History of Journalism in the Philippines

Early Years

Period of Revolution

American Colonial Period

Japanese Occupation

Post Liberation

Martial Law

Contemporary Times

Early Years
The history of journalism in the Philippines goes back to the 16th century,
the same period when England and Europe were starting on the proliferation of
community newspapers. It was in the year 1637 when the "Father of Filipino
Printing", Tomas Pinpin, launched the first Philippine newsletter called
"Successos Felices" (Fortunate Events). The publication was written in Spanish
and contained a 14-page report on current events.
In 1799, following Pinpin's debut in printing, he again came up with his Hojas
Volantes or "flying sheets". It was titled "Aviso Al Publico" (Notices to the
Public), which served the Spaniards and had a role comparative to a "town
crier."
Surprisingly, it took a gap of a little more than a decade before the first
actual newspaper, "Del Superior Govierno," was launched by Gov. Fernandez del
Forgueras on August 8, 1811. It was the so-called first regularly issued
publication that reported developments about Spain and Europe. It was also the
first newspaper that included in its layout the name, date and place of its
publication. Unfortunately, the paper only came up with 15 issues within its
years of operation from 1811 to 1832.
Due to the constraints of the church and government at that time, 35 years had
lapsed before the Philippine press continued on its development. From the
first regular publication, then came the first daily newspaper on December 1,

1846 called "La Esperanza." The paper, edited by Felipe Lacorte and Evaristo
Calderon, lasted only for three years. However, it gave way to the birth of
other dailies such as "La Estrella" in 1847 and "Diario de Manila" in 1848.
Diario's existence was significant because it monopolized the market a year
after its launch and became the government's daily organ in 1852. It was
renamed to "Boletin Oficial de Filipinas" which later ceased circulation by
Royal Order in 1860. The paper reappeared with Felipe del Pan as its editor
and encountered another official decree that led to its permanent closure on
February 19, 1898.
There had been a surplus of newspapers but most of them talked about the same
issues and had almost similar formats. Until 1862, a Tagalog publisher,
Mariano Sevilla, founded El Catolico Filipino. It was considered the first
Philippine religious newspaper, unexpectedly not managed by the Church. It was
also a paper which seriously dealt with the problems of Filipinos.
Another first in the history is El Porvenir Filipino founded in 1865. It was
the newspaper that pioneered in two-edition dailies. Later it was followed by
Revista Mercantil which came out the same year.
In the succeeding years there had been attempts to create a more liberal and
mass appealing press. The year 1887 marked the beginning of a more opinionated
journalism in the Philippines. It officially begun on April 1, 1887 with the
birth of La Opinion. According to historians, "it was the first paper to defy
the friars and campaigned for the ouster of the religious"

Period of Revolution
In February 19, 1889 La Solidaridad came out as the "mouthpiece of the
revolution." It operated with its policies "to work peacefully for social and
economic reforms, to expose the real plight of the Philippines and to champion
liberalism and democracy." The staff of the paper was comprised of known
personas like Jose Rizal, Marcelo H. del Pilar, Mariano Ponce, Andres
Bonifacio, Pio Valenzuela and Graciano Lopez-Jaena. The later became the
founding editor until he was succeeded by del Pilar on October 31, 1889. The
paper ceased publication on November 15, 1895 which was then followed by the
death of its second and last editor in the early 1896.
From the reformists' newspapers, the secret society of rebels or better known
as the Katipunan also came up with their own publication. They established
"Ang Kalayaan" (Liberty) on January 1, 1896. It was edited by Pio Valenzuela,
Emilio Jacinto and Andres Bonifacio. Unfortunately, it only came out with one
issue when a Katipunero betrayed the secrecy of the paper. Nevertheless, its
existence increased the membership of the society to 30,000.
Other revolutionary papers that emerged in those times were El Heraldo de
Iloilo on January 1, 1898 and La Libertad on June 20, 1898. Also in the same
year, La Independencia was founded on September 3 by Gen. Antonio Luna and
Fernando Ma. Guerrero. It was staffed by then famous writers: Rafael Palma,
Cecilio Apostol, Epifanio de los Santos and Judge Jose Abreu. It folded up in

January 1900 when the American decided to stay in the island and Filipino bias
presses one by one closed down.
When the Americans were slowly gaining control over the island several socalled Fil-American War newspapers then cropped up. Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo, in
his effort to unify his armies, put up his own revolutionary organ called "El
Heraldo de la Revolucion" on September 28, 1898. Likewise, with the arrival of
more American fleets on August 13, 1898, American editors aboard Admiral
Dewey's flagship came up with the paper, Bounding Billow. Succeeding the
Billow, newspapers such as American Soldier, Freedom, and The American also
came to existence.

