Good Day! Let me cite you a historical background about the Journalism in the Philippines. How our heroes and heroines did fights for the freedom of expression. Hail for our past, present and future journalists.
The Birth Journalism
Tomas Pinpin. The father of Filipino printing. He printed the first Philippine newsletter, a 14 page called Successos Felices (Fortunate Events). This was published in 1637. In early 1799 “Hojas Volantes” literally flying sheets were distributed in the country for mass readership.
Benjamin Harris. An English refugee. He published Publick Occurences Both Foreign and Domestick on September 25, 1690 in Boston, Massachusettes. This is known as the first newspaper in the United States.
The Early Years
Del Superior Govierno on August 8, 1811. The first real newspaper made after 218 years after printing was invented. A first newspaper with name, date and place of publication.
Governor Manuel Fernandez del Forgeuras. Edited the Del Superior Govierno. It came out only with 15 issues over a six month period.
La Esperanza. The first daily newspaper on December 1, 1846 after 35 years. It was colorless, dull, and filled with long discussions of historical, scientific and religious subjects.
Other dailies: La Estrella in 1847 and Diario De Manila in 1848.
Boletin Oficial de Filipinas in 1852. The daily government organ. It lasted for less than a decade. Disappearing in 1860 by Royal Order.
Diario de Manila. Re-established according to Spanish historian W.E. Retana. It was edited by Don Felipe Del Pan which lasted until 1899.
19th Century Newspapers
El Porvenir Filipino. Founded in 1865. It appeared with two editions daily.
El Catolico Filipino in 1862.
Revista Mercantil in 1865.
El Comercio in 1869.
El Correo de Manila in 1876.
La Oceania de Manila in 1876. successor of El Porvenir Filipino and the paper progressive Filipinos defending their rights to representation in the Spanish Cortes.
Diario de Filipinas in 1880. which is short-lived and succeeded by El Fenix.
April 1, 1887. La Opinion was published and the beginning of political journalism in the Philippines. It was the first paper to defy the friars and campaigned for the ouster of the religious including one archbishop.
The Revolutionary Period
Feb. 19, 1889. The first appearance of La Solidaridad with the policy “to work peacefully for social and economic reforms, to expose the plight of the Philippines, and to champion liberalism and democracy.
The writers of La Solidaridad:
• Jose Rizal
• Marcelo H. del Pilar
• Mariano Ponce
• Andres Bonifacio
• Pio Valenzuela
• Graciano Lopez-Jaena, a young lawyer who exiled himself to Spain.
The paper closed shop on Nov. 15, 1895.
Jan. 1, 1896. Ang Kalayaan (Liberty), a newspaper founded by the Katipunan. Editor Pio Valenzuela, Emilio Jacinto and Andres Bonifacio mislead the Spaniards that it is published in Yokohama. And there Del Pilar was there editor which is in Spain at that time. Due to a Katipunero’s betrayal, Kalayaan’s second edition never reached the streets.
Other revolutionary newspapers:
• El Heraldo de Iloilo appeared on Jan.1, 1898.
• La Libertad on June 20, 1898. A secret publication.
• La Indepencia. The most widely read newspaper of the revolution. It was founded by General Antonio Luna and Fernando Ma. Guerrero on Sept. 3, 1898.
Most prominent writers of La Indepencia:
• Rafael Palma. Later organizer of Nacionalista Party.
• Fernando Ma. Guerrero. Poet
• Cecilio Apostol. Poet
• Epifanio de los Santos. Historian
• Judge Jose Abreu. Historian
El Heraldo de la Revolucion. A revolutionary organ put up by Emilio Aguinaldo on Sept. 28, 1898.
Bounding Billow. It was put by American editors when the Eighth Army subdued Manila on Aug. 13, 1898.
Early American Newspapers:
• The American Soldier
• Freedom
• The American
When the Treaty of Paris was signed in 1898, the Filipino newspapers realized finally that the Americans were planning to stay. Fighting erupted, and both Spanish and and Philippine newspapers had a field day reporting atrocities (some real, some exaggerated) committed by American soldiers against the Filipinos.
The American Colonial Period
Newspapers that were published:
• Manila Daily Bulletin
• The Manila Times
• The American
• The Cable News
The Times. It was founded by Thomas Gowan, an Englishman. This was owned by Americans for 32 years. Quezon kept the paper for approximately four years before selling it.
Alejandro Roces Sr. bought the Times in 1927. He already owned a chained newspaper (Taliba, La Vanguardia, and Tribune).
El Renacimiento. The most celebrated Philippine libel suit in 1908. An editorial by politician Don Martin Ocampo entitled Raves de Rapina (“Birds of Prey’) which described what it termed as parasitic activities of certain aliens in the Philippines. Dean Worcester, then Secretary of the Interior filed a libel suit. The paper lost the case; it was fined, its editors sentenced, and the newspaper, and its sister publications, were ordered closed.
