Veteran journalist, Duterte critic Twink Macaraig passes away after long bout with cancer

Television journalist Twink Macaraig passed away today after a long bout with cancer, according to cable channel ANC, where she used to work as an anchor.

Macaraig was the host of the ANC show Dateline Philippines and the opinion program The Brew. At one point, she was the Philippine bureau chief for Singapore-owned Channel News Asia. She was also a news anchor for News 5 and a columnist for the Philippine Star, where she often wrote about her cancer, which was first detected in the early 2000s, then went into remission, then reappeared again in 2016.

In a June 2016 column, she said she learned that her cancer had returned after undergoing a series of tests that showed that the disease had already metastasized and advanced into Stage 4.

“In a way, knowing I was going to die allowed this middle-aged aunt to be Born Again — as a millennial. (An older, less narcissistic, less tech-savvy, more financially-secure millennial.) YOLO — that grammatically-infirm battlecry — is now my guiding principle,” Macaraig wrote. “I’m free to do, go, be whatever and wherever — limited only by my pocket and my conscience — and all I owe anyone by way of explanation is, ‘Because I want to.'”

Despite being ravaged by the disease, Macaraig remained vocal in her criticism of President Rodrigo Duterte. In a March 2019 column in which she also explained the effects of chemotherapy, she wrote, “I look at this world [that] I’m struggling to stay in and feel only despair. The despot Filipinos elected to the presidency has infected the populace with a malignance unmatched by the deadliest of cancers.”

“As tumors have spread to most of my organs, so have his poisonous politics invaded practically every branch of government — the well-entrenched system of checks and balances now applicable only to your personal bank account,” she added.

Many of Macaraig’s former colleagues have expressed their condolences, including editor Ces Oreña-Drilon, who tweeted, “I will always remember you for your courage.”

Macaraig is survived by her husband, architect Paulo Alcazaren, and their teenage son.

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