Stories & Photographs by Jofelle Tesorio

On June 30, Rodrigo Duterte will take over from outgoing President Benigno Aquino for a term of six years. His main agenda is to eradicate corruption and criminality within six months of office. He wants to bring back death penalty and promises to give dictator Ferdinand Marcos a hero’s burial. “As I have said in the miting de avance, my parting words was that, ‘if you destroy my country, I will kill you. If you destroy the youth of this country, I will kill you’.” This is incoming Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte during a thanksgiving rally in his hometown Davao City. As he sends his message to drug pushers, criminals and policemen who take bribes from drug syndicates, the crowd cheered to their new hero, their David who is ready to slay Goliath. He ups the ante by calling on ordinary citizens to arrest suspected criminals. “Feel free to call us, the police or do it yourself if you have the gun. You have my support,” he encourages. TOUGH LOVE. Incoming Philippine pr...

This is the typical night in a call centre in Manila. A Filipino service representative is patiently giving advice to an American customer regarding car insurance. She is one of the 1.2 million Filipinos employed in the Information Technology-Business Process Outsourcing or IT-BPO. For the last seven years, Maria Aguilar, has been working for an American-owned firm. “We have rotation schedules. Sometimes I work in the night shift and sometimes I work in the mid-shift. That would be from 1pm to 10pm," says Maria. Since most clients are from the West, a regular shift is from 9pm to 6am. The names of multinational BPO companies are displayed outside an office building in Eastwood, Quezon City, Philippines. Jobs at the IT-BPO vary—from making and receiving calls to making animation and accounting services. Jaren Atrero works for a Canadian company. “Basically our clients are some who are dealing with engineering, electric, mechanical kind of thing...

Green activists are facing deadly dangers in the Philippines.  In a 2015 report of the London-based Global Witness, it lists the Philippines as the most dangerous country in Asia for environmentalists. Environmentalist and social activist Gerthie Anda during a forum. Being an environmentalist in the Philippines has its share of perils. (Facebook photo from Gerthie Anda) Ask anyone in Palawan province about the ‘Green Lady’ and the name of environmentalist-lawyer Gerthie Mayo-Anda comes up. She has become the poster girl of the environmental movement here. Amid the mining rush, development and other environmental issues, she established the Environmental Legal Assistance Center, or ELAC, in the 1990s. “It’s basically to utilize my knowledge and skills as a legal professional to be able to help the least of our brethren by focusing mainly on how we can survive as a people, anchoring our survival on healthy ecosystems,” says Mayo-Anda. For more than 25 years, she has de...

Filipinos know the names of their beauty queens like Brazilians know their football heroes . Candidates for Miss Puerto Princesa City pose for photographers during a press conference.   It’s the middle of a gruelling practice for girls who are competing in a local beauty pageant. They sashay back and forth in high heels to perfect their walk without tripping. Their trainer, Thom Favila, explains the rigours of his beauty boot camp. “During training, when the girls wake up, we start the day with jogging. After jogging, we have breakfast, followed by walking exercises,” he says, “After that we teach them how to put on make-up and that is followed by question and answer exercises.” Most of his students come from impoverished backgrounds. One of them is 20-year-old Janicel Lubina who represented the Philippines in the Miss International pageant in Japan last December. Janicel was close to winning the Miss Philippines-Universe title, where the winner, Filipin...

“Another bird trips the power line?” Every time the electricity gets cut off, residents of a small but booming tourism city of Puerto Princesa in the Philippines flood their Facebook shout outs blaming the power supplier for inefficiency. The local electric cooperative then passes the blame on miniscule reasons like tree branches falling on electric lines or birds treading on them. It cannot be discounted, however, that ageing power lines and generators running on crude oil cannot cope with the increasing demand of the city, which has seen the number of hotels and restaurants grow exponentially. Three years ago, a three-storey mall also opened. This so-called development has driven local politicians to find ways of delivering the much-needed electricity within a short period. Gil Acosta, the governor’s spokesperson, said “the governor believes that Palawan has been left behind by other provinces, even though it’s the biggest in the region. Power plays a big role in development. Those...

Carlo Mercedez works, like many people, behind a computer in this simple office for 8 hours a day – Monday to Friday. “Then I get weekends off to spend time with my family,” says Carlo. The only thing is that Carlo is a prisoner, who is serving 30 years. “At 6 in the morning we have head count, then we go back to prepare to go to the office at 8am. We go home at 12noon to have lunch then go back at the office at 1pm. At 4pm, there is another head counting. Then we can go home.” He is one of 3,000 inmates in this unique prison without walls. “I’ve been here in Iwahig for seven years. I don’t know when I will be released but I already served my minimum sentence since 2011.” Carlo’s is finished the minimum of his sentence so he is allowed to live in his own house with his wife and three young children– who go to a school inside the open air prison’s facility. Inmates at Iwahig Prison in Puerto Princesa City, Philippines wait for the flag lowering ceremony. Some of them h...

The recent devastating typhoon that hit central Philippines has illicited international response and pooled resources from different countries and individuals, much like the earthquake in Haiti and tsunami in Japan. Too much have been said about the enormity of the typhoon and the effects it brought to the affected. My heart bleeds. Blaming the Philippine government's slow response was the order of the day. The social networking sites have become a platform of motivating more help and of course discussions and bickering on what went wrong, who to blame and what should have been done. Facebook and Twitter have become a stage for heated debates and surely Filipinos don't run out of opinions to say online. Filipinos seem to be good at making their points of view highlighted online than face to face. A truck lies on it's side after the typhoon in Borbon town, Northern Cebu, Philippines. Photo by C. Baldicantos If you are caught on the other side of the debate and who does...