Friday, April 4, 2025

30 years of news reportage

First Decade (February 11, 1987 to February 10, 1996)


The first year following EDSA People Power in 1986 was jubilant and tumultuous. It was a period of adjustment for a society that had newfound freedom, particularly of the press. The first issue of The Manila Standard was published on February 11, 1987. Its headlines included a clash between the New People’s Army rebels and the military forces, and assurances by the late President Corazon Aquino to army colonels that there are no Red advisers in the government.


Manila Standard’s first issue rolled off the press on February 11, 1987


By August of that year, the newspaper covered a coup attempt by rebel soldiers, said to be the bloodiest of the six attempts against President Cory Aquino, with 50 people killed and 200 wounded. 1987 also saw the crash of Philippine Airlines PR 206 into a mountain in Benguet with 50 passengers killed, and the sinking of passenger ferry MV Doña Paz when it collided with oil tanker MT Vector at Tablas Strait, killing 4,341 passengers and crew. On a much brighter note, San Lorenzo Ruiz, the first Filipino saint, was canonized on October 18, 1987.


February 10, 1987


A total of 18 people, including a young Army lieutenant, are killed in Barangay Namulandayan, Lupao in Nueva Ecija, near the foot of the Caraballo Mountain range, following a running gunbattle between communist rebels and Army troops. The soldier is identified as Lt. Edgar Dizon. His unidentified radioman is wounded.


February 11, 1987 


Manila Standard, believing it can, among others, serve as an intellectual forum for ideas, whether clashing or complimentary, clambers up the newsstands in Metro Manila.


April 18, 1987


On a Black Saturday, 56 rebel soldiers stage a raid on Fort Bonifacio but is repelled within the morning with one rebel soldier dead.


August 28, 1987


The most serious attempt to overthrow the Aquino administration is launched by members of the Reform the Armed Forces Movement led by Col. Gregorio Honasan, a former top aide of Defense Secretary Juan Ponce Enrile, with soldiers launching the attack on Malacanang. The siege is repelled but several military and civilians, including Aquino’s son Benigno III, are wounded.


Rebel soldiers also seize parts of Villamor Airbase, three TV stations in Manila, military camps in Pampanga and Cebu, and the airport in Legazpi City.


December 20, 1987


The MV Doña Paz, travelling from Leyte to Manila, and the oil tanker MT Vector collide, leaving a death toll of 4,386 people and 24 survivors, making the accident the deadliest peacetime maritime disaster in history.

A collision on December 20, 1987 between M/V Doña Paz and M/T Vector resulted in countless deaths



April 2, 1988 


The leader of the August coup attempt, Lt. Col. Gregorio Honasan, that almost toppled the administration of President Corazon Aquino escaped from his prison ship in Manila Bay aboard two rubber boats along with 13 of his guards, according to the military.


Troops led by Col. Gregorio “Gringo’’ Honasan mounted a coup attempt on April 2, 1988


January 5, 1989


Some soldiers seize Camp Cawa-Cawa in Zamboanga City after Rizal alih kills seven people including Gen. Eduardo Batalla and Col. Romeo Abendan of the Philippine Constabulary.


February 10, 1989





The deposition taking of former Public Works and Highways Minister Baltazar Aquino happened as he gave a detailed account of his role as collector for ousted President Marcos on the $4.5 million commission from Japanese traders in Hong Kong in exchange for major infrastructure contracts in the Philippines.


September 28, 1989


President Ferdinand Marcos, the 10th president of the Philippines and the longest president to stay in office, dies in his Hawaii exile at the age of 72 of kidney, heart, and lung ailments. He was ousted in a Catholic Church-backed so-called People Power revolution on February 25, 1986, and his family was transported by four Sikorsky HH-3E helicopters to Clark Air Base in Angeles City before boarding US Air Force C-130 planes bound for Andersen Air Force Base in Guam, and finally to Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii.


October 1 to 13, 1989


Typhoon “Dan,” known in the Philippines as Typhoon “Saling,” is the third of a series of tropical cyclones that impact the Philippines in two weeks, leaving hundreds of thousands homeless and 58 dead. Super Typhoon Angela, locally known as Typhoon “Rubing,” formed in late September but had devastating wrath in early October, causing severe damage worth $8 million and leaves 119 fatalities.


