooms can be rebuilt.
Those 1,643 children cannot be replaced.
How many lives can depend on one person being willing to act before everyone else realizes the danger?
DOUBLE SUMMA
For many students, earning one degree with the highest academic distinction is already an extraordinary achievement. For Javi Gamboa, it became the culmination of a journey that led him to graduate with two degrees and summa cum laude honors from the prestigious Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Gamboa completed a Bachelor of Science in Economics with concentrations in Finance and Management, graduating summa cum laude. He also earned a Bachelor of Arts in International Studies from the School of Arts and Sciences, likewise graduating summa cum laude.
Stranded motorists endure hunger, fatigue in almost 24-hour traffic in NLEX
The Philippines’ flooding crisis has been building for more than eight decades.
Mahar Lagmay, executive director of the University of the Philippines Resilience Institute and head of Project NOAH, said repeated flooding in Metro Manila and other parts of the country reflects decades of failure to carry out a master plan drafted in 1941.
Like a cliffhanger of movie was this search and rescue operation done for the potential survivors or, worse, casualties of an SUV that fell into Tarlac River when a span of Agana Br. they were crossing at the height of torrential rain and flood in Tarlac suddenly broke off. One survivor arose, saying he tried his might to save himself, while one body showed up one after another in unexpected places: Dagupan and Bayambang in Pangasinan and Bauang in La Union. Not long after, the car was recovered too in Tarlac River, but one boy remained missing.
𝗕𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗞𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗡𝗘𝗪𝗦! 🚨𝗠𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗼𝗿𝗼’𝘀 𝗥𝗮𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗕𝗶𝗿𝗱 𝗖𝗮𝗽𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗼𝗻 𝗖𝗮𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗮 𝗔𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗧𝘄𝗼 𝗗𝗲𝗰𝗮𝗱𝗲𝘀 😲🌿
After nearly two decades, the critically endangered Mindoro Bleeding-heart (𝘎𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘮𝘣𝘢 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘢𝘦) in the forest of Mindoro has been captured on camera, a remarkable moment for Philippine biodiversity and conservation.
I'm pleased to introduce the Tawi-Tawi Imperial Pigeon (Ducula tawitawi)—a new species from the rainforests of Tawi-Tawi Island in the southwestern Philippines. I described and named this bird in an article published today in the Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club. It has a distinct song and a pure white throat, which distinguish it from its closest relatives.
National Artist for Literature Resil B. Mojares joined our Creator on September 5, 2026.
A highly regarded writer whose works are inaccessible to the likes of me. I am puzzled that I am not familiar with his work despite myself being an omnivore. Must hunt down his books online.
Lea Salonga receives Hollywood Walk of Fame starVice President Sara Duterte did not have a mugshot taken during her booking at the Quezon City Regional Trial Court, with her lawyer saying she instead submitted her own photographs to the court on Saturday.People have become afraid of crossing certain bridges and experiencing torrential rains.
Three bodies of missing drowning victims in Tarlac unexpectedly turned up in our town and in faraway Dagupan. The one still missing is named Harvey Collado, the driver and owner of the SUV they rode in, and a nurse and graduate of PSU-Bayambang Institute of Nursing. Another victim was also a nurse, two of them were teachers, and the lone survivor is a student. >> Sad day for all
Nepali woman found live days after family began mourning rites.
Former senator and boxing icon Manny Pacquiao returns to government service as lead convenor and secretary of the National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC).
Through Proclamation No. 1414 s 2026, President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. has declared 10 new national artists, four years after the last ones were named.The new National Artists are Nicanor Tiongson and Gregorio Brillantes (Literature), Imelda Cajipe Endaya and Nunelucio Alvarado (Visual Arts), Gabriel Formoso (Architecture), Rafael “Nonoy” Froilan (Dance), Maria Beatriz “Patis” Tesoro (Design), Armado “Bing” Lao (Film and Broadcast Arts), Teodoro Hilado (Theater), and Alfredo S. Buenaventura (Music).This year’s declaration, signed by the president on September 1, is the first to have a woman in the visual arts category in Endaya, a master printmaker.It is also the most declarations to date since the award was given in 1972.
