Luchie Mendoza Allen Paul Menoza Allen Rhony Laigo Along with 2012 veteran journalist al aquino term at pinoy watchdog comes to end

1. Along with 2012, Veteran Journalist Al Aquino’s Term at
PinoyWatchDog.com Comes to an End
Veteran Journalist Alfonso Gaerlan Aquino has
resigned as PinoyWatchDog.com’s Executive Editor. His combative yet entertaining style
(“having dungs for brains and were seriously sick of diarrhea in the mouth” — for instance)
always had readers reaching for Aquino’s “My View” Column. Here’s another good one: “Unless
they are the kind who are willing to have their balls castrated in order to be turned into those
dreaded Eunuchs of olden times. Anonymity, cowardice, and lies are their breakfast, lunch and
supper. What a feast!”
“My early exposure to the printed media led me to set my sights on becoming a writer, or at
least, a newsman, when I was in my elementary schooling,” Aquino told PinoyWatchDog.com. “I
had a father who was very fond of reading books of literary writers like Theodore Dreisser,
Sinclair Lewis, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Philippine newspapers and the Philippine
Free Press Magazine,” the former FEU debating team member said. “In my sixth grade, I found
myself picking up the papers and reading them after my father was through. In my senior year in
high school, I became the school paper’s editor,” Aquino told PW. So when he began attending
college in 1953, he was determined to become an English writer. While a student writer at his
alma mater, FEU, Aquino also joined the College Editors Guild (CEG).
Aquino is a graduate of Far Eastern University’s and first began writing as a regular contributor
to the university’s weekly student newspaper, Advocate “My forte at the time was literary writing,
so I contributed short stories and poems to the Advocate, the official campus paper of the
university, later in 1958 to 1959,” Aquino told PinoyWatchDog.com “I wrote a column called “Of
Arts and Literature,” collaborating with a fellow student named Marcelo Mercado, who went on
to become a national artist.”
When Aquino left school in 1960, he joined the broadsheet daily, Philippines Herald, as a cub
reporter and left after barely 11 months for a higher paying job at the House of Representatives
of the Philippines. Aquino told PinoyWatchDog.com “these years saw me going into politics (he
served as Mayor of San Juan, La Union in 1976 to 1979, and Member of the Provincial Board in
1972 to 1976) and joining an underground newspaper called the Batasan Times during Martial
Law in 1984, until I decided to move to the United States in 1987.”

2. Aquino had a few short stints with other Filipino-American community newspapers here in Los
Angeles, but none as grand as Executive Editor at PinoyWatchDog.com. “We all always agreed
that PinoyWatchDog.com should be an open newspaper with various points of view,” Senior
Columnist Joel Bander said. “And Tito Al always has a point of view.”
Aquino had tendered his resignation in late November 2012, but acceptance was held in hopes
of finding resolution to keep him on board. However, present circumstances and new events
made this impossible.
Aquino regular column addressed many different issues with a particular spark and flavor.
Among the favorites:
On Corruption
The matter of retribution concerns the future of generations of Filipinos, and their political and
economic aspirations. If powerful government officials were free to violate, again and again,
with impunity, through plunder and electoral sabotage, and human rights violation, the trust
bestowed upon them by the public, as what occurred during the Marcos, Estrada, and Arroyo
administrations, indeed, the future of the country is dim and uncertain
On the Old Days in Manila
I am taken to a nostalgic mood whenever I delve into the realm of the past, and I cannot let pass
the leisure of an evening of pleasure and tranquility just dissipate into the mist. There was this
favorite haunt of mine in the glory years of the fifties and sixties called the Town’s Tavern,
located along United Nations Avenue, near the Hilton Hotel, in Ermita, Manila. Every night, it
would be filled with tourists, locals and foreign. Watching these crowd, I developed the idea as
to why they were attracted to this unpretentious joint. It was that Edith Piaf song —La Vie En
Rose—and its exquisite melody. It was the Tavern’s theme song and was sung by an aging
white Russian chanteuse named Natasha, wife of the owner, Whitey Smith, a former band
leader whose set-up Dean Martin started his career, according to Whitey’s autobiography.
However, in this joint, the music is not provided by a band, but a piano and violin duo played to
heavenly strains. The last time i went to the place in 1969, the couple were no longer the
owners and they were gone, but I could still remember one other song Natasha sung–The Last
Time I Saw Paris–from the movie of the same title and based on a story by F.Scott Fitzgerald. It
gives me the shivers.
On Rhony Liago
If you remember, Mr. Rhony Laigo, way back in the Philippines, serial liars were diagnosed as
having dungs for brains and were seriously sick of “diarrhea in the mouth”. I hope you’re not one
already, my friend. But I do hope also that you understand what I mean.
On the Corona Impeachment and the Role of Money
What was this rare moment in the history of the Philippine government all about? After all is said
and done, it all boils down to money–the almighty and the root of all evil as well. Whatever

3. power Mr. Corona had was facilitated and accentuated by greed for material things.
And because of money, assumed as ill-gotten by the ever watchful eyes of the Filipino people,
he’ll be made to pay some more,and justice be served some more
On Consulate Social Occasions
The reception tendered by the Consulate of Los Angeles on the occasion of the celebration of
Philippine Independence Day on June 12, 2012 was attended by the usual coterie of patriots,
pseudo patriots, spurious fundraisers, barflies, hangers-on, and scam artists, all
consistent habitues of the Consulate’s social and official functions. It is a wonder how a most
gracious consulate staff, headed by a comely and vibrant Consul General, the Honorable Mary
Jo Aragon, could really find their way to perform their duties and responsibilities before such a
mixture of desirable and undesirable constituents. This remarkable feat is really mind-boggling,
but on the other hand, it strengthened my admiration for Congen Aragon and her staff all
the more
On Darna Umayam
As President of the company (TanodBayan, Inc.) which publishes PinoyWatchDog.com, I am
accepting responsibility for the behavior and conduct of its writers and I am, therefore, duty
bound also to respond and defend against the accusations of Mrs. Dolores Banaria Umayam,
lovingly known in the community as Darna, that staff members only use this paper to get back at
their enemies; twisting the facts in their reports and even fabricating them; that the community
hates the likes of us because we are criticizing a noble undertaking. There is nothing farther
from the truth, and this is just the normal reaction of an onion-skinned lady who failed to
recognize the benefits of having a set of criteria and judges to pass judgment.
More Darna Umayam
Our word for our flying lady: a noble heart is one that is blessed by GOD, and so with all good
intentions–they are made in heaven. They way we can express them is by doing the right thing.
However, on Earth, the planet we live in, it is indeed the rarest of the rarest, when good
intentions are on top over the desire for material gains, over fraud and deceit, because money
happen to be ALMIGHTY. I’m afraid this rarest of moments has not come to you yet, Darna.
Nevertheless, good night and sweet dreams.
On Attacks on PinoyWatchDog.com
These are trying times for PinoyWatchDog.com and its staff writers, indeed. We are being
beleaguered by unknown creatures whose venom against us is very deprecating and
defamatory. But, we assure these “aswangs”, you don’t know who you are maligning, and we
would like you to know “we are made of sterner stuff”. So how could these shadowy creatures of
the dark hide under the skirt of a discredited siren? Unless they are the kind who are willing to
have their balls castrated in order to be turned into those dreaded Eunuchs of olden times.
Anonymity, cowardice, and lies are their breakfast, lunch and supper. What a feast!
On the Catholic Church and the Lord’s Effect on Government

4. Now, we are not saying that miracles and such do not happen, but what Bishop Pabillo is
essentially telling Filipinos is that the Lord has a vested interest in all aspects of Philippine
government’s affairs, including its legislative functions. If that were true, then it stands to reason
that God needs to send more disasters to the Philippines for other pervasive ills in the country,
like corruption in all levels of the government and the weak and corrupt justice system.
Aquino was also responsible for having the original issues of PinoyWatchDog.com emphasize a
Filipino couple losing their home because of Attorney James Beirne’s negligence and fraud
when others on the editorial board thought there should be on the inner pages, and maintaining
the stream of Exposes about Balita Media illegally owning the Law Firms of Beirne and Paul
Allen when others on the board advocating ceasing those stories. He was also a leader in
pursuing the Darna Umayam Awards Dinner Scandal when others on the board thought more
limited coverage was available.
But he also knew the fine points of newspapers, including when the colors of the
PinoyWatchDog.com banner was being discussed he said ‘that’s easy, every Filipino
newspaper should be yellow, red and white.”
PinoyWatchDog.com thanks and salutes Al Aquino for his service. Woof Woof for Tito Al.