Most alarming is the what-have-you — a report that says in the Southeast Asian region, reading comprehension skills of Filipino students are at an all-time low. As a matter fact, we are ranked second lowest in the said skill set that listed eight countries.

We are the most Western amongst the Southeast Asian economies and we pride ourselves with the talent to speak the King’s language and understand it well. With call center companies in the metropolis and cosmopolitan areas, Gen Zs speaking with an American accent, and our Filipino accent considered as “Asia’s sexiest,” this reality of lacking in reading comprehension is not only a source of grave agitation because it is a national embarrassment.

What is the Department of Education doing about this lamentable turn of Pinoy students being in the bottom two when it comes to reading comprehension?

The National Commission for the Arts is currently celebrating the National Literary Month with an array of flagship projects and activities that brings the literary arts closer to the public. With all the still living National Artists for Literature that we have, the esteemed names in the Philippine literati circle, what is being done to address this worrisome reality?

It’s difficult to accept that Indonesian students have better reading comprehension than Filipino students and yet the latter has the time and energy to learn Korean songs. Lines and phrases! We are merely two percent higher in reading comprehension than the students in Cambodia, and yet Flow G’s rap and the word play of SB19’s John Paul Nase compositions are appreciated, memorized and supported.

On this matter, we do not need band aid solutions. But we must act now, before it is all too late, gets too severe, and being out of the list becomes next to impossible.

Romance in full bloom

Homan, Mrs. Gregg Homan, is actor Angelica Panganiban’s official married name.

Looking devastatingly beautiful in an immaculate empire-cut wedding dress, Angelica shared the second I do’s in a ceremony attended by her nearest and dearest at la isla bonita that is Siargao.

Details of the wedding and the wedding afterparty are in various social media sites, from official and unofficial sources, and it was indeed a happily ever after moment for the couple. After daughter Amila Sabine, and “apo (grandchild) number two” is the most urgent of requests and Angelica and Gregg are the picture of a truly and deeply in love couple and partnership.

True love comes to those who wait, and the right one does arrive in God’s perfect time. This is what happened to the voluptuous Panganiban.

The twists and turns that happened in her past relationships are best described as colorful and tumultuous. Panganiban never gave up on her dream of a true love’s kiss and hope that a prince comes with it, and that wish that her heart made, the universe, fairy godmothers and, yes, God gave to her in the person of Gregg Homan.

Angelica Panganiban’s love story has become an inspiration and aspiration for all who believe in romance, ever after and forever.