TONYO CRUZ

Month: January 2015

  • PH in grief, fury: President betrays, dishonors elite cops

    Full credit goes to President BS Aquino for uniting the nation twice this week, but for the wrong reasons: First, in grief over the loss of 44 members of the elite Special Action Force (SAF) in a bloody operation he approved; and second, in fury, over the chief executive’s snubbing of the arrival honors at Villamor Air Base…

  • PH citizen media: A quick overview

    CEBU – Global Voices is now holding its Citizen Media Summit 2015 here at the Cebu Provincial Capitol, with 300 delegates from 70 countries. At a plenary panel this morning, I joined friends Fleire Castro and Ruben Licera, together with moderator Tina Pamintuan, to share views about the topic “What’s happening in Philippine citizen media?”

  • #PapalVisitPH: Pope Francis sets Twitter records in Philippine visit

    Pope Francis’ recent visit to the Philippines, long considered the world’s social media capital, “set several Twitter records”, despite orders of the government to take down cellular and mobile data signals everywhere he went. By the time he arrives in the Vatican, the Pope will see that Filipinos not only gave him the biggest Papal event in history…

  • #PapalVisitPH: Full texts, highlights and videos of Pope Francis’ speeches

    In his Jan. 15-19 state and pastoral visit to the Philippines. Pope Francis spoke to Filipinos on his thoughts about issues and concerns that confront the country and the world. He called for an end to corruption and for fair treatment for the poor, and personally consoled with the survivors of supertyphoon Haiyan. This post gathers the full transcripts, highlights and videos…

  • #PapalVisitPH: Livestreams of Pope Francis in the Philippines

    If you’re abroad or cannot go personally to any of the Papal events where Pope Francis is set to go as part of his state and pastoral visit, one option is to catch the “Pope of the Poor” via livestream. The pope will be in the Philippines on January 15-19, in a visit that carries the theme…

  • #PapalVisitPH: Jittery Aquino gov’t vs. joyful public

    The BS Aquino administration is in many ways botching the single-biggest chance to tell the world that “its more fun in the Philippines. The last time a pope visited the Philippines was exactly 20 years ago. It didn’t matter that the President was a Protestant. It didn’t matter that we still didn’t have much to…

  • MRT-LRT fare hike: The Bayan Muna petition

    Bayan Muna lawmakers Neri Javier Colmenares and Carlos Isagani Zarate today (Jan. 6) filed a new petition at the Supreme Court seeking to stop the MRT-LRT fare increases. I’m proud to be a co-petitioner in this case, together with other commuters. The 30-page Bayan Muna pleading is a thought-provoking read. It smashes the Aquino government’s…

  • Workers, students hardest hit by MRT-LRT fare hikes

    Workers, students hardest hit by MRT-LRT fare hikes

    As commuter groups Train Riders Network (TREN) and Riles Laan sa Sambayanan (RILES), multisectoral alliance Bayan and Bayan Muna partylist lawmakers prepare to bring the issue before the Supreme Court, let us take a look at the sectors most adversely affected by the questionable and unjustified MRT-LRT fare hikes. The rates of MRT-LRT fare increases are so high: In…