Country report on the Philippines

This document is downloaded from DR‑NTU (https://dr.ntu.edu.sg)Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.

Country report on the Philippines

Caparas, D. Y.

1978

Caparas, D. Y. (1978). Country report on the Philippines. In AMIC Seminar on Mass Mediaand Socio‑Economic Change : Kuala Lumpur, Oct 21‑22, 1978. Singapore: Asian MassCommunication Research & Information Centre.

https://hdl.handle.net/10356/91183

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Country Report On The Philippines

By

D Y Caparas

Paper No. 4

ATTENTION: The Singapore Copyright Act applies to the use of this document. Nanyang Technological University Library

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SEM'NAR; MASS MEDiA AND SOCiO- ECONOMIC CHANGE

MARA INSTITUTE OF ÊCHNOLOGV

21 and 22 October 1978

PAPER COUN7Rv REPOR1 ON T HE PHIL IPP'NES

M'-, D. V. Caparas n'oTna'.'• on A''.acne 'opines Emoa^s, Ma'avslo.


The b e g i n n i n g s of mass r,'.yd:a in '.he P h i ' i p p i n e s ; s oeep 'y

r o o t e d in the c o u n t r y ' s h i s t o r y .

The S p a n i a r d s came in ] 5 2 ! and : a t e r . In t h e i r a t tempt i?

p r o p a g a t e t h e i r f i f t h , p r i n t e d Doc t~ i na C r i s t i a n a o r C h r i s t i a n

D o c t r i n e .

Tomes P^-r.p'-.n^ c o n s i d e r e d the f i r s t F i l i p i n o p o i n t e r , p u b l i s h e d

i n 1 63? '• a c c e s s e s F e l i c e s f hapoy S u c c e s s e s ) a 14 page n e w s l e t t e r on

c u r r e n ! even t s *

Bu t the c o l o n i z e r s w e r e s t r i c t , t h e r e b y a r r e s t i n g the g r o w t h

of p u b l i s h i n g by F i l i p i n o s .

Spar, '• sjj_N e\vs paoe r

N o n e t h e l e s s the f)"$i ^ e a : newspaps- ' - , Do : S u p e r i o r G o , : e r r c

•'The Goco Government ) , , n i t the s t r e e t s of M a n i l a en 8 Augus t 181 l „

U n d e r s t a n d ! y 5 it was the mou thp iece cJ tne c o l o n i z e r s wh ich a i s o

s a t i s f i e d t h e ; r need f o r European, news a f f e c t i n g o v e r s e a s S c a r v ' r d s ,

S o o n o^her n e w s p a p e r s came our tne mo5 ' p ' -cm-nen: of •/•.'rich

i n c l u d e d the i n i e i i ec tua i L a So i ' dc i r . ' dsd i S e l i d a r ! cy) ana The

r e v o l u t i o n a r y ; K a l a y a a n i F r t - e d o m i , r h e 5 s newspaoe<~s gave impetus

to the 1 9th c e n t u r y o ro&aganda movemen t , a nai>onai a g i t a t i o n for

r e f o r m s and f r e e d o m launched hy F i l i p i n o p a t r i o t s .

A M E R I C A N E R A B E G I N S

When the S p a n i s h e r a ended w i i h the T r e a t y of P a r i s on 10

D e c e m b e r 1S98S E n g l i s h n e w s p a p e r s w e r e i n t r o d u c e d by A m e r i c a n

s o i d i e r s , t e a c h e r s o r m i s s i o n a r i e s ,

',n 1900 the M a n i l a D a i l y B u l l e l i n was f o u n d e d , f o l l o w e d by

the M a n i i a T i m e s two y e a r s i a t e r . The P h i l i p p i n e s Free P r e s s , the

f i r s t na t i ona l w e e k l y magaz ine in E n g l i s h , h i t the s t r e e t s in 1907.


- 2 ~

Soon both F i i i p ino and American newspapers saw themselves

serving their respective interests. Until 1916 when the Jones

Law — the first formal and official commitment by the United

States to grant independence to the Philippines — wad passed.

