Going off-script

July 1, 2022

I used to write two to four opinion pieces a week for Manila Standard, the national broadsheet I was with for 15 years. Because of a post-election career decision I made, that has gone down drastically to one opinion piece a month — and just this week we learned that the government had ordered the shutdown of Rappler, the online news outfit to which I moved my column. Who knows what will happen here?

I have long been working on this site, anyway, to act as a repository of my body of work. Aside from my newspaper articles, I am also migrating most of the materials from my blog, A Resounding Yes, which I began in 2008, to this site. I am looking for other pieces I have published in the past. The process will be long and tedious.

Thinking of it is exhausting — but also exhilirating. When this site is completed as envisioned, I won’t even have to introduce myself or tell people what I have done. I can simply smile and say, “www.adellechua.com”.

In the past few days, however, I realized I was already missing the frequent deadlines. A 15-year-old habit is not easy to shake off, and today, more than ever, our greatest tragedy is to stop speaking out and begin thinking everything is all right. Thus, I decided to add one more page/ category to this web site: Off script — and it is as if I were still writing frequent opinion pieces for a media organization, doing so with accountability, extreme care, and an attempt at excellence. I will do this even though I will not have an idea, or will not be driven by, the number of people who actually read my stuff or know this site even exists. I will also write in either English or Filipino — whatever seems apt for time, subject or sentiment.

I am looking forward to writing again. And I am opening myself up to more surprises.