Archive - Focus

By ELLEN TORDESILLAS PRESIDENT Gloria Arroyo Monday announced that she will be running for the congressional seat in the second district of Pampanga, currently being held by her son Mikey, in the 2010 elections. Arroyo read a prepared message at a government radio station, DYRB:” After much contemplation I realized I am not yet ready

MEDIA groups and journalists are demanding for the creation of an independent commission to investigate the Nov. 23 Maguindanao massacre that killed 31 members of media. If President Gloria Arroyo fails to deliver justice to the victims of the carnage, the worst in the electoral history of the Philippines, the media group, which has adopted

By ELLEN TORDESILLAS THE Commission on Human Rights is availing of the services of two international experts on investigation of human rights violations to help probe the Maguindanao massacre that killed 57 persons, the worst election-related violence in a highly volatile Philippine elections. Human Rights Chairperson Leila de Lima said the commission has deputized Peruvian

By ROMEL REGALADO BAGARES GENERAL SANTOS CITY.—Sixty-nine-year-old Maura Montaño seethed with anger when she was asked what she thought of the men—no, the monsters—who did terrible things last Monday in Ampatuan town, Maguindanao to her eldest child, Marife “Neneng” Montaño, the 44-year-old editor of the bilingual newsweekly Saksi Mindanaoan, a fledgling four-page publication that, all

By ROMEL REGALADO BAGARES KORONADAL CITY, South Cotabato.–What is now known here as the Ampatuan massacre has wiped out the staff of the five-year-old pioneering vernacular newsweekly Periodico Ini (This Periodical) based in the city and left many news organizations in five towns missing a staff member or two. Police and military officials said Wednesday

TWENTY-EIGHT reporters from Mindanao were assembled in Puerto Prinsesa City in Palawan for a workshop when they heard the news that some of their colleagues suffered a brutal death in the hands of armed men in Maguindanao. All shared the same concern and lament. We could have been one of those killed, said those from

THE election-related massacre of at least a dozen journalists in Maguindanao province on Monday is the deadliest single event recorded for the press worldwide. A partial list of fatalities published Wednesday afternoon by inquirer.net  contained the names of 25 journalists and media workers. Research by the U.S.-based Committee to Protect  Journalists showed the death toll

THE disappearance of 21 kilometers of rivers in Metro Manila and the constriction of existing ones have contributed to the worst flooding ever seen in the area during storm “Ondoy,” scientists said on Monday. During a briefing on climate change held at the Rockwell Club, the scientists also said it is not only the informal

By ELLEN TORDESILLAS SEN. Francis “Chiz” Escudero said Tuesday he is not to running  for any elective position in the 2010 elections. “Napagpasyahan ko, na hindi tumakbo bilang pangulo sa darating na halalan,” he said in a morning conference at  Club Filipino in Greenhills, San Juan. His announcement ended  the uncertainty on his presidential bid

By ELLEN TORDESILLAS SAYING  that the administration of Gloria Arroyo has “undeniably been successful” in fighting poverty, former Defense Secrerary Gilbert Teodoro  vowed to continue the programs of Arroyo if he is elected president. Teodoro and actor Edu Manzano, former chairman of the Optical Media Board, were proclaimed as Lakas-Kampi-CMD presidential and vice presidential candidates,

By ELLEN TORDESILLAS FOR one who admits of not being computer and internet savvy, Sen. Benigno Aquino III is not doing badly at all in cyberspace. He leads other 2010 presidential aspirants in terms of combined number of Facebook and Friendster “friends” with 155,950 followed by Sen. Francis Escudero with 81,114 and Manny Villar with

IN December 2003, a son of former Armed Forces comptroller Maj. Gen. Carlos Garcia was caught bringing $100,000 into the U.S. and held by Customs authorities. Garcia later admitted the money was his and said it was intended for his wife’s medical treatment in the U.S. The horde of cash triggered an investigation by the