Mother’s Day, ‘Lolli’-Pops style

BY MARINEL CRUZ

MAY 7, 2025

Pops Fernandez —PHOTOS FROM @POPSFERNANDEZOFFICIAL/ NSTAGRAM

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On Mother’s Day, Pops Fernandez is doing double duty, as a mom and a grandma. She recently flew to the United States to be with her eldest son, Robin, and snuggle up with the newest (and tiniest) member of the family: baby Phineas.

The baby boy, lovingly nicknamed Finn, is Robin’s child with partner Mian Acoba. Fernandez and her ex-husband, Martin Nievera, also share another son, Ram, who is likewise based in the States.

“I’m excited for this Mother’s Day because I’ll be with my boys and my grandchild,” Fernandez told Lifestyle in a recent interview. “Although, of course, I’m sad I won’t be with my mom. But I think we already had lots of bonding moments while I was still in Manila.”

She was referring to her mother, former actress Dulce Lukban. “I’m expecting this Mother’s Day to be very special—it’s my first with Finn.”

Fernandez flew out on May 1. “Every Mother’s Day is special to me,” she added, “especially now that I hardly get to spend time with my boys. They’ve grown-up and are off living their own lives.”

Pops Fernandez

Asked how she’d like to be remembered as a mom, especially this Mother’s Day, Fernandez said: “As a loving mom. I was always busy while they were growing up, but I tried to do everything for them. This isn’t to pressure them or anything—everything I do is still for them, even now.”

Even with her sons all grown-up, Fernandez admits the nurturing never stops.

“When they were little, I was the one making an effort on Mother’s Day—they didn’t really understand what it was yet,” she said. “Now, it makes me so happy that they’re the ones who make the effort. Even just a greeting is enough to make me cry. But sometimes, they’ll surprise me with flowers even though they’re far away. That means so much.”

She admitted to dealing with the dreaded “empty nest” stage at the moment. “I’m still adjusting to it,” she pointed out. “I’m happy they’re independent and living their own lives, but as a mom, of course I still want them with me all the time.”

Before flying out, Fernandez wrapped up taping for the third season of TV5’s “Masked Singer Pilipinas,” where she’s a panelist alongside Arthur Nery, Janno Gibbs, and Nadine Lustre. The show, hosted by Billy Crawford, premieres on May 17.

Surprise friendship

One of her biggest takeaways from the show, Fernandez said, is a surprise friendship with Lustre. “I didn’t have expectations going in. I even said one day that it might take us a while to warm up to each other—but I was wrong. Nadine’s very down-to-earth and nice,” she said. “We shared a dressing room and talked a lot, mostly about what she’s been up to. She loves Siargao. I kept asking her about it, since I’ve never been.”

Turns out, Lustre is not just cool, but also super generous—with her vegan baon. “She brings her own food and always encourages us to try it. One time, she brought vegan sisig and explained what was in it. She’s so game. One day, I brought food to the set and felt bad she couldn’t eat any, but she still shared her food with everyone.”

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Fernandez with “Masked Singer Pilipinas” host Billy Crawford (extreme left), Janno Gibbs, and Arthur Nery

The vibe on set was so good, Fernandez said it barely felt like work. “We have super early call times, but I honestly look forward to them. It’s a happy, no-stress set. Even Janno—who’s famously late—was on time. That’s how you know the energy is right.”

And yes, Lustre’s love life did come up during this interview. Did she give Fernandez any dating advice? “Not really, but I did tell her, ‘Next time, invite me when you and your boyfriend hang out with his afam friends. Baka may makilala ako.’ She just laughed. I’m not sure if she took me seriously—but I am serious, Nadine!”

So, is she open to dating again? Well, let’s just say if Lustre sends an invite, our glam grandma might just say “yes.”

As for “Masked Singer” Season 4, Fernandez is definitely game. “If the same team returns, I’d love to do it again. It usually takes time to get to know everyone on a new show, but for us, it clicked right away. Just when we were all getting close, the season ended. It flew by. That’s how you know it was a happy set.”

And on this Mother’s Day, Fernandez—who would rather be called “Lolli” than lola—is exactly where she wants to be, surrounded by love, laughter, and her growing family.

𝐃𝐚𝐯𝐚𝐨 𝐂𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐂𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐥 𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐫 𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐳𝐞𝐧 𝐬𝐮𝐛𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐲

An increase in the annual financial subsidy nears as the 20th Davao City Council on Tuesday approved on second reading the ordinance raising the aid from P1,500 to a maximum of P3,000.

