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  By ALEX C. DELOS SANTOS Photos from BANGON ANTIQUE FB and JUN TENS ANTIQUE province in the western side of Panay Island is one of the provinces in the Visayas that survived super typhoon site Yolanda/Haiyan. Reported casualties and deaths from this province had been minimal, the reason perhaps that media coverage has not

Text and photos by MARIO IGNACIO IV GUIUAN, Eastern Samar- One week after typhoon Yolanda made its first landfall in this coastal town, residents are still in dire  need of  basic necessities like food, drinking water, fuel to cook their food and shelter. They are asking for assistance to repair their  houses and to buy

 By JOHNNA VILLAVIRAY GIOLAGON TACLOBAN CITY –Liannie Marie Nunez marches along the dark ground floor corridor or the Eastern Visayas Medical Center with a single-minded determination. As head nurse of the only operating hospital in Tacloban, her own personal losses take a backseat to the responsibilities of her profession. “We’re survivors,” she said with a

Text and photos by LUIS LIWANAG ORMOC City—The city of Ormoc in Leyte was just a speck in the horizon but to 38-year-old Marie Jean Decio, it was a place she could see and smell, a place that would bring her closer to her six children. Marie Jean traveled almost four hours by fast craft

Text and photos by JOSE BAYANI D. BAYLON IMMEDIATELY upon landing it became obvious to me that while there was a semblance of order, this was fragile because three days had passed and no relief had been delivered to Guiuan in Eastern Samar. Guiuan was the first to be hit by typhoon Yolanda Friday morning.

By COOPER RESABAL JR. MARIBOJOC, Bohol—The movie “Amigo” by American independent filmmaker John Sayles immortalized many picturesque sites in six towns of Bohol where it was filmed in its entirety in early 2010. A number of these towns were the most severely damaged by the 7.2 magnitude earthquake that hit the island province on Oct.

By ARTHA KIRA PAREDES and AMIEL MARK CAGAYAN BULDON, Maguindanao— Voters literally chased after ballot boxes in hotly contested towns in Maguindanao on barangay election day, while in others, there was hardly anyone outside the homes.

By VERA Files SENIOR citizens and persons with disabilities became the darlings of the press when they cast their ballots for the first time in SM malls on Monday. In Batangas, the media fussed over Reymundo Chica and his wife Melanie, both with visual impairment, as they entered SM Lipa, one of the four pilot areas

  By ARTHA KIRA PAREDES COTABATO CITY—Elections in some barangays in the Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) on Monday will be just a formality: There will be no real contest because a number of candidates are running unopposed. Local politicos in these areas have opted to “negotiate” the elections as a way to avert

By AVIGAIL OLARTE, LALA ORDENES and YVONNE T. CHUA (UPDATED) CEBU CITY—A powerful earthquake on Tuesday morning took Central Visayas by surprise, forcing residents to stay off the streets and businesses to close shop as a series of aftershocks continued to shake the city till evening. The epicenter of the 7.2-magnitude temblor struck Carmen in

  Text and photos by ELIZABETH LOLARGA IF Dr. Alfredo Mahar Francisco Lagmay, executive director of the Nationwide Operational Assessments of Hazards (NOAH), had his way, politics would be outlawed in disaster work. Speaking at the University of the Philippines Alumni Association’s “Kapihan ng Bayan sa UP,” he said local officials and their communities must

By JONATHAN DE SANTOS FORMER employees of the Commission on Human Rights have accused two commissioners of abusing their positions, prompting human rights advocates to write President Benigno Aquino III to urge tighter screening of appointees. The Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates (PAHRA) released the letter on Thursday at a press conference attended by