Long Reads

When is a word bastos?

Rapper, 48, Manila, Philippines.

The most famous and most historically significant wreck in Subic is the USS New York, one of the world’s most modern battleships when she was built.

Conrado de Quiros is gone. It is our loss. A grave one.

The great Ricky Lee, who wrote such Filipino classics like Himala, Moral, Para Kay B, and Trip to Quiapo, lets us in on his growing-up years that shaped his outlook on his work and on his life, his creative process, and his undying faith in the goodness in people.

Esquire Philippines' Businessman of the Year is a straight-talker and consummate dealmaker. ‘You can earn all the money in the world, but it’s the difference you make in the lives of people that really matters.’

"I would never consider myself as an icon. I would say I'm a lifelong student."

Michael V is living proof that good content is still king.

Decades, perhaps even centuries, in the making is the legacy of Kidlat Tahimik. At 81, the National Artist for Film is as deeply embedded as he has ever been in his perfumed nightmares, his duende, the decolonization of the Filipino, and the indio-genius we all ought to discover for ourselves.

Mayor Ma. Josefina "Joy" Belmonte seems to be running the only city in Metro Manila that makes sense. Despite the odds, Quezon City has become a beacon of urban progress, dynamism, and freedom in many ways. "[The public] has become skeptical and cynical," she says. The good mayor hopes to change that.