Typhoon “Elsie,” named in the Philippines Typhoon “Tasing,” is one of the most intense known tropical cyclones to make landfall in the country, leaves 47 people killed and 363 injured. Damage nationwide is placed at $35.4 million and some 332,000 people lose their homes.


December 1, 1989


Three rebel T-28D Trojans rake Malacañang with rockets and gunfire, the rebel soldiers wrongly assuming they have achieved air superiority by effectively neutralizing the assets of the 5th Fighter Wing of the Philippine Air Force.


By 1990 to 1991, the world faced an oil crisis with the Persian Gulf War.  This oil price shock occurred in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait on August 2, 1990. The Philippines was affected as much of its oil was imported from Kuwait, hence prices of gasoline and other oil products went up, and there was a need to ration supply at gasoline stations. Another impact of the Gulf War was the displacement of overseas Filipino workers, particularly those who were employed in the countries in conflict.      


On July 16, 1990, a magnitude 7.8-earthquake hit Northern and Central Luzon, killing an estimated 1,621 people and causing damages worth P15 billion. Its epicenter was recorded in Nueva Ecija, and the shaking lasted for about a minute. This earthquake is thought to be connected to another catastrophe. When Mt. Pinatubo erupted on June 15, 1991, it became the second-largest volcanic eruption of the 20th century. It is also one of the most destructive eruptions, as it affected the densely populated areas of Zambales, Tarlac, Pampanga. The volcano, located at the central part of the Zambales mountain range, produced high-speed avalanches of hot ash and gas, giant mudflows, and a cloud of volcanic ash that is said to have reached as far as India.


March 4, 1990 


Suspended Cagayan Gov. Rodolfo Aguinaldo and his armed men of 200 seize Hotel Delfino in Tuguegarao as a result of the previous failed coup against President Aquino. Several hours later, a gunfight ensues intending to kill Aguinaldo and his men. At a checkpoint shootout one of Aguinaldo’s men is found dead, including Florendo and 12 others and 10 more wounded.


July 16, 1990


The magnitude 7.8 earthquake produces a 125-km long ground rupture that stretches from Dingalan, Aurora to Cuyapo, Nueva Ecija, which resulted from strike-slip movements along the Philippine Fault and the Digdig Fault. An estimated 1,621 people are killed, most of the fatalities in Central Luzon and the Cordillera region.


October 4, 1990 


Mutinying soldiers stage a dawn raid on an army base in Mindanao. The seizure lasts for two days, ending with Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim and 21 others capitulating to the government on Oct. 6.


June 30, 1991- 20,000 Aetas uprooted by volcanic eruptions from their ancestral home on the ragged slopes of the once dormant Mount Pinatubo were resettled in Iba, Zambales by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.


June 15, 1991 


The second-largest volcanic eruption of this century, and by far the largest eruption to affect a densely populated area, occurs at Mount Pinatubo, an active stratovolcano in the Cabusilan Mountains near the tripoint of Zambales, Tarlac and Pampanga. The eruption after more than 600 years produces high-speed avalanches of hot ash and gas, giant mudflows, and a cloud of volcanic ash hundreds of miles across. More than 350 people die during the eruption, most of them from collapsing roofs. Disease that breaks out in evacuation camps and the continuing mud flows in the area cause additional deaths, bringing the total death toll to 722 people.


June 15, 1991- Mt Pinatubo eruption results in a rain of hot volcanic ash.


May 11, 1992


Presidential elections, legislative elections and local elections are held, the first general elections under the 1987 Constitution with an estimated 80,000 candidates running for 17,000 posts from the presidency down to municipal councilors. Retired Gen. Fidel Ramos of Lakas-NUCD wins a six-year term as President by a small margin, narrowly defeating populist candidate Miriam Defensor Santiago of People’s Reform Party.


July 2, 1993


The annual Bocaue River Festival in Bocaue, Bulacan, is marred by the sinking of a floating pagoda, the centerpiece of the festivities, which results in the drowning of more than 200 devotees.