It provided for freedom of speech, of the press and peaceful assembly.

The Constitution cf 1935 advoca ed freedom ov the press

from government censorship notably ,he requirement of a license

before any p r i n t i ng or publ ish ing was done.

J A P A N E S E PERIOD

The war b roke out in 1941 and the Amer ican regime was

in te r rup ted as the Japanese occupied Manila on 2 January 1942.

Of a i l the newspapers before the w a r , only the Engl ish dai ly Manila

T r ibune was a l lowed to continue under Japanese cont ro l and superv is ion .

L 'wayway (Dawn) was the oniy Taga'og weekly a l lowed to continue

uuoi ica tior.„

"^"here was no treedorr of express ion and w r i t e r s were l imited in

the i r themes, usua l\ ; to ~ura; scenes. There were of cou rse , under

ground publ icat ion to unite tne F i l i p i nos for independence and f ight

Japanese propaganda.

Despite the inauspicious c i r cums tances , however , the occupation

pe r iod produced seme good w r i t i n g espec ia l ly shor t s t o r i es . The

Japanese c i v i l i an author i t ies themselves were impressed and

publ ished in 1944 an anthoiogy ent i t led Ang* 25 Pinakamabuting

Maik ' ing Kathang F i i i p i no ng 1943 (The T w e n t y - F i v e Best F i l i p ino

Shor t St')rJes of 1943).


- 3 -

TAGALOG RE-DISCOVERED

Historians Teodoro A. AgonciUo and Milagros C. Guerrero

described the situation in th's manner;

"The wr i ter 's hands were tied and he could move them barely

enough to portray or depict harmless subjects, for example, a rural

scene, In the manner of Fernando Amorsolo. But a searching

crit icism of l i fe , of which literature is the purveyor, there wis none.

Nonetheless, it must be admitted that the Japanese, more than

the Amer icans encouraged the development of TBgalog and gave

to It an impetus never oefore witnessed. Whether this purpose was

seif-'sh or not is immaterial. The *act remains that the Japanese

helped the writer in Tagalog re-discover the beauty and the

potentialities of his native language. "

The end of Japanese rule in 1945 saw the rebirth of p r e - w a r

r e w s p a o e r s , inc luding the Hera ld—El Debate—Mabuhay cha in , one

of whose ed i to rs was j ' curna ; ; s t -sc ;d ie r -d :p !omat Ca r ' os P. Romulo,

who is now Min is ter o+ J-oreign A t f a i r s .

Oioer- prominent cha i rs of pub; :carions included th .t of the

Ma<v<e T imes. Mar.iis Chror.-cie., and the Manila Dai ly B u l l e t i n .

Meanwhile the move t'.;.i enhance pro fess iona l ism in mass media

cont inued, -n ihe i950 :s journa l ism and pub' ic re la t ions became

coi :eg = ate courses leading TO a degree or d ip loma.

The Ph i l ipp ine P ress inst i tu te was founded in 1964 to protect

p r in t media and prov ide ethical standard for i ts p r a c t i t i o n e r s .

P r i v a t e media f i rmed uo as indiv idual or co rpo ra te under tak ings.

To strengthen freedom of ..:» p r e s s , the Ph i l i pp ine Congress oassed

two laws in 1965 r e s t r i c t i n g rhe venue for libel cases and a l lowed

newspapers and magazines t c use mail s e r v i c e .


- A -

The number of mass media out lets increased reaching the

stagger ing number of 1 ,402 publ icat ions c i r cu la t i ng throughout

the Ph i l ipp ines as of 31 January 1971 with a total c i r cu la t ion of 12.3

m i l l i o n .

MEDIA CONGLOMERATES

The late s ix t ies also marked the emergence of the so-ca l led

" t r i - m e d i a " or "mu l t i -med ia " ne two rks , where p r in t publ ishers own

a s t r ing of rad io and te lev is ion ne two rks , concentrat ing immense •

power cf mass media in the hands of a few.

