[Rappler Investigates] What you can do to help journalism survive

Our multimedia reporters have to produce various content on issues of public interest. They need all the support they can get and it’s not an unreasonable ask. We’ve reached the year’s halfway mark and are getting deeper into the third quarter of the year as August kicks in, in a matter of days. Pretty soon, the “-ber” months will come marching in and before we know it, the end of 2026. Ferdinand Marcos Jr. was probably aware of the remaining time he has left in the presidency, so much so that during his State of the Nation Address on Monday, July 27, he turned populist and announced what many were clamoring for: cases being filed against his cousin Martin Romualdez, former speaker of the House of Representatives. Romualdez, as then-head honcho in the lower chamber, was known to be in full control of the 2025 budget — criticized as being riddled with irregularities, among them insertions and supposed falsified documents. The Ombudsman tagged him as a “central figure” in a grand scheme that saw the outrageous diversion of public funds intended for flood control projects to legislators’ pockets. We probed into these in 2025, not long after Marcos’ “mahiya naman kayo” (shame on you) address. Plunder and money laundering complaints are supposedly now being prepared against Romualdez and his close ally, former Ako Bicol representative Zaldy Co, who was appropriations committee chair back then. Co has since gone into hiding. This year, we reported extensively on Romualdez’s numerous and incredibly grand properties that were linked to him via his fraternity brothers. Those we have found, so far, are scattered in his hometown of Tacloban, Forbes Park, the US, and Spain. Lead researcher Jodesz Gavilan has been on Romualdez’s trail since October 2025 after discovering an oddity: property worth P130 million being transferred to a corporation for a miniscule $1. From that time till today, we have published at least nine investigative or in-depth stories about Romualdez and his associates. If you want to keep track of them, here’s a list that includes publication dates. Martin Romualdez transfers P130-M US property to corporation for just $1 – October 21, 2025 Multi-million-euro Spain property links to Romualdez – January 14, 2026 Malaysian shareholders surface in Romualdez-linked multi-million-euro Spanish property – January 15, 2026 Martin Romualdez associate buys Forbes Park house for P1.67 billion – January 19, 2026 Discaya renovated Romualdez’s Forbes Park house — eyewitnesses – January 19, 2026 Who is Jose Raulito Paras, a key figure in Romualdez-linked dealings? – April 22, 2026 Leyte properties linked to Martin Romualdez: Tacloban Golf and Country Club – May 3, 2026 Romualdez associate, frat brother linked to another US property worth P425M – June 20, 2026 Inside the Romualdez-linked P425-M Connecticut property – July 3, 2026 Jodesz and former Rappler reporter Lian Buan (who reported on the Leyte properties) just followed where the tips and the trails led them. Jodesz crossed borders online, checking, verifying, and meticulously corroborating information every step of the way. She tried getting the side of Romualdez and his associates in the interest of fairness, but unfortunately did not get any response. The patterns of acquiring properties and the recurring names in the Romualdez transactions just piqued our curiosity and pushed Jodesz to dig wider and deeper. But our investigations have not been focused on Romualdez alone. Contrary to what some might think, the former speaker is not a Rappler obsession. Excluding the Romualdez stories, we have published about 10 investigative stories thus far in 2026, touching on a variety of issues such as: Chinese operations that aimed to recruit Filipino spies EXCLUSIVE: Chinese operation taps Filipinos to access top security info Threats within: Filipino spies in denial – Rappler Investigative The price of stealing Philippines’ top security secrets – Rappler Investigative The drug trade and scams, and links to Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corporation personalities Pharmally boss Lin Weixiong entangled in Asia Pacific crime web Taiwan drug convict poses as Filipino, links to Pharmally boss Lin Weixiong Anomalous flood control and health infrastructure projects and their costs DOH undersecretary’s brother lands P141 million in health infrastructure projects Subcontracting modus leads to alleged substandard DPWH projects | Rappler Exclusive At Cebu’s Cotcot River, structural errors plague Discaya-linked projects A public relations front that masquerades as a news outlet The P138-million PR front posing as a newsroom Pilipinas Today and the dangers of ‘pink slime journalism’ Video derivatives of some of these investigative stories were also produced to allow us to reach a wider audience that may not be too keen on reading long text. A shrinking attention span like yours and mine in this age of multiple tabs and doom scrolling is part of the challenge that journalists face today. Putting together these reports can be tough and time-consuming, and can put a strain on limited newsroom resources. Our multimedia reporters have to produce various content on issues of public interest — including video on the fly. Add to that investigative stories. They need all the support they can get and it’s not an unreasonable ask. My colleague Gemma Mendoza wrote about why you need to help independent media. Just imagine if the budget mess, flood control shenanigans, unexplained extravagant lifestyles, substandard delivery of services, illegal activities, and threats to national security went unreported. Will we be in a safer and better place? More than our usual journalism, Rappler also does training via RappLearn, an online platform for continuing learning and upskilling. It’s not all virtual, though, as some masterclasses are done right in our newsroom, which I like to call a laboratory of constant learning. This week we are working with the Far Eastern University and next week we will be training seven campus journalists who were chosen for the Aries Rufo Journalism Fellowship. There are upcoming sessions on AI or artificial intelligence and producing vertical videos this September. If you’re interested and want to attend these onsite training, email us at learn@rappler.com. There are days when we feel like we’re running on a high-speed treadmill that leaves us breathless. But with your help and support, we will survive. Till Thursday after next! – Rappler.com Rappler Investigates is a bimonthly newsletter of our top picks delivered straight to your inbox every other Thursday. Visit rappler.com/newsletters to subscribe. How does this make you feel? Loading