The ordinance amending Ordinance No. 0954-22, once finalized on third reading, will provide greater support to elder residents in the city.

Councilor Pilar Braga, chairperson of the Committee on Education, Science and Technology, Arts and Culture, in a media interview said that the maximum increase of P3,000 will depend on the availability of government funds.

“The ordinance is allocating P3,000 as an annual subsidy for our qualified senior citizens. That’s the ceiling, depending on the availability of the funds of the government because we have sectors that also have some benefits,” she said.

She said increasing the subsidy is a step toward easing the financial burden of senior citizens.

“Kahit konti lang at least nakakatulong naman (Even if it's just a little, at least it helps) We are not stopping there, as long as our income increases we would also would like to increase and add more to the benefits that we’re giving our senior citizens and other sectors,” she said.

The City Social Welfare and Development Office (CSWDO) aims to give the P1,500 subsidy to a total of 168,799 senior citizens in the city.

From October 2024 to May 2025, a total of 141,544 seniors have already received financial aid, while 27,255 remain on the distribution list.

Braga said the ordinance will officially take effect once the Mayor signs it into law. CIO

ers

Juan Ponce Enrile outlives 8 popes, set to see 9th

 

Kristofer Purnell - Philstar.com

May 6, 2025 | 6:04pm

MANILA, Philippines — Many Filipinos joke about the longevity of former Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, and now, they have another point of reference to quip about.

Since being born on February 14, 1924, the centenarian has seen the Catholic Church led by eighth Supreme Pontiffs.

Following the passing of Pope Francis last month, Enrile is set to witness the leadership of a ninth pope.

At the time of his birth, the pope was Pius XI who succeeded Benedict XV two years earlier.

The first conclave Enrile was alive to see was the election of Pius XII in 1939. Nineteen years later, he was succeeded by John XXIII, who was pope for four years.

People will be aware that there were three popes in 1978 — Paul VI, John Paul I, and John Paul II — and the latter led Catholics for 26 years, the third-longest pontificate in history.

Benedict XVI succeeded John Paul II but historically renounced the papacy in 2013, a first in six centuries, leading to the election of Francis, the first Latin-American pope.

The College of Cardinals will gather and be sequestered in the Vatican's Sistine Chapel beginning May 7 to decide the new leader of the Catholic Church.

With three Filipino cardinals taking part in the vote, there is a possibility that Enrile will live to see a first-ever Filipino pope.

Eala begins Italian Open bid vs Ukrainian World No. 27

John Bryan Ulanday - Philstar.com

MANILA Philippines — Alex Eala faces a tall order against World No. 27 Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine in Round 1 of the star-studded Italian Open Wednesday in Rome.

Action kicks off at 4 p.m. (Manila time), with the 19-year-old Filipina pride looking for a good stepping stone to her French Open stint on May 25 to June 8 in Paris.

The 128-player Italian Open serves as Eala’s final tournament before that much-awaited major, where she will be the first Filipina player to ever play in the main draw as a Top-100 player.

Eala reached a new career-best ranking of No. 70 on Monday, ensuring a direct invite to all W1000 and Grand Slam tournaments like the Roland Garros and the Italian Open.

But first things first for Eala, who’s eyeing to avenge her early exit in the Madrid Open last month.

On the heels of a historic Miami Open run, Eala beat Bulgaria’s Victoriya Tomova, 6-3, 6-2, in Round 1 but ran out of steam against a familiar opponent in Poland’s Iga Swiatek, 6-4, 4-6, 2-6.

A deeper campaign is expected from Eala in Rome this time around that could set her up to gigantic duels against Filipina-Canadian Leylah Fernandez and world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus down the bracket.

Sabalenka, seeded as No. 1, just came off a Madrid Open championship, against now world No. 3 Coco Gauff in the United States and will be in for some revenge in Rome after a runner-up finish to Swiatek last year.

Second-seeded Swiatek, Gauff and World No. 4 Jessica Pegula of the United States, the last of whom beat Eala in the semis of the Miami Open also won by Sabalenka, are on the other bracket of the Italian tourney.

Eala will share the same clay court once again with the said tennis giants in the French Open.

Newly discovered flower named after Doris Bigornia

 Jan Milo Severo - Philstar.com

May 5, 2025 | 11:25am 

 

MANILA, Philippines — A newly discovered flower species has been named after ABS-CBN reporter Doris Bigornia. 

Begonia dorisiae was one of the two species discovered in Eastern Mindanao recently. 

