In the archives of Intramuros Administration
is an old photograph of the library of the
University of Sto. Tomas and the order of
Saint Dominic, which was then located on
the north-west side of the Walled City,
facing the Pasig River, roughly where Bank
of the Philippine Islands stands today.
The photo shows a wood- paneled hall, with
crystal chandeliers, the books packed tight
against the walls. Two monks and a student
are engrossed in their readings.
| |
Part
of the University of Santo Tomas (at
left) and the Church of Santo Domingo
(rear) where both Marcelo H. Del Pilar
and Jose Rizal went as young students
in the early 1880s. They later launched
the Propaganda Movement.
(credits to Jaime
Laya's "Intramuros of Memory"
and the National Archives.) |
In this library and its affiliated printing
office was born in 1637, 26 years after
the UST was founded, the newsletter, 'Sucesos
Felices' or 'Glad Tidings', published on
a Chinese woodblock or xylographic press.
While Spain and other European countries
were also publishing at the time, 53 more
years would pass before the beginning of
the American press with the publication
of the Harris newsletter, 'Public Occurrences'.
The Filipino historian Teodoro Agoncillo
attributes this breakthrough to a teacher-pupil
partnership between the Dominican Fray Blancas
San Jose and his Filipino pupil, Tomas Pinpin.
Jose Luna Castro in his 'Handbook of Journalism'
published by the Cacho House in 1980 wrote
a description: "Sucesos Felices' starts
off with a fancy stick-in initial letter
in the then still fashionable manner of
preparing illuminated manuscripts …
His (Pinpin's) major stories in Sucesos
a Spanish naval victory over the Dutch off
Ternate and a successful assault on Muslin-Filipino
rebels were invoking, with some success
the name of the Almighty and the Faith.
Before the curliques and the colophon, this
issue bore the closing invocation, 'Laus
Deo'." The newsletter did not last.
Like local publishers of later days, Pinpin
could not make it financially viable.
For over two centuries after "Sucesos
Felices,' there were many other newsletters
or "hojas volantes" published
in Manila, Bulacan and Bataan, this time
using modern Gutenberg printing presses
brought in by the Spanish religious orders
and by the colonial government itself. These
monthlies and weeklies are described well
in Wenceslao Retana's 'El Periodismo Filipino',
the English translation of which was commissioned
in 1991-93 by the Philippine Press Institute.
No accounts of those years mention another
beneficial partnership such as what existed
between Fray San Jose and Pinpin. Such heavy
censorship was undertaken by the Spanish
government in Manila that the newspapers
tended to avoid original material and to
use rewrites of what appeared earlier in
the press in Madrid and Barcelona. Their
value to world journalism lay in maintaining
a flow of information from the Western to
the Eastern world. Only in a limited way
was information transmitted to the people
of the Philippines. Two papers of this period
are worth remembering: 'Del Superior Govierno',
edited by the Spanish Governor-General Manuel
Fernandez del Folgueras, and 'La Esperanza'
edited by Felipe Lacorte and Evaristo Calderon,
which published daily starting in 1846.
Calle
Real, as photograped in 1898, was where
printing presses, lithographers and
book sellers had flourished, providing
support to the Filipino patriot press.
(credit to jaime Laya's "Intramuros
of Memory" and Amos Fiske's "The
Story of the Philippines.") |
|
Two years later in 1848, the first regular
and stable newspaper began publishing in
Intramuros under the talented Spanish editor
Felipe del Pan, who employed Spaniards as
well as half-breeds, then called Filipinos.
Its editorial printing office was located
on Calle Cabildo, Intramuros a stone's throw
from the Dominican press and library where
the country's first newsletter had been
born.
The 'Diaro de Manila' was fated to nurture
the birth of the first truly Filipino newsletter,
expressive of the aspirations of the new
nation. Early in 1896, Andres Bonifacio
and Emilio Jacinto, by then the leaders
of the secret society called 'Katipunan'
secretly during their lunch break when Spanish
administrators were not around. The articles
were typeset and composed to form s newsletter
under the flag name, 'Kalayaan'. The laid-out
forms were secretly taken to Tondo where
Bonifacio had bought a small printing press
with funds donated by two patriotic Capizenos
who had turned from work abroad. In March
1896. 30,000 copies of' 'Kalayaan' were
secretly distributed. Agonciilo wrote that
this "Kalayaan issue influenced many
Filipinos to become members of the Katipunan."
