Archive - Top Stories

By MYLAH REYES-ROQUE
FROM the sea, Boracay’s White Beach looks like it has curtains stretched along its shores. Up close, the curtains are actually nylon mesh screens stretched on metal or bamboo poles ten to 15 feet high and buried deep on the beach. Welcome to Boracay during the habagat season.

By LEILANIE ADRIANO LAOAG CITY— Ilocanos here are rooting for Roger Tapia, a person with disability (PWD) competing in the 200-meter run event of the 2012 London Paralympic Games.

By PABLO A. TARIMAN
THE first Filipino filmmaker to win the best director trophy at the Cannes Film fest is taking a new look at the recurring cycle of hostage-taking in Mindanao.

By NORMAN SISON
A man is injured and the doctor prescribes a local anesthetic. “Please, doc,” the patient asks. “Can’t I have an imported one?” Filipinos satirize their own foibles and the anesthetic joke pokes fun at the penchant for imports.

By CONG B. CORRALES CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY—Dumapong-Ancheta may be the Philippines’ best chance of winning a Paralympic medal. She holds the distinction of being the first and only Filipino Paralympian medalist ever, winning the bronze in the 2000 Paralympic Games in Sidney, Australia after beating the world powerliftingchampion. This year, her goal is to bring home the gold.

By ARTHA KIRA PAREDES SULU residents are bent on filing an objection to the list of voting applicants, despite possible reprisals and threats to their lives, Sulu’s second district representative said.

Text and photos by VINCENT GO BONGAO, Tawi-tawi – Endangered sea turtles are being harvested in Tawi-tawi seas and sold in the public market of Bongao, despite various laws banning such activities.

By KHRYSTA IMPERIAL RARA
“BIRD on the rocks!” the guide shouted excitedly. “To your right, top of the second boulder from shore, below the tree branch!”

By LALA ORDENES DURING the Judicial and Bar Council public interviews for the new Chief Justice, Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) Representative Maria Milagros N. Fernan-Cayosa remarked , “Everything I would have wanted to ask in order to get to know (Maria Lourdes P.A. Sereno) better is contained in this paper.” Fernan-Cayosa was talking about Sereno’s position paper presented before the IBP in its public forum on July 20.

Text and interview by ARTHA KIRA PAREDES, Photos and video by AMIEL MARK CAGAYAN COTABATO CITY— Local leaders in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) need to change their old habits by committing to clean and honest elections, said an Oblate priest who used to head the panel negotiating peace with Muslim rebels groups.

Text, photos and video by LUIS LIWANAG ISABELA, Basilan—This city became a haven of merry making as residents began the three-day Hari Raya festival marking the end of the monthlong period of fasting and prayer called Ramadan.

Text by ARTHA KIRA PAREDES, Photos and video by AMIEL MARK CAGAYAN DATU SAUDI AMPATUAN, Maguindanao— The hearings of the Election Registration Board (ERB) will push through in Maguindanao until the scheduled completion by September, even if the ongoing conflict persists.