The Festival is a celebration held every first Sunday of July in Bocaue in honor of the Holy Cross, the Mahal na Poon ng Krus sa Wawa, found in the river in 1850.


September 24, 1993


Former First Lady Imelda R. Marcos was found by the Sandiganbayan guilty of corruption and sentenced to 18 to 24 years in prison. The conviction comes seven years after she and her husband, Ferdinand Marcos, were hounded out of the Philippines in the EDSA Revolution on February 25, 1986. Outside the packed courtroom, crowds of her supporters hold vigil; opposite them, hundreds of anti-Marcos protesters cheer her conviction.


These 10 years were not full of bad news, thankfully. The Philippines first made its connection to the internet on March 29, 1994, when the Philippine Network Foundation (PHNet) connected to Sprint in the United States via a 64 kbit/s link.


December 11, 1994


The Bojinka plot, a large-scale, three-phase attack planned by Islamists Ramzi Yousef and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed for January 1995 to assassinate Pope John Paul II during his visit to the Philippines, is uncovered after a chemical fire draws the Philippine National Police's attention. The plan calls for the blowing up of 11 airliners in flight from Asia to the United States, which is expected to kill about 4,000 passengers and shut down air travel around the world, and crashing a plane into the headquarters of the CIA in Fairfax County, Virginia.


January 10 to 15, 1995


Pope John Paul II presided over World Youth Day, a Catholic youth festival held in the Philippines that year. It is the first time an Asian country is hosting the event. This was the second visit of Pope John Paul to the country. He came in 1981 to beatify Lorenzo Ruiz.


Second decade (February 10, 1996-February 9, 2006)


The second decade of the Manila Standard’s reportage started out with an economic downturn. The Asian Financial Crisis hit in 1997 as a series of currency devaluations that started with Thailand, causing stock market declines and reduced import revenues. The Manila Standard kept vigil on the effects of the crisis, monitoring its effect on the local economy, which was thankfully mitigated by its export growth and a large overseas workforce remitting foreign currency.


The world was shocked and saddened by the death of Diana, Princess of Wales in a car crash in Paris on August 31, 1997. Her death was met with extraordinary public expressions of grief, and her funeral at Westminster Abbey on September 6 drew an estimated 3 million mourners and onlookers in London and 2.5 billion people on television worldwide. Mother Teresa of Calcutta’s death followed shortly after Diana’s. The Albanian-Indian Roman Catholic nun and missionary died in India at the age of 87. Media dubbed September 5, 1997, as a double day of mourning, as the world was still reeling from Diana’s untimely death.      


1998 marked a whole year of celebrations for the Philippine Centennial or the 100th Anniversary of Philippine Independence. Then, President Fidel V. Ramos led a host of activities centered around the theme 100 Kalayaan: Kayamanan ng Bayan (1898-1998). Among the highlights of the celebration were a Reception for the Heads of State, Exhibits, Cultural Shows, Trade Fairs, a Fireworks display competition and the re-enactment of the Kawit flag raising on June 12, and a Balikabayan Centennial Ball on June 13.


“Baka ma-Echegaray ka” was a warning and a buzzword on the streets around February 5, 1999. House painter Leo Echegaray was the first Filipino to be meted the death penalty after its reinstatement in the Philippines in 1993. He was executed by lethal injection at the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City after being found guilty of the rape of his stepdaughter Baby Echegaray, who was 10 years old at the time of the crime.  


Leo Echegaray was the first Filipino to be meted the death penalty. He died by lethal injection on February 5, 1999.


On August 3, 1999, at least 58 people died after a massive landslide occurred in the Cherry Hills subdivision in Antipolo City, Rizal province. News coverages showed shocked and distraught relatives and the victims’ bodies being carried away, with politicians visiting the site to offer relief and promising to look into the tragedy. This eventually paved the way for stricter laws and ordinances on housing and more accountability on the part of real estate developers.


March 24, 1996


The Marcopper Mining Disaster in Marinduque was one of the largest mining disasters in Philippine history. A fracture in the drainage tunnel of a large pit containing leftover mine tailings leads to a discharge of toxic mine waste into the Makulapnit-Boac river system and causes flash floods in areas along the river. One village, Barangay Hinapulan, is buried in six feet of muddy floodwater, causing the displacement of 400 families. Twenty other villages are evacuated. Drinking water is contaminated, killing fish and freshwater shrimp. Large animals like cows, pigs and sheep are overcome and killed. The flooding destroys crops and irrigation channels. Following the disaster, the Boac River is declared unusable.


