Dec. 24, 1945 – Sept. 10, 2018
“If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, move from here to there and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” (Matthew 17:20)
SEPTEMBER 10, 2023 is exactly five years since our Panay News founder transitioned. But his memory lives on because of his unprecedented accomplishments. As publisher of what used to be a weekly that has turned into a strong daily, he had charted a never-done-before journey. He breathed his last confident that this newspaper would outlive him.
Sir Danny or Boss DF (to us his employees) or Manong Danny (to his colleagues and friends) was dauntless and relentless. It was way back on April 7, 1981 when the first issue of this newspaper rolled off the press. It was some kind of gamble for him, staking his hard-earned income from his bus business to keep it going.
The logistical challenges were daunting. But our founder won’t be deterred. This is an industry that has so much public interest. His goal was clear: deliver to the Ilonggos reliable, credible and trusted news and information, stories that matter.
With no printing press of his own at that time, Sir Danny made the rounds of practically all printing presses in Iloilo City, always badgering for the lowest printing cost and the longest payment terms. There was a time he brought the entire manuscripts to Manila to economize on cost. He flew back to Iloilo punishing himself with a heavy bundle of the week’s Panay News on his shoulder to and from the airplane.
Fast forward to 2023. Forty-two straight years in the field of print journalism. Looking back, those many years of Sir Danny’s challenging sacrifices were worth every drop of sweat and tears.
“When I started Panay News, I was all alone bearing the heavy burden of management. But then, without fear of contradiction, I was able to reach the goal of making Panay News the biggest daily in Western Visayas, reaching out to many other places of the country,” Sir Danny said during our 26th anniversary in 2007.
The newspaper he founded continually serves the best interest of the reading public, and is particularly making the Ilonggos proud of themselves – they have a courageous newspaper, a democratic ingredient of a free press, just as our dauntless and relentless founder envisioned it./PN
