SUMMARY MANILA, Philippines – In the past week, Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo and National Security Adviser Eduardo Año made explicit mention of the role of the press in the Philippine government’s transparency initiative to assert the country’s sovereign rights and sovereignty claims in the West Philippine Sea. “A free press, reporting on events as […]
SUMMARY MANILA, Philippines – Chinese ships attempted to block the Philippine Coast Guard’s (PCG) rescue mission on Saturday, June 29, when the agency was responding to an incident in waters near Bajo de Masinloc after the engine of Filipino fishing boat “Akio” exploded, leaving two injured. The PCG’s BRP Sindangan (MRRV-4407) was assigned to respond […]
SUMMARY Clutching my rosary, I joined many Filipino Catholics on Thursday, June 27, in heeding the call of one of the most popular leaders of the Catholic Church. To defend the Philippines from China, Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas called on Filipino Catholics to join a rosary campaign from June 27 until August 15. The former […]
SUMMARY Clutching my rosary, I joined many Filipino Catholics on Thursday, June 27, in heeding the call of one of the most popular leaders of the Catholic Church. To defend the Philippines from China, Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas called on Filipino Catholics to join a rosary campaign from June 27 until August 15. The former […]
SUMMARY I can’t remember who exactly said that “Life is lyrical in its ideal form, tragic in its fate, but comic in reality.” This saying is what comes to my mind when I try to compare the condition of our country’s relationships with China before the Spanish period at the same time brand them this time around. I imagine that we […]
SUMMARY I can’t remember who exactly said that “Life is lyrical in its ideal form, tragic in its fate, but comic in reality.” This saying is what comes to my mind when I try to compare the condition of our country’s relationships with China before the Spanish period at the same time brand them this time around. I imagine that we […]
SUMMARY More than three centuries before China fired water cannons on Filipino ships, historic battles between two naval forces erupted in Philippine waters. In 1646, the Protestant Dutch sought to invade the Philippines, which had been a colony of Catholic Spain for eight decades at that time. (The Philippines would be a Spanish colony for more […]
SUMMARY In an interview, former president Ferdinand Marcos once described his children this way: Imee was his “intellectual twin” and Irene was “everybody’s sweetheart.” When it came to Bongbong, Ferdinand Jr., journalist Paulynn Sicam recalls that the dictator paused and said, “He has, um, good muscle coordination.” He then added that “like his mother,” Bongbong liked to […]
SUMMARY In an interview, former president Ferdinand Marcos once described his children this way: Imee was his “intellectual twin” and Irene was “everybody’s sweetheart.” When it came to Bongbong, Ferdinand Jr., journalist Paulynn Sicam recalls that the dictator paused and said, “He has, um, good muscle coordination.” He then added that “like his mother,” Bongbong liked to […]
SUMMARY Claim: China has threatened war on the Philippines amid rising tensions in the West Philippine Sea. Why we fact-checked this: The YouTube video bearing the claim, posted on June 25, has gained 65,563 views, 2,300 likes, and 1,757 comments as of writing. The video’s title reads: “Last warning ng China! PBBM pinag bantaan na! […]