Ma. Salvacion Espina Varona, more popularly known as Inday Espina-Varona is a

Filipina Filipinos () are citizens or people identified with the country of the Philippines. Filipinos come from various Austronesian peoples, all typically speaking Filipino, English, or other Philippine languages. Despite formerly being subject to ...

journalist. She is the former Head of Regions for

Rappler Rappler (portmanteau of the words "rap" and "ripples") is a Mass media in the Philippines, Filipino online news website based in Pasig, Metro Manila, the Philippines. It was founded by 2021 Nobel Peace Prize laureate and convicted cyberlibelist ...

. She was formerly a senior contributing editor and a writer for

ABS-CBN ABS-CBN is a leading Philippine media and content company. It serves as the flagship media brand of ABS-CBN Corporation, a subsidiary of Lopez Holdings Corporation. Once the country's largest free-to-air television network, ABS-CBN has since ...

Integrated News & Current Affairs.

Career

Inday Espina-Varona started her career as a reporter at the Visayan Times, a local newspaper from

Bacolod Bacolod, officially the City of Bacolod (; ; ; ), is a Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, highly urbanized city in the Negros Island Region in the Philippines. With a total of 600,783 inhabitants as of the 2020 census, it is th ...

. As associate editor and investigative news chief at the

Manila Times ''The Manila Times'' is the oldest extant English-language newspaper in the Philippines. It is published daily by The Manila Times Publishing Corp. (formerly La Vanguardia Publishing Corporation) with editorial and administrative offices at 2/F ...

, she directed a numerous projects that won awards, including a series about Filipino children who suffered from

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

and the telecommunications firms who ignored a consumer's problems; battered women, prostituted children and the fall of the Moro Islamic Liberation Fronts. She won the country'
top prize for investigative journalism (2006)
. for her series, "The Rape of World War II vessels in Philippine seas." She was also conferred the Canadian government'
Marshall McLuhan Award
for her work. She also worked as a columnist for the

, and became

editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The editor-in-chief heads all departments of the organization and is held accoun ...

of Philippines Graphic newsweekly magazine wherein she wrote her JVO prize-winning series. She formerly headed the ''Bayan Mo, iPatrol'', a netizen journalism unit of the

News from 2010 to 2013. She was also a senior contributor for UCANews and LiCASBNews, international Catholic news agencies. She has also served as country director for Change.org, the world's largest petition platform. She became Chairwoman of the

National Union of Journalists of the Philippines The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) is a Filipino non-governmental trade association that represents the interests of Filipino journalists. Among its leadership are representatives from ABS-CBN, DZMM, RPN, GMA, the ''Phi ...

. She was selected in 2005 as a

international fellow of the John S Knight Professional Journalism Fellowships in Stanford University. Inday won the Reporters Without Borders�
(RSF) Prize for Independence
at the 2018 Press Freedom Awards. RSF’s Prize for Independence is awarded to reporters for resisting pressure in carrying out their work. https://cmfr-phil.org/chronicle/filipina-journalist-wins-rsf-press-freedom-award/ In the Philippines, she has won awards for her coverage o
indigenous peoples
and th
LGBTQ+ community

Personal life

She was born in

Manila Manila, officially the City of Manila, is the Capital of the Philippines, capital and second-most populous city of the Philippines after Quezon City, with a population of 1,846,513 people in 2020. Located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on ...

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

. She is one of the 11 children of the late Dr. Lourdes Llavore, a

pediatrician Pediatrics (American English) also spelled paediatrics (British English), is the branch of medicine that involves the medical care of infants, children, adolescents, and young adults. In the United Kingdom, pediatrics covers many of their youth ...

and

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

Rolando "Rolly" Espina, who died on December 28, 2017. In 2016, her verified account was disabled by

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

without explanation. The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) said the blocking of Espina-Varona was made "at the behest of what are clearly enemies of the right to free expression and of a free press." Her account was soon restored. She is both an anti-Marcos and anti-Duterte. Espina-Varona is a cancer survivor.

Political protests

Espina-Varona, together with Zena Bernardo, Jean Enriquez, Mae Paner founded the ''Babae Ako movement'' ( movement; stylized as #BabaeAko) on May 20, 2018. She is one of the convenors of the Movement Against Tyranny which was launched on August 28, 2017.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Espina-Varona, Inday Filipino women activists Filipino women's rights activists Filipino women journalists News editors Filipino editors Women magazine editors Filipino magazine editors Living people ABS-CBN News and Current Affairs people University of the Philippines alumni Free speech activists Activist journalists Year of birth missing (living people)