Ana P. Santos

Ana P. Santos is an award-winning independent journalist based in Manila, the capital of the Philippines, and one of the fellows of the Berlin Scholarship Program from RSF Germany. Ana writes and produces multi-media investigative stories that analyze how intersectional factors overlap and contribute to gender inequality. Her work focuses on sexual reproductive health and rights, sexual violence, and labor migration.

As the Pulitzer Center Miel Fellow 2014, Ana’s report series “Who Takes Care of Nanny's Children?“ examined the impact of state-sponsored labor migration on migrant mothers who leave their children behind to work as nannies in Europe and the Middle East. Through numerous reporting grants from the Pulitzer Center, Ana has investigated how Zina laws, which criminalize and outlaw unmarried sex, punish migrant women for extramarital sex and imprison them with their babies in Qatar. In Indonesia, Ana studied the radicalization of women and their changing role in violent extremism from jihadist bride to suicide bomber.

Her investigative series, “The Business of Annulment“ revealed how a corrupt judicial system of unscrupulous judges, eager scammers, and greedy lawyers benefit from the Philippines being the only country in the world that outlaws divorce. Annulment, a long, tedious, and expensive process is the only way to end a marriage. The annulment process was also prone to corruption. Ana’s report was presented in the first Senate hearing on the bill to legalize divorce in the Philippines.

Her reports have been published in the Rappler, The Guardian, Al Jazeera, DW-Germany, The Atlantic and the Los Angeles Times. In her podcast Middle Me Ana explores the tensions and inner conflicts Filipino women experience as they recast their experiences of sex and pleasure.