Rogue.ph

For a good part of the ‘90s, Earl Ignacio was a star. Trained as a theatre actor, his performing career successfully segued into the mainstream. From voicing Peter Pan for an animated series to appearing in top-rated gag shows like Tropang Trompo, he also had a highly publicized romance with newscaster Christine Bersola. After retreating from the front of the camera, he now relates how his “celebrity” seems to be the longest 15 minutes of his life.

In the years following the first EDSA, Ferdinand Marcos’s successors—from Cory Aquino to Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo—have had to deal with uprisings from the military as well as the usual suspects from the Left. Since the overthrow of Joseph Estrada, the current president has had to contend with numerous attempts to unseat her government by forces composed of the unlikeliest of allies. Veteran journalist Patrick Paez investigates the recent failed coups and its shadowy game of generals.

In these nail-biting times of crisis, expect even more defined America-first policies from the Obama administration, which is a clear signal for the Philippines, says Quintin Pastrana, to start earning its keep instead of angling for a piece of the Democratic bailout bonanza. Is the search on for our own beacon of hope and agent of change in 2010?