Rather than the puckish humor she used in jabbing at Mr. Marcos, her more recent tone was often sarcastic. She derided human rights groups, including a human rights representative of the United Nations, which she said had “hearts bleeding for the pseudo martyrs.”
She also supported Mr. Duterte’s attempts to muzzle an independent press and even pilloried his most courageous critic, the news website Rappler, which has become a target of arrests and dozens of lawsuits by his backers.
While Rappler received support from organizations including Reporters Without Borders and the Committee to Protect Journalists, Ms. Cacho-Olivares taunted these groups with sarcastic remarks like “Oh, come on. Cut the dramatics, please” and “Spare us the false indignation.”
Ninez Cacho-Olivares was born on July 19, 1941, in Dumaguete, in the Negros Orientale province on the large island of Negros. She studied medicine before majoring in journalism at the University of Santo Tomas in Manila. She began her journalism career in radio, while also writing romance novels as well as freelance feature articles.
She went on to be a feature writer and political columnist for several newspapers, including Bulletin Today, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Business Day and Business World. She was publisher and editor in chief of The Philippine Post before founding Daily Tribune in 1999 and taking the same titles there. While running those newspapers, she weathered repeated libel suits from those she criticized.
Describing her philosophy in a speech in 2006, Ms. Cacho-Olivares said: “I believe that no government can take away my right of freedom of expression. It is like a birthright, which we must exercise to the fullest without fear.”
She is survived by her children, Peter, Bambina, Michael and Pixie; and eight grandchildren. Her husband, Ed, died in 2012.
Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/17/world/asia/ninez-cacho-olivares-dead.html?emc=rss&partner=rss
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