With such a s i tua t ion , where the r i ch few was more powerful

than the government in inf luencing publ ic op in ion , abuse became the

o^der of the day.,

P res t i ge and c r e d i b i l i t y of some newspapers sank to a new low

so r..",a* it was not unusua1 fo r some of them to be ca r i ca tu red as tne

Manila C r i m e s , The Evening Noise and the Dai ly E r r o r s .

To wo-sen the s i tua t ion , subvers ives seeped into the ed i tor ia l

£'i.a ifs sowed anarchy and fanned dissension against ;he government.

MEPSA S i T U A T j Q N

Franc isco S . Ta tad , p ress secre ta ry to t...... Pres ident (now

Min is ter of Publ ic in format ion in tne Ph i l i pp ines) descr ibed the media

s i tuat ion in an a r t i c l e publ ished in. a 1 972 year -book as fo l lows:

" In the past it was possib le to speak only of mass media that

belabored our d i v i s i ons , our antagonisms, our d i f ferences and promoted

ys ter ia on per iphera l issues whi ie neglect ing fundamental ones.


/

'•'We had a mass med ;a tna* t r i e d to< g o v e r n ' that t r i e d to se'?.e

g o v e r n m e n t f r o m the g o v e r n m e n t . . . „ A med ia that i nvaded the p r i v a c y

of l i v e s , homes and r e p u t a t i o n s in o r d e r m e r e l y to s a t i s f y c u r i o s i t y

r a t h e r than s e r v e a c a u s e . A t a t ime w h e n they thought the

a d v o c a c y and espousa ! of v i o l e n c e and s u b v e r s i o n was the most

d i s t u r b i n g s i n g l e menace to o u r R e p u b l i c and p e o p l e , they p a r r o t e d

t h i s l i ne w i t h g r e a t d e d i c a t i o n and w i t h g r e a t p r e c i s i o n , t o o .

-UT-hey^ at t a c k e d c o r r u p t i o n w i t h o u t t h e m s e l v e s g i v i n g i t u p , and

w i t h i n the temp les of t h i s i n s t i t u t i o n the media t y c o o n s demanded

the p r i v i l e g e s that they denounced w h i l e t h e i r s u b a l t e r n s demanded ' to be

c o r r u p t e d by those whom the- m e d i a , as an i n s t i t u t i o n , denounced and

v i l i f i e d as c o r r u p t ,

" T h e y spoke of j u s ' : c e and indeed c r i e d a g a r n s t i n j u s t i c e ^ bur in

so d o i n g , they f o r g o t that the smal l m e c h a n i c a l man in the mechan ica l

depar tment : of : he i r shops., who made s u r e that : h e ; r w o r d s got to

Their a u d i e n c e s 3 was among the most e x p i o : t e d of a ; ' the w o r k e r s . , , , "

M A R T j A L L-AW^

M a - t i a : saw en 25 Seo tember ] 9?2 changed the s i t u a t i o n ,

'•-. c o n i c ' i a n c e •Aith the f i r s t l e t t e r of i n s t r u c t i o n i s s u e d on 23

S e ^ i e r r b e ^ 1972 a ' ; p u b l i c a t i o n s a u t o m a t i c a l l y c e a s e d to c i r c u l a t e *

The Mass Media C o u n c i l — headed by the S e c r e t a r y of P u b l i c

Sr . fo rmai icn and the S e c r e t a r y c-f N a t i o n a l D e f e n s e --•- was immedia ,.e'y

f o r m e d to assume the ' u n c t i o n s of s c r e e n i n g med ia f a c i l i t i e s en-.>

p r a c t i t i o n e r s .

