FlyPilipinas.

Editorial team · 14 contributors

We're 14 kabayan who fly, write, and fact-check from Manila, Cebu, Davao — and the diaspora.

FlyPilipinas is a small Filipino editorial collective covering flights, OFW logistics, balikbayan rules, baggage, and PHP-first fare math. No press releases rewritten as articles. No travel-agency SEO copy. Real desks, real flights flown, real receipts checked.

The FlyPilipinas editorial team — 14 Filipinos of varied ages in their Quezon City newsroom, paper-plane logo on the wall behind them

The desk in our QC newsroom — 14 contributors across Editorial Leadership, Aviation, OFW, Destinations, and Standards.

Who we are, by the numbers

Fourteen contributors across five desks. Ages: 2 in their 20s, 4 in their 30s, 5 in their 40s, 3 in their 50s. All Filipino, all Philippines-based or recently returned from the diaspora. Two are OFW returnees (KSA and Daly City). One is ex-Bureau of Customs. One is ex-PAL ground ops. One is a Filipino-language journalism professor. The rest are reporters, editors, analysts.

We split coverage across five desks because no one person can credibly claim authority on visa-stamp procedures, Pasko-window fare math, kafala labor law, hotel revenue management, and Tagalog code-switching density at the same time. Specialization beats generalist bylines.

How we're bylined — and why

Every article on FlyPilipinas is published under the single byline FlyPilipinas Editorial Team, regardless of which desk wrote and edited it. We do this for three concrete reasons:

  • Editorial consistency. Voice, tone, and Tagalog-blend density should feel uniform across the site, not whiplash between fourteen personal styles.
  • Source protection. Several editors hold sensitive industry contacts (current PAL crew, ex-BOC, in-country POLO contacts). Single byline gives them plausible distance from any one piece.
  • Process accountability. Every article passes through at least two desks — author + standards desk fact-check — before publish. Single byline reflects that this is collective work, not solo opinion.

You won't see individual writer bylines on articles. The masthead below is the whole team — assume any given article was written by one of us and reviewed by at least one other.

Our editorial standards

  • Two-source rule on YMYL. Visa rules, customs thresholds, baggage allowances, and OFW deployment requirements need at least two independent sources, with at least one being a Philippine government domain (dmw.gov.ph, bi.gov.ph, customs.gov.ph, bsp.gov.ph, cab.gov.ph, caap.gov.ph, miaa.gov.ph, dfa.gov.ph) or a destination-country regulator.
  • PHP first, always. Foreign currencies appear as parentheticals. We don't lead with USD or AED.
  • Real fare ranges, not stock copy. Brackets are sampled from live Aviasales and Trip.com snapshots, refreshed weekly. Stale data is flagged.
  • OFW-perspective default. When a route or rule has OFW-specific implications (kafala, end-of-contract, OEC, balikbayan privilege), we cover them up-front, not in a sidebar at the bottom.
  • Tagalog where it helps. We code-switch when the Tagalog phrase is more natural ("ate Joy", "kabayan", "tipid"), not as decoration.
  • Affiliate disclosure on every page. If a link earns us commission, it's tagged rel="sponsored" and disclosed on the page.

Meet the desks

Editorial Leadership

Mariel Tan

· 50s · Quezon City

Editor-in-Chief

Twenty years on the Philippine Daily Inquirer travel desk before joining FlyPilipinas. OFW spouse — husband worked Riyadh, Jeddah, Dammam over a fifteen-year cycle. Sets editorial direction and signs off on every YMYL story.

Joel Reyes

· 40s · Cebu

Managing Editor

Ex-Manila Bulletin metro editor. Runs the daily fact-check stand-up and adjudicates source disputes. Holds the team to a "two government sources or one airline IR filing" rule for fare and policy claims.

Aviation Desk

Karina Manlapaz

· 40s · Pasay (NAIA)

Aviation Editor

Spent eleven years on Philippine Airlines ground operations at NAIA T2. Knows where every quirk in the Bayani Program documentation comes from.

Anjo Caldez

· 20s · Mandaluyong

Fare Analyst

Pricing-data background — interned on a Skyscanner research team. Owns the weekly Travelpayouts fare refresh and writes our peso-bracket methodology.

Bernie de Leon

· 30s · Parañaque

Routes Reporter

Plane spotter since age twelve. Attends every CAB hearing and PALEA labor briefing. Tracks every new PH-out international route from rumor through inaugural flight.

OFW Desk

Liza Sahid

· 30s · Davao

OFW Editor

Domestic worker in Saudi Arabia 2018–2023, now back in Davao. Reviews every OFW-tagged article for kafala-system accuracy and POLO-jurisdiction nuance.

Rene Domingo

· 40s · Daly City / Pampanga

Diaspora Editor

Filipino-American who returned to Pampanga in 2023 after twenty-five years in the Bay Area. Owns the balikbayan, Pasko-booking, and US-Canada-PH corridor coverage.

Tisha Reyes

· 40s · Manila

Visa & Customs Editor

Twelve years at the Bureau of Customs (now retired). Last word on balikbayan-box, BMBE de minimis, and CMTA enforcement questions.

Destinations Desk

Mickee Concepcion

· 30s · Makati

Hotels & Stays Editor

Six years on Marriott Manila revenue management. Reads hotel rate cards the way most people read the news.

Alma Yumul

· 50s · Iloilo

Domestic Travel Editor

Retired Cebu Pacific cabin crew. Has been to all 81 provinces and most of the airstrips. Owns inter-island route guides.

Toto Ramirez

· 30s · Quezon City

East Asia Editor

Lived in Tokyo (2019–2021) and Seoul (2021–2023). Reads Japanese and conversational Korean. Owns Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau coverage.

Standards & Language

Dr. Helen Cua

· 50s · Quezon City

Tagalog Language Editor

Filipino-language journalism professor (UP Diliman). Reviews Tagalog-blend density on every article — guards against tokenized Taglish without losing comprehension lift.

Faye Pichay

· 40s · Manila

Senior Fact-Checker

Ten years in academic library research. Maintains our citation taxonomy: Philippine government domains (DMW, BI, BOC, BSP, CAB, CAAP, MIAA, DFA), airline IR, IATA, and primary OTA fare snapshots.

Carlo Ang

· 20s · Los Baños

Junior Reporter

UPLB Communication Arts, class of 2024. First newsroom job. Owns reader-question intake and the weekly "kabayan asks" column draft.

Contact + corrections

Found a stale fare, an outdated visa rule, or a typo? Email hello@flypilipinas.com — corrections route to Joel (Managing Editor) and we update within 48 hours, with a dated correction note on the affected article.

Press, tip-offs, or partnerships go to the same address. We don't accept paid placement; we do accept invitations to review hotels and routes that are clearly disclosed in the published piece.

What we are not

We're not a travel agency. We don't book your tickets. When you click through to Aviasales, Hotellook, Skyscanner, Trip.com, or Booking.com from our pages, you book directly with them — and FlyPilipinas earns a small commission at no cost to you. That's how we keep the lights on without ad pop-ups, sponsored "guides", or pay-to-play airline rankings.