PHILIPPINES TODAY has come a long way since Benny and I teamed up to launch the “colored” issues. This issue is the 12th with yours truly at the helm, signifying one full year of service to Filipinos in Japan.

For those who have been following us since we literally “turned a new leaf,” one would have noticed major milestones that PT endeavored to fulfill. Concomitant with PT’s re-launching in June 2001 came the birth of PT Online under the able hands of two physics Ph.D.’s, Kathy and Baggy Bagarinao. As of last count, our online version generates more than 3000 hits PER DAY, from as low as 278 per day a year ago.

The letters that we receive come from all over the world and from all corners of the social spectrum. Our writers answer queries mostly from the US and Japan, engaging them in lively email exchanges and even linking prospective suppliers abroad to buyers in the Philippines and vice versa. A few from overseas have also written us for help in locating missing relatives and finding prospective mates. PT Online made all these possible.

Like any media entity, PT is what it is today because of the people who grace its pages. Our advertisers, subscribers and regular readers know they have friends in PT who bring them sound advice and insightful articles each month. PT writers can be reached through their respective email addresses, and those who have written us more often than not receive a kind reply. Our service does not end after the monthly deadline but always beyond.

MEET THE PT WRITERS (from l to r) Honoel Ibardolaza, Renzi Juarez, Shivaun Gayares, Ching Camemo, Ian Fernandez (Tippi’s husband) and Tippi Talorete-Fernandez

PT is certainly blessed to have the right combination of talent in its staff box. Apart from Baggy and Kathy, who also writes occasionally, there is Benny, our publisher, without whom all these wouldn’t be possible. But apart from Benny holding the purse strings, his firm grasp of issues affecting Filipinos in Japan make him a gold mine of sound advice, as proven by the number of people who call on him for help each day.

We are likewise privileged to have Mr. Ernie Macahiya grace our opinion page and sometimes news analysis section since June 2001. Mr. Macahiya is also a weekly columnist of the Manila Times in the Philippines as well as the Vice President for Corporate Affairs of the Development Bank of the Philippines.

The others who have stuck with us since Day 1 of the “colored” issues and whom I am sure PT subscribers, advertisers and regular readers have developed an attachment to are Melrose Valencia, our cool showbiz editor who compiles for us the top stories in Philippine tinseltown and who is also a supervisor in a food manufacturing company in the Philippines; Renzi Juarez, our expert columnist on money matters, who is also a bank officer of the Rizal Commercial and Banking Corporation; Tippi Talorete-Fernandez, our expert on etiquette and finesse, who is also a human resources manager; Rey Arnel Agudaña, our insightful poet and well-connected New York correspondent, who is also a registered nurse; Shivaun Gayares, our indefatigable and highly versatile sports editor, also a registered nurse; and Honoel Ibardolaza, our talented artist and fitness editor, who is also a computer whiz.

Those who are still with us since last year but write only every now and then are Rochelle Gamboa-Hilario, our prime source of business ideas, who has been in the field of corporate publicity and advertising for more than 10 years; Doddie Pacion-Householder, our features contributor who is also into public relations; and Glenn Calanag, the professional photographer who provides us with sound photo tips in layman’s terms.

	(from l to r) Melrose Valencia, Rochelle Gamboa-Hilario, Butch N. Talorete, Jim Alabastro, Agnes Cruz, and Ernesto Macahiya.

PT also welcomes those who have joined us within the year. Agnes Cruz, our mainstay sports writer, finds herself always in the thick of the fray as an executive assistant in the Philippine Sports Commission. Filipinos in Japan are privileged to have someone who knows the ins and outs of Philippine sports writing for us. Jim Alabastro, on the other hand, who works for a software company is our “man on the street,” bringing you Manila happenings from the ground up. Jim was in Japan a few years back as an exchange scholar.

As I had written in my first Letter from the Editor in June 2001 when the “colored” issues began, “it happens only once in a couple thousand years that things magically fall into place. And that magic has come to Philippines Today.” Undoubtedly, the stars are still aligned and the magic continues as PT marks its first year under the new editorial team and begins its second year next month. PT is undoubtedly still going strong as it enters its 13th year of publication in Japan.

To the casual observer, our gains may be modest. However, unknown to many, PT is solely driven by the spirit of service and volunteerism. We do not have employees, our budget is unbelievably shoestring and earned only through advertisers, and our paper is always given away for free. (Our subscribers pay for postage and handling.) Yet we continue to deliver a publication that Filipinos in Japan look forward to reading, simply because of its underlying message of fun, hope and positive energies.

We thank you, our valued advertisers, subscribers, and readers, for taking this journey with us. Our world is yours, has always been and will always be. Let us take your hand as we enter our 13th year of service next month, as the longest running publication for Filipinos in Japan.

More than anything, PT’s secret of longevity lies in one simple truth: we are number two because YOU are Number 1.

Sincerely yours,

Butch N. Talorete
Editor-in-Chief