#CourageON: Everything, everywhere all at once

This is AI generated summarization, which may have errors. For context, always refer to the full article.

I’ve seen the impact of persistence. We were able to persist because of readers like you — and the support you give us.

Hello! I’m Patrick Cruz, a Rappler researcher and writer. Some days, I’m buried in spreadsheets. Other days, I’m following a paper trail. And there’s this one day when I reported live in front of a burning building.

Barely two months into the job in May 2023, I found myself in front of the burning Manila Central Post Office. It was my first time to report live from the field in the form of a Rappler Recap that ran for just 1 minute and 31 seconds. I stood in front of flames, barely holding my composure, and went live. I still cringe whenever I rewatch that clip.

But it didn’t end there. Our editors always tell us “to move the story forward.” Most fire stories end with damage estimates without mentioning its cause. I kept bugging the Bureau of Fire Protection, from its Manila office to the national headquarters. No one responded. But I kept on digging until someone finally gave me the report. 

It became my first exclusive. It wasn’t a major exposé but it taught me the value of persistence.

LIVE. In front of the burning Manila Central Post Office on May 22, 2023.

Not long after that, I covered the Sta. Ana Heritage Zone controversy in Manila, a community fight for historical preservation against looming property development. The story brought residents, developers, and city officials to a Manila City Council hearing. 

Those moments — rare as they are — remind me why we do this work.

PROBE. The Manila City Council conducts an inquiry on the environment and socio-cultural impacts of the construction of Suntrust Ascentia project within the Santa Ana Heritage Zone, on September 28, 2023. 

I also wrote stories on the land tussle between Makati and Taguig over the contested Enlisted Men’s Barrios (EMBO). The Supreme Court had ruled that the EMBO barangays were under Taguig, not Makati. Residents were caught in the middle and eventually sidelined. In the end, it turned into a battle between Makati Mayor Abby Binay and Taguig Mayor Lani Cayetano, both from powerful political dynasties. The unintended consequences of such battles are often felt most by ordinary people.

GO LOCAL. Reporting from Manila during the kickoff of the local campaign for the 2025 elections on March 28, 2025.

Most days, though, I’m not holding a mic. I’m digging through spreadsheets, finding patterns, cross-referencing reports, and building timelines. It’s not glamorous, but it’s how you see how systems work — or don’t.

One of the major projects that I and the research team worked on was building a candidate database for the 2025 elections. It meant hours of reading documents and encoding data so much so that I got my first pair of prescription glasses after that. 

That work helped power Rai, Rappler’s AI chatbot, so the public could ask questions about the candidates.

Another big part of my job is asking for documents that should already be public, such as hundreds of Statements of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALNs) of government officials.

Our SALN request for President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. was simply “acknowledged.” The same response came from the Office of the Vice President and other Cabinet members. Out of hundreds of SALN requests to members of the House of Representatives and the Senate, only one congresswoman shared her SALN. We knocked on the doors of city halls across Metro Manila to ask for the mayor’s SALN. Many didn’t respond. Others denied outright.

It’s frustrating. It feels like knocking on locked doors. Again and again. But still, we knock. Because part of our job is to ask.

I’ve seen the impact of persistence. We were able to persist because of readers like you — and the support you give us.

For this election, I’m back in the field, covering the streets of Manila, Makati, and Taguig. It’s wild: three major cities, three intense races. In Manila, former allies are now fighting for the top post. In Makati, in-laws are clashing to lead one of the country’s richest cities. And in Taguig, a powerful dynasty is seeking reelection.

Everything feels like it’s happening all at once.

Help us keep doing this work — the visible, the invisible, the big and small. — by joining Rappler+. Your membership will help bring us to the stories that need to be told and the places that need attention. – Rappler.com