Taliba, a Tagalog newspaper. The word "taliba" means vanguard or sentinel, but people also informally regarded it as a flip-word of "balita" which means "news". In the mid-50s, Taliba was already under the ownership and direction of Alejandro Roces, who had purchased both the Vanguardia and Taliba in1916. At the time mom was writing for Taliba, the offices were housed in The Manila Times building at Florentino Torres, Santa Cruz, Manila, the throbbing heart of the city, in close proximity to Chinatown.