American Colonial Period

After the Spaniards' defeat from the Americans, English newspapers started to
circulate. It was lead by the Manila Times of Thomas Gowan which was
established on October 11, 1898. The paper was a response to the complaints of
American soldiers with the lack of a good English newspaper at that time. It
encountered various changes in ownership including then President Manuel L.
Quezon who bought it in 1917 and sold it after four years of possession. Two
other foreign owners had the Manila Times before Alejandro Roces, Sr. acquired
it in 1927. Roces already running the TVT (Taliba-La Vanguardia-Tribune) chain
at that time then realized the unnecessary owning of another English paper and
so he closed it down in 1930. Also sometime in 1927 the son of Alejandro
Roces, Sr., Ramon Roces put up a magazine known as Graphic.
TVT then was considered the first newspaper chain in the Philippines. Its
founding was one of the highlight events during the 1920s and had bestowed on
Roces the titled "father of modern journalism." Manila Tribune was established
by Roces on April 1, 1925, with Carlos P. Romulo as editor.
Another American newspaper issued that time was the "oldest existing
newspaper", The Manila Daily Bulletin, established by Carson Taylor in
February 1, 1900. The paper started out as a shipping journal and later
widened its scope in 1912.
Some time after 1930 with Herald and Tribune on tough competition for high
number of circulation, Sen. Vicente Madrigal, owner of the Herald, put up his
own publication chain called DMHM comprised of Spanish daily, El Debate,
weekly, Monday Post, Herald and Mabuhay, a Pilipino daily.

Japanese Occupation
With the invasion of the Japanese most publications were shut down except for
the ones they used for their propaganda. DMHM was the first destroyed
when Manila was bombed. It was only TVT which was left to operate however it
was controlled and functioned as "solely for the benefit of the Japanese
state" on October 12, 1942. The chain together with Ramon Roces' Liwayway was
allowed to be published regularly but under censorship of the Japanese
Imperial Army. The printing and distribution of the periodicals
were transferred under Osaka Mainichi Publishing Company,established by Manila

Sinbusya Corporation. The only papers thatexisted those times were that of
TVT, Liwayway, Manila Shimbun, Shin-Seiki, Bicol Herald and Davao Nichi-Nichi,
all under the control of the corporation.
With the side of the guerrillas they also came up with their own periodicals.
These were typewritten or mimeographed paraphernalias on 8 x 11-inch paper
edited by journalists-guerillas. The publication served to empower the
soldiers' and people's morale and aid as counter propaganda against the
Japanese.

Post Liberation
After the atrocities of the Japanese and World War II in general, Manila was
freed on February 3, 1945. At that time came a rapid proliferation of
publications with most of them simply printed like flyers or in single-sheets.
Manila Free Philippines became the first post-Liberation newspaper published
by the US Office of War Information. The paper circulated from February September 1945.
Some of the periodicals closed by the Japanese made comebacks but those used
for propaganda one by one perished. Those that disappeared included Philippine
Liberty News by Manuel F. Manahan, Manila Post edited by Abelardo Subido and
wife Trinidad Tarrosa-Subido,Manila Tribune edited by Vicente Albino-Pacis and
a certain Morning Sun.
Those that were revived included The Manila Bulletin, further developed in
1947, Philippines Herald, Manila Chronicle, started as "The People's
Newspaper" and was later bought by Eugenio Lopez in 1947 and Manila Times, reestablished by the Roces family. Likewise, Ramon Roces, son of Don Alejandro,
also put out Manila's first afternoon newspaper called Evening News.
Furthermore, his Graphic, renamed as Kislap-Graphic,Liwayway and vernacular
sister publications: Bisaya, Bannawag and Hiligaynon were also re-launched.

Martial Law
After more than three decades of free press, on September 21, 1972 upon the
declaration of Martial Law, publications were once again halted from their
liberal operations. Then Pres. Ferdinand Marcos issued Letter of Instruction
(LOI) No. I which contained the ordinance, "to take over and control or cause
the taking over and control of the mass media for the duration of the national
emergency, or until otherwise ordered by the President or by his duly
designated representative." Almost similar to the press' situation during the
Japanese Occupation, publications were put under government supervision. Media
entities were sequestered or closed down restraining their operation unless
approved by the MMC / MAC agency, which was tasked to regulate them. Editors,
publishers and activist-journalists were put into jail considering them as
threat to the administration. It was in this period when the likes Geny Lopez,
Jr., Chino Roces, Max V. Soliven, Luis Beltran, Teodoro Locsin, Jose Diokno,
Benigno Aquino, Jr. and others were detained at Camp Crame.

The only periodicals that continuously existed were those owned by Marcos'
cronies and relatives. These included Manila Daily Bulletin, then owned by the
late Gen. Hans Menzi who was presidential aide-de-camp, The Times Journal by
Benjamin "Kokoy" Romualdez, brother of then First Lady, Imelda Marcos, and The
Daily Express by Roberto S. Benedicto, who was a family friend.

Contemporary Times
When the Marcos' administration ended because of the first PeoplePower revolt,
the press was once again freed. There was an influx of periodicals which was a
result ofthe repression. As forthe case of Manila Times, Ramon Roces decided
to revive the paper on January 1986, registered under hisgrandson, Alfredo
R. Guerrero. He also brought back La Vanguardia Publishing Co., Inc. which was
for his other grandson, Ramon R. Davila. The newspaper came out February 5,
1986 with his cousin, Joaquin "Titong" R. Roces as editor-in-chief. The Manila
Chronicle was re-established with publisher Joaquin "Chino" Roces and editor
Amando Doronilla. The weekly, We Forum, also emerged with Jose Burgos as its
publisher. Present day newspapers such as Philippine Daily Inquirer,Philippine
Star, Manila Standard and even Business World were born during those times.