The Worst of Times and the Best of Times
/As an active journalist in the Philippines between 1983, the year Ninoy Aquino was assassinated, and 1986 when the Marcos regime was ousted by people power, I was right there when the almost daily protests were happening. Those were heady times, alternately exhilarating and scary, when yellow confetti rained daily from the usually staid buildings in Ayala Avenue, when intense political infighting and secret strategizing among rival factions within the administration were taking place, and anti-Marcos rallies were drawing bigger and bigger crowds. We felt the electricity in the air and the ground shifting; we knew that history was being made and we were not just witnesses but participants in its unfolding.
I realize now how different it is to watch events unfold from afar. Though I'm in constant touch with friends who are on the ground, it's not the same as being there and actually feeling, hearing, seeing the tension and the excitement. Worse, with the proliferation of online disinformation, I have to suspend reacting to news until I verify their veracity, which can be a damper to spontaneous enthusiasm.
This is why I'm so happy to have my friend and WOMEN (Women Writers in Media Now) colleague Rochit Tañedo write about the nitty-gritty of the recent massive Leni Robredo-Kiko Pangilinan rallies in Nueva Ecija and Tarlac. Traveling by public bus from her home in Quezon City shortly after Covid restrictions were lifted, laden with donated campaign materials, Rochit embedded herself among the volunteer organizers and the masses who thronged to the rally sites, and wrote about the "Tears and Fears and Leni-Kiko's Abonados." Not quite the same as being actually there, but close.
Other Stories This Week:
This Filipino American Life by Juanita Tamayo Lott
Conrad Ricamora: Niceville’s Nicest Actor by Anthony Maddela
Why ‘White is Beautiful’ Among Filipinos? by Rey E. de la Cruz, Penelope V. Flores and Deiia R. Barcelona
Read Again: Women Who Made and Wrote
She Broke My Heart and Made It Whole Again by Sylvia Mayuga
Marilou, 1955-2012 by Pablo A. Tariman
Gina Lopez: Rich Girl, Kind Heart, Woman Warrior by Paulynn Paredes Sicam
Dawn Bohulano Mabalon’s Short Life Burned Brightly by Mariel Toni Jimenez
Cook It Again: The Happy Home Cook: Vegan Arroz A La Cubana by Chef Richgail Enriquez
Video of the Week: Chefs Sandy Daza and Claude Tayag
Philippine Elections 2022
Philippine vote campaign starts amid violence, virus fears
https://news.yahoo.com/philippine-vote-campaign-starts-amid-045755679.html
‘North belongs to Filipinos’: Ilocano ‘kakampinks’ come out for Leni-Kiko
[Newsstand] To win, Leni Robredo needs 22 million votes
Marcos Jr. winning PH poll misinformation drive – analysis
[OPINION] Red alert! Can we be cheated out of our May 9 vote?
Leni presidency: Three possible scenarios
If Marcos Jr. becomes president
https://opinion.inquirer.net/151481/if-marcos-jr-becomes-president
In The Know
HISTORIC PUNK VENUE ‘MABUHAY GARDENS’ BECOMING UNDERGROUND COMEDY HOTSPOT
An Indigenous basket-weaving tradition keeps a Philippine forest alive
Most Beautiful Cities and Towns in the Philippines
‘A total Pinoy fantasy’: This 600-million amusement park is the new pride of Negros
This classroom-on-a-trolley on the railways of Quezon has caught the eyes of the world
It’s not the house that art built but it’s art that keeps it standing
