BY FORMER SENATE PRESIDENT MANNY VILLAR
OF TREES AND FOREST
To be able to last for 125 years means you are doing something right. To be able to last for 125 years means that the people know and trust that you are doing something right. To be able to last 125 years means that you have been a witness to the unfolding of the nation’s history. This is what the Manila Bulletin has accomplished last Feb. 2, 2025.
Just to give you an idea how mind-bending this feat is, when the Manila Bulletin started out as a shipping journal, The Daily Bulletin, churning out “accurate and reliable shipping and commercial information,” on Feb. 2, 1900, it was just about 20 months since General Emilio Aguinaldo proclaimed the independence of the Philippines on June 12, 1898. It was just less than 14 months since the signing of the Treaty of Paris in which Spain unjustly ceded the Philippines to the United States and US President William McKinley proclaimed a policy of “benevolent assimilation” in which the Philippines was to come under the sovereignty of the United States.
Around one year before the Manila Bulletin’s establishment, the Philippine-American War erupted, set off by a gun battle between an insurgent patrol and an American. Four months later, the First Philippine Republic would declare war against the nascent imperialistic intentions of the United States.
In fact, with the exception of the four years during the Japanese occupation and a minor interlude during the declaration of Martial Law, the Manila Bulletin came out every day, a witness to our history, strengthening our democracy, contributing to national development and more importantly, upholding the truth and the tenets of journalism. It is an amazing achievement and I congratulate the management, staff and journalists (past and present) for making that possible.
I read the editorial by the Manila Bulletin on Feb. 2, 2025 extolling its 125th anniversary. It proclaimed that despite all the challenges and hurdles, “the Manila Bulletin faces the future with optimism and determination.” Despite the changing times, the Manila Bulletin bravely stated that “its editorial policy remains clear: to uphold decency, principle, and fairness while advocating for the best interests of the country and its people.”
Despite such optimism, there are serious headwinds not just for the Manila Bulletin but for all of print media. It is an existential issue best expressed in this question which sounds more forceful in Filipino: “May nagbabasa pa ba ng dyaryo?” (Does anybody still read the newspaper?) Gone were the days when the first thing you look for when you wake up is the newspaper. It seems like a scene from a long time ago when you have a family gathered around having breakfast and the father drinking his coffee while reading the “peryodiko” (for those that are too young, that was how we called newspaper back then).
I still do it. I love the smell of newsprint and coffee in the morning. But I am an old soul like that. Today, the first thing people do when they wake up is check their phones. And to the extent that they are interested in the news, they go to Facebook or Twitter. Today, you would probably see a typical family situated around a table but in their own zones checking social media feeds on their mobile. Before, what you read on the newspaper became the topic of actual conversations within the family, in the office, or with friends. Today, we “converse” by retweeting or “sharing.” We communicate in the comments section or reply with an emoji.
These are different times, interesting times.
And so, while we celebrate this milestone by the Manila Bulletin, there is reason to be concerned about the future. “May magbabasa pa ba ng peryodiko?” I was searching for an answer until I found the mission of the Manila Bulletin on its website, which reads: “to provide…accurate and objective news of the Philippines, without embellishment or advocacy of persons and parties but only in ideas…it will strive to be positive rather than negative in its coverage and interpretation, build-up rather than destroy, encourage rather than take a stand of negative criticism and be courageous in reporting abuses and dishonesty, so that the medium will become an instrument of construction rather than destruction, without neglecting its critical function in society”.
I am not sure what the future of the print media would be. But I am mighty proud to be part of a news organization that stayed true to its core values even after 125 years. I am not sure “kung may magbabasa pa ng dyaryo.” But I hope that in the future “may interesado pa sa katotohanan.” (there would still be those interested with the truth.) If that is the case, then a multi-media organization with a print edition, like the Manila Bulletin, will survive and continue to thrive.
(mbv_secretariat@vistaland.com.ph and/or http://www.mannyvillar.com)
