The 20 Scoutmag.ph Stories You Should Read From 2016

This is it, pancit. We’re finally down to the last day of this crazy year. We’d like to think that Scoutmag.ph experienced a renaissance in 2016, putting out stories you guys loved reading and sharing. We’re compiling all the best Scoutmag.ph reads this year one last time, so you may also look back on the year that was.

1. “What If Filipino Politicians Wore Streetwear?” – Politics in this country remained the circus it has always been for our entire history, so we decided to laugh at it and dress up the clowns. (Except the veep. She’s the only veritable non-clown in this lineup.)
2. “This Giant Community-wide Artwork In La Trinidad Is Stunning” – We tried as much as we can to find the beauty in this mess of a year, and you all loved this huge piece of art painted on walls in a La Trinidad neighborhood. Now the strawberry farms aren’t the only thing to go there for.
3. “How To Fact-Check What You Share: A Simple Guide” – CHIGGIDY-CHECK YASELF BEFORE YA WRECK YASELF.
4. “The Beginner’s Guide To Trending Filipino Slang” – We’re putting this up here mostly as a record of all the new slang words that developed this year, because we know we’re going to be speaking differently this time next year.
5. “This Filipino Dota 2 Team Just Won P500,000” and “This Young Weighlifter Just Brought Us Our First Olympic Medal In 20 Years” – We are not without our own “Pinoy Pride” (ugh) moments in sports this year. Read up.
6. “Where Are We Pokemon Going?” – THEY PROMISED US A FUN TIME WALKING AROUND CATCHING POKEMON. Man, did the hype die so fast.
7. “Show Me How You Play” – We put together the senior all-stars of the Ateneo Lady Blue Eagles volleyball team and asked them to talk about their last season that didn’t go exactly the way they wanted.
8. “Where Were You On The Night Of November 18?” and “Meet The Girl Who Protested The Ninja Marcos Burial Solo This Morning” – This year, the Duterte administration buried the late dictator Marcos in the Libingan Ng Mga Bayani, effectively honoring him as a national hero. Of course, we weren’t having any of it.
9. “After 30 Years, The Hole In The Ozone Layer Is Closing Back Up” – We’re still living in a doomed planet, but this is a spot of good news in a year of environmental doom and gloom. It’s on us to keep the momentum going for this one, though.
10. “What Hamilton And Filipinos Share On Being Young, Scrappy, And Hungry” – It’s safe to say that Hamilton became an even bigger hit this year, and its lessons hit pretty close to home due to how similar our people are with him.
11. “Mocha Uson Is Now This Year’s MMFF Ambassador,” “How Do You Solve A Problem Like Mocha?“, and “Only Mocha Uson Can Make This Far Leap In Logic” – Also known as the Mocha saga, we made this woman even more famous than she has any right to be, but only because we have to keep showing people how poisonous she is (and others like her, to be sure) to our society.
12. “The Best Roasts Of Bongbong Marcos’s iPhone 7 Tweet” and “Other Movies Sandro Marcos Should Watch After Rogue One” – We like burning the Marcoses. They make it so easy.
13. “#RP69fanfic Is The Most Brilliant Act Of Subversion (Of The New Regime)” – People got tired of all the BS going around, and the Filipino millennial’s ability to poke fun at things is near-legendary at this point.
14. “This Vaporwave Response To Tito Sotto’s Victim-Blaming Remark Is The Best One Yet” – We say near-legendary, because which other generation can take their frustration and dissatisfaction and adapt it to the niche genres and art forms better than ours? (Probably the next generation, that’s who.) Also, Tito Sotto is a horrible human being, and this vaporwave act of protest is a masterpiece.
15. “Sen. Risa Hontiveros Files Bills For #EveryWoman” – And on that note, let it not be said that nothing is being done for women and other oppressed sectors of society.
16. “The 2016 Scout Summer Intern Yearbook” – INTERNING FOR US IS FUN, Y’ALL. You get awesome shoots like this.
17. “Things I’ve Learned Living Semi-Independently As A Millennial” – Here are all the lessons we wish wiser people, but not necessarily older people, taught us before we decided to live on our own.
18. “The New Campaign For The Mental Health Act Puts A Spotlight On The Country’s Mental Health Problem” – This is a thing we can no longer deny exists, and exists pervasively in our society. Time for mental health care to get a move on in this place.
19. “Million Dollar Millie” – Stranger Things’ Millie Bobby Brown is one of this year’s breakout stars, and we were lucky enough to spend some time with her when they dropped by earlier this year.
20. “How I Learned To Love The Hunger” – And finally, one of our most important reads of the year: an essay by Scout graphic artist Grace de Luna describing the real-life lengths she—as well as a whole lot of other people who came before and will come after her, millennial or otherwise—had to go to in order to get a foot into the world she wanted to be in, and succeed.

Have a happy new year, everyone!

Photo by Geloy Concepcion