Tonyo Cruz

National Capital Region

Filipino 🇵🇭 Manila Bulletin columnist 📰 Disclaimer: Opinions are my own, and not of the paper, family, friends, pets, or affiliations (real or imagined)

Featured in: Favicon

mb.com.ph

rappler.com

Articles

[OPINION] Time for a law for EDSA anniversary holiday

Oct 13, 2023 | rappler.com | Mia González |Tonyo Cruz

Compared to Ninoy Aquino Day which is officially declared a special non-working holiday under Republic Act 9256, making the EDSA People Power anniversary a similar holiday has been left to the discretion of presidents. The two closest things to a law marking the 1986 uprising don’t provide for a national holiday: the Human Rights Victims Reparation and Recognition Act of 2013, and Joseph Estrada’s 1999 executive order forming the EDSA People Power Commission.
[OPINION] ICC case bilang banta sa alyansang Marcos-Duterte

Jul 19, 2023 | rappler.com | Tonyo Cruz

“How do you solve a problem like Duterte?”Ito siguro ang nasa isip ni Presidente Ferdinand Marcos Jr. matapos ang desisyon ng International Criminal Court (ICC) na ibasura ang apela ng Pilipinas laban sa imbestigasyon sa malawakang pagpaslang noong “drug war.”Bakit nga naman may ganitong problemang napunta sa kanya, at hindi naman siya sangkot. Posibleng maging malaki ang papel ni Marcos sa anumang mangyayari kaugnay ng kaso sa ICC.
The ₱750-billion question

Mar 10, 2023 | mb.com.ph | Tonyo Cruz

HOTSPOTIt is unconventional wisdom but governments, past and present, actually owe generations of jeepney drivers and operators a lot. The fact is, these family-run micro-enterprises have been the backbone of public transportation nationwide. Without them, there’s no mobility across the archipelago, especially for the overwhelming majority who commute.
Joel Lamangan’s heart

Mar 3, 2023 | mb.com.ph | Tonyo Cruz

HOTSPOTWould a triple heart bypass stop a director from finishing a film he has long wanted to make? If you’re Joel Lamangan, it won’t. The 12 days of prep, procedure and recovery from the heart operation in early December didn’t deter him. Chatting with him this week, on the day before “Oras de Peligro” opened in cinemas, Lamangan didn’t look like he just survived a bypass.
Much ado about titles

Feb 24, 2023 | mb.com.ph | Tonyo Cruz

HOTSPOTWhen I was growing up, I used to walk around our mixed working class-middle class neighborhood in Sampaloc, Manila, and I noticed that some houses had marble labels on their outer walls. Inscribed on the markers are the full names and professions of the people that purportedly live there. They were a bit bigger and different from the signs outside offices of lawyers, doctors and dentists. The markers set apart the middle class from the working class.
Chacha promises: Not again

Feb 17, 2023 | mb.com.ph | Tonyo Cruz

HOTSPOTWe have been told many times that it is the Constitution’s fault that our economy is not developing. Never mind wealth and income inequality, regressive taxation, institutional corruption, regulatory capture, and the chronic joblessness as evidenced by more labor migration. The Constitution seems to be a perpetual bogeyman. It is not as if foreign investments are not welcome in the country. They are welcome. The Constitution does not ban them.
Friends and family

Feb 10, 2023 | mb.com.ph | Tonyo Cruz

HOTSPOTI have been refusing to attend big events but the Manila Bulletin’s recent 123rd anniversary celebration was an exception. I made sure I would be able to go so I could again see and of course thank our editors and our president for the space and moral support for my role as a columnist in this newspaper. It is now difficult for me to imagine not having a space in this newspaper, especially since October last year when I lost my mother.
From Congress to Davos

Feb 3, 2023 | mb.com.ph | Tonyo Cruz

HOTSPOTIf House ways and means committee chair Rep. Joey Salceda would have his way, a new tax would be slapped on luxury watches, cars priced above ₱5-million, private planes, residential property above ₱100-million per unit, liquor costing above ₱20,000 per bottle, and leather goods above ₱50,000 per unit. Also being considered for taxation are exclusive club memberships, jacuzzis, furs, all regatta equipment and antiques.
Adios, my friend

Jan 27, 2023 | mb.com.ph | Tonyo Cruz

HOTSPOTI first met Owen Bayog in late 1997 at a public school in New Washington, Aklan. We were there for a National Council meeting of the College Editors Guild of the Philippines. The minute I saw Owen, I thought we won’t ever get along. He was huge and had a menacing look. Sure enough, we would catch him smuggling gin, monkeying around with other attendees or jumping the school fence at night. But of course, things didn’t end there.
Journalist, lensman Owen Bayog dies at 46

Jan 20, 2023 | rappler.com | Tonyo Cruz

Journalist and photographer Owen Segovia Bayog died on Friday, January 20, in Bacolod City, after a lingering illness. He was 46. Bayog’s initial foray into journalism was with the regional Visayas Daily Examiner. He later worked as staff photographer for the Negros Daily Bulletin, and also contributed to the multi-awarded alternative online news outlet Bulatlat. He was the brains behind the Negros Sentinel, a local news website.