D e p a r t m e n t of P u b i : o ; f o r m a t i o n O r d e r Islos. 1 and 2 r e q u i - e c '

n e w s p a p e r s , r a d i o and t e l e v i s i o n to p r i n t ar.d b r o a d c a s t a c c u r a t e ,

o b j e c t i v e , s t r a i g h t news rcporis of p o s i t i v e n a t ' o n a ' v a l u e s , cons is ten t


- 6 -

wi th the ef for t of the government to meet the dangers and threats that

occasioned the proclamat ion of mar t la ' law and the e f for ts to

achieve a new soc 'e ty .

P res iden t ia l Decree 191 was Issued c rea t ing the Media Adv isory

Counci l In place of the Mass Media Counc i l , The Bureau of Standards

for Mass Media was created by Le t t e r of implementation No. 12 on

November 1 , ] 972,

These two bodies devoted the i r e f fo r ts in promot ing a

.-esponsibie presy freedom conscious of the ob ject ive that "a i l media

a r r duty bound to help !n the supreme goal of nat ional development

in educat ion, in people's hal"»!ts and a t t i t udes , in a g r i c u l t u r e , in

i ndus t r y , in a l l other areas . in the l i fe of the na t ion . "

CONST{TJJTJONAL GUARANTEE

Mear-whiie, the FUip-'no people approved the 1971 Phi ip; '.< e

Const: TuV-'cn in January 1 973 whose A r t c l e iV (BiH o* Rights) guarantees

:>eeooTi c f the press as 'oi. 'aws;

'Sect ion 5. The r ight of rhe people to in format 'on on matters

of publ ic concern, shal l be *-ecogntzea. Access to o f f i c ia l r eco rds

£r>d to documents arid psoers D e t a i n i n g '.o o f f i c ia l a c t s , t ransac t ions ,

cr dec is ions , shal l De af forded the c i t i zen subject to such l imi tat ions

as may be prov ided by !awd

'Sect ion 7. The r ignt ic form associat ions or society for

purposes net cont ra ry to 'aw shall not be ao r idged ,

' 'Sect ion 8. No Law shaM be made respect ing an establishment of

r e l i g i o n , or p roh ib i t ing tne f ree exerc ise thereof . The f ree exerc ise

and enjoyment of re l ig ious profess ion and w o r s h i p , without d iscr iminat ion

or p re fe rence , shal l fo rever be a l lowed, No re l i g ious test shal l be

requ i red for the exerc ise of c i v i l or po l i t i ca l r igh ts


'Sect ion 9. No iaw shall be passed abr idg ing the freedom

of speech, or of the p r e s s , or the r igh t of the people peaceably to

assemble and pet i t ion the Government for redress of gr ievances.

In a pape-~ presented by Sec re ta ry F ranc ; sco S . Tatad

before the One-Asia Assembly : n New Delhi in February 1973 he

p ic tu red the media s i tuat ion at that time in these words:

: ,The Phi l ipp ine Government, having now cleaned up soc ie ty ,

reorgan ized the bureaucracy , organized r e f o r m , infused a new

morale among the people seeks a p ress that responds to the needs.

of development. Where prev ious ly the press was w i ld and

l icent ious there w i l l be for sometime at least a tendency for newspapers

to be t imid and d u ! ! , as indeed some of them now t._nd to be0

Because o. a new consensus on pos i t i ve j o u r n a l i s m ; ihere wiU be

a tendency for some of them to p ra ise <~arher man censure , even when

Vms is nei ther deserved no^ necessary .

i : Trese aê to oe expected outside of a normai s i tua t ion , but my

v/iew ss that th is can only be s h o r t l i v e d . Censorship has oeen l i f ted ,

dera i led jou rna l i s t s have aeen r e l eased , and the media guidelines

now in fo rce ere nothing rr.o<~e than a restatement of what has been.

i nsc r ibed 'n cur laws. The puo !. :c expects 'he press to use its f reedom TO p rocure more ?pt?;--llgence and respons ib i l i t i e s , rathe^ than

use • t to sh ie ld med iocr i t y , Wi th a l l these cons idera t ions , there is

i i t t i e doubt tnat we should be ao'e to deve'op a press thai w i l l ,

accord ing to modern p r e s c r i p t i o n , cont r ibu te to the feei ing of nat ion-

ness, act as the voice of" nat ional p lann ing , extend the ef fect ive

marker , help prepare people to P;3y the i r new par ts in soc ie ty , teach

the necessary sk i l l s ' o r development, anc :eacn peoîe to piay ;~ei,

ro ie as a nation among nations'1,.

