The Channel

Tune up, look, and listen!

Today, we celebrate the life of The Channel's own walking energy drink, Denise Cassandra Decio. On and off camera, her energy lifts the room. Her voice makes people listen.

Your dedication and hard work stand out. The light and passion you share inspire everyone around you.

With love,
𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗹𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗮 𝗙𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗹𝘆

𝗛𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗼 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲!

We welcome the new year and choose to rise. We seek the truth. We speak with our own voices. We stand through every challenge. No one gives us victory; we earn it through courage and resilience.

We step into this year to conquer and seek new possibilities. We dare to speak with purpose. Triumph does not define a winner. Courage defines a winner—the courage to begin again and keep going.

There is a cruelty to New Year’s Eve—a demand that we toast to the passing of time, when time is the very thing that robbed us. How can I celebrate the arrival of a year that promises to be a tomb for everything we once were?

As the clock winds down its final seconds, the air grows thin. I stand on the border of a year that will not hold your name, watching the fireworks burn out like the questions I never asked.

But until then, as crowds of strangers deck the halls and cheer for this damn season, the vessel you created in me will perish as I enter a year where the shrine of your eyes doesn’t exist. For what is a god without its faithful servant?

My heart mimics the thunder of the firecrackers, but in its deepest, most stifled chamber, it only fractures—a quiet, internal breaking as the old year bleeds out.

But if God were to hear my pleas and grant us a chance to relive it—no, I wouldn’t go back to that night to change our fate. Instead, I’d simply choose to experience what we had just once more.

I’d choose to get soaked in that rain with you again, while the winged seraphs of heaven came roaring down upon us as the world fell away beneath our feet. In that fleeting moment, suspended in that earthly scene, I would have asked you those silly little questions.

To walk across that bridge on our way home once more—the water familiar and dark below us, the sky bruised in heavy orange—I should have asked you a thousand things. I should have known you deeper.

“How do you start your day?”

“What did you notice first about me?”

“If I were a worm, would you still love me?”

Silly little questions. But I never took my chance. I never allowed myself to be a little sillier with you.

I could have taken back my choice that night, and we could still be dancing within these walls. But I didn’t. I have made peace with that decision because in every hesitant pause, in every breath I took, every time I gazed at you with pleading eyes—one step forward, three steps back—I was already acting as if you were gone.

Nothing could have changed my mind that night, nor any night that has passed since. I was mourning us while we were still happening.

Until then, the ghosts of your memory will keep knocking upon my door at night. And I will stand there quietly, ears pressed to the wood and hands tied behind my back. I’ll wait still, until your ghost fades away.

So now, when the clock strikes twelve, I’ll simply take a deep breath. My tears won’t fall, and my walls won’t break. I will watch the year slip in—a year where our ill-fated story will remain unwritten and buried.

’Tis the damn season.

Literary by Josefa Nikka Esquivel, The Channel

𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟱 𝘀𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗼𝗻 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗮𝗻 𝗲𝗻𝗱.

With 24 hours left before 2026, we stand between reflection and resolve. We honor every risk, every lesson, and every moment. This year tested us. It taught us to rise, seek purpose, and speak with courage. As these final hours pass, we carry the strength to find new paths. We own our voices. Every ending prepares us to begin again.

December 30 marks the anniversary of Dr. Jose Rizal’s martyrdom. This moment shaped Philippine history. More than a century later, the country remembers a national hero and his enduring questions. He challenged governance, education, and civic responsibility. These themes remain relevant today.

On this 129th Rizal Day, history guides our reflection and action. This day calls Filipinos to consider their role in addressing national challenges.

Let’s remember that “𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗿𝘆” means different things to different people. A little kindness goes a long way.

Christmas is often a season of joy, celebration, and being together with family and friends. But not everyone experiences the holidays the same way. For some, this time brings feelings of loneliness, sadness, or financial difficulty. That’s why we must look beyond the celebrations and understand one another.

The true spirit of Christmas is about compassion and care. Simple acts—checking on someone, offering company, or sending a kind message—make a big difference. These small gestures help people feel seen, supported, and included.

Let us open our hearts and create a community where everyone feels they belong, no matter how they feel this season. By showing kindness and understanding, we share the real meaning of Christmas.

Wishing everyone a season filled with love, hope, and togetherness.
Warm Christmas greetings from the 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗹𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗮 𝗙𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗹𝘆.

Merry Christmas to all!

Here’s to a birthday as merry and magical as Christmas Day!

As our senior photojournalist, your leadership, talent, and passion inspire us all. Through your lens, you turn moments into meaning so a story is felt, preserved, and told truthfully.

May this year bring you great opportunities, new adventures, and continued success—both behind the camera and beyond it.

With love,
𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗹𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗮 𝗙𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗹𝘆