Our two-week suspension was lifted by MTRCB Chair Marissa Laguardia after we complied for one week (we aired the acheduled documentary without the I-Witness logo). The board rewarded us for our "good faith" but warned us not to let it happen again (but not really telling us what that "it" is; right now I'd rather not know).

A blogger expressed disappointment that we hadn't been tougher in fighting the suspension. I answered that criticism this way: We will push the limits, but we cannot burn our bridges with a government agency that has regulatory powers over our industry, including all the other shows on our network. Besides, the suspension gave our show more attention than we ever expected, and created both a teaching and learning moment. Schools have invited us to screen the documentary and engage students and faculty in discussions about culture, profanity, TV, censorship, and traditions. I joined a symposium panel on the docu's censorship at UP. Many students have asked about documentary production so they can tell their own stories about vanishing traditions. So in a way, we should be be thanking the government censors for the notoriety.

The MTRCB suspension got us what every show craves, buzz. It was reported and discussed widely in the months following its airing in various media, including reports in Newsbreak, the Phil. Daily Inquirer, and the Phil. Journalism Review, and newspaper commentaries by Rina Jimenez-David, Michael Tan, Bong Austero, Alfred Yuson, Armida Seguion-Reyna, Tito Valiente, and Butch Dalisay.

Sheila Coronel covered the MTRCB hearing and wrote a carefully reported piece in the PCIJ blog, featuring colorful quotes from the MTRCB official who chaired the hearing. That was one of Sheila's last pieces in the Philippines before she retired from the PCIJ and helped set up a new investigative journalism institute at Columbia University in New York.

In the meantime, someone uploaded Lukayo on youtube, divided into several parts. That enabled a number of bloggers to watch it and write their own commentaries. Will supply the links when I'm less sleepy.

Thanks to Jen Licen and the docufest team for putting on a good show in Calamba.

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My I-Witness colleague Jay Taruc got married today. If I had the chance, I would have told his other guests that I am sometimes mistaken for Jay on the street (we TV people, especially co-hosts, start looking alike I guess). Once I was asked, "Ikaw yung kumain ng basura!" I quickly said, that was Jay Taruc! He really did that in a documentary about the lives of young garbage scavengers. Maybe the both of us just like doing similarly crazy things, thus the mistaken identity. Best wishes to Jay and June!

Congratulations to my Dad, former ASEAN Secretary-General, who has just published his book on Southeast Asia's struggle for regional identity. He was scheduled to formally present the book to each head of state at the ASEAN Summit in Cebu, but that plan has been postponed due to the coming storm, set to hit beloved Boracay in the next few hours.

I first went to Boracay in 1988. I was unemployed, having just resigned from the government and wanting to plunge into full-time journalism. Boracay had no electricity back then and the tourism boom was just starting. It was my first free-lance story for the Manila Chronicle's Focus section, then edited by Berry Pelaez-Marfori, daughter of the former vice president. She put the story on the cover with a postcard picture of Boracay's flawless white beach. Thanks for the break, Berry.