April 21, 1997


Former President Diosdado Macapagal, the ninth President (1961-1965) and the sixth Vice President (1957-1961), dies. He ran for re-election in 1965 but was beaten by Ferdinand Marcos, during whose incumbency he was elected president of the Constitutional Convention which drafted the 1973 Constitution, succeeding another former president, Carlos Garcia, who died on June 14, 1971.


June to September 1998


The dry spell begins in June, its effects continuing to be felt through September 1998 in 16 regions, while there country is enjoying a continuous four-year growth; damage to agriculture amounting to P9.46 billion.


June 12, 1998


Independence Day, also known as Araw ng Kalayaan, or Day of Freedom, marks the Philippine Declaration of Independence from Spain on June 12, 1898. Since 1962, it has been the country’s National Day.


The day of the celebration of independence has varied throughout the nation’s history. The earliest recorded was on April 12, 1895, when Andres Bonifacio, along with Emilio Jacinto, Restituto Javier, Guillermo masangkay, Aurelio Tolentino, Faustino Manalak, Pedro Zabala and few other Katipuneros went to Pamitinan Cave in Montalban, Rizal to initiate new members of the Katipunan. 


August 3, 1999


A massive landslide, caused by approaching typhoon Olga, occurred in Cherry Hills subdivision in Antipolo, Rizal, resulting in 60 people dead and 378 houses buried. The subdivision became a death trap when its foundation was filled with water, and the whole complex slid down the hill on which it was built.


Two Philippine Presidents in succession had the tide of popularity turn against them, and both their administrations were rocked by scandals that were widely reported in the media. From November 13, 2000 to January 17, 2001, President Joseph Ejercito Estrada underwent an impeachment trial in an anti-graft court, on accusations that he was the recipient of large sums of “jueteng” money.  After the trial was aborted, people took to the streets to protest in what was called EDSA Dos, from January 16 to 20, 2001. The movement overthrew the government of Estrada, and the thirteenth President of the Philippines was succeeded by his Vice-President, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who was sworn into office by then-Chief Justice Hilario Davide, Jr. on January 20, 2001.


After finishing the term of ousted President Estrada, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo ran in the 2004 national elections and won. However, there were allegations of cheating, particularly when audio recordings of her in a conversation with then Election Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano, allegedly talking about the rigging of the 2004 national election results, were released to the public by the media. The “Hello Garci” tapes led the way for the President to make a public apology on television, where she uttered the infamous line “I am sorry.” 


Arroyo and her husband had already been implicated by Jun Lozada in a graft case called the ZTE scandal, involving a $329-million National Broadband Network (NBN) deal with Chinese telecommunications giant ZTE.  As if her political career was not rocked sufficiently enough, a plunder case was filed against her at the Sandiganbayan for misuse of P366 million in Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) intelligence funds from 2008 to 2010.


October 4, 2000


Luis “Chavit” Singson, one of President Joseph Estrada’s closest friends, exposes the latter’s alleged links to illegal gambling. This is followed by a privilege speech in the Senate by Sen. Teofisto Guingona, who delivers the now-known “I accuse” speech.


October 4, 2000- Luis ‘Chavit‘ Singson testifies against former President Joseph Estrada during his impeachment trial


December 30, 2000


A series of bombings – now known as the Rizal Day bombings – occur in close succession within a span of a few hours in Metro Manila, with 22 fatalities and around 100 more suffering non-fatal injuries.


Eight died here, inside coach no. 1037 of the Light Rail Transit as it approached the Blumentritt station on December 30, 2000 as a series of blasts rocked the rail system in what is now known as the Rizal Day Bombing


January 16 to 20, 2001


The Second EDSA Revolution, a four-day political protest, peacefully overthrew the government of Joseph Estrada, the 13th President. He was succeeded by Vice President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and sworn into office by Chief Justice Hilario Davide, Jr. at noon on Jan. 20.


