IT WAS the apogee of dictatorial rule: a milieu of co-optation, if not total sell-out, where the media were concerned that Mabuhay was born into.
Ferdinand the Great was a year yet from lifting martial law, if only on paper, but already all-too confident in calling for a presidential election that spawned two challengers – one quixotic, the other idiotic as so graphically sketched then by Blas Ople – in once-Defense Secretary Alejo Santos and one Bartolome Cabangbang, prime-mover of the RP-Statehood Movement.
Of course, Marcos won, hands down. But the contenders, no matter the seeming idiocy of their cause, had more than their Warholian fifteen minutes of fame in the print and broadcast media, including Mabuhay.
The state of a dictated press obtained, no matter the pretentious pronouncements of “responsible press freedom” and the perversion of “developmental journalism.”
The handful of Central Luzon newspapers – all weekly – weakly subscribed to the Philippines News Agency and the press releases of the Department of Public Information, later the Office of Media Affairs, and castrated in its reincarnation under the Aquino Revolutionary Government as the Philippine Information Agency.
Read one local weekly then – whether the Reflector in Bulacan or The Voice in Pampanga, the Tarlac Monitor or the Olongapo News, the Mount Samat Forum in Bataan or the Nueva Ecija Profile — and you read them all. Where news stories were concerned: the Bureau of Animal Industry’s cattle-fattening program, a new variety of rain-resistant tomatoes from the Bureau of Plant Industry, the Department of Natural Resources’ Pro-FEM (for Program for Forest-Ecosystem Management, alternatingly read: Pro-Ferdinand E. Marcos), or some such “developmental story.”
Opinions, though varied, hewed to the same tune: nothing critical of the government, and a praise here and there for the deified Marcos and the beautiful Imelda.
The coming into being of Mabuhay put the spark to the revival of old-time newspapering when stories were sourced and written by reporters, instead of merely being published direct from the press release mills of the DPI or the teletype machine of the PNA. Arguably, it was Mabuhay that revived enterprise in local journalism praxis.
That spirit of enterprise confluenced with the martyrdom of Ninoy Aquino in 1983, and crested with the EDSA Revolution of 1986. And the press – local and national – had its full liberation.
Mabuhay did its yeoman’s role in the region as keeper of the flame of the burgeoining democracy with its extensive coverage of developments in the Cory Aquino government as well as on the threats it faced, notably the coup attempts by the rightist military conspiracy, and the revived communist insurgency, that touched based, if not spawned in Central Luzon.
“Disaster reporting” debuting in the 1990 earthquake that cut a swath of destruction from Baguio down to Nueva Ecija, and reached horrifying dimension with the Mount Pinatubo eruptions a year later, naturally inhered in Mabuhay , its locus of operation being disaster-prone Central Luzon.
Politics, but of course, is staple fare in newspapering. And the pages of Mabuhay have always been a varied menu, not only of a political who’s who, but, more importantly, of their platforms and performance or lack of both, of political deeds and misdeeds – the paper’s adversarial stand on political leaders in general anchored on its advocacy of good governance, a core mission of Mabuhay .
Worth noting here is Mabuhay bucking the odds – and sticking its neck out – in its belief in a Fidel Ramos victory in
1992 and its faith in El Tabako as harbinger of economic development to the country. Needless to say, both came to be.
Playing so well its adversarial-cum-advocacy role Mabuhay did for the development of Clark, from its American past as the bastion of US imperialism in the East, to its freeport present as the engine of economic development not only for Central and Northern Luzon but also for the entire country.
“Clark: Field of Dreams” so headlined the Mabuhay critical report on the first few years of the special economic zone that spurred the re-engineering of strategies – beginning with a change in the management team of the Clark Development Corp. – to make Clark reach its full potential for development within the fastest timeframe.
And that potential is into full realization, especially with the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport all poised to become the premier international gateway of the Philippines in the very immediate future.
No, Mabuhay — “just 30” – is not the oldest Central Luzon newspaper. That distinction belongs to the 55-year-old The Voice. The greater honor though of being the forum of intelligent discussion of issues – socio-economic and political – obtaining in Central Luzon, of being the repository of influence and ideas in the region belongs to Mabuhay. Unarguably.
Having been a part of the newspaper is one badge of honor I shall proudly wear for the rest of my life. To JLP, here’s to the next 30 years of excellence in provincial newspapering. Mabuhay!
