Renato "Rene" Mendoza Alviar (10 January 1948 – 27 November 2022) was a Filipino journalist. He covered

Philippine politics Politics in the Philippines are governed by a three-branch system of government. The country is a democracy, with a president who is directly elected by the people and serves as both the head of state and the head of government. The presiden ...

and business from the mid-1970s until the early decades of the 21st century.

Early life

Alviar was born in

Makati Makati ( ; ), officially the City of Makati (), is a highly urbanized city in the National Capital Region of the Philippines, known for being one of the leading financial centers in the country. As of 2013, the city has the highest concent ...

on 10 January 1948 and grew up in

San Pedro, Laguna San Pedro, officially the City of San Pedro (), is a component city in the province of Laguna, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 326,001 people. It is named after its patron saint, Saint Peter. San Pedro ha ...

where his family originated. In his 20s, he helped the government produce quarterly publications for

literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...

and

the arts The arts or creative arts are a vast range of human practices involving creative expression, storytelling, and cultural participation. The arts encompass diverse and plural modes of thought, deeds, and existence in an extensive range of m ...

under the then Minister of Public Information.

Career

Editorial career

Alviar did a stint as assistant business editor for the

Manila Standard The ''Manila Standard'' is a broadsheet newspaper in the Philippines which, as of 2017, is owned by the Romualdez family. The Romualdezes, through incumbent speaker of the House Martin Romualdez, also own Journal Publications, Inc., the owner ...

. He returned to the PNA as a senior editor from 2008 to 2018. He was first a business reporter for the

Manila Bulletin The ''Manila Bulletin'' () (also known as the ''Bulletin'' and previously known as the ''Manila Daily Bulletin'' from 1906 to September 23, 1972, and the ''Bulletin Today'' from November 22, 1972, to March 10, 1986) is the Philippines' largest ...

in 1982, covering various companies and their government regulatory agency, as well as trade, industry, agricultural, economic and development authorities. Alviar's attention to his

beat Beat, beats, or beating may refer to: Common uses * Assault, inflicting physical harm or unwanted physical contact * Battery (crime), a criminal offense involving unlawful physical contact * Battery (tort), a civil wrong in common law of inte ...

enabled him to be part of the Philippine press delegation in international conferences and

Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC ) is an organization enabling the co-operation of leading oil-producing and oil-dependent countries in order to collectively influence the global oil market and maximize Profit (eco ...

(OPEC) meetings, including the ones held in Jakarta and Bali in Indonesia, Pennsylvania, California, South Carolina, New Jersey, and Orlando, Florida in the United States.

Notable coverage

Alviar argued that after the

People Power Revolution The People Power Revolution, also known as the EDSA Revolution or the February Revolution, were a series of popular Demonstration (people), demonstrations in the Philippines, mostly in Metro Manila, from February 22 to 25, 1986. There was a ...

, 1986 would also be the year for military officers to defend their wealth. In 2021 and 2022, Alviar's weekly columns at Tutubi.ph were written in Filipino, mostly reminding readers of the lessons learned and not learned 50 years after

Ferdinand Marcos Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralin Marcos Sr. (September 11, 1917 – September 28, 1989) was a Filipino lawyer, politician, dictator, and Kleptocracy, kleptocrat who served as the tenth president of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986. He ruled the c ...

imposed

Martial law in the Philippines Martial law in the Philippines () refers to the various historical instances in which the Philippine head of state placed all or part of the country under military control—most prominently during the administration of Ferdinand Marcos, bu ...

. Inside

beat reporting Beat reporting, also known as specialized reporting, is a genre of journalism focused on a particular issue, sector, organization, or institution over time. Description Beat reporters build up a base of knowledge on and gain familiarity with t ...

Southern Tagalog Southern Tagalog (), designated as Region IV, was an administrative region in the Philippines that comprised the current regions of Calabarzon and Mimaropa, the province of Aurora in Central Luzon, and most of the National Capital Region. ...

where Alviar was the most veteran and became the journalist union president, the public was well clued up on the interests of justice related to the killing of journalists through his in-depth articles containing sensitive but official records using the right to information about matters of public concern and interest.

Death

Alviar died on 27 November 2022, at the age of 74.

References