This came from Diosa Labiste, a colleage both in the Inquirer and the Women's Feature Service. When will Pangasinan media organizations come up with their own statements against media repression?
We, participants to the First Visayas Media Summit, strongly denounce the police raid on the Daily Tribune on February 25, 2006 and the confiscation of copies of the newspaper.We demand that the Arroyo government end all other acts and threats to curtain the exercise of press freedom and the people’s right to know.

A coffee book that chronicles the very inspiring and heroic life story of a living Filipino World War II veteran, soldier, and outstanding public servant was launched at the Dusit Hotel Nikko in Makati City last February 18. Former President Fidel V. Ramos was the main guest.

Entitled ‘Uncle Sim: The Life and Times of Simeon Marcos Valdez,’ the 280-page biography of former Congressman Simeon Marcos Valdez is authored by the Ramos and Valdez clan family and historical biographer Melandrew T. Velasco.

A native of Dagupan City and a Journalism graduate at the University of the Philippines, Velasco earlier authored the books: "In A Class of Her Own: The Life and Times of Angela Valdez Ramos" and "Nachong: An Enduring Legacy of Ambassador Narciso Ramos."

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It's martial law, isn't it?

The day the country went under a state of emergency, I was down with a head-splitting migraine.
Can you beat that? Everyone was up and about trying to make heads and tails of GMA's announcement and there was I — in bed! Yeah, I could hardly move — my eyes were blurry and painful. Could be something I ate. Or something I was stressed about. Whatever. But painful eyes and all, I was reading the series of articles dished out by the Philippine Daily Inquirer about those four historic days 20 years ago when Filipinos stood proud in the eyes of the whole world by going to EDSA. Read more

Contrary to common perception, not all overseas Filipino workers acquire financial stability after working abroad. Some come home even poorer than before.
One such OFW is Cristeta Bercasio, 45, of Lanas village in this town.  After working for several years in Hongkong, Dubai and Jordan as domestic helper, she came home and ended up as “agturtor ti pagay,” or as a gleaner of leftover rice stalks in the fields.
Worse, she was separated from her three children for six years whom she left in Sultan Kudarat where her parents and siblings migrated to in 1970s in search of a better life.
According to records of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, Bercasio, already living in Isulan, Sultan Kudarat and married with five children, went to Hongkong to work as a domestic helper in 1990-1992; to Dubai, United Arab Emirates from 1994-1996, and to Jordan from 2001-2003. 
As the sole breadwinner, she provided for all the needs of her family. When she finished her contract in Hongkong where she earned HK$2,800 a month, she bought farm lots worth P90,000 in Sultan Kudarat.  But the insurgency problem in the province denied her access to her properties.

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This story was written second of January this year. It was written for a daily paper which did not carry it.
Tears rolled down the cheeks of Venancio Jimenez, 80, as he looked at the photos during World War II at the City Museum here. 
“I remember the hardships we all underwent,” the octogenarian said, recalling the time when, just as the war was nearing its end, a bullet hit his helmet, leaving the him, who was practically a boy at that time, shocked for days.  He also got afflicted with malaria during the war
Some of his “mess kit” during the war – a spoon and a plate — was on display at roving the exhibit, a part of the World War II photographs, memorabilla and artifacts and little known stories behind them
The exhibit titled “The War of Our Fathers…A Tribute to the Filipino Freedom Fighters” was sponsored by the Philippine Veterans Bank, the first stop of which was Dagupan City in time for the 61^st anniversary of the Lingayen Gulf Landing. The exhibit goes around different historical places in the country.
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This is for the teacher trapped in the classroom buried by a mudslide in St, Bernard, Southern Leyte, who sent a text message to her principal, asking for help
 

You are with your pupils in the classroom. You were patiently teaching them ABC and 123. Or maybe you were singing happy songs – songs that tell of joys of living. Joys of living in a beautiful world where hope springs eternal, specially for young, innocent children.

Then suddenly, there is a great sound coming from the mountain. Then total darkness. I looked like the entire mountain has caved in and it covered it covered the classroom. You are the only adult in the classroom. Children started to cry. They grope in darkness. They wail for their mothers. You yourself feel very frightened. But you have to be strong for the sake of your young wards. You try to comfort them all. You tell them everything will be alright. But you cannot hold them all in your arms.

Other children, with their teachers, are in the other room, but you cannot communicate with them.  You send a text message to your superior telling her you are trapped in your classroom with the children. It’s a good thing the message was sent, that there’s cellular phone signal, despite the tons of mud covering the schoolhouse.

You just sit down with the children, You tell them to pray. You pray like you never did before…for help to arrive before the oxygen in your classroom runs out.

You are still trap there. Maybe you could not response anymore because you don’t have load. Please, stay strong. Help could get to you in time. And pray. Please pray.

Rescuers have found the site where the school was located. They are digging the school out. Please wait for them.

After the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines has been a beating from Lafayette mining company, the articulate Archbishop Oscar Cruz could no longer keep his cool and had to say his piece.

Trust the Archbishop to come up with biting words if he is fighting for something he believes in. Here’s his statement about the issue which I lifted from his blog: www.ovc.blogspot.com

Good intentions, bad consequences. Beautiful words, ugly results. Promising vision, despairing realities. This best describes the irresponsible mining ventures in the country.

And the CBCP once more cried for the environmental damages and disasters caused by large-scale mining in the country. It again pleaded for mining restraint in favor of the small communities oppressed and dislocated, the many families impoverished and rendered ill by irresponsible mining of the land.

And the CBCP is once more belittled and even lambasted infallibly by big mining interests in the country. It is again branded as pro-poverty and anti-development. It is further perceived as unconcerned with the pursuit of national economic progress as well as ignorant of advanced mining technology.

The CBCP may not have its technical mining jargon but it is in contact with the mass base adversely affected by avaricious mining. It may not have the academic know-how of mining but it knows the disastrous realities brought about by covetous mining. It is not ignorant of what wealth is drawn out by mining the land—as well as what poisonous dirt in fact is left behind for keeps.

Only in the Philippines: transnational mining corporations are allowed to encroach into 35 national conservation priority areas, 32 national integrated protected areas, 17 important bio-diversity areas.

There is the claim that the “Mining Act of 1995” and the “Mining Revitalization Program” are excellent in legal provisions and normative requirements. But the administration is not exactly known for the observance of laws. The Executive Department is favored by good laws on hand but also good for their non-implementation right after their enactments.

Business is beneficial. But it becomes destructive when it is exploitative. Profit is logical. But it becomes unethical when it is at the expense of human persons, the detriment of the common welfare—and the destruction of the environment which spells the lynching of generations yet to come. Just as the global market, even transnational industries should have a social conscience. Otherwise, the people they intent to help precisely become their victims.