May 27, 2001


Members of the bandit gang Abu Sayyaf seizes 20 hostages from the Dos Palmas, an affluent resort located on a private island in Palawan’s Honday Bay. The hostages include two American citizens, Guillermo Sobero and Martin Burnham. At least 22 Filipino soldiers were killed in attempts to arrest the captors and free the hostages in the 12 months following the initial hostage taking. An unknown number of captors were later killed by government forces.


September 11, 2001 


Four coordinated terrorist attacks by the Islamic terrorist group al-Qaeda on the United States killed 2,996 people, injured 6,000 others, and caused at least $10 billion in property and infrastructure damage and $3 trillion in total costs.


On that day, 19 members of al-Qaeda hijacked four airliners and carried out suicide attacks against targets in the United States. Two of the planes slam into the towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, a third plane hits the Pentagon just outside Washington, D.C., and the fourth plane crashes in a field in Pennsylvania. Over 3,000 people were killed during the attacks in New York City and Washington, D.C., including more than 400 police officers and firefighters.


2002


February 26, 2002


Deposed President Joseph Estrada admits having signed “the Jose Velarde” secret account of P500 million in Equitable-PCI Bank. But Estrada insists he merely signed as guarantor of a loan being secured from the bank by one of his businessman friends, plastics king William Gatchalian. 


October 4, 2003


Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo declared in December 2002 she would not contest the May 2004 presidential election. But today she reverses and decides to run.


November 20, 2003 


Pedro Yap, who briefly served for two and a half months as Chief Justice from April 19, 1988, to June 30, 1988, dies.


June 20, 2004


In the presidential election, incumbent President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo won a full six-year term, with a margin of just over one million votes over her leading opponent, highly popular movie actor Fernando Poe, Jr. The 3.48-percent margin of victory is the closest in Philippine presidential election history. This is the first time she is elected to the office. She initially became president on January 20, 2001, after Estrada was ousted by a four-day EDSA People Power Revolution, not through an election.


June 5, 2004


Ronald Reagan, the 40th President of the United States, dies after having suffered from Alzheimer’s disease for nearly a decade.


October 13, 2004 


Enrique Fernando, the 13th Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, dies after serving in the Supreme Court for 18 years, including six years as Chief Justice. 


December 14, 2004 


Ronald Allan Kelley Poe, known as Fernando Poe, Jr. and colloquially known as FPJ and Da King, dies. His long career as an action film star earned him the nickname “King of Philippine Movies” (often shortened to Da King).


February 14, 2005 


Three separate but successive explosions occurred in the busy cities of Makati, Davao, and General Santos. Also known as the Philippines’s mini-9/11 – a reference to the US attacks by terrorists – because of the sequential nature of the attacks, the Valentine’s Day bombings coincide with the birthday of Kris Aquino, a movie actress and the youngest sister of President Benigno Aquino III.


The Makati City blast resulted in the death of four persons andthe  wounding of 60 others. The Davao City and Davao City bombings, on the other hand, caused the death of another four persons and injury of at least 30 others.


Only 30 minutes after the Makati City bombing, the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) through its spokesperson, Abu Sulaiman, claims responsibility for these attacks as “Valentine's gifts” to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. The ASG also regards the three bombings as retaliations “to continued government atrocities” against Muslims in the Southern Philippines.


June 6, 2005 


The Hello Garci scandal (or just Hello Garci), also known as Gloriagate, is described as a political scandal and electoral crisis involving President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who allegedly rigged the national election in her favor. The official results gave Arroyo and TV newsreader Noli de Castro the presidency and vice presidency, respectively. 


January 12, 2006


A stampede during the Stoning of the Devil ritual on the last day of the Hajj in Mina, Saudi Arabia, kills 362 pilgrims.


February 3, 2006


Egyptian passenger ferry MS al-Salam Boccaccio 98 carrying more than 1,400 people sink in the Red Sea off the Saudi coast, with only 388 rescued.


February 17, 2006 


A massive rock slide-debris avalanche occurs in Guinsaugon, Southern Leyte, causing widespread damage and 1,126 deaths after a 10-day period of heavy rain and 2.6 magnitude earthquake.


