<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" version="2.0"><channel><title><![CDATA[writetoempower]]></title><description><![CDATA[writetoempower]]></description><link>https://www.writetoempower.com/e-power-news</link><generator>RSS for Node</generator><lastBuildDate>Mon, 31 Aug 2026 21:02:22 GMT</lastBuildDate><atom:link href="https://www.writetoempower.com/blog-feed.xml" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml"/><item><title><![CDATA[A Place of Comfort in Fairview]]></title><description><![CDATA[I did not come to Fairview, Quezon City, for a vacation. There were no carefully planned itineraries, no sightseeing agenda, and certainly no excitement about checking into a hotel. I was there because my dad was confined at Commonwealth Hospital and Medical Center, and during those difficult days, all I really needed was a place nearby where I could sleep, regroup, and prepare myself for whatever the next day might bring. SotoGrande Neopolitan Hotel turned out to be exactly that place. Its...]]></description><link>https://www.writetoempower.com/single-post/a-place-of-comfort-in-fairview</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6a95e83e36df210911ba3884</guid><pubDate>Mon, 31 Aug 2026 20:50:05 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/5a6716_77596214c98a4233ad4054ba71a73ebc~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_768,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>aldwinok</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[When the Mountains Melt]]></title><description><![CDATA[For generations, the Himalayas have been described as eternal—immovable walls of rock and ice rising above Nepal and Tibet. But there was nothing eternal about what came crashing down from those mountains this week. On August 26, a massive section of glacier and mountainside collapsed near the Nepal–Tibet border, releasing a violent mixture of ice, water, mud, boulders and other debris into the narrow valleys below. The torrent tore through communities along the Himalayan river system,...]]></description><link>https://www.writetoempower.com/single-post/when-the-mountains-melt</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6a95c46571e31f219aac4006</guid><pubDate>Mon, 31 Aug 2026 18:22:58 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/5a6716_0d7d4d8d4b214881b9426034f3eccd9c~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>ALDWIN FAJARDO-PONDER</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[When the Water Has Nowhere Else to Go]]></title><description><![CDATA[MANILA — Flooding in the Philippines has become so routine that the images almost arrive with the predictability of the monsoon itself: commuters wading through brown water, stalled vehicles, families carrying children above waist-deep floods, classrooms converted into evacuation centers, and mountains of garbage collecting along waterways.   This August has been no exception. Weeks of southwest monsoon rains, repeatedly enhanced by tropical cyclones, have inundated communities across Luzon...]]></description><link>https://www.writetoempower.com/single-post/when-the-water-has-nowhere-else-to-go</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6a91f1c3d6fb6eedc54c6585</guid><pubDate>Fri, 28 Aug 2026 20:48:23 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/5a6716_11c7e6461814407980a2e1ebd79fd1fb~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_941,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>ALDWIN FAJARDO-PONDER</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[The Receipts Are Starting to Talk]]></title><description><![CDATA[For months, the impeachment of Vice President Sara Duterte was treated like another episode in the Philippines’ favorite political teleserye: Marcos versus Duterte, former allies turned enemies, accusations of persecution, loyalty tests, conspiracy theories, and enough political drama to keep Facebook comment sections employed full-time. Then the Senate impeachment trial started doing something considerably less exciting. It began looking at receipts. And that may be where Sara Duterte’s real...]]></description><link>https://www.writetoempower.com/single-post/the-receipts-are-starting-to-talk</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6a91d8a794a35c6c99d3d856</guid><pubDate>Fri, 28 Aug 2026 19:00:01 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/5a6716_44e6780d43ca48a7ac8e5ae98317574c~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>ALDWIN FAJARDO-PONDER</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Home, But How?]]></title><description><![CDATA[My father may indeed have been medically stable enough to leave the hospital. I was never insisting that he remain simply because I was frightened to bring him home. I wanted to know what bringing him home would require so we could have the right people, equipment, instructions, and follow-up care ready.]]></description><link>https://www.writetoempower.com/single-post/home-but-how</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6a91d222813c8b51e676b4af</guid><pubDate>Fri, 28 Aug 2026 18:26:54 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/5a6716_44120778711e45f2a49ecc6ab8aaa695~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>ALDWIN FAJARDO-PONDER</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Why the West Philippine Sea Matters]]></title><description><![CDATA[My support for the Philippines’ claim of sovereignty over the West Philippine Sea is not rooted in hostility toward China, nor in the easy excitement of waving a flag whenever another country tests our patience. It comes from a simpler conviction: a nation that refuses to defend what is legally and historically its own eventually teaches others that its boundaries, rights, and dignity are negotiable. For Filipinos, the West Philippine Sea is not an abstract patch of blue discussed only by...]]