Araneta City marks Mother’s Day with weeklong 'Her MoMents' celebration

 

Araneta City, the City of Firsts, is marking Mother’s Day with a weeklong lineup of activities that puts the spotlight on mothers—from community-driven markets to wellness experiences and family-oriented events.

From May 7 to 10, the City of Firsts will host a series of on-ground activations across its malls, offering Araneta City-zens different ways to celebrate and spend time with the women at the center of their families.

“Mothers hold together not just families, but entire communities,” said Marjorie Go, Vice President for Marketing of Araneta City. “We want to have a City-wide celebration that will allow families to bond in ways that are meaningful to them, whether that’s through shared experiences, simple moments, or supporting local communities.”

Well Mama Expo (May 7 to 10)

The celebration opens with the Well Mama Expo at Quantum Skyview of Gateway Mall 2, featuring products and services focused on mothers’ health and well-being. The expo brings together wellness brands offering food options, self-care products, and services that support a more balanced lifestyle. There will also be a raffle and freebies for all participants.

Dining raffle promo (May 8 to 10)

A special treat awaits moms at World Kitchens, a destination for global flavors located at Level 4 of Gateway Mall 2. Diners who reach a minimum spend of P5,000 may join the raffle for a chance to win dining vouchers and a staycation at Novotel Manila Araneta City. This is a perfect gift not just for mothers but also for the entire family.

Mother's Day Market (May 8 to 10)

In partnership with POP QC, Araneta City will host the Mother’s Day Market at the General MacArthur Avenue activity area of Ali Mall. The market will feature products from Quezon City-based solo parents, persons with disabilities, persons deprived of liberty, and small business owners. The market highlights grassroots entrepreneurship while offering shoppers a more purposeful way to find gifts.

For Tiny Hands and Mommy Expo (May 8 to 10)

At the activity area of Gateway Mall 1, mothers can enjoy a brief pampering experience. There will be a glam station where makeup artists will pamper them with quick makeovers to help them rediscover their confidence. Mother's Day is their time to shine and feel empowered.

Run with Moms (May 10)

The aRUNeta Run Club will hold a special fun run on Mother's Day. Join morning runners and joggers as they sweat it out around Araneta City and exercise Zumba-style at the Green Gate of Smart Araneta Coliseum. Mothers will receive special items from partner brands to help them stay beautiful and protected this summer season.

Kitchen Queens (May 10)

Moms are invited to the activity area of Farmers Plaza, where they can learn new recipes and cooking techniques! In partnership with Mama Sita's, a cooking show and forum will take place, where mothers can enjoy live cooking demonstrations and connect with other mamas.

Mommies on the Move (May 10)

At Ali Mall, mothers and their cute babies are invited to dress up in their best Hawaiian costumes and shake their hips in a tropical celebration. Exciting prizes from partner brands await the best-dressed mothers and babies.

“At the City of Firsts, we look at Mother's Day more than just a seasonal event,” Go added. “It’s an opportunity to create spaces where mothers feel seen and appreciated, and where families and communities are brought together.”

The Virgin Labfest XXI: Hubo’t Hubad unwraps the human soul with 12 ‘virgin’ scripts

 

The Virgin Labfest (VLF) officially comes of age in its 21st edition, stripping down all pretense of innocence while showcasing the bold Filipino voice and spirit. As it nurtures emerging and established playwrights, directors, actors, and designers, it revels in the artistic and creative desires expressed through fearless storytelling.

Guided by the theme Hubo’t Hubad, this year’s VLF reflects on the many ways people reveal themselves. It invites audiences to engage with works that expose layers of identity, memory, and vulnerability.

Offering a deeper understanding of the human experience, the country’s theater festival of untried, untested, and unstaged one-act plays returns with 12 “virgin” scripts this June 3 to 28, 2026, at the Tanghalang Ignacio Gimenez (CCP Black Box Theater).

Unrestrained tales of the human experience

Featuring new works by eight “virgin” playwrights and four returning playwrights, VLFXXI: HUBO’T HUBAD elaborates on the unbridled truths of humanity’s essence after blooming into a passionate community of untold narratives over the last two decades.

Anthony Kim Vergara’s PASSWORD123, PILIPINAS321 centers on Blackteam, an underground cyberspace operation disguised as a technical support center. With his cousin leading the team’s troubling methods, the lead character questions his chosen path as a cybersecurity expert and as a Filipino.

A reporter is about to receive an international award in HUMAN RIGHTS STORY OF THE YEAR by Elijah Felice Rosales. At her farewell party, a former colleague declares she does not deserve the recognition.

PATAYIN ANG MGA SUROT by Floyd Scott Tiogangco occurs on the last night of Rodrigo Duterte’s presidency. While an Oplan Tokhang operation unfolds, tension builds as a couple conducts their own extermination of bedbugs.

A wounded fighter stumbles into a small Marawi hospital in Neil Arkhe Azcuna’s BALOS. Because of his arrival, four medical workers must decide between staying silent to save lives and speaking up to risk everyone’s refuge.

In Alab Usman’s HARAM, three queer Muslims struggle to manage faith and love across borders and barriers.

A former nun turned Philosophy professor and Gab Mactal’s LUALHATI meet again. Their memories of faith and romance emerge on the last night of the wake held at the Our Lady of the Gate of Dawn convent.

Dustin Celestino’s ELEHIYA is an impressionistic montage of conversations of fathers and sons that could have taken place but did not.

A former womanizer meets the love of his life in SHE’S ELECTRIC by Ron Evangelista. However, his friends make a discovery that leads to an insightful discussion on the sexual and philosophical nature of relationships.

Faith Ferrer Lacanlale’s BETAMAX follows a woman who begins to see “human pigs” after a minor road accident. As she ascends to madness, the darkness surrounding her family is brought to light.

A grieving family turns back time with a virtual archive of memories in FOOTPRINT by JEROM CANLAS. While they scramble to make sense of a tragedy, their unspoken feelings inflict a much harsher truth.

Set in Tarlac, two strangers uncover an unexpected connection by exchanging tales of love and disappointment within the walls of a rage booth in John Lapus’ TAKSYAPO!. 

Gerald Manuel’s BUHAGHAG follows a young lady who is haunted by a long-haired enigma that corners her into choosing between self-preservation and self-destruction.

In addition to the new plays, VLFXXI: HUBO’T HUBAD revisits three stories from last year’s edition: Ade Valenzona’s POLAR COORDINATES, Rolin Cadallo Obina’s THE LATE MR. REAL, and Siege Malvar’s PRESIDENTIAL SUITE #2.

Valenzona’s POLAR COORDINATES follows a confused student after he fails his Math exam. With the fate of his fragile family and strange feelings for his tutor piling on, he struggles to carve his own path.

Obina’s THE LATE MR. REAL takes place in an isolation facility during the COVID-19 pandemic. With a wall separating them, an estranged couple reexamines the clashing views that led to their marriage’s failure.

A senator is accused of money laundering in Malvar’s PRESIDENTIAL SUITE #2. While she recovers from a heart attack, her children rally for the best course of action to salvage their reputations.

Peeling off innocence and refining raw talent

True to its core of celebrating both budding and veteran playwrights, VLFXXI: HUBO’T HUBAD continues to nourish its garden of talent through its educational components: Staged Readings, Writing Fellowship Program and Showcase, Theater Talks, and Playwrights’ Fair.

Script submissions from VLFXXI come to life through stripped-down reading performances in Staged Readings. Jose Victor Torres’ MGA TATSULOK, M. Manalastas’ THE DEVOURED, Dingdong Novenario’s MANANG, Rafael Jimenez’s SUOR, Juan Ekis’ KASAL(ANAN), and Jay Fernandez’s ANG HULI take the stage.

