Siargao Island – David Haldane

May 3, 2026

Trouble in Paradise

By David Haldane May 3, 2026 The message gladdened my heart. “Can you help us?” it began. “We received an email regarding San Benito, […]

October 6, 2025

Hate Invades an Idyllic Philippine Island

By David Haldane Oct. 6, 2025 It feels like something a Nazi might say. “If Chabad House is legal,” Maria Tokong wonders on Facebook, […]

August 18, 2025

Landing With a Thud

By David Haldane August 18, 2025 The silence was deafening. “So,” the master-of-ceremonies asked the audience at my first book launch on Siargao Island, “are […]

April 21, 2025

Israel Thriving in the Philippines

By David Haldane April 21, 2025 This was going to be a column about Middle Eastern politics. How suffering Gazans had finally risen […]

March 17, 2025

Israelis Misbehaving or Filipino Antisemitism?

By David Haldane March 17, 2025 My first reaction was astonishment. Followed almost immediately by alarm. Not just the kind that gently wakes […]

March 3, 2025

The Cap with the Shining Red Star

By David Haldane March 3, 2025 It was the cap that got my attention. There it was on the front page of a […]

February 17, 2025

Double-Edged Sword: Siargao’s Foreign Invasion

By David Haldane Feb. 17, 2025 I’ve never paid much attention to celebrities. In a world full of monumental problems, I believe, what celebrities […]

February 2, 2025

The Jews of Siargao Island

By David Haldane February 2, 2025 It started at an airport. Strolling through Mactan-Cebu International Airport last month, I noticed a bearded man […]

May 19, 2024

The Transformation and Resurrection of Siargao Island

By David Haldane May 19, 2024 It almost seemed like the old days. The days, that is, before Covid and Odette. Tourists from both […]

December 19, 2023

Socorro Bayanihan: Commune or Cult?

By David Haldane Dec. 18, 2023 We were a mile off the coast of a remote Philippine Island when I realized the boat […]

May 4, 2023

Digital Nomads in the Philippines: A New Mode(m) of Living

By David Haldane May 4, 2023 The meeting was long overdue. As my publicist and I waited at the Pancake House in Cagayan de […]

April 27, 2023

Whiplash!

By David Haldane April 27, 2023 It felt like riding a rollercoaster. First there was the comforting click of rails, accompanied by an anticipation […]