Friday, August 21, 2026
𝐀 𝐁𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐇𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐀𝐜𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐃𝐞𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐑𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 '𝐋𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐅𝐫𝐞𝐞'
𝐀 𝐁𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐇𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐀𝐜𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐃𝐞𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐑𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 '𝐋𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐅𝐫𝐞𝐞'
(𝑅𝒶𝓃𝒹𝑜𝓂 𝒷𝑜𝑜𝓀 𝓇𝑒𝓋𝒾𝑒𝓌: 𝒞𝒶𝓇𝓁𝑜𝓈 𝐵𝓊𝓁𝑜𝓈𝒶𝓃'𝓈 𝒻𝒶𝓂𝑜𝓊𝓈 𝒶𝓊𝓉𝑜𝒷𝒾𝑜𝑔𝓇𝒶𝓅𝒽𝒾𝒸 𝓃𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁, "𝒜𝓂𝑒𝓇𝒾𝒸𝒶 𝒾𝓈 𝒾𝓃 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝐻𝑒𝒶𝓇𝓉," 𝒾𝓈 𝒶 𝒽𝒶𝓇𝓇𝑜𝓌𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒶𝒸𝒸𝑜𝓊𝓃𝓉 𝑜𝒻 𝓊𝓃𝓂𝒾𝓉𝒾𝑔𝒶𝓉𝑒𝒹 𝒹𝑒𝒽𝓊𝓂𝒶𝓃𝒾𝓏𝒶𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃 𝑜𝒻 𝓅𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓇𝓉𝓎 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓊𝓃𝓉𝑜𝓁𝒹 𝒸𝓇𝓊𝑒𝓁𝓉𝓎 𝑜𝒻 𝓌𝒽𝒾𝓉𝑒 𝒜𝓂𝑒𝓇𝒾𝒸𝒶𝓃𝓈 𝓉𝑜𝓌𝒶𝓇𝒹 𝐹𝒾𝓁𝒾𝓅𝒾𝓃𝑜𝓈 -- 𝓃𝑜𝓉 𝒾𝓃 𝑅𝓊𝓈𝓈𝒾𝒶'𝓈 𝒸𝑜𝓃𝒸𝑒𝓃𝓉𝓇𝒶𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃 𝒸𝒶𝓂𝓅𝓈 𝓃𝑜𝓇 𝒾𝓃 𝐻𝒾𝓉𝓁*𝓇'𝓈 𝑔𝒶𝓈 𝒸𝒽𝒶𝓂𝒷𝑒𝓇𝓈, 𝒷𝓊𝓉 𝓇𝒾𝑔𝒽𝓉 𝒾𝓃 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒽𝑒𝒶𝓇𝓉𝓁𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝑜𝒻 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝑒𝒹𝑜𝓂 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝒹𝑒𝓂𝑜𝒸𝓇𝒶𝒸𝓎. 𝒜 𝓂𝓊𝓈𝓉-𝓇𝑒𝒶𝒹, 𝒷𝓊𝓉 𝑜𝓃𝓁𝓎 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝓉𝒽𝑜𝓈𝑒 𝓌𝒽𝑜 𝒸𝒶𝓃 𝓈𝓉𝑜𝓂𝒶𝒸𝒽 𝒾𝓉.)
Carlos Bulosan’s "America is in the Heart" is one of those books in the Philippine literary canon that I have been hearing about practically since birth. Meaning, it's something I had parked in my mind to be a must-read if I must have a good grasp of Philippine literature. For some reason, I never had a chance to encounter it, whether in a library, bookstore, used books store, a friend's book collection, or a bootleg file sourced online by an enterprising IT guy, so it was almost forgotten.
Finally, the opportunity came my way without me lifting a finger (i.e., through a balikbayan box), so I guess I had to do my part of appreciating the gesture by reading through this legendary work and hopefully enjoying its literary merits.
But 'enjoying' is hardly ever a word one would use to describe this novel, for it is quite largely a detailed account of "man's inhumanity to man" in all its disgracefulness and ignominy. All my personal sufferings due to socioeconomic realities suddenly paled in comparison (thankfully) to the gripping account of brutality described by Carlos Bulusan in this novel. No page was spared of the crime, cruelty, and agony he went through, first as a child in the Philippines, then as a young immigrant to the United States of America. This account reminds me of tragic novels or films I have read or watched back in the day like "Of Mice and Men" and "The Grapes of Wrath" by John Steinbeck, "The Jungle" by Upton Sinclair, "The Good Earth" by Pearl S. Buck, the story of Josephine Bakhita, Elie Wiesel's "Night," "Escape from Sobibor," "The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass," etc., whose unique accounts of hell-on-earth were as relentless as they were unflinching.