The VLF Writing Fellowship Program, a two-week mentorship on dramatic writing for the stage headed by award-winning playwright Glenn Sevilla Mas, culminates in a thrilling showcase. The Taiwan International Play Reading Festival (TIPR) will also hold a special staged reading of Ihot Sinlay Cihek’s HOW ROMANTIC: A GUIDE TO MODERN PANGCAH LIFE, alongside the National Art Centre’s PRISON DANCER.

A forum series on the creative processes behind theater, Theater Talks will feature TIPR with speaker Cheng-Han Wu. Jin Yim and Cui Yin Mok of the Asian Producers’ Platform share their insights, together with Shizuoka Performing Arts Center’s Takuya Maehara.

Meanwhile, VLF founder and Palanca-awardee Rody Vera, Liza Magtoto, and Glenn Sevilla Mas host Playwrights’ Fair, peeking into the minds of veteran playwrights. Guest speakers Tanya Lopez, Dessa Quesada-Palm, and Sari Saysay explore the essence of Visayan theater, herstories, and settings in the nation’s current artistic landscape.

Uncovering new narratives charged with immense thirst for artistry, VLFXXI: HUBO’T HUBAD shows are scheduled at 2 p.m. matinee and 8 p.m. gala, while its educational components are slated at 5 p.m. from June 3 to 28, 2026. Tickets are priced at Php800 (regular) and Php1000 (premium), available for purchase at the CCP Box Office and Ticket World.

For more updates on the festival schedule and ticket-selling, visit the official pages of VLF, CCP, Tanghalang Pilipino Foundation Inc., and Writers’ Bloc across Facebook, X, Instagram, and TikTok.

Mang Inasal Spicy Pork BBQ is here to stay

 

Mang Inasal, the Philippines’ Grill Expert, has made the Spicy Pork BBQ a regular menu item in all its over 600 stores nationwide, effective May 1. 

 

Available for dine-in, take out, drive thru, and delivery, the Spicy Pork BBQ is the latest addition to Mang Inasal’s line of hot, savory dishes that include the Spicy Chicken Inasal Paa and Pecho.

“The Mang Inasal Spicy Pork BBQ was initially intended as a limited time offer. But we acknowledge that a specific segment of our customers often ask for the spicy versions of our Ihaw-Sarap bestsellers,” said Mang Inasal president Mike V. Castro. “For them, it is not enough to simply dip their food in siling labuyo-infused toyomansi and chicken oil sawsawan. They crave the spicy kick that our expertly grilled meat offers which they enjoy with unli rice and unli sabaw.”

The Mang Inasal Spicy Pork BBQ is available as a rice meal with two-sticks. It may also be enjoyed in Family Size with 10 sticks or Party Size with 20 sticks. 

Want more Mang Inasal exclusives NOW? Visit https://manginasal.ph for the latest news, https://manginasaldelivery.com.ph for delivery deals, and follow Mang Inasal on social media for more Ihaw-Sarap and Unli-Saya updates!

Garmin’s Women of Endurance Campaign Highlights Their Everyday Resilience

 

Garmin has launched its Women of Endurance campaign for Mother’s Day 2026, spotlighting the everyday resilience of women – especially moms – and the physical and mental demands they face as they navigate across multiple roles in daily life. The campaign draws a parallel between the kind of endurance that athletes face – and how it isn’t that different from what women go through daily, though their struggle often goes unnoticed.

Through a series of illustrations created in partnership with female artist Chouyi, these everyday moments are reimagined through illustrations captured in vibrant color and delicate brushwork. These familiar moments are captured through a new lens: carrying a child up flights of stairs mirrors the intensity of a HIIT session, the walk home after a long day becomes the race to the finish line, and chasing toddlers or managing household chaos adds up to something like a 10km obstacle course. Together, these artworks capture the lived experiences of Women of Endurance, revealing levels of focus and resilience comparable to athletes facing high-intensity challenges.

Making Fatigue Visible

While these illustrations put these moments into perspectives, tools like Garmin wearables can help make that day-to-day fatigue easier to spot and understand.

