Twenty-four important notes necessary in understanding a history of journalism in the Philippines.

After the 1986 EDSA Revolution, the press, which plays a potent role in the promotion of truth, justice, and democracy, and of peace, progress, and prosperity, was liberated from dictatorship. During this period, crony newspapers were closed and the National Press Club and the Philippine Press Institute were revived to professionalize mass media in the country.

Three years before the 1986 EDSA Revolution, Mr & Ms, an inexpensive weekly magazine, sensationalized the assassination of Senator Benigno Aquino Jr., paramount political rival of Marcos, at the Manila International Airport on August 21, 1983. Aquino’s assassination ignited a fire of protests particularly in Ugarte Field in Makati and in Liwasang Bonifacio in Manila where the upper and the middle classes marched with the poor, the workers, the unemployed, and the professionals.

On September 21, 1972, President Ferdinand Marcos signed Proclamation No. 1081 and “placed the entire country under martial law.” With the guise of rebellion and insurrection against the government, Marcos manipulated events and situations to justify the declaration of martial law.

During this period, journalism moved the country toward nationalism and independence. It is the period when the country experienced economic turmoil and had a hard time in paying its increasing foreign debts. The Philippine peso flunked against the US dollar and America meddled in the state of economy of the country. As a result, the people felt hardships in life and the press reported the continuing destruction of bureaucracy that shaped the neocolonial outline of our history.

When Manila was freed on February 3, 1945, the press was also liberated, not only from censorship, but also from the notion that newspapers must be a million peso corporations. Vicente Albano Pacis remembered that approximately 250 newspapers and periodicals were published right after the Japanese occupation.

The DMHM chain of newspapers owned by Senator Vicente Madrigal was the first casualty in the field of journalism. It was destroyed when a couple of bombs attacked its editorial offices in Port Area, Manila on December 8, 1941, the Feast of Immaculate Conception.

Although Gen Emilio Aguinaldo and his revolutionary government proclaimed Philippine Independence in Kawit, Cavite on June 12, 1898 and established the First Philippine Republic in Malolos, Bulacan on January 23, 1899, President William McKinley and Admiral George Dewey planned to take over the Philippines and forced the surrender of Spanish forces inside Intramuros. With the Treaty of Paris on December 10, 1898 and the Treaty with Spain on November 7, 1900, the United States of America acquired the sovereignty over the Philippines.

The supreme quest for freedom and independence started in Barcelona, Spain when La Solidaridad, a fortnightly edited by Graciano Lopez-Jaena, financed by Dr Pablo Rianzares, and supported by the Comité de Propaganda, was published on February 15, 1889. With the policy to champion democracy and liberalism, to expose the real plight of the country, and to work peacefully for economic and social reforms, the newspaper published not only news, but also articles and essays about the Philippines and its people.

The Philippine press, which is committed to the great heritage of libertarianism, is one of the freest, liveliest, and strongest in Asia and in the world. Throughout the ages, it has perpetuated a formidable tradition of service, which is the fortification of our sovereign life.