And yet, I couldn't stop reading on, except when exhausted, hungry, or to answer the call of nature, because I was eager to know more about the unbelievable wreckage of one person's life in the hands of 'fate' and white people. My gut reaction can be likened to that of witnessing a road accident yet couldn't look away. It helped a lot that Bulosan's command of the language is excellent, his grasp of English grammar impeccable. But more than that, I guess, is his authentic experience of material poverty and social inequity, told in invariably poetic and scientific voice, which is sure to resonate with anyone who had so much as a brush with it.
There's no question that racism and the superiority complex lying underneath is utterly wrong and evil, but poverty per se is dehumanizing, as this story details, the kind that is systemic and induced by social injustice (to distinguish from self-imposed poverty). “America is in the Heart” reminds us that the first Filipinos immigrated to America precisely because of poverty, precisely to escape the life of cyclical destitution in their homeland. Sadly, it also reminds us that the Filipino pioneers in quest of the American dream did not find the proverbial pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Instead, they were greeted with a mighty slap on the face by hypocritical white America, ironically they who colonized a territory of natives who had no concept of personal land ownership and the concept of property as a source of identity and marker of social status. Instead of escaping the feudalistic economic system that oppressed them as a class in the Philippines, they had to deal with something that was hardly any better in their newfound place, if not a lot worse.
As we know by now, the pioneering Filipinos would be looked down upon not just as poor migrant workers, but also because of the color of their skin. This double whammy of a punishment haunted every moment of their lives, that we, 20th century readers, would find strange though not too farfetched, considering there still exist certain fringe groups like neo-Nazis to this day.
We have an instinctive inkling that the world or this life isn't perfect and will never be, but as improbable utopia may be, neither hell on earth is ever acceptable, a thought that Bulosan must have grappled with in his life with such constancy.
***
This novel being an autobiography and not fiction, it is veritably a documentation of something that actually happened to a real person, and there is no doubt that it could happen again, give or take a few changes in the prevailing set of socio-economic circumstances.
There are a lot of other things that this novel warns us of: That land ownership not just means wealth or social status, it also means political clout or power. That a highly skewed distribution of earnings (or wealth) through slave wages will always result in social discontent and instability. That, if we are honest enough, our society's view of the amount of money or wealth one owns as being equivalent to one’s worth as human being leads to a lot of complex troubles in the world.
Bulosan's sad and tragic life reminds us how that kind of world gave birth to labor unions and strikes and the idea of having a just minimum wage, why some people become communists or at least socialist or leftist -- or liberal and anti-establishment in politics. It is unfortunate that in Bulosan's time, they wrongly equated the concept of democracy and fair labor compensation to communism. (Personally I am allergic to communist thought, since I grew up learning the value of small enterprise and reading articles upon articles in the Reader's Digest about the horrors of the Russian, Chinese, and other communist states' gulag, how Marxist philosophy and its variations led to the persecution and violent death of millions of people around the world.)
And yet, the reverse setting -- the American heartland -- is hardly any better, as capitalism at the time and democracy-among-whites also led to sub-human-level poverty and ruined lives among people of color.
More than a cautionary tale, Bulosan's novel is a faithful account in that it presented a world that was, though dystopic, was complex and thus real. Firstly, it was a world where even the victims were not lily-white either. I mean, just look at those early Pinoy laborers, and marvel at their many flaws as well. The white American perpetrators were indeed the personification of evil, but what do we make of the Pinoy laborers' slavish attachment or even bondage to gambling, whoring, and other vices? While at the same time exhibiting age-old Filipino values of being God-fearing and family-centered, selflessness and pakikipagkapwa, they couldn't help but succumb to their darker side.
Then again, criminality may be considered to be just one of the unfortunate consequences of poverty. Combined with personal character weakness, poverty also espouses criminality, alienation, loss of self-esteem, anxiety, dread, despondency, depression, negativism, and even atheism. (I can't help but note how Bulosan mentioned praying to God in just one brief line within its 320-plus pages. It is itself a marvel how he survived all that, while ending up with such a steely resolve as the novel's title makes it clear at the outset.)
On the other hand, there were the white Americans as well who gave another face to America, the humane ones that Bulosan encountered as well, and they were numerous enough not to quash his sense of hope, enough to restore his faith in another America, a welcoming America, a humane America, a fair and just land of opportunity.
