JOSh Friends

In this episode of JOSh Friends, Callum reflects on Ignite by Where's the Sheep? — the theme song from the film Ignacio de Loyola — a song that found him not in a moment of triumph, but in the middle of the quiet. And what it named in him was the one thing athletes resist most: surrender. Not giving up the fight. Giving up the illusion that you're carrying it alone. Callum "The Mighty...

Here's the Spotify description to match: From Meeting Expectations to Exceeding Them — For God He was the studious one. Head down, notes organized, deadlines met. Excellence was the expectation — from his family, from himself. Leadership was never part of the plan. And then he just kept showing up. Ferdinand, a recent Communication graduate from Trinity University of Asia and youth ministry vo...

On mic, she gives voice to characters, stories, and productions. Off mic, she's still learning to trust her own. Ces Dela Cruz Guevara has spent her career behind microphones and in front of rooms — as a voice actor, dubbing director, script translator, host, and events producer. She knows how to hold a stage. What she's still figuring out is how to hold the quiet. As a creative who juggle...

On air, he is DJ Bolero. Warm, steady, and always present. Off air, there were seasons Bryan Calzado could barely get out of bed. Seasons of anxiety and depression that nobody saw, until music found him, or more accurately, until he let it find him again. As a broadcaster, songwriter, choir conductor, and mentor to the Junior Parish Choir at the Parish of the Holy Sacrifice in Quezon City, Bryan h...

You can't always tell what someone is carrying just by looking at their smile. May Cu is known by those around her as warm, bubbly, and always smiling. As a Medical Assistant, she spends her days caring for others. As a mother of three, she gives everything she has to her children. But in the middle of all that giving, she carries one of the heaviest kinds of grief. Over a short period of time...

There's a difference between being in the spotlight and being the reason the spotlight exists. In this episode of JoshFriends, we sit with Margarita Claudette Bautista Galura — Executive Director of COSMIC Philippines, Corporate Secretary of the Philippine Madrigal Singers Music Inc. and the Andrea O. Veneracion Sing Philippines Foundation, former performing member of the Philippine Madrigal S...

She learned to say buongiorno perfectly. But some days, the only word that feels right is Nanay. Sr. Susay Valdez, RC is a Cenacle Sister missioned to the Generalate community in Rome, where she navigates international community life, accompanies Filipino Catholics abroad, and distributes warm meals on Wednesday nights to those living on the streets. In this episode, she reflects on what it means...

Maricel Olaguer builds safety nets for a living. She helps people prepare for retirement, for emergencies, for futures they haven't lived yet. She anticipates risk. She closes gaps before they open. That's not just her job — it's how she thinks. But nobody teaches you how to forecast your own burnout. In this episode of JoshFriends, Maricel "Cel" Olaguer, a Certified Internal...

Jovanni Chua spends his days forming other people. Retreats, recollections, choir rehearsals, one-on-ones with students still figuring out who they are. He walks with people for a living. And then he goes home, and walks with a twelve-year-old asking hard questions about faith, and a seven-year-old who just sings without caring how he sounds. Nobody warns you that the people most likely to run dry...

Ronald Dator plans months, sometimes a year, ahead for a living. He anticipates gaps before they happen. But the most important things in his life? He never saw them coming. And neither did he plan for the moment a song pulled him back to himself. In this episode of JoshFriends, Ronald Dator, a Demand Planning Manager based in Canada, reflects on what happens when the part of you that knows how to...

In this episode of JoshFriends,Sr. Maria Leah Japos, PVMI — former lawyer, acoustic band singer, and now a religious sister who knocks on strangers' doors for a living — reflects on what it means to keep showing up when the mission feels heavier than it looks. From courtrooms where every word carried consequence, to parishes and homes where the work is quiet, unglamorous, and deeply human — he...

“Sige lang… tulugan muna natin.” In this episode of JOSh Friends , Mir de los Santos reflects on what it means to keep going when life feels heavy, uncertain, and unresolved. From personal grief and loss, to the weight of current events, to the quiet struggles many carry each day—this episode names a truth we often overlook: rest is not surrender. Sometimes, choosing to pause is an act of trust. A...

There's a day between Good Friday and Easter that no one really talks about. No miracles. No resolution. Just silence. Syr Anthony Tortor sits with us in that space — drawing from his life in the seminary, his love for music, and this week's Sacred Space reflection — to ask: what if the in-between is exactly where we need to be? Get your copy of Sacred Space: Emerging from the Mess at jesc...

