Maria Bundoc-Ocampo could no longer remember how many times
she cried and considered stopping the publication of Punla, a weekly newspaper
she established in Bulacan in 1984.
She was short on budget and staff, and was then raising a
young family with her husband Obet.
But Bundoc-Ocampo went on. Her salary then, as Filipino
editor of the Philippine News Agency (PNA) and later, of a daily tabloid, was
halved between her family and her ‘professional opium’ called newspapering.
Today, Punla is one of the 70 strong member-newspapers of
the Philippine Press Institute (PPI), the national association of newspapers —
many of which started or are still operating on a shoestring budget.
The Institute was established in 1964 by publishers of the
biggest newspapers in the country who refused to be known as an “old boys
club,” by addressing industry concerns.
The imposition of Martial Law in 1972 rendered the Institute
moribund until July 3, 1986 when the reconstituted Board of Governors met for
the first time. The following year the PPI was incorporated under Philippine
laws.
In the years that followed the Institute’s membership,
training programs and advocacies have remarkably expanded. While major
Manila-based newspapers like The Philippine Star, Manila Standard Today,
Philippine Daily Inquirer, Philippine Journal, Malaya Business Insight, and
BusinessWorld were represented in the Board, regional trustees representing
smaller newspapers in province were also elected.
To some, the composition of the Institute’s Board appears to
be another illustration of ‘imperial Manila ’.
But said big Manila-based newspapers are actually helping the smaller
newspapers based in provinces, knowing that success of community journalists is
their success as well.
In the words of the late PPI Executive Director and Mabuhay
publisher Jose L. Pavia, the idea of big newspapers helping community
newspapers through provision of cash prizes during the annual Civic Journalism
Community Press Awards is an incarnation of the biblical words “brother’s
keeper”.
Indeed, the Institute continues to serve as brother’s
keeper, not only through the annual awards that recognize excellence in
journalism, but by conducting educational training programs aimed at improving
skills of journalists of its member-publications and through advocacies that
seek to protect rights and freedoms of journalists.
“I wished we joined PPI when I was first invited by Alice
(Villadolid) in 1997. I missed a lot of training,” said Bundoc-Ocampo whose
newspaper Punla became a member of the Institute in 2010.
As publisher of one of the newest member-publications of the
Institute, Bundoc-Ocampo cited the sincerity of its members to help others.
“They are really sincere in the sense that they share new
ways in improving the quality of publication and its business aspect,” she
said.
The same is true with Punto Central Luzon, a
member-newspaper based in Pampanga which joined the Institute in 2008, and
became a finalist in the annual awards the following year.
“The people behind PPI are the ones that mentored us,”
Joselito Aguilar, editor-in-chief of Punto said. He considered Jose L. Pavia,
the Institute’s former executive director, and late publisher and
editor-in-chief of Mabuhay based in Bulacan, as one of his biggest inspirations
in the business.
As participant to seminars and workshops conducted by the
Institute since 2004, Aguilar said that the Institute inculcated in him and
other journalists that newspapers also serve as a catalysts for community
action.
As matter of fact, Punto got the distinction as one of the
contemporary newspapers in Pampanga that challenged the powers-that-be.
Aguilar challenged the leadership of Oscar Rodriguez, the
city mayor of San Fernando , Pampanga after he
was proclaimed “World Class Mayor” by the Institute of Solidarity
Last year, when other newspapers in Pampanga bannered on
their front pages that there was no open dumpsite in the city, Punto went out
of its way by photographing the same headline in front of the city’s open
dumpsite. The same photograph landed on the front page of Punto the next day,
to the consternation of the mayor.
But Aguilar and Punto did not stop there. They carried on
and realized that by speaking the truth, they would earn the respect and become
more credible to their readers.
Citing lessons he learned from media programs he attended,
Aguilar said, “PPI makes it a point that newspapers should perform the role of
watchdogs and not to sleep with people they watch.”
For its part, Pavia ’s
Mabuhay has been serving as a catalyst and forum for community action in
Bulacan.
Last year, Mabuhay exposed an open dump just behind the Bulacan Medical
Center in Malolos City
Since Mabuhay solicited comments from the new provincial
administration on how it intended to rehabilitate the open dump, before the
story and photograph of said dumpsite were published by Mabuhay, the government
had already started rehabilitating it and contacting licensed medical wastes
hauler and processor.
In the final days of January, Mabuhay also went out of its
way and started documenting unrepaired light stations on the coast of Bulacan
fronting the Manila
Bay
On July 13, the Regional Development Council (RDC) of
Central Luzon approved a resolution for the rehabilitation and construction of
additional light stations on the coast of Bulacan, Pampanga and Bataan .
While Mabuhay became instrumental for the impending eventual
repair and construction of additional light stations, it gave credit to the
social media activism of residents of the coastal villages of Bulacan.
Like other member newspapers, Mabuhay also gives credit to
the series of training programs conducted by the Institute through the years as
they not only improved skills of journalists, but encouraged excellence in the
professional and ethical practice of journalism through the annual Civic
Journalism Community Press Awards supported by the major Manila-based
member-newspapers and The Coca-Cola Export Corporation (TCCEC).
The same was echoed by Dalmacio Grafil, publisher-owner of
three Visayas-based newspapers namely, Leyte Samar Daily Express, Samar Weekly
Express, and Eastern Samar Bulletin, which are all members of the Institute.
“It really encourages us to pursue excellence in the
practice of journalism,” Grafil said in a telephone interview, referring to the
annual awards.
As owner of three different newspapers, he said that he has
no regrets in joining the Institute, saying it helped them a lot.
For her part, Elnora Cueto of the Lucena Herald said, they
decided to be part of the Institute due to its long standing reputation of
excellence and credibility.
She also cited the Institute’s training programs and annual
National Press Forum that allow professional dialogue among member-newspapers.
In Mindanao , Fr. Jonathan
Domingo, OMI, chief executive officer of Mindanao Cross, a 63-year old
newspaper published by the Catholic Church, said in a telephone interview that
issues addressed by the Institute continue to evolve.
He said that while its training program on civic journalism
was successful, the Institute must also consider expanding it to peace
journalism, a special concern in Mindanao .
And as technology continues to grow, younger journalists of
PPI member-publications in Luzon started
advocating the utilization of the new media or the internet including the
social networking sites as means of disseminating news and information.
The Institute showed receptiveness to it as its Luzon group
included it in its training program for students from northern Luzon and during the two previous annual National Press
Forums.
Indeed, the Institute is celebrating its 48th founding year
and 25th year since its reactivation in 1987. But it doesn’t mean it is old.
Truth is, the Institute is young. It sort of just entered
its adulthood, but it has accomplished more than its age, which prepared it to
the challenges of the times.
With the Institute’s achievements in almost five decades,
and openness to face further challenges, its members will continue the legacy
of their founding fathers by being a ‘brother’s keeper’ in the next 25
years.(Dino Balabo)