Apart from Pinoy's well-known Catholic religiosity, another thing noticeably missing in Bulosan's account, however, is the absence of a deeper look into the hidden 'whys' of racist whites -- their secret fears of being dominated by mere "monkeys" and "savages" right in their newly conquered territory, their sense of superiority borne maybe of a psychological insecurity unknown even to them, innate xenophobia (fear of anything foreign and strange) maybe, plus the view of Pinoys as illegals (in contrast to their legal status) and therefore deserving of such a beastly treatment.
America and the world are so much more different now, thank God, but we can't be too complacent, thanks to Bulosan's great witness. Where it would have been easier to write something didactic and propagandist, Bulosan chose the far more challenging literary, artistic path, the path that actually touches hearts and wins minds. As a result, the world -- especially latter-day Filipino immigrants to the United States -- have much to thank Bulosan and company for. For literally sacrificing their own blood, sweat, and tears, and actually writing down what they had experienced and witnessed first-hand, Bulosan and his contemporaries helped pave the way to where Fil-Ams and other immigrants of color are today: un-harassed, no longer hunted down like some farm rats and feral dogs, no longer charged with violating anti-miscegenation laws, and can walk shoulder-to-shoulder in public if they happen to fall in love with a person "not of their kind" (as though there is more than one human 'race').
(Acknowledgment: Joey Ferrer of Pittsburg, CA)
Tuesday, August 18, 2026
Umaaraw, Umuulan, Nakakalito
Umaaraw, Umuulan, Nakakalito
"Umaaraw, umuulan," sabi ng lumang kanta ng grupong Parokya ni Edgar nung kabataan ko (no, wait, Rivermaya pala yun, at matanda na ako nun). Ang kanta ay hindi talaga tungkol sa pag-araw at pag-ulan, kundi tungkol sa pagiging "sadyang ganyan ng buhay."
'Ika nga ng isang psychologist na nakausap ko, "Life has its ups and downs, negatives and positives." It was a very simple observation, but a major eye-opener for me. Yun kasi yung time na 'di ko matanggap ang mga mabibigat na negatives sa buhay ko, at sa kabila nun ay bulag naman ako sa mga positives pala na marami rin ako.
Poetically speaking, "into each life, some rain must fall." (Forgot which poet said this, but I remember an old English class in high school.) Not all days will be bright and beautiful. Minsan down na down ka, may singaw sa pinakamasakit na bahagi ng dila, sabayan pa ng paghapdi ng tiyan kahit wala ka namang ginagawang mali.
Anyway, kaka-"hi, hello" ko lang kay haring araw kanina, pero ito na naman at umuulan na naman kahit hindi pa natutuyuan ng tuluyan ang mga putikan. Minsan pa nga, literal na umaaraw at umuulan. Ng sabay. Life's plus and minus, up and down, at the same time, instead of one after another.
Naalala ko tuloy na sa Pangasinan, mayroong certain terms for this strange phenomenon. Sabi dun sa isang source kong libro, it is called dalapa, "that rare weather phenomenon in which it rains while the sun is shining." Similarly, uran-bakes or ura'y bakes (literally, ulan ng unggoy or monkey rain) is a little rain that suddenly comes then suddenly stops, while the sun is shining.
Ayon sa isang residente rito, pinaniniwalaang may nanganganak na engkanto o elemental (kaibaan) kapag ganoong urong-sulong ang panahon.
Kakapaaraw ko lang ng mga damit, unan, etc. pati mga halaman, pero heto't suspendido na naman ang pasok ng mga bata matapos ang halos isang linggong walang pasok. (Reklamo ng iba: anyare sa resiliency? May point ha, pero kung ako ang magulang, ayokong mag-risk.) Pag nagsabay ang araw at ulan, basa ang lahat ng pinapainitan at pinapatuyo -- ewan ko lang kung anong feeling ng sa halaman ha, pero I have an idea. Just imagine a daing or tuyo na basang-basa sa ulan--ganun siguro no?
Naalala ko na nung bata pa ako nang pinagbilad ako ng mga aning mais at ilang beses na nagkandarapa na i-save ito nang biglaang umulan habang tirik naman ang araw. Inamag ang mais at di naibenta sa tamang presyo para gawing feeds.
