Archive - Top Stories

VERA Files announces with deep sorrow the demise of VERA Files co-founder and trustee Lourdes Simbulan. She was 54.

By ARTHA KIRA PAREDES
BARE feet stamp to the beat of gongs. Men in bahag (G-string) and women in colorful tapis (wraparound skirt) perform indigenous dances. Bamboo cups of basi (sugarcane wine) are then raised and drained in a ceremonial toast.

By KATHLYN DELA CRUZ
THE arraignment of three more suspects in the Ampatuan massacre case was postponed today due to varied reasons. Sultan sa Borong former Vice Mayor Sukarno Badal, an Ampatuan ally before surrendering October last year, did not appear before the court.

By BENEDICTO Q. SÁNCHEZ
Hacienda Jison in Toboso town in Negros Occidental seemed like the poster-perfect model for the government’s agrarian reform program—the landowner voluntarily offered his 41-hectare plantation for land reform coverage, and farm workers got their certificates of landownership award soon after. But on July 7 last year, the body of 29-year-old farmer beneficiary Artemio Montealto Jr. turned up in a creek in Sitio Tigsuban, hogtied and bashed with “stones” that, according to a police report, resulted in a broken skull.

SHOULD the feared 7.2-magnitude earthquake strike Metro Manila, the cities of Marikina and Pasigthat lie along the West Valley Fault have pledged to be prepared to respond to this and other similar disasters.

By VICENTE ALEJANDRO
PALO, LEYTE — For 60 years since the end of World War II, residents of this coastal town overlooking Leyte Gulf had lived in relative calm. On Nov. 21, 2005, however, the people of Palo were jolted by what is now considered the “bloodiest” incident since the war.

By MARC CAYABYAB
AS the country's lead agency against graft and corruption, the Office of the Ombudsman lags behind those of neighboring countries such as Indonesia and Singapore.

By GIAN GERONIMO
Photo and video by MARC CAYABYAB
IN barely two months, President Benigno S. Aquino III's first year in office is coming to a close. But human rights watchdogs here and overseas are still waiting for him to do at least two things to address the persistent problem of enforced disappearances.

By GIAN GERONIMO and GAIL ORDUÑA
WITH the resumption of the peace talks with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, journalists should be able to “look at conflict in a different light” and aid the public into understanding the roots of one of the longest-running secession wars in Asia.

By CYRILL YAMBAO and KATHLYN DELA CRUZ
UNLESS the Commission on Elections could prove that the machines used last elections were accurate and fail-safe, the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao should go back to manual voting this August, election watchdogs said.

THE U.S. Court of Appeals has found probable cause for former Police Officer Michael Ray Aquino to be extradited to the Philippines to stand trial for the Dacer-Corbito double-murder case. “Upon review of the record, we conclude that competent evidence supports the probable cause finding in this case,” according to a May 3 certified true copy of the court’s judgment affirming the ruling handed down by the District Court for New Jersey last Oct. 14.

By KATHLYN DELA CRUZ and CYRILL YAMBAO
THE supposed arraignment of three suspects in the Ampatuan massacre trial was moved tomorrow afternoon, May 5. Tato Sampogao, Taya Bangkulat, and Salik Bangkulat were present in court today but claimed they did not understand Filipino and English without an interpreter.Click on image to view video