The exhaustion that mothers endure in daily life is often accumulated by chronic “invisible fatigue,” which is difficult to quantify and therefore frequently overlooked. Psychological research indicates that while women report fatigue more often than men, their exhaustion is often underestimated by others. This gap means women’s fatigue is often felt but overlooked, even as it highlights the remarkable adaptability and resilience they demonstrate under prolonged pressure and demands.

This is what Garmin brings into focus with this campaign, aiming to help women understand that Garmin wearables can be their partner to prioritizing their health everyday.

Garmin wearables serve as the ultimate everyday companion based on health science, integrating Heart Rate Variability (HRV), stress levels, and sleep quality metrics into Body Battery levels, an intuitive score from 0 to 100 to quantify energy levels that help women visualize their exertion and prioritize recovery. Garmin recommends that women leverage their wearable data to establish a personalized recovery rhythm with five key approaches:

• Identify Fragmented sleep: Frequent parenting interruptions disrupt energy recovery. Garmin Sleep Coach powered by Firstbeat Analytics and personalized metrics helps pinpoint low-quality rest periods, enabling timely routine adjustments or to seek support.

● Monitor Stress Trends: Sustained high-stress levels signals that the body is under strain. Simple guided breathing exercises help shift the body back to a relaxed state.

• Track Recovery and Immunity: HRV often exhibits fluctuates around menstrual cycles, inadequate recovery, or just before illness. Monitoring these data trends allow women to prioritize rest preemptively.

● Observe Dietary Impacts: Garmin's Lifestyle Logging feature tracks the effects of caffeine, alcohol, or high-sugar foods on metrics like respiration rate, helping women align nutrition with their body’s actual needs.

● Embrace Active Rest: Like elite athletes, intentional rest is essential for continuous performance and general well-being.

Through the Women of Endurance campaign, Garmin encourages women, especially mothers to take back control of their physical well-being. Only by bringing hidden energy depletion to light, real and lasting recovery can begin.

This Mother’s Day, Enjoy Exclusive Deals

To celebrate this campaign, Garmin is offering up to 18% off select wellness watches – a perfect gift for anyone looking for something thoughtful for their moms’ everyday health and lifestyle. The Garmin Lily 2, Garmin Lily 2 Active, and Garmin Venu 3/3S are designed for daily wear, making them easy, thoughtful gifts to help moms stay in tune with their health. The promotion is available until May 10, 2026. Get yours today at all Garmin Specialty Stores, online through the official Garmin website, through Kinetic, and on the brand’s official stores on Shopee and Lazada.

CCP Encyclopedia of Philippine Art showcases Filipino food artistry in celebration of Filipino Food Month this April

 With its diverse and rich flavors rooted in indigenous cultures and influences, Filipino cuisine reflects the country’s history and abundant culture. From iconic savory dishes to regional fares,

Filipino food offers not only to satiate hunger but also tells the story of local ingredients and family traditions.

Beyond its taste, the preparation and presentation of every dish highlights the overall appeal of Filipino cuisine and adds visual depth and storytelling. It shows that Filipinos do not just cook food but they do it to show care and express their hospitality.

Filipino food goes far beyond simple nourishment. It reflects a deep sense of creativity and artistry that appears at every stage of the culinary experience: from preparation to plating.

Cooking involves skillful techniques and balanced flavors, often adapted with resourcefulness. Serving styles, like communal meals on banana leaves, emphasize culture and connection. The presentation is vibrant and carefully arranged, making dishes visually appealing as well as delicious.

In celebration of Filipino Food Month this April, the CCP Encyclopedia of Philippine Art (CCP EPA) showcases and promotes the rich Philippine cuisine while also emphasizing how they shape our national and cultural identity and open conversations on its sustainability and conservation.

Do you know your Filipino dishes and local ingredients, as well as their cooking processes and more? Learn more about them through CCP EPA’s comprehensive article on Food Art.

