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AI use is growing faster than Southeast Asia can keep pace with
Dr. Piti Srisangnam, executive director of the Asean Foundation, and Diera Gala Paksi, project manager for AI Ready Asean, during the launch of the Asean Digital Outlook in Manila on Feb. 9. —PHOTO COURTESY OF THE ASEAN FOUNDATION
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February 16, 2026February 19, 2026Technology

AI use is growing faster than Southeast Asia can keep pace with

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The use of artificial intelligence (AI) across Southeast Asia is accelerating faster than governments, schools, and institutions can keep pace with, with 75% of students using AI in the Philippines, according to studies released by the Asean Foundation. “Across Asean, we are seeing AI use grow faster than our systems’ ability to guide it,” said Asean...

Asking the question we’d rather avoid
Emman Atienza (left) and Gabe Pineda —COMPOSITE PHOTOS FROM IG @emmanatienza/GABE PINEDA FB
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February 5, 2026February 19, 2026Media

Asking the question we’d rather avoid

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The traditional newsroom is under siege, and the invaders aren’t just algorithms—they are individuals with smartphones and opinions. According to the latest insights from the Reuters Institute, 2026 marks a tipping point where generative AI and human “influencers” are squeezing traditional media institutions into a corner of perceived irrelevance. We are moving away from the...

CoverStory’s best-read reports in 2025
Raul C. Pangalangan, Nora Aunor, and Letty Jimenez Magsanoc —FILE PHOTOS
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January 4, 2026February 19, 2026Specials

CoverStory’s best-read reports in 2025

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The interview with Raul C. Pangalangan, a retired justice of the International Criminal Court which now has custody of former president Rodrigo Duterte, topped CoverStory’s best-read reports in the year just past. The Q&A, titled “The Court has ‘jurisdiction over jurisdiction,’” was conducted by Oliver Teves. The other reports on the best-read list are: •...

Happy New Year
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January 1, 2026February 19, 2026Specials

Happy New Year

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CoverStory Independent journalismInsights and perspectives on national issues, life and living

16 years on, the Maguindanao massacre continues to provide lessons to campus journalists
Students of Bicol University in Legazpi City recall the 2009 Maguindanao massacre in a candle-lighting ceremony. —PHOTOS BY GRACE NIVERO
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December 3, 2025February 19, 2026Media

16 years on, the Maguindanao massacre continues to provide lessons to campus journalists

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PILI, CAMARINES SUR—Journalism student Jevan Dex Miranda was a child when the inconceivable happened: bodies unearthed by a backhoe, families grieving while searching for their loved ones, and headlines marking the Philippines as the setting of the deadliest single attack on journalists in world history. Miranda was among the students, human rights advocates and media...

China Coast Guard uses water cannons against Philippine Coast Guard and Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources vessels during a humanitarian mission to Filipino fishing boats in Bajo de Masinloc on April 30, 2024. —PHOTO FROM PHILIPPINE COAST GUARD
Chinese Coast Guard ship uses water cannons against Philippine Coast Guard and Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources vessels during a humanitarian mission to Filipino fishing boats in Bajo de Masinloc on April 30, 2024. —PHOTO FROM PHILIPPINE COAST GUARD
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October 31, 2025December 16, 2025Media

Here are 5 ways to detect pro-China propaganda

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Last March, several prominent pro-Duterte vloggers and influencers admitted in a congressional hearing that they had attended a China-funded training seminar in 2023. Former presidential communications secretary Trixie Cruz-Angeles confirmed that she and bloggers Mark Lopez, Tio Moreno, Philstar.com columnist Pia Morato, and lawyer Ahmed Paglinawan took part in a two-week program in Beijing run...

Postscript: How we covered the Ali-Frazier ‘Thrilla in Manila’
Front page of the Evening Express, Oct. 1, 1975. —IMAGE COURTESY OF RIZAL LIBRARY, ATENEO DE MANILA UNIVERSITY
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October 2, 2025February 19, 2026History

Postscript: How we covered the Ali-Frazier ‘Thrilla in Manila’

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(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...

It was every bit the promised ‘Thrilla in Manila’—and more
Front page of the Philippines Daily Express, Oct. 2, 1975. —IMAGE COURTESY OF RIZAL LIBRARY, ATENEO DE MANILA UNIVERSITY
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October 1, 2025February 19, 2026History

It was every bit the promised ‘Thrilla in Manila’—and more

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(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...

Barefoot and larger than life: My (un)forgettable exclusive with Muhammad Ali
Front page of the Evening Express, Sept. 15, 1975. —IMAGE COURTESY OF RIZAL LIBRARY, ATENEO DE MANILA UNIVERSITY
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September 30, 2025February 19, 2026History

Barefoot and larger than life: My (un)forgettable exclusive with Muhammad Ali

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(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...