P res iden t ia l Decree 576 issued on 9 November 1974 abolished the

Media Adv isory Council and the Bureau of Standards for Mass Media

and author ised the organizat ion of regu la to ry counci ls among and by

media .eaders and p r a c t i t i o n e r s .


- 8 -

Hence, the creat ion by the same Decree of the Ph i l i pp ine

Counci l fo r P r i n t Media and the Broadcast Media Counc i l .

The Ph i l ipp ine Counci l fo r P r i n t Media is a profess ional body

that p laces on the Pub l ishers Associat ion of the Ph i l i pp ines and Out

door Adve r t i s i ng Assoc ia t ion the ro les of se l f -govern ing ".heir

respec t i ve ranks and staffmembers as wel l as enhancing excel lence

in the i r e f f o r t s .

The Ph i l i pp ine Counci l fo r P r i n t Media adopted the fo l lowing

general p r i nc i p l es :

" P r i n t media in purveying informat ion of publ ic in terest and

genera i concern play a v i ta l ro ie in the ; rea l iza t ion of the count ry 's

goals and development p lans, in exerc is ing this task , ce r ta in norms

of conduct a re essent ial to elevate the p ro fess ion 's standards of

excel fence.

"Freedom with respons ib i l i t y under l ines th is v i ta l task. The need

for cons t ruc t i ve endeavor, enhancement of profess ional condJci , and

se: f ' rs3u !ai lon should go hand in hand wi th p r in t media's al legiance to

t r u t h .

"The Pub l i sher must, assume f inal and fu i l respons ib i l i t y for-

every th ing p r in ted in h is pub l ica t ion . He must be guided by the

knowledge that press freedom is a public t rus t and shouid not be used

tc se rve personal a n t i - s o c i a l , and d iv is ive i n te res t s . The att i tude

should be one of moder . t ion and sob r ie t y , ra the r than sensat ional ism.

Sensat ional ism detracts f rom the accepted standards of decency,

i n v a r i a b l y , resu l t i ng in the unwarranted invasion of an i nd i v i dua l ' -

p r i v a c y .

"Adver t i s ing in p r in t media must be t ru th fu l and hew closely to

good tas te , it is a par tner in media's s t rugg le to promote the count ry 's

goa is . A re la t ionship based en mutual respect w i l l help advance this

p a r t n e r s h i p .


- 9 -

E D I T O R I A L C O N S I D E R A T I O N S

" T h e Gove rnmen t has handed o v e r t : media the comp le te c o n t r o l

and s u p e r v i s i o n of a l l p u b l i c a t i o n s . T h i s c l e a r l y i n d i c a t e s the

g o v e r n m e n t ' s r e c o g n i t i o n of m e d i a ' s m a t u r i t y . P u b l i c a t i o n s w i l l

en joy g r e a t e r le way , ,* : jce d i s c u s s i o n o* i s s u e s c o n f r o n t i n g the

g o v e r n m e n t , the c o m m u n i t y , and the e n t i r e s o c i a l s t r u c t u r e . W h i l e

t h i s means that the p u b l i c car. look f o r w a r d to m o r e K»to«*ttt>e*xW3i<

>/**X*^**>Wtfx5o«ectoCRK e n l i g h t e n m e n t , i t does not mean the end of

v i g i l a n c e . T h e p u b l i s h e r s must r e m e m b e r that i i c e n s e i s not f r e e d o m .