Third decade (February 10, 2006 to February 9, 2017)


The Maguindanao massacre, also known as the Ampatuan massacre after the town where the mass graves were found, occurred on the morning of November 23, 2009, in the town of Ampatuan in Maguindanao del Sur province, Bangsamoro, Mindanao. The 58 victims were on their way to file a certificate of candidacy for Esmael Mangudadatu for the gubernatorial elections of 2010 when they were waylaid and killed. Among those killed by an estimated 100 gunmen were Mangudadatu’s wife, his two sisters, their aides, lawyers and the journalists who were covering the event.


Overseas, the US elected its first African American President. In November 4, 2008, Senator Barack Obama of Illinois was elected president of the United States over Senator John McCain of Arizona. Obama was sworn in as the 44th president and was subsequently elected to a second term. Polls indicated that he enjoyed high approval ratings until he stepped down to pave the way for Donald Trump.    


September 19, 2006


The Royal Thai Army overthrew the government of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra in a coup d’etat.


October 13, 2006


South Korean Ban Ki-moon is elected as the new Secretary General of the United Nations.


November 5, 2006


Former President of Iraq Saddam Hussein was sentenced to death by hanging by the Iraqi Special Tribunal.


November 23, 2006


A series of car bombs and mortar attacks in Sadr City, Baghdad, kill at least 215 people and injured 257 others.


November 30: Typhoon Durian triggers a massive mudslide and kills at least 720 people in Albay.


December 30, 2006


Former Iraq President Saddam Hussein is hanged, after being convicted of crimes against humanity by the Iraqi Special Tribunal for the murder of 148 Iraqi Shi’ites in the town of Dujail in 1982, in retaliation for an assassination attempt against him. He was 69.


January 13, 2007 


The 12th ASEAN Summit is held in Mandaue City in Cebu.


April 15, 2007


Manny Pacquiao knocks out Mexican Jorge Solis on the eighth round to retain the WBC International Super featherweight championship at the Alamodome, San Antonio, Texas.


May 14, 2007


Synchronized national and local elections are held.


July 11, 2007


Fourteen members of the Philippine Marines were found beheaded after an encounter with Islamic rebels in Basilan.


July 13, 2007


Government troops mounted an offense against Islamic militants who killed 14 Marines to rescue a kidnapped Italian priest.


August 28, 2007


The exiled Communist Party of the Philippines founding chairman, Jose Maria Sison is arrested in Utrecht, Netherlands.


September 12, 2007


The Sandiganbayan convicted former President Joseph Estrada for plunder and sentenced him to reclusion perpetua while acquitting him and his co-accused on other charges.


October 6, 2007


Manny Pacquiao defeats Mexican Marco Antonio Barrera via unanimous decision at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, Las Vegas to retain the WBC international super featherweight title.


October 19, 2007


An explosion at Glorietta Mall in Makati City kills 11 and injures at least 100.


October 26, 2007


Former President Joseph Estrada is pardoned and freed from jail after his trial.


November 29, 2007


Military officers led by Senator Antonio Trillanes IV were whisked off to a police camp after they surrendered to government troops who surrounded the Makati Hotel they had commandeered.


The Armed Forces lays siege to The Peninsula Manila after soldiers stage a mutiny.


Flag-raising rites honor Thai king


NAKHON RATCHASIMA – The Southeast Asian nations, represented here by their athletes and officials, join the Thai people in honoring their much-revered monarch, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, on his 80th birthday during the flag-raising ceremony.


The regional neighbors pay respect to the Thai king closely after the flag-raising rites at the Athletes Village near the main venue named His Majesty the King’s 80th Birthday Anniversary Stadium.


Flag-raising participants from other countries will be one with the Thai people wearing pink shirt during the exercise starting at 6 p.m.


About 200 Filipino athletes and officials attend the ceremony with PSC commissioner Richie Garcia, in lieu of chef de mission Congressman Monico Puentevella, doing the honors of raising the Philippine flag at about 6:30 p.m.


At around 7:30 p.m. with the flags of all Asean nations having been raised, lights throughout the country will be turned off. Candlelights will then illuminate the entire country as the Thai people honor the king.


Thailand is now enveloped with the pink color after the King’s emergence from the hospital last June in a smart pink jacket.


