Ethel Soliven Timbol

Who is Ethel Soliven Timbol?

Ethel Soliven Timbol is a journalist and was the lifestyle editor of the Manila Bulletin, published in the Philippines. She was born 22 January 1940, the ninth child of Congressman Benito Soliven and Pelagia Villaflor Soliven. She is the youngest sister of journalist Maximo V. Soliven.

She finished High School at St. Theresa's College in Manila. After two years of college at St. Theresa's, she left to study at the College of Mount Saint Vincent in Riverdale, New York, USA. on a Knights of Columbus scholarship. She majored in English and Child Psychology.

Timbol joined the Manila Bulletin in 1960, handling the police beat at the Western Police District, which at that time included then patrolman, now Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim. Aside from her reportorial beat, she was tapped to edit the Youth section, "The Page for the Young at Heart."

She has also been assigned to the beats covering the Department of Education, Trade and Industry, and the Commission on Elections, often meriting front page stories in the tumultuous '60s and '70s.

In 1976, she was appointed editor of the "Life & Leisure" and "Sunday Leisure" sections of the same newspaper. Apart from her editorial duties, she is a respected columnist, writing the twice weekly society column "Pacesetters," and the once weekly "Consumers' Observation Post," a consumer advocacy column, which she started with Deedee Sytangco.