Cory Aquino: 1933-2009

I met Cory Aquino only once, before she found out she had cancer. The Foreign Correspondents of the Philippines (FOCAP) was trying to invite her as a speaker, ad the board of directors met with her. It was just a cordial meeting, not an on the record presser, and so no one wrote about what [...]

US plans on how to distribute swine flu vaccine

The New York Times has a story on how government is planning to distribute vaccine for the Influenza AH1N1.
Buti pa sa Amerika, nagpa-plano na sila kung paano, kanino at kailan ibibigay ang vaccine laban sa swine flu, kahit wala pang dumarating. Sa atin, wala nang balita mula sa Department of Health (DOH) tungkol sa swine [...]

Right of Reply forum

CenterLaw, the Open Society and the UP Journalism Club held a forum on the Right of Reply Bill Tuesday morning at the UP College of Mass Communication. Short notes on the forum, to add to the ongoing discussion about the Right of Reply Bill.

Why the VFA is not a treaty

In a recent forum at the UP College of Law, lawyers took turns explaining the Visiting Forces Agreement the Philippines has with the United States.
Former UP dean Pacifico Agabin explained the gist of the motion for reconsideration they filed with the Supreme Court, asking the Court to reconsider its position on the VFA as a [...]

The Right of Reply Bill

On its face, the Right of Reply bill legalizes a right already recognized in practice by every self-respecting, ethical journalist: the individual’s right to air his/her side of the story. (Click here for both the House and Senate versions of the bill).
This is nothing but fairness, which is at the heart of every good journalistic [...]

The King of the Road

Filipinos don’t know how to obey when they’re in the Philippines, some commentaries say. Let us begin, some said before, by obeying authorities.

The press is more free in Nicaragua, Kosovo, Thailand, and Malaysia

The Philippine media is not Asia’s most free. The Reporters san Frontiers ranks the Philippines 139th in its 2008 report on press freedom, down from its slot of 128th last year. The Philippines is below Malaysia, Thailand, and even Timor-Leste. It is several slots down from Chad and Sudan, where the report said that “the [...]

Burned bone found in site identified by torture victim

A fact-finding mission had found what appeared to be a burned human bone, in a place identified as an old Army camp by brothers Raymond and Reynaldo Manalo. The Manalo brothers, as they are called, were abducted and tortured but managed to escape. They said members of the military took them, brought them to several [...]

Those who have turned their backs on their own cause

“They proclaim that change is impossible — and they see to it that it can’t happen by opposing it. They’re the self-fulfilling prophecies that have helped keep this country in the depths of the brutality, despair, hunger and hopelessness that defines life for the millions fighting for survival in these isles of want. When the [...]

Rantings and ravings