About me

Mabuhay – Long Live!

I’m Raissa. An investigative  journalist who is happiest digging in the trenches.

If you have any information you wish to ask or share directly,  please e-mail :

[email protected]

During this challenging time in our nation’s life, permit me to share with you what I’ve learned through years of reporting.

Studying power has fascinated me ever since I took up a Shakespeare course in college. I’ve had that rare privilege of watching power up close, especially in face-to-face interviews with five Philippine presidents:

  1. Benigno Aquino III;
  2. Corazon Aquino;
  3. Fidel Ramos;
  4. Joseph Estrada; and
  5. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo

As well as some of their children, spouses and key aides.

In this blog, I see myself as a political outsider and onlooker, not a power player.

Views expressed in this blog are strictly my own and not those of the media outlets I write for.

I am currently Manila correspondent of South China Morning Post (HK) – Asia’s oldest English language newspaper – and Radio Netherlands.

Recently, I was asked by ABS-CBN News whether I would be willing to have a tie-up with them by having some of my pieces appear on their website and whether I could write some stories for them. I agreed and I’m delighted with this arrangement since it assures me editorial independence.

I used to be a contributing reporter for:

  1.  Asiaweek magazine of the Time-CNN Group;
  2. Asia Inc. magazine; and
  3. Riyadh Daily newspaper.

I have done pieces for The Times of London and BBC Radio.

I have also been interviewed as a source by the Australian Radio Network and Voice of America.

I started out in Business Day, then The Manila Chronicle, Business Star and Philippine Star newspapers.

I’ve contributed special reports on a wide range of topics to:

  1. The Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism;
  2. Newsbreak;
  3. Vera Files; and
  4. The Philippine Daily Inquirer 

And also published two biographical books:

  1. To Fight Without End: The Story of a Misunderstood President
  2. Trianggulo

I took up English literature, major in Imaginative Writing, at the University of the Philippines, where I graduated magna cum laude. I’m a member of the Phi Kappa Phi International Honor Society.

I’m also a proud member of the UP English Honors Class under the late English Professor Concepcion Dadufalza, as well as a student of the late Fr. Joseph Galdon at the Ateneo de Manila University.

To hone my skills in journalism, I attended a course at the International Institute for Journalism in Berlin.

This blog would not have taken off and been at all possible without the prodding of my hubby Alan. He is my adviser, editor and consultant.  And he makes me laugh.

Here’s what Alan posted on his Facebook Wall recently:

 I lecture on multimedia journalism and publishing in Berlin. A year ago, I told my wife I would use my knowledge and skills to be her adviser, editor and consultant in her political blog. I promised her in a year her site would be one of the most popular in the country. This week her blog starts as a regular partner to abs-cbnnews.com, the country’s largest broadcast news network. She’s also been asked to contribute exclusive features.

Of course, like the dutiful wife, I didn’t believe him, initially :)

I’ve made numerous mistakes in journalism – which I had to learn on the fly – but asking President Arroyo about sex is not one of them.

Nor is  asking President Aquino whether he plays video games. 

Besides politics, terrorism and the Mindanao rebellion, I’m interested in a whole lot of things and this website will reflect that.

Join me in my quest for a better life for the majority of Filipinos. And of course for world peace. Yeah, beauty queens are right.

And oh, by the way, this blog is a work in progress. I’m an electronically-challenged person and so I’m very proud to say that I built this blog from the ground up. Of course with lotsa advice from Alan. He’s the geeky one.

♦   ♦   ♦   ♦

I would like to thank Van, a graphic designer, for making my masthead for me.

This is Van’s rendering of the Philippine flag that was used after the 1986 Edsa people power revolution up to 1998, when the blue was navy blue.

The color blue was changed in 1998.