i Report index

Remembering Edsa

by Sheila S. Coronel

TWENTY YEARS ago, at the height of the people power revolt, Imelda Marcos, then holed up in Malacañang with her anxious family and a phalanx of remaining loyal troops, contemplated the possibility of her imminent, and vertiginous, fall. At about the same time, Cory Aquino, who had returned to Manila after taking shelter in a Carmelite convent in Cebu when the uprising broke out, was insisting to worried family and friends that she should join the throng that had gathered at Edsa despite the security problems that would pose.

Read more... | Posted Thursday, February 2nd, 2006

The mockery of mimicry

THIS is a country where there’s always someone spoofing a president — dead or alive — on TV, during concerts, Halloween parties, and from time to time, at people power marches on Edsa.

There are a few who stand out, who have endured a revolution or two, and became icons. Willie Nepomuceno, Tessie Tomas, and Jon Santos have been around longer than some of the presidents and presidential wannabes (Cory, FVR, Erap, FPJ, GMA, Roco, Ping, Bro. Eddie, and Eddie Gil) they’ve emulated.

Read more... | Posted Wednesday, November 2nd, 2005

Grassroots game

JUETENG has deep roots in Philippine village life. Its network of collectors come from the community, so do the cabos or chiefs who supervise them. It has existed for more than 100 years, and before the recent police crackdown, millions were betting on the illicit numbers game everyday.

At the village level, jueteng is not seen as a syndicated crime, but as popular entertainment and distraction. Bettors make their wagers based on dreams, omens, and premonitions. In jueteng, numbers take on a mystical quality: the heavens send signs and favor those who read them well.

Read more... | Posted Thursday, September 1st, 2005

The will of the people

TODAY the presidency of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo stands on the edge of the abyss. Will she fall or can she pull back from the brink?

This crisis is not only the most serious in her four-year presidency, it challenges the viability of Philippine democracy as well.

Read more... | Posted Saturday, July 2nd, 2005

The global Filipina

One in every four foreign nurses in the world today is Filipino. Or more precisely, Filipina. The global demand for nurses has given rise to a boom in nursing education as tens of thousands of Filipinos, including medical doctors, are now taking up nursing so they can work abroad.

In all, the booming global services industry is providing job opportunities for Filipinos seeking employment overseas not just as health workers but also as caregivers, entertainers, domestic helpers, and chambermaids. The result has been the migration, in droves, of Filipino women who now make up 65 percent of those going abroad to work.

Read more... | Posted Saturday, April 2nd, 2005

Food, glorious food

Food has always been a central part of Philippine life and culture. We eat to celebrate a birthday and to mourn a death. A fiesta is nothing without a long table groaning with food. We eat for religious reasons as well as profane ones. For us, eating is the ultimate social lubricant: we dine as easily with new acquaintances as with long-time friends, with those we hate as much as those we love.

Read more... | Posted Monday, January 3rd, 2005

The Philippines a decade hence

by Sheila S. Coronel

THE ONLY thing we know about the future is that we cannot predict it. But we can try. At least that is what we asked 10 people to do in this issue of i. As 2004 ends in a cloud of uncertainty, these 10 individuals look at their crystal balls and give us a glimpse of the Philippine future.

Read more... | Posted Saturday, October 2nd, 2004
The Campaign

First World techniques, Third World setting

by Luz Rimban

ADVERTISING guru Reli German tells the story of the time he was tapped to produce commercials and jingles for then candidate Ferdinand Marcos’s 1965 presidential bid. The campaign was more of a family venture with no less than Marcos’s wife Imelda herself directing the troops. She would drop by German’s office to look over campaign materials and listen to the jingles being prepared for her husband’s campaign. “It was more of Imelda that we were dealing with directly for the campaign in 1965,” German recalls.

Read more... | Posted Saturday, January 3rd, 2004

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