By Ian Malczewski

EARLY every morning, after the roosters’ shrill call, a creature rises in Metro Iloilo, snarling, burping, and chewing the earth as its crawls. With a skeleton of steel and a heart that pumps oil, it carries people in its belly, shaking them from side to side. This creature is the jeepney, a mode of public transportation, and at times it seems to outnumber all the other creatures in the region, even the people.

Public transportation is a key feature of the public realm. It not only transports people across the region, but it also ties them together within it, forging a sense of shared identity. Transit is a mobile architecture, a moving landmark that defines a sense of place, like London’s Underground, Toronto’s Red Rocket streetcars, or Thailand’s countless tuk-tuks. Read more »

ILOILO CITY, Philippines — Two award-winning journalists lead a list of resource persons in a recent three-day Business and Interpretive Reporting Workshop organized for members of the Iloilo City Hall Press Corps and information officers of local government units under the Metro Iloilo-Guimaras Economic Development Council (MIGEDC).

Yvonne Chua, former training director of the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism, and Lala Rimando, business editor of Newsbreak Magazine, shared their knowledge with 18 participants in a workshop co-sponsored by the Iloilo City government and the Canadian Urban Institute, with funding support from the Canadian International Development Agency. Read more »