I’m not a big fan of ABS-CBN, but I must commend the head of ABS-CBN News & Current Affairs, Ms. Maria Ressa, for a very poignant but true-ringing assessment of journalism in the Philippines today.
In response to allegations that ABS-CBN News is partial to the interests of the Lopez family on the one hand, and overly critical of the Arroyo administration on the other, Ressa declares that their news organization is composed of professionals who are “journalists first.”
Read on»
Seeing the need for an online presence — and perhaps a group image — the bloggers known as The Usual Suspects have finally come up with a blog site: http://tus.davaoblogs.com. With all the references to “The Usual Suspects” in various blogs now floating around, it wouldn’t hurt to have a site to link to. 
T.U.S. is made up of the following bloggers: Andrew, Gwing, Jun, Kim, Marc, Migs, Ria, and myself. To date, we have organized the Davao Bloggers Party #1 and the 1st Mindanao Bloggers Summit, which also had an attached event, the Bloggers Fellowship Night. Can that count as Davao Bloggers Party #2? 
The T.U.S. blog is where Davao- and Mindanao-based bloggers can keep themselves updated on our activities, of which there will be many more in the coming months. Andrew has thought up of Araw ng Dabaw 2008 activities for us, and in the interim, Ria and I will be conducting blogging seminars & workshops. The latter will be conducted in favor of beginners, but we will also plan intermediate-level workshops.
Blog on!
UPDATE: 9Nov’07
The T.U.S. site has been moved to its own domain: www.theusualsuspects.mobi. 
The Philippine justice system, I’m sorry to say, is in the pits. Oh, this has been said countless times before. But recently I had a good look at just how bad the situation is. With the forward strides that our country’s IT industry has been making, it’s sad and frustrating that a highly necessary institution of ours is stuck in the Medieval Ages.
My friend Harold B., a fresh grad who’s full of potential and hope, was wrongfully incarcerated three months ago. He was released just last week: he was found to have had nothing to do at all with the illegal recruitment case against an agency that the police raided that time. Read on»
In the 15 years — on and off — that I’ve been studying the Japanese language, I’ve never been to Japan. I’ve gotten pretty good at it too, if I do say so myself, and I can carry a decent enough conversation with my Japanese friends. What’s more, I’m actally making money out of translating legal documents, company profiles, brochures, etc. But I’ve never been able to realize my linguistic potential. Read on»
With the opening of Japan’s doors to Filipino nurses, I feel torn between two lovers, so to speak. My two occupations, as it were. As the executive director of an association of IT companies in Davao, one of my lookouts is to encourage jobs creation in my city. But as a Japanese language instructor, I am (supposedly) not bound by any concerns regarding the proverbial “brain drain” that has been plaguing my country. Read on»
