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Facebook persona
Her voice was earnest, almost pleading. “Kung mamatay mo, madala na ninyo inyo sakyanan? Ang inyong balay? Ang kwarta?” (When you die, will you be able to take your car, house, or money with you?) “Unya ang basil?” I thought to myself. (What about the basil?) I was waiting at the border controls in Barangay…
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Scoop
“Ayaw sultii si Fionah ha? Ayaw tagai si Jasmin,” I used to tell sources when working on a story I was sure would be an exclusive when I covered Cebu City Hall for The Freeman with Zeny Jainar. This was in 1996, about the time The Freeman first connected to the Web. Fionah Bojos, now…
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Live and unfiltered
Cebu City Vice Mayor Michael Rama still uses the same personal phone number that I called to contact him some years back. He unwittingly confirmed it to me and gave it to thousands of other people on Facebook Live. Rama attended the meeting Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia called for mayors of the different towns and…
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“Fake news” and Labella’s overreaction, abdication
Authorities arrested artist Maria Victoria Beltran yesterday over allegations of spreading “fake news” when she posted on Facebook that there were 9,000 new COVID-19 cases in Zapatera, making Cebu City “the epicenter in the whole Solar System.” The post is clearly satirical with its galactic reference. But the point of contention and the crux of…
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Tuslob Buwa® and HTML entities
“How do I add ® to my post?” an acquaintance posted on Facebook as everyone piled up on Azul for trademarking Tuslob Buwa by posting their own versions of trademarking Cebu products and delicacies. It’s so much easier now. You can just copy and paste special characters, including the registered, trademarked, and copyrighted signs, and…