I guess, into each life, some rain must fall while the sun is still shining. (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow pala ang author ng nabanggit na tula, according to a quick Google search.)
Prayer
PRAYER: Lord, have mercy on our people getting inundated at home, facing all sorts of suffering and deprivation, and the dangers of drowning, disease, electrocution, no help arriving in the dead of the night, fearful of leaving their belongings to prospecting thieves. Residents in enduring life at evacuation centers. Residents with roofs leaking and having no means to repair them. Workers and businesses losing opportunities to earn. Bless our people who are able to extend help in any way, shape, or form.
Monday, August 17, 2026
If evolution is real, why are there still monkeys? Scientists reveal the surprising answer
If evolution is real, why are there still monkeys? Scientists reveal the surprising answer
Story by Wiliam Hunter • 11mo • 6 min read
When you learned about the history of human evolution in school, there's a good chance you were shown one all-too-familiar image.
That picture probably showed a conga line of human-like creatures, from a primitive ape at one end to a modern man proudly strolling into the future at the other.
For many people, this iconic image captures evolution's slow but inevitable march from the simple to the complex.
But it also raises a puzzling question: If this really is how evolution works, then why are there still monkeys and apes?
Surely, if humans evolved out of primates, there's no reason that so many species should have remained so primitive.
While it might be easy to dismiss this as a trivial question, the answer actually reveals a fascinating detail of our shared evolutionary history.
In fact, it uncovers what scientists have called a 'widespread and persistent misconception' about the nature of human evolution.
So, Daily Mail asked some of the leading experts to explain why we might need to rethink our place in the evolutionary lineup.
It's a common thought that many people have about evolution, but now scientists have given their answer to why monkeys and other apes still exist if humans evolved from them (stock image)
It's a common thought that many people have about evolution, but now scientists have given their answer to why monkeys and other apes still exist if humans evolved from them (stock image)
If evolution is real, why are there still monkeys?
One common view of evolution is that it is a linear process which takes primitive species and slowly brings them closer to perfection.
Unfortunately, this is a greatly simplified perception of how evolution really works.
Professor Ruth Mace, an expert on human evolution from University College London, told Daily Mail: 'Think of the evolutionary process as tree-like. All living species are at the tips of the branches.
'Humans and monkeys are on branches that separated at some point. Both branches still exist.'
If we were to trace those branches back in time through the generations, we would eventually find that they merge into a single species.
Modern humans' closest living relatives are chimpanzees and bonobos, with whom we share about 98.7 per cent of our DNA.
We also share a lot of common traits with our primate relatives, including anatomical features, complex social hierarchies, and problem-solving skills.
Bonobos (pictured) and chimpanzees are humans' closest relatives, with whom we share over 98 per cent of our DNA. However, evolution experts say we didn't really evolve from these primate species
Bonobos (pictured) and chimpanzees are humans' closest relatives, with whom we share over 98 per cent of our DNA. However, evolution experts say we didn't really evolve from these primate species
If humans evolved from primates, why are there still monkeys?
Humans didn't evolve from any of the monkey or primate species that we see today.
Although we do share a lot of DNA with some species, up to 98 per cent in some cases, that is because we have a common ancestor.
Between six and ten million years ago, a population of primates split into those that would become chimpanzees and bonobos and those that would become humans.
Humans and monkeys are just different branches of the same evolutionary tree, but there's no reason that one needed to disappear for the other to emerge.
It might be easy, therefore, to think that modern humans evolved from a group of chimpanzees or bonobos, leaving the rest of the species behind on a lower rung of the evolutionary ladder.
However, modern genetic data shows that this isn't the case.
Anthropologists currently think that humans split from the family containing bonobos and chimpanzees somewhere between six to 10 million years ago.
Scientists call the species at that branching point our 'last common ancestor'.
When scientists talk about early humans like the Neanderthals and Homo erectus, it can seem like modern humans replaced all the species that came before them.
This creates a misconception that every earlier species either evolved to be more human-like or died out.
However, since Darwin's 'tree of life' doesn't grow straight up like a beanstalk, but spreads like a bush, there are also lots of evolutionary 'dead ends'.
Neanderthals are just another branch that split away from our latest common ancestor that lived sometime between 800,000 and 100,000 years ago.
