What a Week that Was

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What an incredibly eventful week -- and we're not (just) talking about the current state of the United States.

In the Philippines, what was previously unthinkable actually happened: the arrest of ex-president Rodrigo Duterte at the behest of the International Criminal Court (ICC) through the Interpol. Arriving from Hong Kong with his entourage, Duterte was immediately whisked to the VIP lounge of nearby Villamor Airbase after being read his Miranda rights. At the last hour of Tuesday, March 11, just 12 hours following his formal arrest, the former president was on a private jet to The Hague to await trial for crimes against humanity. The loud howl and hullaballoo (rallies, a deluge of fake news, threats) from his supporters are of no use. Duterte is no longer protected by Philippine law; it is only the ICC now that can determine his fate. 

To get a grip of the whys and implications of this monumental event, here's an excellent piece written by veteran journalist and Columbia University journalism professor Sheila Coronel ("On the Arrest of an Autocrat") which the Columbia Journalism Review gave PF full permission to repost.  

What's next for the Philippines? Go to our In The Know section below for the link to Walden Bello's article in The Nation. We are also reposting some stories on Duterte's reign of impunity that we published.

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Our other stories this week:

FilAm nurse Menchu de Luna Sanchez proved that some heroes don't wear capes, they wear scrubs. The FilAm founding editor Cristina DC Pastor writes about Sanchez's amazing bravery during Superstorm Sandy's devastation in 2012, a feat honored by the Obama administration.  

A 94-year-old Filipina, fondly called Lola Naty, wrote a children's book about her beloved dog, thus fulfilling her lifelong dream to be a writer. PF contributing writer Claire Mercado-Obias pays tribute to the late author of My Dog Carter.

Though Visayan pop -- a sub-genre of Filipino pop music -- still has a small footprint in people's consciousness, it's nonetheless making waves with some innovative tunes and creative lyrics, mostly in Cebuano, from its talented propagators on Tiktok. First-time PF contributor Julienne Loreto introduces Vispop with love. 

In The Know

Rodrigo Duterte Is at The Hague. What’s Next for the Philippines?
https://www.thenation.com/article/world/rodrigo-duterte-hague/

Duterte provided ‘overwhelming evidence’ for his conviction: expert
https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/3/17/duterte-provided-overwhelming-evidence-for-his-conviction-expert-1948

Dane’s Post
https://www.facebook.com/danecusto/posts/2920647618089679

Collateral Damage: How Duterte's Alleged Crimes Followed a Manila Cop to Canada
https://www.esquiremag.ph/politics/news/duterte-alleged-crimes-manila-cop-a3690-20250314-lfrm

Rappler Talk: PNP’s Nicolas Torre III on arresting Duterte
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCPWtIi5sjs
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From Loss and Grief to Vindication and Elation

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Our emotions swerved from sadness to elation this past week, as we mourn two colleagues and celebrated a long-awaited vindication.

Philippine journalism had just lost two highly regarded thought leaders -- Conrad de Quiros and Rina Jimenez-David, both popular columnists of the Philippine Daily Inquirer until they fell ill (Conrad of a stroke in 2014 and Rina of a serious renal ailment not too long ago). Conrad's "There's the Rub" column served as an early morning jolt of pointed commentary written in luxurious prose for 23 years. Rina's "At Large" was a consistent beacon for women's rights and human rights for 33 years. [To read more, go to our In The Know links below, which includes a touching personal tribute to Conrad by veteran journalist Jo-Ann Maglipon.]

The release on bail of former Justice Secretary and former senator Leila de Lima on Monday was such a happy relief. She stayed in prison for 6 years, 8 months and 21 days on obviously trumped up charges, after she started investigating the drug war deaths in Davao City then under the helm of Mayor - later President -- Rodrigo Duterte. The evidence and testimonies presented in court were so ridiculous that those who were the so-called "star witnesses" eventually recanted their testimonies, revealing they were coerced by higher powers in government to utter the lies. "It's vindication," declared Sen Leila (Sen for senator, as her supporters refer to her) as she wept, talked to her 91-year-old mother in Bicol on the phone for the first time since her incarceration, and thanked those who were her pillars, all on live TV. She was even gracious to her tormentor/enemy Duterte ("God forgive him, God bless him"). Of her three cases, two have already been dismissed and the last one awaits a verdict. [Again, for more details, see our In The Know links below]. 

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Anti-Asian Hate continues to rear its ugly head in unlikely places, such as the Wing Luke Museum in Seattle, where an obviously disturbed, 76-year-old man took a sledgehammer and broke the museum's glass windows while shouting racial epithets. PF Correspondent and Seattle-bred Anthony Maddela explores the issue of anti-Asian hate and its ramifications on a Pacific Rim city and on national policy.

From Ethnic Media Services, an eye-opener on school bullying as a civil rights issue.

Another Pacific Rim city -- San Francisco -- takes center stage this week as it hosts the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit. Still reeling from the combined impact of the pandemic (and its economic blight), rampant drug addiction, and homelessness, the beautiful City by the Bay hopes the international summit to be attended by top officials from 21 countries will be the start of the rehabilitation of its downtown. PF Correspondent Myles A. Garcia gives us a situationer.

We hope you enjoy the rest of our issue featuring amazing women: Vangie Buell, a Bridge Generation stalwart, still going strong as a musician and activist at 91; Jacqueline Chio-Lauri, a UK-based Filipina whose recently released book We Cook Filipino compiles healthy recipes from Filipino chefs in different countries. And then there's "Moral" - the late acclaimed director Marilou Diaz-Abaya's movie on four Filipinas navigating the realities of the '80s in the Philippines, the recent re-showing (in San Francisco) of which elicited a commentary by Michael Gonzalez.

[Video of the Week] Anjelah Johnson

Anti-Asian Hate Watch

Why Asian Americans should care about what happens at APEC
https://asamnews.com/2023/11/11/asian-american-issues-apec-impact-effect/

Ethnic hate intensify in spillover of ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict
https://pnewstoday.com/ethnic-hate-intensify-in-spillover-of-ongoing-israel-hamas-conflict/

CAIR-LA got 300% more reports of Islamophobia last month
https://asamnews.com/2023/11/12/islamophobia-anti-palestinian-hate-massively-spike-due-to-israel-hamas-war/

Funding provided by the State of California.
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A Bridge Forgotten

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While the stories of the Manong generation -- the first group of Filipino migrant farmworkers to Hawaii and the US West Coast who arrived in the early 1900s -- have been and continue to be documented, their offspring who have dubbed themselves as the Bridge Generation have not been as lucky. This according to one of its stalwarts, Peter Jamero, who has written a book and several articles appealing for more research and documentation on the narratives of his contemporaries -- Filipino Americans born in the US before 1945. The Bridge Generation is unique because unlike their parents who never shed their Filipino-ness despite having resided for decades in the US, they grew up Americans. Yet they were never accepted completely as such. Jamero's impassioned plea this week should resonate among historians, cultural torchbearers, journalists and story gatherers.

We likewise feature two cultural torchbearers: the artist Stephanie Syjuco whose ongoing exhibit assembles valuable and otherwise ignore archival photos of the American colonial period in the Philippines; and acclaimed movie director Erik Matti, whose inspired and disturbing film, On the Job: The Missing 8, documents a dark period in Philippine contemporary history.

And we continue to join the chorus against the continuing injustice of keeping former senator Leila de Lima in jail, despite the key witnesses against her recanting their testimonies. 

[Cook It Again] The Happy Home Cook: Easy Tuna Pasta With Vegetables by Elizabeth Ann Quirino

[Video of the Week] Ilocandia
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