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 [...]

Faculty Follies

Pictures from December 15 ’08’s ” Faculty Follies.”

Scenes from a rally (12-12-08)

Judging from the size of the crowd that demonstrated against Charter Change on December 12, 2008, cha-cha will push through, if not this year, then next year.

Human rights lawyer abducted, illegally arrested

On October 23, as the police leadership used the term “due process” to explain why they have so far failed to find out the source of the P6.9 million that a now-retired general was caught with in Russia, a human rights lawyer was abducted and illegally arrested.

Goodbye, Joegar

The last time I saw him, he looked almost the same as he did, 10, 15 years ago. From what I knew, Joegar was a good man — he didn’t play around, he wasn’t grumpy (many editors are, when they’re at the desk; there’s something about editing that takes the humor out of a person), [...]

Congrats to Pete Lacaba!

One of my favorite editors (not to mention poet, writer, and Filipino) is Cinemanila’s Lifetime Achievement Awardee for this year (click here for more details). I think Sir Pete needs a bigger house (for all the awards he keeps getting).

A forgotten crisis

We read about the Somali pirates who kidnap our seamen, but what about their people?
There but for the grace of God, go I. Should we blame the Somalis for what has become of their country? Was there anything they could have done to change their lives? But if the answer is none, then how do [...]

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 [...]

Covering China

CNN’s China bureau chief Jimmy Florcruz was FOCAP’s guest speaker for our second Teodoro Benigno Lecture Series. Jimmy went to China 37 years ago, in an “open ended tour” that turned into years of exile when the former dictator Ferdinand Marcos declared Martial Law shortly after Jimmy went to China.

Moot Court

One learns by doing, so they say, so today we played justices and tried the case of Romulo Neri vs Senate. The question was, could Neri invoke executive privilege on the three questions the Senate committee on transparency wanted him to answer?