Veteran journalist Silva dies

MANILA, Philippines - Zenaida Silva, a veteran Filipino journalist who covered the 1986 “people power” revolt that ousted dictator Ferdinand Marcos and other turbulent political events in the Philippines, has died.

Silva, 80, died on Saturday at a Metro Manila hospital after a six-month battle with cancer, according to Silva’s daughter Celine Rosario, who was at her bedside when she passed away.

Silva came from a family of journalists. She and her late husband, newspaper writer and TV journalist Manuel Silva, set up and ran the Philippine bureau of London-based Visnews for more than two decades until the international news outfit was acquired by Reuters in 1992 and eventually became Reuters Television.

Her daughter Celine Rosario heads The Associated Press’ video arm in Asia. Celine Rosario’s husband, Francisco, is AP video’s production manager for the region.

In 1983, Silva and her husband were among journalists who covered the assassination of anti-Marcos opposition leader Benigno Aquino Jr. and the political chaos that followed. Aquino’s murder galvanized the fragmented opposition and sparked massive protests, which culminated in the army-backed 1986 people power revolt that ousted Marcos and catapulted Aquino’s wife, Corazon, to the presidency.

Silva’s survivors include her five children and five grandchildren.