Obit

Aries Rufo, 45

AWARD-WINNING investigative journalist Aries Rufo died September 19. He was 45.

CMFR File Photo.

Rufo was a senior investigative journalist for Rappler.com.

His career in journalism began in The Manila Times in the early 1990s before he joined Newsbreak, which was founded in 2001. Newsbreak is now Rappler’s investigative and research arm.

In a piece published in Rappler Blogs, colleague and Rappler News Editor Miriam Grace Go recounts: “He was not only relentless when pursuing scoops and big stories, he was passionate even about the routine, everyday stories on the beat.”

Rufo authored “Altar of Secrets: Sex, Politics, and Money in the Philippine Catholic Church” which was published in 2013. Together with Rappler‘s Managing Editor Glenda Gloria and Head of Research & Content Strategy Gemma Bagayaua-Mendoza, he co-authored “The Enemy Within”, published in 2011. Gloria and Bagayaua-Mendoza were also with Newsbreak then. Altar was on the scandals hounding the Catholic Church while Enemy explored corruption in the military.

His career spanning more than two decades was not short of recognition; In 2009, Rufo’s three-part series “The Many Faces of Bribery”, was a finalist in the Jaime V. Ongpin Awards for Excellence in Journalism. He bagged the top prize in the Asia Pacific category of the 2008 Lorenzo Natali Journalism Prize for his investigative report “A Cry for Justice: 44 Judges killed in Recent Years“. In 2004, Rufo placed third in the Good Governance and Anti-Corruption category of the Asian Development Bank Institute’s first Developing Asia Journalism Awards.

Rufo’s remains are at the Imperial Classic Chapel, Funeraria Paz, Araneta Avenue in Quezon City. As tribute, Rappler has compiled Rufo’s published stories, which include pieces on corruption and elections, among others.