Humans branched off from the chimpanzees (pictured) and bonobos about six to 10 million years ago. They are not earlier stages on the path towards humanity, but ends of a different branch in the evolutionary tree
Humans branched off from the chimpanzees (pictured) and bonobos about six to 10 million years ago. They are not earlier stages on the path towards humanity, but ends of a different branch in the evolutionary tree
Most of the branches on the human family tree were evolutionary dead ends. The other human species, such as Neanderthals (pictured), eventually died off, but not because they evolved into humans
Most of the branches on the human family tree were evolutionary dead ends. The other human species, such as Neanderthals (pictured), eventually died off, but not because they evolved into humans
But there's no reason that any of those other branches necessarily had to go extinct; they just took different paths to our own.
Why haven't monkeys become as smart as humans?
Our evolutionary story is one of gradually improving sophistication, particularly when it comes to intelligence.
This intelligence has allowed human beings to flourish in a way no other species ever has before, pushing many other primate species close to extinction.
But if our intelligence is such a massive evolutionary advantage, why haven't our close relatives also evolved to be just as smart?
While our intelligence might seem extremely important to us, it simply isn't necessary for other species to succeed, experts said.
Professor Mace explained: 'If you live in the rainforest in groups of primates that mostly eat plant matter, then the kind of intelligence you need is not necessarily the same kind of intelligence you need if you are a carnivore who needs to hunt large prey in groups on the savannah.'
That means there's no reason for monkeys to have evolved into a more human-like species.
Chimpanzees are extremely intelligent and well-adapted to their environment. Scientists say there is no reason that they would need to evolve the kind of intelligence found in humans
Chimpanzees are extremely intelligent and well-adapted to their environment. Scientists say there is no reason that they would need to evolve the kind of intelligence found in humans
Why didn't apes become as smart as humans?
Apes like chimpanzees never evolved human-level intelligence because they don't need to.
Chimpanzees are highly intelligent, showing abilities to form complex social groups, use tools, and even follow fashion trends.
However, the kind of intelligence that is required to live in the forest and eat fruit is very different from that needed to hunt large animals.
Since humans evolved in very different circumstances, we needed to be much more cooperative.
Chimpanzees don't need those abilities to thrive in their environment so they never developed them.
In fact, when it comes to evolutionary 'success', human intelligence isn't all that it's cracked up to be.
Dr John Rowan, assistant professor of human evolution at the University of Cambridge, told Daily Mail: 'Chimpanzees and bonobos do very well in their respective niches, so why not ask the reverse question: Why haven’t humans evolved to be more like chimpanzees or bonobos?
'Bonobos in particular do not engage in large-scale intergroup violence and killing, whereas we humans are constantly consumed by conflict and warfare—why haven’t we evolved to be more like bonobos?'
Contrary to common belief, humanity is not the goal towards which evolution is striving.
'It’s often assumed that the human version of a trait must be the "best", but that’s almost never the case,' says Dr Rowan.
'Humans have many interesting adaptations, but we must remember that so do all the other billions of species we share the planet with. And many are far more remarkable than human adaptations humans have!'
Could monkeys evolve into humans in the future?
However, although monkeys and apes don't have any reason to evolve human-like intelligence at the moment, that might not always be the case.
In the very far future, scientists say that some primate species could evolve to be more human-like in a Planet of the Apes-style scenario. However, that species might not resemble humans today
In the very far future, scientists say that some primate species could evolve to be more human-like in a Planet of the Apes-style scenario. However, that species might not resemble humans today
In the far future, or if humans were to disappear from the planet, there could be an evolutionary niche which some primate evolves to fill.
Professor Mace says: 'Every mutation happens by chance, but if species live in similar environments, there are plenty of examples of convergent evolution.
'So it is entirely possible that something not too different from ourselves could evolve, but it is not inevitable as the environment is bound to be slightly different.'
That means, a Planet of the Apes-style scenario is not entirely inconceivable in the extremely distant future.
However, whatever creature did emerge from that lengthy process of evolution might not look anything like humans as we recognise them.
Dr Edwin de Jager, a biological anthropologist from the University of Cambridge, told Daily Mail: 'Evolution doesn’t repeat itself exactly, but given enough time and the right pressures, it’s possible that some primates could evolve greater intelligence or more human-like traits.
'But they wouldn’t become human, I think they’d be something entirely new.'
Thursday, August 06, 2026
Waterlogged: Pros and Cons
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