Manila Times Articles

There was a time when people kept souvenirs.
Love letters folded carefully into drawers. Movie tickets tucked inside books or in memory boxes. Photographs developed, stored and arranged in albums that only resurfaced during reunions or family gatherings with the inevitable “Naalala mo ‘to?”
These days, we don’t keep things like that anymore.

It often begins with something small: A message sent quickly between meetings. A late-night exchange with a friend. A conversation in a group chat that feels casual and familiar.
In those moments, there is an unspoken understanding that what is said will remain where it was sent. “GC only” — And then, someone takes a screenshot.

It almost always begins the same way.
Not with a contract, nor with a clear discussion of terms, but with a story. You are seated across from someone you know – at a birthday, a family gathering, or a casual catch-up where laughter drifts easily into reminiscence. Then, somewhere between dessert and nostalgia, the tone shifts.