FRUITS AND RELISHES

Relishes and desserts are mostly the preferred mediums for food art since they can be prepared in advance, offering more time for creating designs. A good example is achara, it’s a pickle relish made of grated unripe papaya and other vegetables like cucumber and bell pepper. Its textures and colors are ideal for carving various shapes, figures, and even small scenes, which are then arranged in glass jars to create decorative displays. The natural colors of the ingredients provide many ways for them to express their artistry through arranging these relishes.

Pan de San Nicolas (Photo courtesy of Nicanor G. Tiongson)

Mayumo, the Pampango word for sweet, is a food art from San Miguel de Mayumo in Bulacan.

They preserve different kinds of fruits, mainly suha (pomelo), dayap (lime), kundol (wax gourd), etc. They are carved with decorative patterns before being put in jars for display.

In some provinces, like Laguna, creativity is shown differently, such as stuffing limes with coconut jelly, adding both visual and textural contrast to the dessert.

KAKANIN

The arrangements and packaging of kakanin is another medium for food art. One of the most popular ways of arranging kakanin is by serving it in bilao (flat baskets) which highlights its patterns and colorful visuals. Puto and kutsinta, for instance, are steamed in bamboo tubes or molds, made in different sizes and colors, and arranged in bilao when served.

Other kakanin like suman, ibus, tupig, tamales, and puso also highlight the creativity of wrapping using materials such as coconut fronds, banana leaves, and nipa leaves. For example, suman sa ibus is mostly wrapped in pale young coconut fronds, while in Obando, Bulacan, darker fronds are woven into small triangular baskets.

Tupig from Ilocos is both decorative and practical, commonly enjoyed during holidays or cockpits. In Cebu and Cagayan de Oro, they have puso also known as “hanging rice” encased in woven coconut leaves shaped into portable pouches, with various regional names like balisungsong, lambay, patupat, and tamu.

PASTILLAS

The famous pastillas de leche, sweets made from carabao milk and sugar from San Miguel de Mayumo, are also known for its pabalat (wrappings), made of multicolored thin paper, called papel de japon. They are cut into stars, leaves, flowers, palm leaves and branches, letters and other designs.

Pabalat or pastillas wrappers of papel de japon, Nicanor G. Tiongson Collection

Pabalat artist Luz Mendoza Ocampo uses patterns she personally designed, such as the so-called Maria Clara motif, tinikling, pounding rice grains, nipa hut, birds, and various flowers. She traces the pattern into layers of papel de hapon using a pencil, and then cuts the paper using a cuticle scissor.

Other pabalat artists prefer the freestyle method without using any patterns or drawings by cutting a folded paper freehand. The pabalat tradition in Bulacan is usually practiced by women. Well-known pabalat artists are Amparo Pengson, Rosa David, Nene Pineda, Luz Reyes, and Teresita Ramos.

COOKIES AND BREADS

In Pampanga, during feast day of San Nicolas, cookies designed in his iconography are sold outside churches. Meanwhile, in Bago City, Negros Occidental, alfajor cookies are also popular amongst migrant families from Panay who settled there in the 1920s. The cookies are made of rice flour and sugar then pressed into wooden molds showcasing various designs including symbols like USAFFE and Boy Scouts insignias, flowers, etc. They are typically cooked by being sun-dried.

Animal-shaped bread from Domalaon Bakery, Antipolo City (Photo by Kiko del Rosario)

Breads also serve as an ideal medium for creative food art. In Silay, Negros Occidental, empanadas are meticulously fluted in a milles feuilles style, while in Vigan, Ilocos Sur, panaras are crafted with pinched edges and distinctive patterns. The shaping of tortas reales and castillos, sweets influenced by Spanish heritage, continues alongside more modern cake decorations inspired by American traditions. In Antipolo, Rizal, one bakery is popular for making bread into playful shapes, including lobsters, pigs, turtles, and crocodiles, showcasing a unique form of food artistry.