(Published in the 30th anniversary issue of Mabuhay, Enero 15-21, 2010)
Ferdinand the Great was a year yet from lifting martial law, if only on paper, but already all-too confident in calling for a presidential election that spawned two challengers – one quixotic, the other idiotic as so graphically sketched then by Blas Ople – in once-Defense Secretary Alejo Santos and one Bartolome Cabangbang, prime-mover of the RP-Statehood Movement.
Of course, Marcos won, hands down. But the contenders, no matter the seeming idiocy of their cause, had more than their Warholian fifteen minutes of fame in the print and broadcast media, including Mabuhay.
The state of a dictated press obtained, no matter the pretentious pronouncements of “responsible press freedom” and the perversion of “developmental journalism.”
The handful of Central Luzon newspapers – all weekly – weakly subscribed to the Philippines News Agency and the press releases of the Department of Public Information, later the Office of Media Affairs, and castrated in its reincarnation under the Aquino Revolutionary Government as the Philippine Information Agency.
Read one local weekly then – whether the Reflector in Bulacan or The Voice in Pampanga, the Tarlac Monitor or the Olongapo News, the Mount Samat Forum in Bataan or the Nueva Ecija Profile — and you read them all. Where news stories were concerned: the Bureau of Animal Industry’s cattle-fattening program, a new variety of rain-resistant tomatoes from the Bureau of Plant Industry, the Department of Natural Resources’ Pro-FEM (for Program for Forest-Ecosystem Management, alternatingly read: Pro-Ferdinand E. Marcos), or some such “developmental story.”
Opinions, though varied, hewed to the same tune: nothing critical of the government, and a praise here and there for the deified Marcos and the beautiful Imelda.
The coming into being of Mabuhay put the spark to the revival of old-time newspapering when stories were sourced and written by reporters, instead of merely being published direct from the press release mills of the DPI or the teletype machine of the PNA. Arguably, it was Mabuhay that revived enterprise in local journalism praxis.
That spirit of enterprise confluenced with the martyrdom of Ninoy Aquino in 1983, and crested with the EDSA Revolution of 1986. And the press – local and national – had its full liberation.
Mabuhay did its yeoman’s role in the region as keeper of the flame of the burgeoining democracy with its extensive coverage of developments in the Cory Aquino government as well as on the threats it faced, notably the coup attempts by the rightist military conspiracy, and the revived communist insurgency, that touched based, if not spawned in Central Luzon.
“Disaster reporting” debuting in the 1990 earthquake that cut a swath of destruction from Baguio down to Nueva Ecija, and reached horrifying dimension with the Mount Pinatubo eruptions a year later, naturally inhered in Mabuhay , its locus of operation being disaster-prone Central Luzon.
Politics, but of course, is staple fare in newspapering. And the pages of Mabuhay have always been a varied menu, not only of a political who’s who, but, more importantly, of their platforms and performance or lack of both, of political deeds and misdeeds – the paper’s adversarial stand on political leaders in general anchored on its advocacy of good governance, a core mission of Mabuhay .
Worth noting here is Mabuhay bucking the odds – and sticking its neck out – in its belief in a Fidel Ramos victory in
1992 and its faith in El Tabako as harbinger of economic development to the country. Needless to say, both came to be.
Playing so well its adversarial-cum-advocacy role Mabuhay did for the development of Clark, from its American past as the bastion of US imperialism in the East, to its freeport present as the engine of economic development not only for Central and Northern Luzon but also for the entire country.
“Clark: Field of Dreams” so headlined the Mabuhay critical report on the first few years of the special economic zone that spurred the re-engineering of strategies – beginning with a change in the management team of the Clark Development Corp. – to make Clark reach its full potential for development within the fastest timeframe.
And that potential is into full realization, especially with the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport all poised to become the premier international gateway of the Philippines in the very immediate future.
No, Mabuhay — “just 30” – is not the oldest Central Luzon newspaper. That distinction belongs to the 55-year-old The Voice. The greater honor though of being the forum of intelligent discussion of issues – socio-economic and political – obtaining in Central Luzon, of being the repository of influence and ideas in the region belongs to Mabuhay. Unarguably.
Having been a part of the newspaper is one badge of honor I shall proudly wear for the rest of my life. To JLP, here’s to the next 30 years of excellence in provincial newspapering. Mabuhay!
(Published in the 30th anniversary issue of Mabuhay, Enero 15-21, 2010)