></description><link>https://www.writetoempower.com/single-post/why-the-west-philippine-sea-matters</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6a91ce0d8181059972fbaf48</guid><pubDate>Fri, 28 Aug 2026 18:11:19 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/5a6716_0aefa5fb776846309c676836145dd80a~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>aldwinok</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[The OFW’s guide to getting rich without looking rich]]></title><description><![CDATA[There are two kinds of OFWs in the world: (1) The one who sends money home like a national hero. (2) The one who sends money home and also somehow finances everyone else’s Netflix, birthday parties, and mysterious “emergencies.” If you’re reading this, congratulations! You’re probably both. Let’s be honest. Being an Overseas Filipino Worker doesn’t just mean earning in dollars. It means carrying the emotional weight of an entire barangay. You are not just a worker. You are a walking ATM with...]]></description><link>https://www.writetoempower.com/single-post/the-ofw-s-guide-to-getting-rich-without-looking-rich</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69d831170b7119100d02136b</guid><pubDate>Thu, 09 Apr 2026 23:12:36 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/5a6716_334ef0a62ce64d0882664227fb0e88dd~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>aldwinok</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[When protests feel personal]]></title><description><![CDATA[I get teary-eyed when I see people protesting for immigrant rights. It’s not just empathy, it’s recognition. Every chant, every placard, every raised fist feels like an embrace meant for me. It feels like they’re fighting for my place in a world that sometimes forgets how hard it is to begin again, to rebuild a life on foreign soil while carrying the ghost of another home in your chest. When I see them march, I feel seen. I feel like my neighbors love me not because they have to, but because...]]></description><link>https://www.writetoempower.com/single-post/when-protests-feel-personal</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69d5994974eeae096e52530b</guid><pubDate>Wed, 08 Apr 2026 00:07:25 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/5a6716_ff31af55ea6c4cb4a0a36ce18a3748b1~mv2.jpeg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>aldwinok</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Everything, everywhere, all at once]]></title><description><![CDATA[I sometimes question the career choice I made. Not in a throw-my-laptop-out-the-window-and-open-a-beach-bar kind of way — although that fantasy does visit me every Monday at 7:13 a.m. — but in a quieter, more persistent way. The kind that shows up when I’m driving down I-680, coffee in one hand, existential dread in the other, wondering how my life became a series of phone calls that begin with, “Hi, just looping you in…” Being a nursing home administrator is not just a job. It’s a lifestyle....]]></description><link>https://www.writetoempower.com/single-post/everything-everywhere-all-at-once</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69cafe1d4284fdcbdef265e9</guid><pubDate>Mon, 30 Mar 2026 23:00:19 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/5a6716_e8cf95c5f1734b5284a99dc93a1ac9b1~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_756,h_812,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>ALDWIN FAJARDO-PONDER</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Lack of access to safe water, poor sanitation killing 361,000 children worldwide each year]]></title><description><![CDATA[About 361,000 children under 5 years of age die each year due to diarrhea caused by poor sanitation and lack of access to safe, readily available water at home, according to a new report by the World Health Organization and UNICEF.  The Joint Monitoring Program report – Progress on drinking water, sanitation and hygiene: 2017 update and Sustainable Development Global baselines – also revealed that more than 2 billion people worldwide lack access to safe, readily available water at home and...]]></description><link>https://www.writetoempower.com/single-post/2017/09/11/lack-of-access-to-safe-water-poor-sanitation-killing-361000-children-worldwide-each-year</link><guid isPermaLink="false">5fda9d9ab69bde0018ae3b4d</guid><pubDate>Mon, 11 Sep 2017 20:59:09 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/5a6716_b830bcf25c2e420d8925f4e2b4847ffc~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_450,h_300,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>LINDABLUE R BARTON</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Proof of citizenship required in Trump's America?]]></title><description><![CDATA[Donald Trump’s presidency and the hateful rhetoric he brings with him certainly created waves of uneasiness among millions of immigrants — documented or not — in the United States. It flipped my personal “panic on” switch, particularly when immigration agents started rounding up mostly brown people for overstaying their welcome (or something like that) here. A naturalized American who came here (and still speaks) with a thick Filipino accent, it feels as if I have to always be prepared to...]]></description><link>https://www.writetoempower.com/single-post/2017/03/06/proof-of-citizenship-required-in-trumps-america</link><guid isPermaLink="false">5fda9d9ab69bde0018ae3b4a</guid><pubDate>Mon, 06 Mar 2017 20:53:39 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/5a6716_16b3e11b240a49d1a62404f282b5a1b9~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_856,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>ALDWIN FAJARDO-PONDER</dc:creator></item></channel></rss>