(Last of three parts) In the predigital age of media, the printed word was king, and newspapers ruled. If an event wasn’t in the papers, it never happened. In the mid-1970s, newsrooms were shifting from “hot metal” to “cold type”—from molten lead and oily typesetting machines to early computers, photo-typesetting, and paste-up. For many, that...
Category: History
Post
It was every bit the promised ‘Thrilla in Manila’—and more
(Second of three parts) This oft-quoted line from Dick Young of the New York Daily News has not lost its shine 50 years after Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier fought each other nearly to the death in probably the most brutal—and greatest—boxing match in history. Young was among the sportswriting gods who descended on the...
Post
Barefoot and larger than life: My (un)forgettable exclusive with Muhammad Ali
(First of three parts) The elevator door opened to the ninth floor of what was then the Manila Hilton, which the then world heavyweight champion would call home for a fortnight before what he himself christened the “Thrilla in Manila.” Photographer Eddie Alfonso and I were startled to see a bemoustached man waiting at the...
Post
Unforgettable: More than a million mourners turned up for Ninoy Aquino’s funeral
Editor’s Note: Exactly 42 years after the fact, have Filipinos come closer to finding out who ordered the murder of the former senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr. at the airport that now bears his name? The ranks of those who should know have thinned considerably, and knowledge of who masterminded the deed is in clear...
Post
The South China Sea and the need for a ‘unified legal and historical narrative’ on the Philippines’ stand
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...
Post
‘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...
Post
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...
Post
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...
Post
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...
Post
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...