Philippines Herald. The first pro-Filipino, English language publication started by Quezon on Aug. 8, 1920.
Alejandro Roces Sr., the father of modern journalism in the country. He bought La Vanguardia and Taliba respectively.
April 1, 1925. Roces established his own English Daily, the Manila Tribune with Carlos P. Romulo as editor.
Bag-Ong Suga (New Lamp) was founded by the late Vicente Sotto, father of Cebuano writing.
Other prominent Cebuanos who published their own papers:
• Vicente Rama
• Nicolas Rafols
• Paulino Gullas
• Buenaventura Rodriguez
• Natalio Bacalso
Lamdag. A weekly cebuano magazine founded by Bacalso.
The Freeman. Founded by Gullas Family which still exists up to the present.
Japanese Occupation
DMHM. The first journalistic casualty.
The Manila Tribune, Taliba and La Vanguardia came out regularly under the censorship of the propaganda corps of the Japanese Imperial Army. Japanese stipulated two conditions:
• They must first secure a permit from the military.
• They must submit to military censorship.
Periodicals authorized by the Japanese in the Philippines:
• Liwayway
• Manila Shimbun
• Shin Seiki
• Bicol Herald
• Davao Nichi-Nichi
Post-Liberation Years
• 250 papers were published right after the Japanese occupation, many of them little more than flyers, being two-page single-sheets dailies.
• The Manila Free Philippines (February-September 1945). Published by the US Office of War Information. Distributed for free, but eventually, it was sold for five centavos.
Small militant dissenting newspapers:
• Philippine Liberty News owned by Manuel F. Manahan and edited by I.P. Soliongco
• The Manila Post edited by Abelardo Subidoand his wife Trinidad Tarrossa-Sobido.
• Manila Tribune edited by Vicente Albano-Pacis
• The Morning Sun
Giant Newspapers:
• The Manila Bulletin which underwent modernization in 1947.
• The Manila Times revived by the Roces Family in 1945.
• The Manila Chronicle which started as “The People’s Newspaper” and the Philippines Herald in April 1945. The Chronicle staff was bought by Eugenio Lopez in 1947.
1945:
• Ramon Roces resumed the publication of Liwayway and its sister publications in the vernacular:
• Bisaya for Cebuano-speaking provinces in the Visayas and Mindanao.
• Bannawag for the Ilocano provinces in the North.
• Hiligaynon for the Ilonggo-speaking provinces of Panay and Negros. It closed in 1971.
• Some prominent Ilonggo writers in Iloilo revived the pre-war Yuhum, naming it Bag-Ong Yuhum.
Martial Law Days
• On Sept. 21, 1972, when martial law was proclaimed all the papers (including the so-called “oligarchic press” and broadcast stations) were closed.
• The Department of Publication Information (DPI) issued orders 1 and 2:
Order Number 1: Required that all media publications be cleared first by the DPI.
Order Number 2: Prohibited printers “from producing any form of publication for mass dissemination without permission from the DPI”.
Other Decrees:
• PD No. 33 issued on Oct. 28, 1972, penalized the “printing, possession, distribution and circulation of printed materials which are immoral or indecent, or which defy the Government or its officers, or which tend to undermine the integrity of the Government or the stability of the State.”
• PD No. 90 promulgated on Jan. 6, 1973 penalized “rumor-mongering”, because it “undermines the stability of government and the objectives of the New Society endangers the public order or causes damage to the interest or credit of the State.”
• PD No. 1834 and 1835 which escalated the penalties for rebellion, sedition, and other crimes relating to national security, also referred to journalism.
• PD No. 1737 called the Public Order Act. It empowered the president to detain ‘persons and entities with a view to preventing them from acting in a manner prejudicial to the national security or maintenance of a public order’, and to close subversive publications and other media mass communication.”
• PD No. 36 on Nov. 2, 1972 which created the Mass Media Council, given the task of issuing permits on mass media to operate.
• May 11, 1973, the MMC was abolished and replaced by the Media Advisory Council (MAC).
• PD No. 576 which divided the mass media into print and broadcast media, and created the PCPM (Philippine Council for Print Media), with basically the same duties as the MAC and MMC, and the power to impose sanctions including cancellation of registration certificates, suspension, and written admonitions.
Major Newspaper and Broadcast Facilities handed by Marcos’ cronies:
• The Manila Daily Bulletin owned by the presidential aide-de-camp the late Gen. Hanz Menzi
• The Times Journal controlled by Benjamin “Kokoy” Romualdez, brother of former first lady Imelda Marcos
• The Daily Express owned by a friend Roberto S. Benedicto, Who also controlled the three television channels. The Lopez-owned ABS-CBN wastaken over, and one channel became GTV-4, the official government station.
I write because it's a medicine. It nurses my craft.
