Archive - Top Stories

By TESSA JAMANDRE DESPITE the criticisms hurled at the media for the way they covered last Monday’s hostage crisis,  most of them observed journalist manuals and safety guidelines on dangerous assignments, and only a few seemed unaware of such guidelines. But one thing was clear. They all took their cues mainly from the police on

BY ELLEN TORDESILLAS PRESIDENT Aquino Tuesday  called up Donald Tsang, chief executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China, to personally express his condolences to the families of eight Hong Kong residents who died Monday in Manila after they were held hostage by a dismissed policeman while on a

(Reflections on Venus and the Miss Universe contest) By MYLAH ROQUE I WIPED my eyes after the Miss Universe 2010 host announced Venus Raj was 4th runner-up. Coming from watching the coverage of the tourists’ hostage taking the day before, I felt that we were a nation hungry for a break, for a spot of

MORE than three hours after the  almost 12-hour crisis ended, President Aquino issued the following statement: With the rest of the Filipino people, I wish to offer our deepest condolences to the families of the victims whose lives were lost in the hostage situation at the Quirino Grandstand. The Secretary of Foreign Affairs has conveyed

By BOOMA CRUZ TWENTY-SEVEN years after the murder of opposition leader and former senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr., his daughters say the search for the brains behind his assassination is over, and that the Aquino family has already achieved justice. Ma. Elena “Ballsy” Cruz and Aurora “Pinky” Abellada, elder sisters of President Benigno Aquino III,

By KHRYSTA IMPERIAL RARA “MY son wants to be an MILF commander,” said 38-year-old Abdulbasit Benito, a peace advocate based in Cotobato City. “He wants to fight soldiers because they are causing displacement and poverty.” Benito’s son, Hareeth Djibril, is eight years old and likes to play war games with his friends and classmates, imagining

BY TESSA JAMANDRE DAVAO.— Sixty-five years ago today, Juan Pascual was hiding in a foxhole in Guianga town, south of this province. He had been there for days as double-bodied planes of the Americans were shelling the abaca farm he was tending, clearing the area of the remaining Japanese forces that have already announced unconditional

VETERAN journalist, journalism educator and VERA Files trustee Yvonne Chua was named 2010 Ninoy and Cory Aquino Fellowship Awardee for journalism. In a simple ceremony held Monday, Chua was cited for the “depth and breadth of her work” as a journalist. Flora May M.Cerna, head of the Department of Research and Project Development of the

By JOSEPH ARNEL DELIVERIO Sibugay Express IPIL, Zamboanga Sibugay.—They fled Basilan to escape the menace of sea bandits, only to live more difficult lives here—as beggars. Seven impoverished Badjao families have made the streets of Ipil their home after fleeing Maluso town in Basilan to avoid what they said was harassment and terrorism by sea

By TESSA JAMANDRE TANAY, Rizal.—Some of the Armed Forces’ most promising officers spent years in detention here, inside a high-fenced, heavily guarded facility within Camp Capinpin, the isolated military outpost east of Metro Manila. The prison became the setting for some of the soldiers’ hardest and loneliest days, and it was also where they marked

BY ELLEN TORDESILLAS In the past,  political observers warn that in the Philippines,  it’s possible to win in the elections but  lose in the counting. The results of a series of surveys conducted by Social Weather Station evaluating the May 2010 automated elections showed that almost two-thirds of Filipino voters (68 per cent) were satisfied

By ELLEN TORDESILLAS and TESSA JAMANDRE (Conclusion) HUNDREDS of junior officers of the Armed Forces of the Philippines who took over the Oakwood Hotel in 2003 in a mutiny against military corruption continue to face the consequences of their actions, with lives derailed and careers destroyed. Most of them spent years in jail, were physically