In this episode of JOSh Friends, Ronaldo — a retired PAGCOR Pit Officer, disability pension recipient, and discipline-driven life builder — reflects on what it means to keep moving forward when the finish line turns out to be just another starting line. From casino floors where every decision carried weight, to morning walks around his barangay and evening rosaries that anchor his nights — his sto...

In this episode of JOSh Friends, Bess — Program Management and Ecopark Operations Department Head at Manila Water Foundation — reflects on what it means to do work that sustains life without ever being seen. From rural communities waiting years for clean water, to the green lungs of Metro Manila that most people take for granted, her story is one of quiet, faithful presence in systems too importan...

Six years after his original graduation date, communication student Carlos Reyes is still pressing continue. In this episode of JOSh Friends, Carlos shares what it's like to be neurodivergent, delayed, and finishing a thesis in a world that didn't pause for him. Through the lens of anime, gaming, and the quiet grind of showing up — he revisits the wins, the losses, and the season when God...

She paid her own tuition. Booked the job. Showed up to every shoot. And still felt like she was one missed deadline away from completely losing it. In this episode of JOSh Friends, writer, actress, and creative communicator Kristen Abbey gets honest about Q1 of 2026 — the overcommitments, the unfinished drafts, the projects that didn't land the way she imagined, and the specific exhaustion tha...

Before you build anything, you check the ground. Forty years after EDSA, civil engineer Carlo Legaspi reflects on foundations — not just of structures, but of nation, faith, and community. In this episode of JOSh Friends , Carlo shares how the new song “Kalye” by the Jesuit Music Ministry stirred something unexpected in him. Through the lens of engineering — soil tests, cracked walls, structural i...

Ash Wednesday. You are dust. Systems fail. Nations fall. But courage rebuilds. Forty years after EDSA People Power, engineer Tricia Oliveros reflects on what happens when everything collapses — whether it’s a nation, a career, or the structures we built our identity on. In this Ash Wednesday episode of JOSh Friends , Tricia connects her 11 years in engineering — where every system failure demanded...

February 1986, millions of Filipinos stood on EDSA. Ordinary people. Extraordinary courage. February 2026—iba na ang laban, pero pareho pa rin ang tanong: pipili ka pa bang tumindig? In this episode of JOSh Friends , An Julie Fabella—CSR II by profession, ordinary Filipino by choice—shares how courage doesn’t always look like grand gestures or viral moments. Minsan, tahimik lang. Nasa pagpasok ara...

Kumusta, mga kaibigan! In this episode of JOSh Friends , Christal Dela Cruz brings us into the noisy, tab-filled reality of a graduating student juggling academics, content creation, hosting gigs, and big life questions. Featuring insights from Life Hacks from the Buddha by Dr. Tony Fernando , this conversation dives into what it means to find clarity when your mind just won’t slow down. Christal...

Kumusta, mga kaibigan! When was the last time you looked at a photo of yourself as a baby—not for nostalgia, but to really ask: Who was I before the deadlines, the roles, the pressure to perform? In this episode of JOSh Friends, we're diving into Love Him Ever More by Fr. Joseph Laramie, SJ—a nine-day personal retreat that invites us to examine our own hearts before stepping into the mission o...

“What if the version of you that’s always ‘showing up’… isn’t really you?” In this episode of JOSh Friends , Alyssa Pillora—Filipino teacher at Ateneo de Naga Junior High School—shares a moment from her Grade 8 classroom that turned into an uncomfortable, deeply personal question: Who am I when no one’s watching? And more honestly— do I even know who I am when people are? Caught between lesson pla...

Coming home isn’t always as simple as going back. Sometimes, it’s where the hardest questions begin. In this episode of JOSh Friends , George Kevin Asuncion shares what it’s really like to return home after years of studying abroad—carrying a degree, a lot of dreams, and a heart still trying to catch up. Through stories of distance, loss, and quiet redirection, he reflects on how coming home isn’t...

Joy in the Waiting | Third Week of Advent Waiting is hard. But waiting with joy —that’s the real challenge. In this Third Week of Advent episode of JOSh Friends , Sheila Mae Jaso reflects on what it means to find joy not at the finish line, but in the waiting itself. Drawing from her childhood by the shore, her journey through religious life, and her work in social formation, Sheila reminds us tha...