“Everyone except the chefs de mission will be in pink.


We’re joining the Thai people in honoring His Majesty,” Garcia told the STAR.


The grand SEAG opening ceremonies tomorrow will be another highlight of the King Bhumibol’s birthday celebration.


The work of the same show organizer who put up the openers in the 1995 Chiang Mai SEAG and the 1998 Bangkok Asiad, the grand show features a cast of over 8,000 celebrating the 80th birthday of the King, showing off the beauty of the province, and depicting the cultures of the participating nations.


Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn presided over the grand opening, while Princess Sirivannavari Nariratana led the 1,141-strong Thai contingent during the march past.


The ninth King of the Chakri Dynasty is the world’s longest-reigning monarch. He has also broken all the records of his predecessors in the Chakri Dynasty. He has outlived all the previous Chakri kings. King Rama I, who founded Bangkok as the new capital in 1782, lived the second longest until 72 years of age.


King Bhumibol has also reigned on the throne longer than any previous Chakri king. King Chulalongkorn, the King’s grandfather, reigned for 42 years before passing away, leaving behind a legacy of sweeping legal and administrative reforms that set the stage for Siam to emerge as a modern state.


The special started on December 6, 2007 at 4 a.m. as a 9-day broadcast. The live coverage begins with the special editions of Gising Pilipinas, Todo Balita and Umagang Kay Ganda on ABS-CBN while on GMA it aired the replays of public affairs shows followed by the special edition of Unang Hirit, then regular programming continues until 6:30 p.m., with the special edition of 24 Oras followed by the opening ceremonies at 8 p.m.


The Philippines performance was its best ever yet in Southeast Asian Games history, emerged as overall champion of the games in 2005. The Philippines has a delegation of 620 athletes, who participated in 41 different events.


The ceremony will take place at seven in the evening, Nakhon Ratchasima time. But the Philippines is one hour ahead of Thailand, by the international time belts, so it will come to us — live, by satellite television — from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Thursday evening.


The entire ceremony will be televised, live, while it is actually happening in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand, over the Associated Broadcasting Company (ABC) Channel 5 in Metro Manila. It will be seen simultaneously over 46 stations of ABC:


  • ABC-2 Laoag
  • ABC-28 Baguio
  • ABC-40 Pampanga
  • ABC-32 Bacolod
  • ABC-21 Cebu
  • ABC-8 Cagayan de Oro
  • ABC-2 Davao
  • ABC-12 General Santos


Affiliate Stations:


  • Channel 32 Vigan
  • Channel 25 Tuguegarao
  • Channel 25 Santiago
  • Channel 5 Aparri
  • Channel 13 Mt. Province
  • Channel 24 Baler
  • Channel 24 Tarlac
  • Channel 22 Olongapo
  • DTV-27 Bulacan
  • Channel 44 Batangas
  • Channel 9 Puerto Princesa, Palawan
  • Channel 41 Marinduque
  • Channel 6 Occidential Mindoro
  • Channel 50 Oriental Mindoro
  • Channel 30 Catanduanes
  • Channel 22 Naga
  • Channel 6 Legazpi
  • Channel 11 Sorsogon
  • Channel 28 Daet
  • Channel 25 Aklan
  • Channel 33 Roxas
  • Channel 36/DTV-16 Iloilo
  • Channel 2 Dumaguete
  • Channel 7 Tagbilaran
  • Channel 40 Tacloban
  • Channel 30 Borongan
  • Channel 7 Catarman
  • Channel 34 Malaybalay
  • Channel 48 Oroquieta
  • Channel 8 Iligan
  • Channel 5 Pagadian
  • Channel 8 Dipolog
  • Channel 5 Surigao
  • Channel 32 Butuan
  • Channel 28 Tandag
  • Channel 10 Marawi
  • Channel 10 Cotabato
  • Channel 11/DTV-40 Zamboanga


ABC is affiliated with 32 Cable Stations in Luzon, 14 in the Visayas, and 14 in Mindanao.


The opening ceremony, which is divided into eight segments, was held on 6 December 2007 at 7 p.m. (8 p.m. local time) at the 80th birthday stadium.

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