The South China Sea conflict had been a battle of maps long before China deployed its warships and the Philippines engaged in multination military drills as a countermeasure in the international waterway. China officially claimed the Spratly Islands in 1947 with a nine-dash-line map. But Spain marked the islands as part of Philippine territory two...
Category: History
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‘Ang sa Pilipinas ay sa Pilipinas’: PNoy’s legacy in defending the Philippines’ maritime rights in the South China Sea
EDITOR’S NOTE: The President Benigno Simeon Aquino III Memorial Lectures on Leadership and Democracy was launched on June 24 at the Ateneo de Manila University. The launch, one of the activities that marked the fourth anniversary of the former leader’s passing, was held under the auspices of the Ninoy and Cory Aquino Foundation, the Ateneo...
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Manila’s historic district of Pandacan, once known as ‘Little Italy,’ is in limbo
On March 10, 2015, asserting the primacy of human life and safety, the Supreme Court rejected the appeals of the “Big 3” oil companies Shell, Chevron, and Petron to its November 2014 ruling that they stop operations and relocate from the Pandacan Oil Depot in Manila. The oil companies were given six months to pull...
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Martial law 52nd: Little fires in the rain
The latest tropical depression had already exited the Philippine area of responsibility, but the rain persisted. In the morning, the weather bureau put out a thunderstorm advisory for Metro Manila and other parts of Luzon, and sure enough, it poured hard all afternoon before the skies gradually lightened on that evening of Sept. 21, the...
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Remember Ninoy Aquino’s murder on Aug. 21
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s directive to move the national commemoration of the murder of the late former senator Benigno “Ninoy’’ Aquino Jr. from Aug. 21 to Aug. 23 continues to be met with protest. Aquino, a key opposition leader who fought the dictatorial rule of the President’s late father, Ferdinand Marcos Sr., was assassinated while...
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Ilonggos recall Freedom Day moments in ‘Cry of Santa Barbara’
ILOILO CITY—While the Cry of Pugad Lawin in Luzon often takes center stage in history books as the trigger event of the Filipinos’ open revolutionary struggle to gain independence from the Spanish colonial regime, another pivotal moment took place in the Visayas, specifically Panay Island. The first sparks of rebellion flew in Barangay Jelicuon in...
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Footprints on Scarborough Shoal
On May 17, 1997, the first group of journalists embarked on an extraordinary expedition to this triangle-shaped coral reef now part of long-running geopolitical tension between the Philippines and China. It was a place few had heard of, let alone visited, at a time when the world was still grappling with dial-up internet and flip...
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Digital martial law library launched, ‘to ensure that all Filipinos will remember’
With the click of a button, you’ll find a copy of Proclamation 1081; read excerpts of hard-to-find memoirs, including Benigno Aquino Jr.’s “Testament from A Prison Cell”; or view videos of Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. in the heyday of martial law. The possibilities are endless when you visit the Ateneo Martial Law Library and Museum...
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Never forget
Editor’s Note: To mark the 38th anniversary of the Edsa People Power Revolt that toppled the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos Sr. and brought the Philippines back to the league of democratic nations, human rights activist Ed Garcia remembers three friends whose lives were snuffed out in their youth and who continue to serve as inspiration. ...
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Heed lessons of history, Comelec told on 38th anniversary of historic walkout
Thirty-eight years ago today, Feb. 9, a group of computer technicians of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) walked out of the tabulation center of the presidential “snap election” called by the dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr. They were protesting irregularities in the election results being reported to the public, which they observed as efforts to subvert...