' ' In o t h e r w o r d s , the G o v e r n m e n t e x c e c t s media to e x e r c i s e

s e l f - c e n s o r s h i p . T h e s t a n d a r d s f o r e x c e l l e n c e w i l l be d r a w n up

and e n f o r c e d by the p u b l i c a t i o n s themselves . ,

A D V E R T I S I N G T R A D E R E L A T I O N S

, ;A i ' a d e r e l a t i o n s h i p e s t a b l i s h e d on a b a s i s of mutual r e s p e c t is

the goa l of the P h i l i p p i n e C o u n c i l f o r P r i n t M e d i a . A code of e : h i c s

- e g u i a t i r g the r e l a t i o n s be tween prim media and a d v e r t i s i n g a g e n c i e s

w:M be e:\rorced oy the P h i ' i o p i n e C o u n c i l f o r D r : n t M e d i a . W h i l e

: i e a d v e r t i s i n g agency is bas :ca><y an ager.: f o r the a d v e r t i s e r , i t

a.:~a s e r v e s s i m u l t a n e o u s l y a f i d u c i a r y f u n c t i o n f o r p r i n t m e d i a . In

[r.e i i g h : of t h i s , the C o u n c i l w i l l expec t a l l a d v e r t i s i n g a g e n c i e s

"u accep t c e r t a i n r e s p o n s i D : i i i i e s t o w a r d s p r i n t m e d i a , : i

B A N E O F I N D U S T R Y

T h e C o u n c i l a l s o a u d i t s the c i r c u l a t i o n of p u b l i c a t i o n s not on l y

to SLOO f a l s e c l a i m s - ~ w h i c h b e f o r e was the bane of the a d v e r t i s i n g

i n d u s t r y — but a l s o to make s u r e that e x c e ' l e n c e in j o u r n a l i s m is a

d a i l y goal of mass m e d i a .


- 10 -

Fo r i ts p a r t , the Pub l ishers Assoc ia t ion of the Ph ihpptnes , Inc. -

in accept ing the task handed to it by the Counci l defined its stand

on freedom of the press and the j ou rna l i s t s as fo l lows:

"Journa l i s t s should uphold the basic r igh t of p ress f reedom.

Unfo r tuna te ly , the greatest drawback of the pro fess ion is not the

lack o* e f f o r t , but med iocr i t y . !t is the mediocre journa l i s t who fa i ls

to balance r igh t wi th concomittant r espons ib i l i t y . He camouflages

his shortcomings with un t ru ths , innuendoes, uensat icnai ism or

l icent ious discussion,. H's i r respons ib le exerc ise of press freedom

opens the way fo r government to in tervene in o rde r to pro iect

the r i gh ts of others and the pub l i c . The j ou rna l i s t „ there fo re ,

should improve himself constantly and remember at a l l times his

respons ib i l i t i es as a member' of a f ree p ress „ ''

By the end of 1976, mass media was aware of f i ts being an

in tegra l p a r i of tne soc ie ty , and is involved in p r i o r i t i e s usually

determined bv society i t se l f .

Media continued tc comment on the conduct of government o f f ic ia ls

who were ne- immune to c r i t i c i sm and must at a i l times be held

accountable for :ne i r ac t ions.

Of c o u r s e , in c r i t i c i z i n g , media was also aware thac there :s a l !ier-:'ous d is t inc t ion between the newspaper and the cou r t r oom, between

what Is p r i va te and what is pub l i c , and between what is publ ic nuisance

and what is p r i va te we: l -be ing. "

NORMALIZATION

The normal izat ion of mass media operat ions in the PhiMopines

saw 1 540l publ icat ions throughout the count ry as of 30 June 1975,

Tota l c i r cu la t i on was 9 ; >70 ; 698 ? not inc lud ing 388 publ icat ions which .

fa i led to submit their stati .t cs ;o the bureau of post on t ime.


- 1 1 -

Of these publications 792 or 56,53 per cent were in English;

1 84 or 13, 13 per cent in English-Pi llpir.o; 162 or 1 1,56 per

cent In Enj i ish Tagalog; 59 or 4,21 per cent in Tagalog; 19 or 1,36 . ;•

per cent in Pilipino; and the rest trailed behind.