No subsequent issue would appear the plot
was discovered by the Spanish government
and the 'Diario' typesetters were arrested-
along with many leaders of the Katipunan
The propaganda movement for a free Filipino
nation had to be carried out abroad. Jose
Rizal succeeded in writing and publishing
his book exposes - "Noli Me Tangere"
and "El Filibusterismo." Marcelo
H. del Pilar. who tried putting out 'Diariong
Tagalog' regularly from Bulacan in 1882
but had to fold up, decided to go to Spain
where the government had become more liberal.
In Madrid, later Barcelona, he cooperated
with another patriot-writer, Graciano Lopez
Jaena, in publishing 'La Solidaridad', financing
it with their meager private resources.
In the issues of 'La Sol' and its predecessor,
'Kalayaan', the broad outlines of a Filipino
national culture emerged. Writers of these
publications and of those that followed
- "La Independencia''. "Heraldo
de Revolucion". "Republica Filipina",
"El Renacimienio" expressed me
consciousness of being a nation separate
from Spain, wishing to be tree to determine
their own destinv. Since these early newspapers
were managed by well-educated writer-editors
or 'ilustrados,' Ihe culture they evolved
was not inward-looking but was open to desirable
global influences.
Aspirations for justice, liberty and independence
continued to dominate Philippine media under
the American sovereignty that replaced that
of Spain in 1899. The intensity of patriotic
feeling reached a peak in 'El Renacimiemo'
which published an editorial, "Birds
of Prey" written by one of its editors,
Fidel Reyes. The L'S secretary of the interior
claimed he was libeled in the editorial
and he filed suit against the writer, the
publisher Teodoro Kalaw, and the business
manager Martin Ocampo. The court found them
guilty of libel and meted out fines and
prison terms.
What probably enhanced the standing of the
Filipino press was the leadership of liberal
American and English publisher-editors who
set up new dailies and employed Filipino
writers and editors. A growing corps of
writers and editors proficient in English
had been developed here by the American
language teachers known as 'Thomasites'.
Recruiting staff members from among pupils
of Thomasites, Carson Taylor founded the
Manila Bulletin as a shipping journal on
Feb. 1, 1890. Judge Kincaid and R.McCuIlough
Dick published the Philippines Free Press
in 1908.
The Manila Tunes was founded in 1898 by
the Englishman Thomas Gowan who sold the
paper to Alejandro Roces Jr. in 1930. Cablenews
American. founded in 1901, was sold to a
consortium of Filipinos that included Vicente
Madrigal, Ramon Fernandez. Teodoro Yangco
and Manuel L. Quezon. They renamed the paper,
Philippines Herald,
Working with the foreign publishers in these
dailies were such bilingual Filipinos as
Antonio Escoda, Mauro Mendez, Carlos P.
Romulo, Teodoro Locsin Sr. Salvador P. Lopez,
Luciano Millan, Vicenie Albano Pacis, Joaquin
and Alejandro Roces Sr.
This was the print media set-up until the
onset of World War II in 1941. The political
and economic interests of the United States
in the Philippines were often espoused by
American editorial writers- At the same
time, it must be acknowledged that US journalists
of the period were very professional, and
they set standards of work and behavior
that benefited their Filipino successors.
The surrender of US-Philippine armed forces
in Corregidor in 1942 to the Japanese Occupation
Army did not sit well with some Filipino
media leaders. Romulo and Albano-Pacis Joined
the Philippine Commonwealth officials who
went into exite in the United States. Antonio
Escoda and his wife Josefa Llanes Escoda
decided to work secretly with the US-Philippine
underground. Raul Manalapus and Norman Reves
broadcast for the Filipino guerrillas.
A year after liberating the Philippines
from Japanese control in 1945, the United
States honored its commitments to Philippine
leaders by recognizing the country's independence
in July, 1946- The four-year terms of office
for Filipino officials meant frequent elections
that embroiled the nation in the strife
of political campaigns. On the geopolitical
scene- the Cold War between the democracies
and the communist stales added to the frenzy
of political debates.
In the first two decades after World War
II. the superior education and professional
standards that had developed at the turn
of the century resulted in Philippine newspapers
and magazines that published respectable
material, without catering to me base interests
of the uneducated 'masa'.
