A History of Journalism in the Philippines: Martial Law Days (8 of 11)

Philippine Collegian student journalists like Roberto Coloma, Alexander Magno, and Malou Mangahas were also put in jail. Mauro Avena, Jose Burgos Jr., Sheila Coronel, Rommel Corro, Domini Suarez, Armando Malay, Ma Ceres Doyo, Francisco Rodrigo, and Salvador Gonzales faced libel and subversion cases.

Arlene Babst, Mauro Avena, Antonio Ma Nieva, Ninez Cacho Olivarez, and Letty Jimenez-Magsanoc were dismissed as professional journalists. Jacinto Peña, Alex Orcullo, Kenneth Lee, Geoffrey Siao, Henry Romero, Porfirio Doctor, Demy Dingcong, Walter Sisbrenio, Noe Alejandrino, Jacobo Amatong, Florante de Castro, and Antonio Tagamolila offered their lives for journalism.

Women journalists though subjected to military threats, harassments, and intimidations proved to be equally if not more daring than men in their writings. Among them were Ceres Doyo, Arlene Babst, Sheila Coronel, Ninez Olivares, Betty Belmonte, Melinda de Jesus, Eugenia Apostol, Malou Mangahas, Domini Torrevillas, Tina Monzon-Palma, and Letty Jimenez-Magsanoc.

Within weeks, the Philippine Daily Express, published by Juan Perez and owned by Roberto Benedicto, Marcos’s friend and law schoolmate, was allowed to operate and became the unofficial mouthpiece of the administration during the historical martial law proclamation. It was an unabashed propaganda newspaper and eventually came to be known, in the kind of defiant humor popular during the martial law, as the Daily Suppress.

In its December 7, 1972 editorial, the paper praised the imposition of martial law in rather flagrant time:

“President Marcos took the decisive step to realize that Filipino dream when he placed the entire country under martial law to save the republic from foreign-backed communist conspiracy trying to seize state and political power, and to reform a sick society by eradicating the social roots of the rebellion and anarchy. (Italics Mine)

“Proclamation 1081 is not a martial law proclamation but a declaration of emancipation…liberating the Filipino mind, body, and soul from centuries of imprisonment (by social, political, and economic ills and conditions imposed by [the] Spanish, [the] American, and [the] Japanese force[s]) as well as from local tyrants and warlords… and those who took orders from Moscow and lately from the operatives of Chairman Mao” (Italics Mine).

The tightly controlled mass media had few openings for alternative versions of reality to seep through the thick mist of official propaganda. Kerima Polotan-Tuvera published the Focus, a safe but interesting magazine. The daughter of sometime presidential representative Adrian Cristobal published the Review, a short-lived literary magazine.

Only few newspapers and periodicals were given permission to operate: the Evening Post of Kerima Polotan-Tuvera, the Bulletin Today of Gen Hans Menzi, and the Times Journal of Benjamin Romualdez. These newspapers were also known as “crony press” or “establishment press.”

The boldest publication during the martial law period was the Who Magazine of the Bulletin-owned Liwayway Publications, Inc. It was intended to be a personality periodical, but Menzi gave its editorial staff some liberty to write feature stories. It tackled stories about victims of human rights abuses, public sentiments regarding the real state of things, and indigenous communities resisting development programs. Some of its editorial columns were critical of the administration.

Who Magazine editorial staff and contributors were often summoned to explain the merits of their stories. Marcos himself expressed annoyance over the existence of the publication. But, Menzi was fond of the young journalists and that he defended them and the publication. The magazine was finally shut down after he died.

Nationalistic campus newspapers were the Pandayan of the Ateneo de Manila University, Balawis of the Mapua Institute of Technology, the Philippine Collegian of the University of the Philippines, Ang Hasik of the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila, and Ang Malaya of the Polytechnic University of the Philippines.