Out of these media there were 12 daily newspapers, 8 In English,

2 in Engiis-Chinese, 1 in Englis-Hillgaynon and 1 in Fi l ip ino,

Most of these publ icat ions were pr iva te ly owned, e i ther as a

single p r o p r i e t o r s h i p , p a r t n e r s i p , co rpora t ion or coopera t i ve .

Government par t i c ipa t ion in p r in t media is l imi ted to a few

trade jou rna ls or house organs and a national news agency,

MED! A TODAY

side f rom pub l ica t ions , mass media in the Ph i l ipp ines today

includes 30 te lev is ion s ta t ions, f ive of which are na t ionwide, based

in Manila and have a capacity to telecast in fu l l co l o r . Of the f i v e ,

• :r,e is operated by the government,

At the same t ime, 2.-5 rad io stations a re spread out a i ! over the

e r c N p e l a g o , connecting remotests areas net reached by p r i n t o r

te lev is ion to the centers of populat ion.

The Ph i l i pp ines inaugurated i ts f i r s t earth stat ion in 1967.

Another ear th stat ion wi th d i rec t access to Europe via I N T E L S A T III

{ internat onal Communications Sate l l i te Consor t ium ! ! l ) over the

Indian Ocean was completed in 1971.

Th i s year the Ph i l ipp ines w i i i inaugurate domestic sa te l l i te

te lev is ion to coincide wi th the 25th ann iversary of te lev is ion in the

coun t ry .


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At this juncti. -e, it should be noted that mass media cannot be

independent unless it is self l i q u i d a t i n g , Hence the need for

adver t i s ing support . In a way , mass media and adver t i s ing a re

Siamese t w i n s , which are to work hand !n hand for i . ,..};>!ter can

exist successful ly without the o ther .

In the Ph i l ipp ines today there a re 1 40 adver t i s ing agencies

wi th b i l l i ngs that Increase in the v i c in i t y of 1 5 to 20 per cent

annua l ly . There is also an Assoc ia t ion of National A d v e r t i s e r s ,

Uni fy ing a l l sectors of the industry is the Ph i l ipp ines Board of

A a v e r t i s i n g ,

Th is year has been declared by our P r ime M in i s te r , H . E .

Ferd inand E, Marcos , as "The v e a r of Developmental Adver t i s ing

ar.d Cemrnun:canons. ;l Next month, f rom 15 to 18, the 11th As ian

Adver t is..i,g Congress w i l l covene in Manila simultaneously wi th the

forma::(or. of the Asian f e d e r a t i o n of Adve r t i s i ng Assoc ia t ions .

"""o size uc; the iatest mecfa s i tuat ion in the Ph i l i pp ines , it appears

:Sfcvr.g to hear the words of Teodo*"-o .v.. Va lenc ia , the Ph i l i op ine 's

leading co!umr. :s; a-->d -adio commentator who has been in the w r i t i ng

pro fess ion since '.re pre. wa r .

Wr i t i ng in the Fookien V'earbook of 1977., Valencia evaluated the

Ph'Mppine media tnus;

"Ph i l ipp ines media!! ;ve undergone painful se l f -examinat ion and

se! f -evaluat"on dur ing the f i r s t four years of the mar t ia i law. Today,

we f ind an awakened media community eager to improve the - > - - • • - s

wi l l i ng to s a re the national respons ib i l i t y to p rogress and ever conscious

of the i r ro le as the conscience of the na t ion .

"The Phi l ipp ine press remains t imid but economical ly better off

than at any other time in our h i s t o r y . Radio and te lev is ion have made

s t r ides to red iscover the commercia l poss ib i l i t i es of F i l i p i no music

wi th astonishing resu l t s . Cinema has found re levance not at a i i a l ien

to the p ro f i t mot ive. Media Ph i l i pp ines have accepted se l f -d i sc ip l i ne


Documents

Country report on the Philippines