INTRODUCTION

PEOPLE
Yano
Romeo Lee
Manny Villar
Nur Misuari
Benjie Paras
Dino Ignacio
Eraserheads
Jerry Barican
Obet Verzola
Jessica Zafra
Zider Lubiano
Myla Algarme
Gary Granada
Raymond Red
Mike Defensor
Jerome Bailen
Eric Altamirano
Amante Jimenez
Miriam Defensor
Malou Mangahas

ISSUES
ID
UAAP
STFAP
US Bases
Collegian
Frat Violence
SAMASA split
SR controversy
Sexual Harassment

Her name is almost akin to activism. True to her name, she is "mapangahas."

Defining Moments
Ma. Lourdes Mangahas entered the university at the height of Martial Law in 1976 and took BA Journalism.

Mangahas set a record when she grabbed the two most coveted student positions in the university. She became the editor-in-chief of the Philippine Collegian in 1979. The following year, she became the chairperson of the University Student Council and, at the same time, the president of the College Editors Guild of the Philippines. Never did she consider her being a woman as a hindrance in working in a predominantly male workplace.

Her experiences with the USC, CEGP, and the Collegian, and the multi-sectoral alliances such as the "Boycott Batasang Pambansa Campaign" and the "Justice for Ninoy, Justice for All Movement," helped her define her priorities.

Mangahas graduated cum laude in 1981.

Poldet
She was a target.

While walking in España, Manila from a USC meeting on November 29,1980, Mangahas was arrested and taken to Bicutan where she was to stay until February of the following year.

"When I was detained, my experiences in Bicutan somehow complimented and consolidated my experiences as a student here. In prison, I saw, perhaps, the most brilliant and the most dedicated Filipinos we have. I was so lucky to be there and see them at work," she narrates.

There, she experienced working at the canteen. "We [had] to cook bagwis (chicken wings) for over a hundred people," she recalls.

Mon Isberto, her prisonmate, relates how they adopted Mangahas as their "muse" as there were very few ladies in their group then. He also said that she never sings but was forced to inside the prison to amuse her prisonmates.

Full Grown
The university seemed too small for Mangahas. Immediately after graduation, she worked in various non-government organizations and media agencies.

In 1989, Mangahas, together with six other journalists, founded the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) - a non-stock, non-profit media cooperative of journalists. She was its training director from 1991 until the time she was asked by Robina Gokongwei, president of the Metro Media Corporations, to work for The Manila Times in 1994.

Unfortunately, early this year, the Times angered President Estrada when it published a story that linked him to an illegal deal. The president filed a P101-million libel suit, but withdrew it when Gokongwei issued an apology. Four editors of the Times resigned because of the apology. The dauntless Mangahas, on the other hand, chose to stay despite the paper's 'fractured' credibility. "A journalist must live to write another day," she explained.

Last July 21, the paper suffered the biggest blow - it wrote thirty. According to Mangahas, the asset sale of the Times was a matter known to the editors only in late May. They already sensed that the apology issued by Gokongwei to the President could lead to the possible death of the paper. Surprisingly, Mangahas did not blame the owners of the Times for the unsounded sale of the paper. Yet Mangahas vowed to defend the supposedly unfettered press.

At present, Mangahas, together with her co-editors at the former Times and Shiela Coronel, PCIJ director, is working on a book on the state of Philippine Media. She is also a lecturer at the College of Mass Communication where she teaches column writing.

Daring as she is, she spent her youth and vitality in writing the limelights of the nation's history. Marcos' tyrannical rule failed to silence her. Indeed, for Mangahas, Estrada's attempts to suppress the press is not a new battle to be fought.