Newspaper and magazine readers of the time
were given in-depth articles that explained
the complex political and economic developments
in interesting ways. The main broadsheets
had magazine supplements that featured articles
of substance done by serious writers, The
Times' Sunday magazine featured Francisco
Sionil Jose and Primitivo Mauricio, among
others. The Herald's Saturday magazine carried
articles by Osmundo Abad Sanlos- Oscar S.
Villadolid and Eduardo Lachica. The Bulletin's
Panorama supplement had Apolonio Batalla
and Ben Rodriguez. The Manila Chronicle,
established by Eugenic Lopez Sr. in the
late 1940s, featured a magazine called 'This
Week' with articles by Neal H. Cruz, Juan
Gatbonton. Eugenia D. Apostol and artwork
by Malang. Outstanding were the government's
international magazines Philippines Quarterly
and Archipelago - which featured Armando
Manalo, J.V. Cruz, Naty Nuguid and Carmen
Guerrero Nakpil.
Worth mentioning among print media of the
1950s was the role of Benigno Ninoy Aquino.
He joined the Manila Times as a teenage
cub reporter and somehow persuaded publisher
Joaquin 'Chino' Roces and editor David Boguslav
to let him cover the Korean War. They went
over his copy and trained the young war
correspondent to be a star reporter. His
bylines in the well-circulated Manila Times
attracted nationwide attention, especially
as his father, former Speaker Benigno Aquino
Sr. had recently died.
Early in 1952 when this writer was also
covering the Department of Foreign Affairs
(DFA) for the Manila Chronicle. Ninoy Aquino
was assigned to the same beat by the Manila
Times. The tall 20 year-old Ninoy would
come striding into the press room of the
DFA then located in a colonial-style mansion
on Arlegui Street near Malacanang. His friendly
manner and his celebrity status made it
easy for him to get big stories from diplomatic
sources, especially Foreign Secretary Carlos
P. Romulo. The 'star system' in the Philippine
media, which accords more compensation and
attention to celebrities, probably started
with the personable and affable Ninoy Aquino.
The press of the 1960s and 70s mirrored
the frenzied politico-economic atmosphere
that led to vested interests buying into
media. With the Lopez family already in
the Chronicle and acquiring television rights
through Chronicle Broadcasting Network.
the American businessman Harry Stonehill
published The Evening News.
The Soriano family bought into the Herald.
Roberto Benedicto and Benjamin Romualdez
subbing for President Ferdinand Marcos,
established the Daily Express and the Times
Journal, respectively.
Around this time, Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
opted for conjugal rule under the martial
law. The plot was implemented on Sept. 21-21,
1972. Imelda invited the entire foreign
press based in Manila to Nayong Pilipino
for what was billed as a 4 p.m. news conference.
I was Philippine correspondent for the New
York Times and arrived there on schedule.
Soon First Lady Imelda came with a large
retinue of aides escorted by two truck-loads
of Armalite-bearing troops. A caterer also
arrived and began setting a fabulous dinner.
Imelda made small talk with all of us throughout
the long dinner, but she had no real news
to announce. We began asking her question
about the tense political situation all
of which se evade. Finally, Teddy Benigno,
then bureau chief of Agence France Presse,
whispered to me, "I smell something
foul." He sneaked out the side door
and others followed him.
Suspecting also that the Marcoses finally
declared martial law, as pundits had predicted.
1 rushed home to find that my husband Oscar
Villadolid (then editor-in-chief of the
Philippines Herald and Mabuhay) had also
gone home because a squad of "Marcos
soldiers had closed their office and posted
on their front door Proclamation 1081 suspending
the nation's civil liberties and closing
all media.
Unknown to government press supervisors,
there was a teletype machine in my office
at home that had been installed there at
the request of the New York office of the
Times. Upset and nervous. I wrote some eight
paragraphs of straight news about Proclamation
1081 and telexed it straight to New York.
It ran on page one of the New York Times
and was picked up by Voice of America. It
was one of the few news items that reported
the martial law clampdown that day.
Until 11 December 1972, all materials to
be printed and broadcast were screened or
censored by the Marcos Ministry of Information.
The foreign press was taken off the censorship
list after two months when the government
noted adverse reaction from foreign governments
and investors. The local press remained
muzzled up to the death of Ninoy Aquino
in 1983. The torture and salvaging of dissenters,
the extortion from corporations and bankers
in order to build up fortunes for the Marcoses
and their cronies - all these could not
be reported to the public without reprisal,
which in some cases was severe Rodrigo.
