Skip to content

Month: November 2014

Manicani in Guiuan, Eastern Samar sets example

Manicani today. Two of the  more than 400 houses built by Nickel Asia Corporation for victims of Yolanda.
Manicani today. Two of the more than 400 houses built by Nickel Asia Corporation for victims of Yolanda.
GUIUAN, Eastern Samar – It was in this town at the southernmost tip of Samar Island that typhoon Yolanda (international name, Haiyan), packing winds at 380 kilometers per hour, that made its first landfall at wee hours of Nov. 8, one year ago.

After four hours of howling, spine-tingling winds, only a few buildings and houses remained with roofs. Electric posts were toppled. Trees were uprooted. The sturdy coconut trees looked beaten with leaves dangling from the top.

Of the more than 47,000 population of Guiuan, more than two thousand were injured. A hundred perished.

Always be responsible: challenge to media of increased public trust

Media
The PDAF and DAP scandals have a lot to do with the increase in the trust of the people on media, the decline of the same for the government and continued distrust for non-government organizations.

The 2014 Philippine Trust Index conducted by EON showed that media is third most trusted institution with 33 percent, up from 32 per cent last year. First is the Church, which includes not only Catholic Church but also other denominations, with 75 percent, up from last year’s 68 percent.

Academe comes second with 53 percent, up from last year’s 45 percent.

The least trusted institution is the government with 11 percent, down from 15 per cent last year, followed by NGO with 12 percent, the same as last year’s.

Si Sen. Juan Flavier at ang tatay ni Totoy

Most loved. Sen. Juan M. Flavier.
Most loved. Sen. Juan M. Flavier.
Pumanaw ang isa sa pinakamamahal na opisyal ng pamahalaan, si dating senador at health secretary Juan Flavier noong Huwebes.

Nakakatuwa ang mag-cover kay Flavier dahil sa maliban sa mabait at hindi mayabang, grabe sa galing ng kanyang sense of humor. Tawa kami ng tawa kapag ini-interview namin siya.

Bilang lider ng Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement, maraming taon na sa mga baryo niya ginugol ang kanyang panggagamot. Ang kanyang karanasan sa pagta-trabaho sa mga baryo ay mababasa sa kanyang libro, “Doctor to the Barrios.”

Sa aking pag-cover kay Flavier ng siya ay health secretary noong administrasyon ni Pangulong Fidel V. Ramos, marami akong kuwento at insidente na buhay na buhay sa aking ala-ala. Ngunit ang isa sa palagi kong ibinabahagi sa iba ay ang kanyang kuwento ng iba’t-ibang paraan nagpapasalamat ang mga tao sa probinsiya (dinadalhan siya ng maraming gulay, manok, kambing at baboy) nang siya ay guest speaker sa Cosmopolitan Church sa Taft Avenue.