Multimedia

When I was a young kid helping out my mother sell shrimps and fish in Divisoria, we would head out of the house around midnight so we can catch the auction and secure our “paninda” for the day. It was so early that my Nanay Curing would tell me to get some sleep. And so after we have set up our stall, I would lie down in a small bench and take a nap for about 15 to 20 minutes. When I woke up, I would be energized and ready to help out in selling our “paninda.”

Just like everyone else, I have been following the nascent tennis career of Alex Eala. Amid all the controversies and rifts around us, Alex seems to be the perfect unifying force for a nation in need of heroes. This was in full display in her heartbreaking loss during the finals of the Lexus Eastbourne Open when she failed to capture her first Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) title despite holding four championship points. Yes, she shone brightest not in victory but in a crushing defeat. That is why I know she will succeed.

I have had many conversations with the late Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago; some of them serious, colloquies as she would call them, some of them very casual. We usually talked over a cup of coffee or over dinner but the one thing constant is that any conversation with her was engaging and meaningful. Many people were impressed by her grandiloquence, and rightfully so because when she spoke you would often find yourself looking for a dictionary. But in my intimate chats with her, I have been more amazed by her mind. Her mental acuity is as sharp as her rhetorical virtuosity.