"The specific epithet dorisiae is a tribute to broadcaster Doris Bigornia whose name became an informal, yet very useful monicker of the genus Begonia especially for local communities," the study's authors said.

"Many Filipino botanists, particularly in this series of expeditions, find that the easiest way to make citizens remember the genus Begonia is to associate it with ‘Bigornia.' 

"Across different islands and demographics, the best way to capture citizens’ interest when communicating the biology of Philippine Begonia is, in fact, Doris Bigornia."

The researchers discovered the flowers in the municipality of Caraga in Davao Oriental. 

 

A decision to face before turning 30

BY JOHN PUCAY

MAY 7, 2025

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For years, I had believed that one’s brilliance and relentless hard work, and maybe just a few drops of good luck, could outweigh the burdens and constraints one is born into.

In my late teens and 20s, I carried the weightlessness of potential, that marvelous currency of youth that seems inexhaustible until suddenly, it isn’t. Now, as my 30th year approaches, I find myself confronting the one truth I thought I had evaded: we are all, in the end, tethered to our personal histories.

The realization came like a slow, persistent dusk. In the half-light of my late 20s, I began to discern the outlines of my limitations—not the imagined ones that had haunted my youth, but the real boundaries formed by decisions made or unmade, by privileges granted or withheld, by the lottery of birth and circumstance that shapes us before we can shape ourselves.

I had chosen art.

With the conviction of someone who believes they are exceptional enough to defy probability, I pursued creation and expression over security. There is beauty in this choice. But beauty provides cold comfort when faced with a grandmother needing a crucial medical treatment I cannot afford, or a mother with a worrying growth on her shoulder that remains unexamined because examination costs money I do not have.

In these moments, I feel the weight of my personal history bearing down with merciless clarity. The choices made years ago, to pursue art rather than entrepreneurship or marketing, reveal themselves not as brave rebellions against conformity but as links in a chain of consequence that now binds me to certain realities.

This is what awaits at the threshold of 30: the understanding that we are not only architects of our futures but inheritors of our pasts. The financial illiteracy of my forebears becomes my struggle; their health-care decisions become my responsibilities; their unexamined choices become my limitations. For others, it might come in the form of an upbringing hollowed by disappointment and unfavorable comparisons, or illnesses that travel down the family line like heirlooms no one wants but only the damned receive. It might be a childhood full of longing so persistent that its emptiness echoes long after the child is not-a-child. And then there are our own earlier decisions, made with the bravado of youth or the naivety of inexperience, which harden into the conditions under which we now must live.

Standing at this crossroads, we are given a choice that defines the decades to come: Will we allow the accumulated weight of our histories to ground us permanently, or will we find ways to carry that weight while still moving forward?

For some, the answer is capitulation. They become the adult husks I see around me, dead-eyed and numbed because that’s the only way to keep living, to keep moving, when you’ve been dead for so long. They surrender to the weight, allow it to press them into smaller and smaller versions of themselves until they diminish into something so reduced even their child selves would look upon them with disbelief and disappointment.

I want more. I want so much more out of this life.

Perhaps this is the one lesson worth carrying into my 30s: that the rebellion against the chains of personal history is not a battle won once and forever but a daily act of resistance. It is hard, often painfully so. The odds are indeed “stacked against you,” particularly when you “want a life out of your league,” as I do. But the alternative seems far more painful.

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I sometimes think of my father telling my mother to take him to the government hospital if he ever had another stroke. Government hospitals cost less. They’re also the perfect place for the dying to die as they wait in a long line, dying, waiting hours or days for medical attention that may or may not come. This is not a singular choice but one shaped by economic reality, by a lifetime of decisions both his and others’, by systems long designed to value some lives over the rest. When faced with such a moment myself, what will guide my actions? Will it be the weight of my history, pressing me toward certain inevitabilities? Or will it be the conviction that even now, even here, there remain possibilities for transcendence?

Eventually, everyone arrives at a crossroads where decisions are made, and the weight of their history becomes either a binding anchor or a strengthening force. I do not yet know whether I can do the latter. But in acknowledging the weight itself, in refusing the comforting notions of limitless possibility or predetermined defeat, I hope to take the first step toward a kind of freedom found only through 29 years of hard-won confrontation with reality.

I want to believe that somewhere in that struggle lies the possibility of a life that honors both where we have come from and where we might still go.

—————-

John Pucay, 29, is a full-time writer and artist. He is a scholarship awardee of the 2025 Iceland Writers Retreat, and his novel was named a “Reading Allies’ Favorite Read” by Fully Booked. His website is: johnpucay.com. He turns 30 in August.