Ninotchka Rosca, Teodoro Locsin Sr. Juan
Mercado and Amando Doronila.
Gradually, however, the "Alternative
Media" developed to report on the abuses
of the authoritarian regime. From their
Apostolic Center on Pedro Gil Street, Jesuit
writer-editors published the tabloid Signs
of the Times and The Communicator. Raul
Locsin and Eduardo Olaguer published critical
material in Business Day. Letty Magsanoc
and Arlene Babst of the Bulletin group began
writing columns on glaring abuses. Businessman
Jaime Ongpin and his group supported an
independent Veritas newsmagazine edited
by Felix Baudsta and Melinda de Jesus. With
encouragement from Jaime Cardinal Sin, Radio
Veritas reported the news fearlessly. Eggie
Apostol published a daring Mr. & Ms.
Magazine. Earlier, the Burgos family revived
its We Forum, after its forcible closure
in 1982, under a new name, Pahayagang Malaya.
The free foreign media printed so many stories
about die Philippines, which were repeatedly
xeroxed and circulated locally that the
Filipino public became finally aware of
the gravity of its national predicament.
The People Power Movement of 1985-86 snowballed
into the ouster of the authoritarian regime.
With the Marcoses gone and the People Power
Administration of Corazon Aquino installed,
I decided to leave the New York Times where
I had worked for a total of 16 years so
as to help the new democratic government.
I was named chief of the Presidential Press
Staff and deputy spokesperson with the immediate
assignment of putting some order into the
dissemination of presidential new.
Since the entire information system was
being overhauled. I saw an opportunity to
organize the Press Office such that it would
strengthen the newly-regained democracy.
We would practise transparency and disseminate
information speedily- Frequent press briefings
were conducted at the new Press Office which
we named Kalayaan Hall. A younger, more
idealistic government media staff was put
together and. for a while a vibrant democratic
spirit pervaded the media releases. What
spoiled it later on were the maneuverings
of the power-hungry cordon sanitaire around
the President.
With the idealism of EDSA People Power,
the private media emerged from the repression
of the authoritarian years into a completely
free publishing system that bred as many
as 12 national dailies and some 250 provincial
weeklies. By the lime I left the government
late in 1987 and joined the Philippine Press
Institute, media surveys showed that proliferation
without adequate audiences and markets was
making the local print media poor and inferior.
New reporters were being hired at monthly
salaries lower than those of clerks or secretaries
Prestigious editors received monthly salaries
no more than P50.000 each.
With funds solicited from foreign foundations,
the Philippine Press Institute conducted
seminar-workshops in newspaper management.
Design and graphics aimed at improving newspaper
incomes. Professional skills were upgraded
with seminars on news and feature writing,
specialized reporting and business writing.
The PPI. working with the National Press
Club and the Union of Journalists. updated
me Journalist's Code of Ethics and disseminated
it. From 1987 to 1993,we reached 100 practising
journalists through seminar-workshops.
Despite the wide-ranging discussions and
seminars, corruption and irresponsibility'
persisted in the media. Some editor-apologists
claimed that Philippine media was merely
a mirror of Philippine society which was
itself corrupt. The Philippines Communication
Society, composed of media teachers, refused
to accept the irresponsibility and corruption
as facts of life. They have lobbied for
the inclusion of ethical discussions in
the curriculum of journalism schools and
for more liberal arts subjects that would
improve the culture of graduates.
Groups like the Rotary Metrobank and Citibank,
as welt as the Catholic church, give out
yearly awards to deserving media members
so as to-provide role models for others
lo follow. Discussion forums among key people
like publishers, editors and columnists
continue to be organized by the Center for
Media Freedom. Philippine Center for Investigative
Journalism, the Asian Institute of Journalism
and Communication, the PPI and NPC.
The skills of Philippine media practitioners
have definitely improved despite the corruption.
International networks and publications
continue to recruit Filipinos for top jobs.
Thus the country is proud to have in me
international limelight broadcasters Maria
Ressa, Twink Macaraig and Veronica Pedrosa;
writers Shiela Coronel, Jaime Florcruz,
Ricardo Saludo, Marites Vitug and Nelly
Sindayen. A survey taken during the presidency
of Fidel V. Ramos showed that writing and
editing was an area in which Filipinos excelled.
Hope springs eternal in the breast of the
Filipino. By 2037 when Philippine media
reaches its quadricen-tennial. the country
might celebrate the end of corruption and
the survival of faith and excellence.
